Review: Rainger FX Deep Space Pulsar

Some of the coolest looking effects out there come from the British company Rainger FX. Their latest, a sidechaining pedal, is more typically-shaped than their usual fare but still reflects their creative graphics and off-center sensibility.

Sidechaining is a popular effect in modern recording. It can be used subtly, as in sidechaining a rhythm guitar with the kick drum, so that each time the kick drum hits the guitar volume dips slightly, or more intensely in dance music, to make the signal completely disappear with each kick drum beat. The Rainger FX Deep Space Pulsar ducks your instrument’s volume in this manner, creating a choppy effect similar to a slicer like the Boss SL-20.

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Cool Gear Alert: Source Audio Ventris Dual Reverb

Full disclosure: I am the Nashville Source Audio Rep. But I am not posting this because I am the Nashville Source Audio Rep. I am the Nashville Source Audio Rep because ever since they introduced the Hot Hand over a decade ago, Source Audio has been among the most forward-thinking effects companies on the planet. Hell, this thing is so new and already selling so fast that I don’t even have one. I have checked it out a NAMM shows and can’t wait to get my hands on it. If reverb plays a major part in your music, you need a Ventris.  And if it doesn’t, get one and it may start.

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Spotlight: Dan Phillips

Chicago is too often overlooked as a center for jazz and other improvised music. The fact that Dan Phillips has chosen to make this Midwest city his base of operations has done nothing to hamper his music. Having gathered a coterie of like minds, he records and plays live with multiple projects in the Windy City. Throughout these various ensembles, his co-designed custom instrument affords him that most valuable of assets, a distinctive sound, which draws you into his music wherever he chooses to take it.

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Cool Gear Alert: Elta Effects

Thanks to a Facebook post by Naia Azumi, I discovered Elta Music devices . One of a growing number of pedal manufacturers who seem to be springing from the burgeoning modular market, Elta offers four effects in footswitchable packages that are bound to be of interest to the modern guitarist. First up is their String Ringer:

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