Pigtronix has introduced Gloamer, a new analog, polyphonic amplitude synthesizer that alters the attack and decay time of any sound source, without sacrificing the fidelity of the original tone.
Its attack function provides a pick-triggered volume swell: a cinematic “slow gear” effect that is smooth and controllable with variable timing from extremely fast to very slow. The volume swell cycle can be reset at any moment by muting, allowing players to craft bowed string-like lines and chords with ease.
Gloamer also features a powerful optical compressor that can add subtle punch or extreme sustain, helping to maintain a smooth volume swell effect even with very long attack times. A Volume knob controls loudness at the peak of the attack cycle, while a master Blend control allows players to layer an uncompressed clean sound in with the volume swell effect.
Additionally, when activated, the Decay function causes notes to fade out once the attack cycle is complete. When the decay cycle is completed, an auto-reset function causes the attack to begin again immediately, as long as there is audio input. This allows you to create a wide range of undulating, asymmetrical tremolos at slower settings as well as pulsating stutter effects when using faster attack and decay times.
Pricing and Availability
Gloamer is available now for $279 USD.
Next thing you know, somebody will be calling an unearthed transistor an “Analog Random Multi Frequency Synthesizer”.
i’m guessing you are not so young?
oh no, i don’t try to imply nothing, just asking 🙂
very interesting constructive point of view gadi,
please don’t stop contributing things like this, so that this website stays worthwhile reading
Thank you, your replay is a good contribution as well, never loos your sense of humour
I think it’s a useful device, particularly as an analog option. It’s a bit odd to label it a synth, since it’s more of a slow-gear or dynamics pedal. Even if it had an envelope filter as part of its features, it would still not be what I’d expect from a “synth” pedal. That’s ok. It is what it is.
A digital alternative might be the Source Audio Atlas compressor pedal, which includes two dynamics processors where one or both could be gates with slow attacks (up to 5 seconds, I think). Not apples-to-apples. So there might be things the Atlas can do better, and things the Gloamer can excel at.