EarthQuaker Devices Aurelius Tri-Voice Chorus Pedal

Next to drive pedals, the faithful Chorus pedal is one of the more ubiquitous devices on anyone's pedalboard. With their new Aurelius Tri-Voice Chorus pedal, Earthquaker has breathed new life into the Chorus category, while also making it extremely simple to use. At the heart of the Aurelius are the three distinct voices: Chorus/Vibrato, Chorus/Flanger, and Rotary Speaker. The Chorus/Vibrato mode produces some of the more wobbly and off-balance soundscapes straight out of a psycho-drama soundtrack, while Chorus/Flanger is lends itself towards warmer lush tones (much like the CE-1 that inspired it). The Rotary Speaker mode is the big bonus, blending both frequency and amplitude modulation for the swirling pulsating effect of a Leslie rotary speaker. More fun than a straight chorus and more musical than a phaser, the Rotary may quickly become your favorite.

And with all that power wouldn't it be nice to remember your favorite settings? Earthquaker will let you store six of them, and unlike many of the recent crop of preset pedals they made it as easy as selecting a preset and hold down the save button. Recalling is about as easy too. And if you want to dive deeper there is also an assignable Expression pedal input that is equally simple to assign and modify.

In side-by-side testing, the Aurelius matches up very well against our analog CE-1 inspired reference pedal....and then takes off from there with an expanded array of voicings and features. And as we said earlier, saving and recalling a preset is so easy you'll actually use them. Once again Earthquaker has harnessed powerful sound shaping capabilities and made them accessible and easy to use.


In the words of Earthquaker Devices:

You see, this is not simply your run of the mill chorus pedal. This compact, beautifully cased wonder is a three-mode chorus with six programmable presets and an expression control. Choose from Vibrato (V) Mode, Chorus (C) Mode, and Rotary (R) Mode and manipulate their Width, Rate, and Balance to achieve your ideal sound. Shift seamlessly from one mode to another to cop a blend that is all your own. Just one simple tap of the Preset (“Save/Recall”) switch and you can summon up to six settings of your choosing at will. Feeling pretty powerful now, aren’t you?

Inspired by the 1970s CE-1 Chorus Ensemble pedal, this digital unit has been tirelessly tweaked and fine-tuned to give you an all-encompassing chorus and vibrato experience like nothing else. We even took it way back to the 1940s and the advent of the Leslie speaker to boldly capture the sound of its rotating baffle system for the Rotary mode. We studied the way that the horn and the rotor moved on Leslie speakers and emulated the phasing and speeds of the low frequency oscillator, but we exaggerated the hell out of them to make it sonically suitable for guitar, bass or your instrument of choice.

Mode V: Chorus/Vibrato

This mode is a familiar traditional chorus type effect that leans towards vibrato with a triangle LFO modulating a short delay line. When the Balance control is turned fully clockwise, the dry signal is removed and the effect becomes a pitch vibrato.

Controls

Width: Controls the amplitude of the LFO and determines how wide the pitch modulation will sweep.

Rate: Adjusts the speed of the LFO.

Balance: In Mode V, the Balance control adjusts the amount of pitch modulation that is blended in with the dry signal. When the Balance control is turned fully clockwise, the dry signal is removed and the effect becomes a pitch vibrato.

Mode C: Chorus/Flanger

Mode C is a blend of chorus and flanger. It has more warmth and slower rates than Mode V and uses a sine wave LFO to modulate the delay line. The Width control plays a major role in this mode and determines which type of modulation is more prominent.

Controls

Width: Controls the amplitude of the LFO and determines how wide the pitch modulation will sweep. Higher Width settings have a more pronounced Flanging effect. When the Width control is turned past the center point, feedback is gradually added and makes the flanging effect more prominent.

Rate: Controls the speed of the LFO.

Balance: In Mode C, the Balance control adjusts the level of the modulated signal. Turn clockwise for a more pronounced effect.

 
Mode R: Rotary Chorus

Mode R is a rotary chorus effect modeled after the sound of a Leslie speaker cabinet. This effect combines both amplitude and frequency modulation for a doppler effect.

Controls

Width: Controls the amplitude of the LFO and determines how wide the pitch modulation will sweep. Lower settings accentuate the lower “woofer” frequencies and higher settings accentuate the upper “horn” frequencies.

Rate: Controls the speed of the LFO.

Balance: In Mode R, the Balance control adjusts the wet/dry balance of the signal. Turn clockwise for a more pronounced and pulsing sub frequency effect.

And there's more:

• 6 use definable presets
• User-assignable expression control
• Two global operating modes which are indicated by the color of the Save/Recall switch:         
  • Green = Live Mode
  • Red = Preset Mode
• True bypass
• Silent relay-based switching with Flexi-Switch® Technology
• Lifetime warranty
• Current Draw: 75 mA
• Input Impedance: 500 kΩ
• Output Impedance: 100 Ω