Ligma Electronics' 'You Need To Wake Up' is an interesting Mix of Room Reverb and Granular Buffer Effects

There’s a lot going on with this pedal - with multiple functions on each control - whether Knob, Toggle-switch or Footswitch.

The top ROOM REVERB Section shapes and swells the Reverb part, the 2nd Row controls the Number of Grains (GUESTS) and how they intermingle (DRIFT). And the 2 toggles give you different playback modes.

Both footswitches have Quick Press and Hold Functions, as detailed below.

Controls - THE ROOM REVERB } DRY>WET MIX [Gate/Sensitivity], DECAY [Swell/Rise], HI CUT [Lo Cut], GRANULAR EFFECTS } GUESTS (Grains) : Off > Low > Once/sec > Swarm [Memory Level], DRIFT (Depends on Memory Option) [Wear : darken and fall apart], REGISTER Options : -1 Octave / Near Unison|Gently Detuned / +1 Octave, MEMORY Options : NOW (recent bright afterimages) / THEN (Phrases & Mods) / ONCE (Old - Long - Fractured); FOOTSWITCHES }  ENTER Footswitch - Quick Press On/Off, Hold for Shift Options, WAKE Footswitch - Quick Press Clears 40-second Memory, Hold to momentarily Isolate / Preserve Memory.

It’s the kind of thing that sounds a little complicated on paper - but becomes very second nature once you’re operating the pedal and mixing up those two core effects.

The Granular side constantly records your playing into the Buffer - where you can then manipulate those patterns in various ways, including preserving a recorded phrase by Holding the WAKE Footswitch. Release that - and the Buffer starts recording new phrases anew.

I’ve spent a good many years working with granular effects, and this unit relatively speaking is pretty straightforward - and can deliver some really interesting tones and textures with the minimum of fuss.

I’ve been meaning to cover this one for a while! TPS reminded me again, and then some other priority momentarily took over - so I’m glad to get this feature out at last.

The ’You Need To Wake Up’ goes for $300 CAD on the Ligma Electronics Webstore, which equates to $220 USD - which seems very reasonable. It’s a cool and quirky Reverb + Granular Buffer with a high degree of versatility in a very compact and overall streamlined package.

I can definitely see this one being on the cards for me at some future stage, while there is a growing number of these kinds of effects from companies such as AC Noises, Butterfly Effects, Chase Bliss, Discomfort Design, Drolo, Glitch Cloud, Gamechanger, Glowfly, Hologram Electronics, Kinotone, OBNE, Puremagnetic, Pladask Elektronisk etc.

Most of those pedals feature secondary, and even tertiary functions on each control. While overall, the ’You Need To Wake Up’ is relatively straightforward.