KMA MACHINES CIRRUS

102
GUITARIST SUMMER 2020
IMAGES TO BE SHOT
I
n its first foray into fully digital pedals,
KMA Machines has put delay and
reverb together into one stompbox.
Nothing new about that, you might say
– there are quite a lot of them around
these days. This unit, however, is no
standard two-for-one pedal. Described as
a “spatial-temporal modifier”, it is quite
specifically designed with the intent of
using both effects together, complete with
a set of modifying features, to create a
bigger soundscape.
Both effects have a choice of three
modulators allied to a sensitivity knob so
that their intensity can be controlled by
your picking attack; both delay and reverb
can have standard pitch modulation.
The delay can also have an added upper
octave or a sample-and-hold effect, while
the reverb can have high-pass (HP) or
low-pass (LP) filtering applied. Add in
tap tempo for the delay, extra momentary
functions for both of the footswitches,
expression pedal control of a choice
of parameters, and an effects loop for
including other pedals in the mix – and
you have an innovative sound-creation
tool with plenty of performance options.
SOUNDS
The order of effects is sorted by a toggle
switch, so you can have the most common
pedalboard setup of delay feeding reverb
or you can opt to have the reverb feeding
into the delay line. You can, of course,
keep the Mix knob for delay or reverb at
minimum meaning you can just use each
effect singly. Otherwise, juxtaposition
of those knobs will give you your ideal
combined blend.
The delay is a straightforward digital
delay with repeats that are clones of
the original signal, and it has the usual
complement of knobs for delay time and
repeats (feedback). The other side of the
pedal provides a hall reverb with knob
control over the decay time to help set
the perceived size, and damping to adjust
the tail’s top-end EQ. Minimum setting of
the sensitivity knobs for delay and reverb
will give you the unadulterated effect, but
turning it up will take you into a quirkier
realm where the modifiers kick in.
With the sensitivity knob effectively
increasing its depth, the modulated delay
adds a mild chorusing on lower settings
but can get into deeper pitch fluctuations,
not unlike tape wobble. Choosing S/H
puts a sequencer-like filter in front of the
delay, adding rhythmic interest in the
Reverb and delay combine to create sonic cloudscapes
Words Trevor Curwen Photography Olly Curtis
PEDALBOARD
Cirrus
CONTACT
AUDIO DISTRIBUTION GROUP [phone] WWW.KMA-MACHINES.COM
MODEL
CIRRUS
PRICE
£185
MANUFACTURER
KMA MACHINES
KMA MACHINES
GIT462.peds_kma.indd 102 07/07/2020 22:20