Oregon's Step Audio is promising the chance for guitarists to play their guitar effects pedals like musical instruments with its new Pilot Wave controller.
Any pedal that allows MIDI controller over its parameters can be expanded with the Pilot Wave – including effects from brands including Strymon, Chase Bliss, Meris, Eventide, and Line 6.
Pilot Wave can dynamically modify up to 10 parameters at a time using sequences of up to 16 steps. These include Tap Tempo and MIDI Clock sync are included, and seven ways for players to manually control sequences in an intuitive way with one button control.
That means it can be especially fun and adaptable in a live scenario, eg playing along with a live drummer and shifting the tempo because you have control over the sequencing with the Pilot Wave.
The controller comes with 16 presets to get players started for popular pedals including Chase Bliss Condor, Meris’ Enzo and Hedra, as well as Strymon’s Riverside and TimeLine. Step Audio say many more will follow. There's up to 128 presets that are accessible with an external MIDI controller.
Other features include:
• Control a single pedal, or up to ten at a time
• Up to 6 program changes can be sent at each preset to recall programs on
downstream devices
• Each preset allows up to 10 separate MIDI Control Change (CC)
sequences of up to 16 Steps
• There's 10 unique playback modes, including 7 manual control modes
• Create, edit, and share Pilot Wave sequences using the Online Programmer via Google Chrome (no download required)
Pilot Wave will sell for $199, and includes a premium USB-MIDI cable in addition to three different Step Audio MIDI cables for connecting most devices.
Visit stepaudio.net for more info
