2024 was an interesting year for the world of effect pedals—with several favorite companies introducing their newest endeavors, and plenty of new players stepping into the space. Namely, we saw multiple modular synthesizer manufacturers introduce their first effect pedal format devices; and likewise, we saw several pedal manufacturers create peculiar, unique new takes on classic types of effects.
Let's dive in and get a glimpse of some of the most interesting new effects in 2024.
ALM Busy Circuits MFX Pedal
In 2024 we saw a number of modular manufacturers move into the stompbox space, with a standout being ALM's port of their lovely little multieffect, the MFX Pedal. In modular racks far and wide, the MFX module has brought its collection of classic studio rack effect emulations to help spice-up end of chain mixes and singular voices alike, quickly becoming a go-to recommendation for a compact and great sounding stereo multi-effect. Now infused with footswitches, 1/4" connectivity, and onboard MIDI and expression control, the MFX Pedal is here to revolutionize guitar pedalboards and studio synth set ups to exciting ends.
Before mentioning the particular benefits the MFX Pedal delivers for the non-modular musician, it can't be stressed enough that these effects simply sound good. Like, really good. ALM's point of departure for choosing these effects is to offer a palette which combines some of their own favorite studio hardware units, incorporating cherished and nostalgic tones from the early days of digital audio and into the present. Alongside the nearly-obligatory models of Lexicon delay and reverb, the MFX Pedal hosts a wide range of other classic effects including the Ursa Major Spacestation, Alesis Quadraverb, and Juno-60 style ensemble effects. Additionally, glitch and granular effects bring in more contemporary sounds, while plenty of other useful tools like dynamics processors and signal utilities round out the comprehensive effects list.
The MFX Pedal, with its many professional grade effects covering a vast array of musical applications, offers a valuable resource to both pedal-centric performers and studio producers alike. Like a swiss-army knife made with the finest steel, flipping through the effects list makes evident how useful this combination of effects can be, with each effect offering either a highly satisfying quality that does exactly what you need, or a whole world of inspirational sound that sweeps you off toward a new creative path. In each mode, the panel controls can be defined for each effect, as can the expression and MIDI control, enabling users to create custom set-ups that suit their needs and playing style. As a pedal for synths, the stereo capable inputs and outputs interface seamlessly with synth signals, making the MFX an awesome tool for giving all your instruments a dynamite effects section. ALM continues to push boundaries in Eurorack with a number of exciting additions this year alone, so we are looking forward to how the MFX Pedal shakes up the stompbox world in classic Busy Circuits style.
Dtronics DT-303
Despite their obvious connotations with guitar-driven music, it's not that uncommon for electronic musicians to thicken up their synthesizers or drum machines with a distortion pedal. But depending on the pedal being used, some circuits are designed with the impedance and signal levels of guitars in mind—they don't always translate well to line-level sources.
Enter the DT-303 from Dtronics: an enhanced Rat-style distortion tuned to handle the range of frequencies and signalsthat can come from synthesizers. Crucially, this distortion box is meant for line-level signals, which practically any device that's not a guitar, microphone, or modular instrument will generate. And in an aesthetic nod to the past (and no surprise given its name), the DT-303 was designed to look like Roland's TB-303, ensuring that it will sit nicely next to the legendary original or any of its derivatives. But of course, it will happily crunch up any synthesizer or drum machine with ease.
The DT-303 offers three different distortion types, plus a bypass switch to allow the unmodified signal through. Classic, Turbo, and Overdrive modes offer some distinctly different flavors of Rat, alongside the essential Distortion, Filter, and Volume controls to tame or decimate things accordingly. The enclosure is a hefty block of 2mm steel, giving it the necessary heft and durability to reliably deliver distorted goodness night after night.
EAE Prismatic Wall
The cool cats at Electronic Audio Experiments have been a rising force in the effects pedal world, putting out some of the most beloved, dynamic, and unique pedals we've seen in a while. Their refined spins on less-commonly heard drive circuits have resulted in an impressive array of products, with collaborative pieces like the Science Mother Preamp and 0xEAE Boost standing out as highlights among a generally strong catalog. But with some of their more recent projects, EAE has been flexing their ingenuity and expanding beyond the world of drives, dirt, and distortion pedals.
As far as different effect types are concerned, the Prismatic Wall is certainly one that's a bit more "out there" than your typical pedal. Prismatic Wall specializes in sympathetic resonances—not dissimilar to the additional strings found on instruments like the sitar, imparting pedal tones beneath whatever is being played. Obviously, Prismatic Wall doesn't have strings but achieves the effect with tuned delay lines, which comes with the benefits of dynamic retuning through simple controls on top of the pedal.
