Notably, Portland’s Spaceman Effects didn’t have a compact tremolo in their roster until today, the day they released the Delta II.
The rather simple interface can be misleading: this pedal can deliver a wide variety of rhythmic and tone-shaping options, from the traditional to the adventurous.
The Lag knob is the center of this pedal’s creativity, allowing the morphing between straightforward throb and the shimmering harmonic swirl.
A 3-way voice switch selects the modes:
• High & Dry – highlights top-end shimmer, and emphasises clarity and bite.
• High & Low – provides a more liquid tonality especially useful for swirling phasey sounds.
• Low & Dry – excels at dark throbbing low-end presence
This pedal features a Filter section a lot more flexible than your average termolo, thanks to the Freq(uency) and Res(onance) knobs which allow for tones both expressive or creative.
The Exp In works also with CV in and can control Depth or Rate.
Here are the videos of this intriguing take on the tremolo.
Spaceman Effects Delta II Tremolo, Builder’s Notes
DELTA II HARMONIC TREMOLO
The Delta II is a small form factor harmonic tremolo, with smooth organic tone. Harmonic tremolo is achieved by splitting the input signal into high and low frequency bands, and amplitude modulating them in opposite directions. As the low frequencies pass, the highs are cut, and as the highs fade back into the mix, the lows sink below the horizon. Since one of the frequency bands is always passing, it’s less choppy than typical for trem. Morph between harmonic and traditional tremolo with the innovative LAG control, which introduces a variable offset between the LFO’s dual outputs. Combined with the Delta II’s unique voices, this makes for great swirling, phasey tones with endless rhythmic possibilities.YOUR HARMONIC HEARTBEAT
The Delta II features a high headroom all analog signal path with expanded tone shaping abilities. The signal is buffered, and subsequently runs into a 2-pole state-variable filter to perform the frequency range split. The high-pass, and low-pass filter outputs, along with the dry signal are routed into the tremolo portion of the circuit. The optical elements in the Delta II make for a smooth rise and decay, with a clean fluid response. Additionally, the VOICE toggle offers three signal path modulation options. High & Dry – highlights top-end shimmer, and emphasises clarity and bite. High & Low – provides a more liquid tonality especially useful for swirling phasey sounds. Low & Dry – excels at dark throbbing low-end presence. Exploration of the DEPTH, FREQ, and RES controls will unearth filtery stabs, slithering vibrato, or robotic rhythms. Volume is set from our shop to unity gain when the effect is engaged, but may be fine tuned via the internal trimpot. Each portion of the Delta II is carefully thought out, and painstakingly executed to be beautifully colored and alive with rhythmic intensity, and effortless shimmer.FALL BEHIND IN PERFECT TIME
The LFO of the Delta II is deceptively simple, yet surprisingly versatile. The dual output triangle wave oscillator has a unique ability – Lag. This allows the outputs of the LFO to smoothly lag from 0-180 degrees out of phase while still being in time. What this means is that with LAG control at minimum the two LFO outputs are identical, and at maximum LAG, they alternate in opposing fashion. For traditional tremolo sounds, keep the LAG at minimum, then as you introduce LAG, the LFO outputs diverge, creating infinite shades of harmonic tremolo up to maximum. The middle ranges of this control can thump, pulse, beat, bunnyhop, stagger, and dance in any given instance. For even more temporal animation, LFO RATE or DEPTH may be modulated via expression or CV.DELTA II FEATURES
• Smooth and lush all analog signal path, with 3 distinct voices
• Harmonic or traditional tremolo with a twist of the LAG control
• Wide-range LFO capable of slow pulsation to audio-rate madness
• Flexible filtering for deep and expressive tones
• 18V capable for high headroom use cases
• Selectable Expression / CV control of DEPTH or RATE
• Internal VOLUME trimpot for precise level matching
• Fixed Filter for tone shaping with DEPTH at minimumTRULY HAND CRAFTED
Hand-wired and built in Portland, Oregon, the Delta II features true-bypass relay switching with soft-touch footswitch. On top of the cast-aluminum enclosure sits a durable, engraved vinyl faceplate and jewel indicator light. This pedal is built to last a lifetime, both on Earth or in the vacuum of space.
