This has turned out to be the largest category for 2025 with 38 pedals in this selection. As I favour those pedals that I own first, and then the more pedalboard-friendly editions - inevitably there would be some casualties for the year. With the most significant of those being the larger format Meris Enzo X, and the Polyend MESS Multi-Effect Step Sequencer. I know there are some who favour each of those - but they just aren’t targets for me personally.

 I always talk about having a lane - ...

Another super busy month - where the lack of a holiday is really starting to impact my wellbeing - as I’m about as shattered and burned out as is possible without going entirely into meltdown - I’m teetering on the edge!

Here follow the highlights of the month - which I normally try to limit to around 10 elements - but stand at 12 for September. No show or onside attendances this month - while plenty of other activities - and some killer releases of course!

• Jo Quail @ the Roland Store,

Over two years in the making, Boss has evolved pitch-shifting to a more pristine clear and precise glitch-free style of Polyphonic Pitch-Shifting. Most previous efforts deliver a somewhat ’effected’ signal - where unwanted artificial and additional artefacts are typically added into the mix. This new generation of XS Polyphonic Pitch-Shifters gives you the most precise pitch-shifting experience to-date.

These devices have very much been optimised for high-gain drop-tuning players - who have...

This is a really interesting new pitch-modulation circuit - a tiny bit reminiscent of EQD’s Rainbow Machine - but it’s significantly adjacent to that and very much its own thing! I also much prefer this slimmer form factor here  vs the Rainbow Machine. The Mirror House is really cleverly engineered - and calls on a Smart Control topology to shape its output.

It’s best to approach it from the control topology first :

Controls - Mix (Dry>Wet Mix), Amount (Degree of Shift / Pitch ...

So when I first covered the HammerOn - alongside the MonoNeon Whammy release, I hadn’t fully gotten to grips with what this pedal was overall about. I think that at my time of writing there were no demos out at that time - while a few brief NAMM snapshots have emerged since - particularly around the 2-5 Note Sequencer and Trill Auto Repeater functionalities.

As the proud owner of the HammerOn’s adjacent siblings - the Drop, and the Whammy Ricochet - I thought I would break it down in the ...

So Fractal Audio Systems has thrown its hat in the ring with its first non-modelling device / unit - the VP4 Virtual Pedalboard Multi-FX Processor - which is quite a departure for the brand.

It’s obviously gunning for Line 6 and Eventide in particular, but also looking to knock out Boss and Strymon Workstation pedals. It has several of its own advantages, but with a number of caveats too. Overall it’s well priced for what it delivers - but for my own preferences it’s still somewhat over-...

Electro-Harmonix often does superb introductory demos for its new pedals, and I must admit I was totally blown away by the vast Multi-FX territory covered by this launch. This POG III takes the Polyphonic Octave Generator circuit into entirely new territory - and has you covered for all kinds of other advanced effects.

Watching the demo, the following key territories are touched on :

• Slow Polyphonic Attack - backwards octave blend, somewhat Attack Decay -like
• 12 String sound with Chorus

I’ve long been a fan of DigiTech in all its guises - Mainline, DOD, and HardWire editions. Since a number of these are now discontinued I thought it a good time to review some of my favourites and nearly-weres.

In fact from this selection of 9, I own 4 - Dirty Robot, The Drop, Ventura Vibe, and Whammy Ricochet - all of which have seen fairly regular use in the pedal-chain. The Dirty Robot was my favourite Synth pedal pretty much before the Boss SY-1 and SY-200 materialised. And the Whammy ...

Sparked by a few recent acquisitions, this seems the perfect time to round up the best of Pitch-Shifter, Octaver and Harmonizer Pedals. I most recently secured a Boss PS-6, EHX Pitch Fork, and CopperSound Triplegraph.

The Triplegraph was acquired from Martel Music - I’m just waiting for CopperSound to hand-deliver stock there next week, which means I should get mine early April.

There’s two fairly recent arrivals here I have yet to snap up - the Pitch Fork+ and ...