The best Effects Pedals for Synths Vol. 1!
Some of our top picks to spice up your synthesizer!
Synthesizers and effects pedals are the best friends. The time when pedals were made just for guitars is long gone and nowadays every proper synth nerd uses a few hardware effects to compliment his/ her synth sounds! A few synths also have onboard effects but, most of the time, they are pretty basic and limited. So here are our Top 10 pedals that will elevate your synthesizer patches!
10. Earthquaker Devices - Plumes
Plumes is a relatively cheap and simple overdrive pedal. It’s fully analog and offers 3 distinct overdrive circuits that go from a clean boost to a crunchy overdrive! With Plumes, you can saturate your synth sound and give a bit more bite without losing too much of your initial signal and that’s why it’s a great option for some powerful overdriven synth sounds!
We also have a full list of distortion/ overdrive pedals for synths here.
9. TC Electronic - JUNE-60
The cheapest pedal on our list is a faithful recreation of the legendary Chorus circuit that was built in to the Roland Juno. With just two buttons, just like in the Juno, you can add that lush & dreamy chorus sound to your synthesizer. And even at this price point, it has a stereo out which is essential to get that famous Juno Chorus sound. Ideal for pads and long-sustain patches, the JUNE-60 is a one-trick pony that gets the job done!
8. Fairfield Circuitry - Shallow Water
Shallow Water has been steadily on lots of our lists for effects pedals and for a good reason. This pedal is one-of-a-kind although, after its huge success, a lot of companies tried to offer something similar. It is a random modular that can result in vibrato, chorus, and flanging effects with a low-pass gate control. It shines when it’s used subtly to add an analog feel and warmth to a sterile patch that feels a bit dull. Shallow Water sometimes sounds like a broken tape machine in the best way possible so if you want a bit of nostalgia to your sound, look no further!
7. Chase Bliss - MOOD MKII
It’s very hard to choose just one Chase Bliss pedal for our list but since we have to, it has to be MOOD MKII. MOOD is a micro-looper and reverb pedal that can take just a tiny amount of sound and turn it into a beautiful ambient pad or weird pitch-shifted loop. It’s a pedal that will immediately spark your inspiration and make you write songs around it and that is well worth the investment. Learn more here.
6. JAM Pedal - Delay Llama XTREME
If you want a pure analog delay pedal that sounds raw and organic, the Delay Llama XTREME is probably the best choice out there. It’s an analog delay that lives up to its analog nature and sounds beautiful on any type of sound. But it doesn’t end there. Its XTREME modes offer more options like Vibrato, a Tape-style delay, and two Pitch Shifting modes. Especially the Pitch-Shift mode is an amazing way to create interesting pitch-shifted patterns with your delays that will certainly grab the listener’s attention! Check out our full review here.
5. Walrus Audio - Slöer
Reverb is probably the most used effect on synths. And there are tons of options out there. But the latest release by Walrus Audio, Slöer, is a magnificent ambient-sounding stereo reverb that will elevate your synth patches to new heights. The five modes on it are more than enough to get that exact reverb sound you’re looking for and its stereo capabilities are great to take a mono synth and spread it on the stereo field. We have a full review coming up in the following days but be sure that Slöer has become one of the best reverb pedals we’ve ever used!
4. Red Panda - Tensor
Red Panda is a pedal manufacturer that has the perfect line-up of pedals. All of their releases are deep, great-sounding, and unique. So, for this list, we decided to include their weirdest pedal, Tensor. Tensor is a micro-looper pedal that works like a tape machine. You loop stuff in it and then you can re-pitch them, slow them down or speed them up, and even reverse them. It’s the perfect pedal to build layers of sound underneath your melodies and main sounds that will glue a song together and provide that unexpected element to your productions.
3. Old Blood Noise - Float
Since we’re talking about synths, it is almost certain that you already have a filter onboard. But with Float, you get two independent filters that can be used in stereo, in parallel, or as dual mono that can also be modulated with its LFOs. That is something most synths don’t have so Float can be the pedal you need to up your filter game and add movement to your patches. Plus, it’s analog so a digital synth can surely benefit from the warmth of an analog filter!
Check out our Preset & Sample Packs
2. Meris - Ottobit Jr.
Ottobit Jt. is another unique pedal by Meris. It’s a bitcrusher, sample reduction, and step sequencer that can create all sorts of sequences just by using a few notes. It has a very nice synth-like resonant ladder filter, it’s stereo and can lead to many happy accidents once you start playing with it. You can use it for some stuttery effects, pitch-shifting, and of course, its amazing bitcrusher that is its highlight. Such a creative and inspiring pedal that deserves more love!
1. Hologram Electronics - Microcosm
If you follow us for a while, you’ll know that we absolutely love the Microcosm. I think it’s one of the very best pedals ever created and the fact that you can find one in so many studio proves this. We’ve made a full review of it if you want to learn all the details so, in a nutshell, Microcosm is a delay and looper pedal. But not your average delay pedal. The multiple modes on it, give you limitless options on how you want your delays to sound. It can do any delay effect you’d wish for, it has a 3-mode lush-sounding reverb, a resonant filter, and a very powerful looper all in one pedal. For electronic music producers, I truly think the Microcosm is a no-brainer purchase. It takes the incoming sounds and transforms them in so many ways that it’s certain that you’ll find the sounds you’re looking for. Check out our full review here.
Conclusion
As we said in our intro, pedals are the best way to make your synths come alive. Here we decided to include some of our favorite options but as I was writing this post, I quickly realized there are tons of pedals that pair well with synths so this Pedals & Synths Vol. 1. I also decided not to include some of the classics, like the Strymon Big Sky that you’ll find in most lists but some pedals that you may never thought that would work with your synth. Stay tuned for Vol. 2!
