New Dimension

Beetronics takes the chorus effect and sweetens it with an extra layer of pitch shifting to offer an endlessly creative tool

- Trevor Curwen

Beetronics has invented a new sub-genre in effects pedals by describing its new Seabee pedal as a 'Harmochorus'. At its heart, this is an analogue bucket-brigade chorus pedal that has been complemented with digital control of the chorus delay time to make the chorus wave bounce up and down in precise pitches. This creates a pitch-shifting modulation that the company says has never been found in any other pedal. The knobs, toggle switches and footswitches, plus alternative functions, offer loads to get to grips with as there's so much that can be dialled in, but, fortunately, the pedal has onboard presets, so any sound that you conjure up can be stored.

The basic starting point is the Effect toggle switch, which lets you select Chorus or Harmochorus, and each of these effects has three modes. Now, while there's a jack to take an expression pedal and more, much of what the pedal does is based on performance features direct from the pedal itself: a footswitchable Ramp effect where you can trigger movement. You can adjust the ramp speed and have a choice of three different ramp shapes and the ability to invert their direction. The actual ramping is assigned to a specific parameter depending on the selected mode.