The Bicycle Delay was something like an “Albert Hoffman -the inventor of LSD, which we all love- moment” (to quote a good friend and guitarist Neal Casal). I sat down with no plan of where I was going but to allow myself the freedom to be open to wherever the journey took me and just document the experience. Really a strange path to travel when it involves something as cerebral as programming software. Or maybe it’s not. Maybe that’s a pure form of creativity, to use the boundaries something so matter of fact as programming as a medium for art? The result was a pedal as autobiographical as any I have been involved in. The Bicycle Delay is a physical manifestation of the experience of consciousness, letting go of the desire to control everything, and maintaining a positive attitude to leave room for a positive experience.

Demo by Guitar Chimp

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Review by Pedal of the Day

Review by reddit /guitarpedals

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Bicycle Delay

The Formula No. 55 is a Foundation Overdrive that reproduces, in exact detail, the preamp section of the classic Fender™ tweed 5E3 Deluxe using an all-discrete JFET-based signal path. The Volume and Tone controls replicate, part for part, the circuitry of the 5E3, giving you authentic tweed amp response. The output section is designed to give you punch and volume with a low output impedance to drive your amp perfectly. Set the Hi-Lo button to "Lo" for the cleaner response of a vintage tweed. "Hi" is like hot rodding your amp by swapping in higher gain tubes.

Demo by Verdilac Sound

Demo by ProGuitarShopDemos

FORMULA NO. 55

Das Catalinbread Reverb-Pedal hat das gleichnamige Programm des Yamaha FX500 Multieffektgeräts aus den 90er-Jahren zum Vorbild. Maßgeblichen Anteil hatte dieser Ambient-Reverb am Sound der britischen Band Slowdive auf ihrem Album Souvlaki, das heute unter Fans des sogenannten Shoegaze-Stils als absoluter Klassiker gilt. Und das, obwohl die Signalqualität des FX500 laut diverser Aussagen im Netz mit heutigen Maßstäben nicht mithalten kann.

With its roots in that patch, the Catalinbread Soft Focus is intended to be an instant shoegaze button, while addressing the most glaring issues of the original unit: no mix control, a sub-par preamp, and a ghastly tone-sucking bypass signal. At its heart, the Soft Focus is a heavily modified plate reverb with adjustable time, which is subsequently split into three paths. One path contains a multi-voiced chorus modulator, another features a well-appointed octave-up mixed in with the reverb, and the third path leaves the reverb untouched.

Note - The Soft Focus runs from 9 to 18 volts using a standard DC center-negative power supply for pedals. Make sure you’re using a supply that provides at least 100mA. Running the Soft Focus at 9V will sound great, but if you want a bit more output, a dry signal boost and increased headroom, try any voltage you like up to 18V! The Soft Focus does not run on batteries.

Review by Premier Guitar

Review by Bonedo 

Demo by Mark Johnston

Demo by Demos In The Dark 

Demo by SweetWater

Soft Focus Reverb

Der Catalinbread CSIDMAN entstammt dem Gedanken, dass technische Entwicklungen nur selten direkt vom Erkennen eines Problems zu dessen endgültiger Lösung führen. In der Regel passiert das in vielen Zwischenschritten, von denen viele zu ihrer Zeit als Nonplusultra gelten, bis sie der Fortschritt wieder überholt. Die Schallplatte beispielsweise hat trotz ihrer Unzulänglichkeiten der Musik im letzten Jahrhundert zum wirtschaftlichen Erfolg verholfen. Und mit der Erfindung des Magnetbandes war es möglich, sie jederzeit und relativ einfach aufzunehmen – oder zum Beispiel in Echogeräten für den entsprechenden Effekt zu sorgen. Und genau dort setzt Catalinbread an: So wie die Schallplatte für viele immer noch als das natürlichste und authentischste Medium gilt, so schwören auch nicht wenige von uns heute noch bei ihren Aufnahmen auf die alten Bandechos, und das trotz, oder gerade wegen derer Unzulänglichkeiten. Warum also nicht ein Effektgerät kreieren, das unter anderem die Artefakte reproduziert, für die das Nachfolgemedium der Schallplatte, die CD, gefürchtet war?

Yes, it's digital. Did I stutter? What are the artifacts of antiquated technologies that have merit in a musical context? Why can't we create a pedal that intentionally embraces technological limitations that musicians haven't widely utilized?
I see technology as the optimistic push through the limitations of existing paradigms: limitations in materials, processes, functionality, cost, and foresight. With each spearhead of technology, the limitations of incumbents are resolved. All too often, a slew of new issues are introduced that the marketplace is willing to overlook, at least for a short period of time. It isn’t too long before the marketplace demands better, and is willing to abandon the past and pay for the next-generation solution.

Review by GEARNEWS 

Review by bonedo 

Demo by Catalinbread Effects 

CSIDMAN

The Cloak began after unearthing some ancient texts containing some forbidden incantations on how to introduce spectral elements within a decaying echo. Ok, we’re embellishing a bit; but the inspiration came from the land of academia and the acoustics department at Stanford, where a treatise on the optimal shimmer effect was penned a handful of years back. In a similar pursuit of perfection, we’ve drawn inspiration from a combination of research and our own endeavors to craft a truly superb take on shimmer reverb. At its core, the Cloak is a “room” style reverb that sounds amazing on its own, but with a twist of the Shimmer knob, rich, harmonically-laden overtones creep in, emphasizing three different orders of harmonics within the trails. A specially-designed low-pass filter steps in and smooths the harmonics out before they get too out of hand and wreck up the signal path.

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Catalinbread

Bicycle Delay

Catalinbread

FORMULA NO. 55

Catalinbread

Soft Focus Reverb

Catalinbread

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