Prismatic Wall provides a few different ways to macro-control the tuning of these virtual strings, as well as the spacing between them. Unison/overtone centers upon one note, whereas others like stacked Neutral Thirds (yes, between Major or Minor Thirds), stacked Fifths, and even a delightfully wonky chromatic mode spacing 12 strings a half step apart. There's also an option to engage any mode an octave higher, which interacts with your instrument in different ways and yields some pleasant DSP artifacts.
Going well beyond a simple effect pedal, Prismatic Wall can behave like an instrument all on its own, thanks to support for external MIDI input and the ability to dynamically morph between settings at an instant. If you're a pedal enthusiast making the jump from tone to tonal effects, the Prismatic Wall should certainly be on your list.
Erica Synths Nightverb
The Nightverb from Erica Synths is a desktop reverb unit that offers gigantic and minuscule reverbs that are incredibly musical and offers hands on tweaking, minimal menu diving, and robust MIDI controls. You get access to all the controls you'd want to have on a full featured stereo reverb including special Spin and Stereo controls that add movement and widen the stereo field. There's no switching between algorithms, no multitude of IRs or modeled equipment, just a good sounding reverb for just about any application. It can sound natural or artificial with a few small tweaks and you can easily blend between different reflections and fine tune the EQ. Low and High Damping are available independently and you can push the gain up to +24dB if you want.
The Nightverb's simplicity is what makes it so special: in an age where there is no shortage of a many-in-one effect unit, Erica Synths has a dedicated reverb unit that showcases all of its parameters. There's a preset system for storing your perfect settings, but it's almost unneeded because half of the enjoyment is in the journey of reverbatory discovery. In this discovery, you will quickly see that you have the tiniest spaces as well as the largest spaces available to you with the Size knob. Working with the Feedback (Decay) knob, you can get 1ms decay times up to 1000s—that's right, you can have reverb deay over 16 minutes in length. That is a mastadonic variety, and no matter how you set the unit up, it always sounds good.
Not content with merely creating a great reverb, a Freeze option holds the reverb tail indefinitely with the option to adjust the pitch via the Size knob—however, you can also plug in a keyboard to the MIDI port and play the frozen audio like a sample. While a reverb's sound might be subjective, that is really the most impressive thing about this; and you can see why Erica Synths could be so confident in releasing a reverb unit based around one algorithm. A singular vision executed beautifully and most importantly musically.
Fairfield Conflict of Interest
In 2024 we saw the release of a number of pedal format effects which point to the continued influence of modular synthesis techniques in other electronic music frontiers. Fairfield Circuitry's recent release of multiple utility modules, a handful of which directly integrate with CV capable devices, offer some of the most straightforward and fun implementations, particularly their envelope follower and CV generator, Conflict of Interest. While honorable mention is due to Gamechanger Audio for their Auto series of pedals, which feature CV inputs and outputs, for me Fairfield's Conflict of Interest takes the cake for its ability to play nice with a broad range of other pedals, bringing control voltage functionality to expression inputs on old favorites, modular synths, and more.
Conflict of Interest is relatively simple to use, making it easy to fit into a variety of set ups right away. Your audio signal passes through the input and output unchanged, while Conflict of Interest follows your amplitude to trigger envelopes as you play. With three modes for envelope behavior each featuring control over level, attack, release, and polarity, it's easy to dial in the right amount of performative modulation for your chosen input destination. In a radical act of kind convenience, Fairfield equipped Conflict of Interest with both 1/4" and 3.5mm jacks, readily slotting into any pedal, modular, or hybrid set-up.
While not an effect in and of itself, Conflict of Interest provides new ways to interact with many of the effects you already have. Since music is a time-based medium, dynamically affecting parameters of your sound over time is crucial to developing musical ideas in most genres. With this pedal and others like it, as well as in other formats, we are seeing the encroaching pattern of CV-friendliness and modulation-positivity start to take hold and offer new modes of expression for musicians working with technology. In addition to being interesting from the perspective of musical trends and aesthetics, this opens the door for new avenues in performance and in the studio, welcoming in a paradigm of radical connectivity and format blending that can only result in creative and wonderful new interactions with sound.
MXR Layers
Layers from MXR is an interesting pedal that grabs small snippets of your playing and blooms it back to you to create ethereal pads. Small in footprint and simple in execution, this is a no frills musical sustain pedal that helps to create unique voicings and serendipitous compositions. It can function automatically or manually by using the footswitch. Stack up to 3 layers of sound or use it in single mode depending on your intended use and there's a Sub Oct button that will add a lower octave to your frozen swells.
Sculpt the dynamics of the sound with the Attack and Decay adjustments which can create quick eruptions of sound or glacial washes. Second layer controls unlock even more functionality with modulation and delay lifted from their Joshua Ambient Delay pedal. Customizable CTR jack allows for expression pedals which will modulate between different settings, external footswitch for triggering the layers, or you can have it pass through the dry signal with the main output only sending the layers. This is ideal for adding different effects chains to your mix. Possibly the nicest thing about the Layers is being able to run in stereo by using a TRS cable and making a small adjustment by removing the pedal's backplate.
