proportion to the input
level. Hard strumming, for
example, would trigger a
new swell with each hard
down stroke. A bit of Flutter
added in transformed the
pitch-shifting pedal into a
chorus-like pedal. But with
more Flutter, the pitchshifted tones began to
flutter as if they had passed
through a tremolo circuit.
Turning up the Filter knob
lets the higher pitches
ring through, while turning
it down transforms the
output to a chorusy, watery,
and organ-like sound. The
closest sound I can think to
describe is the final few bars
in Nirvana’s “Come as You
Are,” when the distorted,
chorus-effected guitars
ring out. When I added in
a bit of low end, and set
the Filter knob to bypass
the higher frequencies,
the Luminary produced a
sound that reminded me of
an underwater pipe organ.
This setting was probably
the most fun to play with,
particularly because the
texture of the sound was
so interesting.
three presets, each of which
is extremely easy to set.
Once the Preset switch has
been tapped, the pedal
can cycle through the three
settings with an additional
tap for each one. Helpfully,
the LED just next to the
footswitch has a specific
color associated with each
setting. Some people might
prefer an absurd number
of programmable presets,
perhaps something like 128,
but for most people, the
Luminary’s humble three will
be more than adequate.
WHAT WE LIKE
Excellent polyphonic pitch
shifting combined with
a highly intuitive control
layout. Additional settings
include swelling (Attack), a
low-pass filter (Filter) and a
tremolo (Flutter).
CONCERNS
None.
The Luminary is a cool
little polyphonic pitch
shifter which ought to gain
adherents. I imagine that
many people who want to
fill out their band’s mix will
find a use for the pedal.
After all, why resort to
old strumming patterns
when you can produce
organ-like chord swells?
It’s a great addition to the
company’s already fantastic
line of pedals, and would
make a solid addition to
pedalboards across the land.
The Luminary also features
ToneReport.com
59