Innovations of note over the last 3 years

[Mark Hammer]

What for you are the pedal innovations that really impressed you during the last 3 years?  (I picked 3 because it's long enough, yet not too long).

By "innovations", I DO NOT mean a pedal or DIY design that you think sounds great and has a permanent place on your pedalboard.  I don't mean something that sounded outrageous.  I mean something whose feature set, and sonic possibilities made you think "Boy, am I ever glad someone thought of that!  Now I can do so much more, or more than I ever used to be able to do."

That could be a way of switching, features that only digital made possible.  Additional controls that let you fine tune something you had always been forced to adjust in shotgun fashion.  Something that let you be more expressive.  Something that let you integrate more.

Whatever.

It *could* also be new sounds, or a new approach to making them, and not "just a convenience".  I'm deliberately trying to avoid mere noisemakers here.  Different sorts of noise is NOT an innovation IMHO.  Musically valid, yes, but not innovation.  Innovation moves the entire discipline forward, transforms how we approach things.  A tablet computer is an innovation; a tablet that "comes in cool colours", not so much.

So, flip through your mental or actual paper or web-pages, NAMM visits, stage-gazing, etc., reflect...and report.

[Paul Marossy]

Relay bypass switching? I know some people are experimenting with it and IIRC there is one line of products currently on the market using relays for the bypass switching.

[Seljer]

I'd say that over the past three years people have embraced microcontrollers for LFO control in tremolos and modulation pedals in general. We're finally seeing a plentitude of DIY tap tempo pedals.

[teej212]

im not sure if this fits into your qualifications, but i think boutiquers beginning to delve into DSP and programming is the greatest thing to happen in a long time.  If big companies like Boss and Digitech were the only ones who did stuff like this we would only have plain products, meant to apply to the average consumer.  Since boutiquers like subdecay, earthquaker devices, iron ether, to name a few, have begun using digital control, or signal processing we can get some wild and previously unimaginable sounds, and they do not have to worry as much about pleasing the general consumer, they can be as weird as they want with their designs!  

[markeebee]

Does the Line6 M5 count as innovative?  If so, that.  If not, Burst Box.

[ayayay!]

I like what Rick (and subsequently other guys like Renegadrian) and Dano have done with the tube pedals.  Not really innovative, but taking it into new territory.  Meaning experimenting more with the lower voltages, exhausting combinations of circuit design... stuff like that, and making it available in a stompbox.  We've hit opamp and tranny distortions and OD's so much that the tube route was a breath of fresh air, and not just the plain old Ibanez Tube TK999 style. 

[Paul Marossy]

Just saw this the other day, thought it was pretty innovative - http://www.rapcohorizon.com/p-618-ijam.aspx

[teej212]

another thing i thought of was the tone print type idea- sharing presets and sounds through USB

[bancika]

I like "audio tap" feature on TC delays. While holding the tap button you play something in the desired rhythm and it figures out the tempo. Kinda smart
Also thought that auto-bypass on hardwire was cool, it bypasses the pedal when battery level is low.

[teemuk]

Doesn't really have much if anything to do with pedals but that Kemper Profiling Amplifier is a very exciting concept.

[Morocotopo]

- Polyphonic tuners (not an FX, but...).
- Those EH sitar/freeze/odd noisemakers pedals.
- Super cheap chinese pedals. Like, I can buy one with the change left from the weekly grocery shopping.

[joegagan]

facebook.

[geertjacobs]

Not really a pedal, but I wish I had bought my Vox Amplug AC30 a lot earlier.

[tiges_ tendres]

another thing i thought of was the tone print type idea- sharing presets and sounds through USB

Even better than that, The TC Electronic pedals can have custom presets changed via iPhone.

Way more convenient than a USB cable.

[LucifersTrip]

I'd have to agree with a couple above and say, the more prominent use of microcontrollers and programming...Arduino, etc

[frequencycentral]

Various incarnations of PT2399 for other-than-straight-delay abuse.  

[earthtonesaudio]

[Mark Hammer]

All interesting and thought-provoking.  Keep 'em coming, folks.

I haven't used all of them them so I can't comment with any authority, but I THINK I like the way that Strymon, Line 6, EHX (and I think TC and Eventide, though I might be mistaken) have incorporated controls whose function depends on the mode you're in.  I like having knobs to twiddle, but I also like a relatively clean and uncluttered panel that leaves room for my fingers, without resulting in a footprint the size of a dinner tray.

And I think I like the manner in which pedalboard technology has evolved towards more integrated, yet still open-ended, systems.  You can stick a wad of stuff on them, with appropriate power for everything, and a convenient "switching station" up front that lets you stick stuff where it fits rather than where it has to go in order to be able to easily step on it.

[Morocotopo]

Now that I think more about it, the most promising development I saw was that thing that could load VST plugins in a pedalboard format. The nice thing is that it separated the hard from the soft finally. So you could get garden variety FX from big companies and esoteric stuff from two guys with a PC and lots of time and imagination. Imagine using the GRM plugins live on your guitar!!! Über cool.
But I velieve it didn´t catch on. Too bad.

[Electron Tornado]

Also agree with the mention of Adruino. I recall someone utilized it for switching or looping control. I think there has also been discussion of using it to change effects pedal settings using electronically adjustable pots.

EH's new wah pedal is kind of interesting - rocker pedal, no treadle. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LZMA79WvqmE

Mark, not to hijack the thread, but could we also allow discussion of innovations in tools and processes for development and construction of pedals?