This humble pedal can be a wonderful way to add expression to your setup when used tastefully. The controls are easy to use and offer a wide array of tonalities and plenty of flexibility for the texturally minded folks out there.
Noise Engineering Dystorpia
In a surprise move earlier this year, well-loved Eurorack manufacturer Noise Engineering took a step into the pedal space—introducing the world to Dystorpia.
Dystorpia is a brutal digital overdrive and fuzz pedal that brings the company’s signature aggressive distortion to a wide range of instruments, including guitar, bass, and synths. Drawing from years of experience in digital saturation tools for Eurorack and plugins, Dystorpia offers rich, dynamic tonal destruction in a compact pedal format.
At the core of Dystorpia are two main controls for saturation: Fold and Pura. Fold allows you to fold waves onto themselves, creating complex, richer waveforms, while Pura introduces further distortion through rectification. The Gain control adjusts input gain, impacting the depth of the distortion, and the Blend knob mixes between the dry and wet signals, applying a subtle saturation to the dry signal for a more cohesive, "glued-together" sound. To further shape (or, well, destroy) your tone, Dystorpia includes a sweepable mid-band boost and a tone control that can tilt the high or low frequencies of the output signal. The tone control also features a mid-scoop for additional tonal shaping, and the Doom switch offers two suboctave modes: a standard octave below and a gritty, blown-speaker suboctave effect that intensifies the low end.
As with many Noise Engineering products, Dystorpia is designed for performative flexibility. The right footswitch acts as a bypass, while the left footswitch provides a freeze function in both latching and momentary modes, ideal for creating dramatic sonic transitions, soloing over a drone, or holding notes for extended periods. The tone control can be connected to an expression pedal for wah-style effects, and the ENV switch toggles between DYN (dynamic) and GATE (noise gate) modes. DYN adjusts the output level based on your input dynamics for consistent saturation, while GATE mutes the signal when the input is low, reducing unwanted noise.
With its wide range of tonal destruction, customizable controls, and performative features, Dystorpia is the ultimate pedal for musicians looking to add dystopian, digital distortion to their sound. Trash your guitar sound, create wild buzzing bass tones, or just transform your synths into something you've absolutely never heard before.
Polyend Press
Press from Polyend is their solution to live performance with a bevy of gear: clarity and balance. Housed in a robust chassis, this compressor pedal is the perfect end-of-signal device for your live performance mixer that delivers studio quality compression without the price or size.
Included is a sidechain external input or use the internal routing for triggering the low and high pass sidechain filters. Rare to see, especially on a pedal, the high pass gives you a range of 20Hz to 1kHz while the low pass goes from 100Hz to 20kHz. When adjusted in congress, you can dial in the perfect compressed frequency range adding mid-range punch, bright sparkle, or just leave it wide open for maximum squeeze.
With the controls available, you can pretty easily turn this into an effect that will focus on boosting certain frequencies and using the dedicated external sidechain switch, performative dynamics are but a click away. Using the reactive and bright VU LEDs, you can easily tell when your signal will get adjusted. Since this is an analog signal, too, you can be sure that the signal relationships are organic and snappy. The Tilt knob gives you a wonderful tilt EQ option that will sweeten any sound source. Ratios can go from a gentle 2:1 all the way to hardcore limiting adding to the versatility of the pedal.
Compressors are often overlooked, but are the workhorses of the audio world—and with technology becoming smaller, better, and more affordable, now is the best time to add one to your studio or live signal chain. Press from Polyend is a straightforward and unassuming option to get you started on compression.
Red Panda Radius
Statistically speaking, 9 out of 10 musicians absolutely flipping hate ring modulators. But you know what? They're wrong.
Red Panda's Radius is here to help the planet rethink their stance on ring modulation. Radius is a highly musical and versatile ring modulation and frequency shifting pedal that stands out for its unique approaches to control and its rich sound design possibilities. Designed with stereo input and output, it's perfect for not just guitars but also synths, drum machines, and other audio sources. One of the pedal's most notable features—especially for all you ring mod skeptics—is its pitch tracking capability, which allows the carrier oscillator to follow the notes you're playing, producing more musical and consistent timbres. You can also adjust the tracking depth for varied results, and use MIDI to control the carrier oscillator, enabling complex ring mod counterpoint and other creative effects.
Radius offers a wealth of modulation options to keep your sound dynamic, including LFOs, envelope followers that modulate based on your input signal, and even random modulation for unpredictability. A built-in step sequencer gives you finer control, allowing for precise, rhythmic modulation patterns. Best of all, this works in both ring modulation and frequency shifting modes, allowing you to get weird in as many ways as you'd like.
With its musicality and flexibility, Radius will no doubt convert ring mod skeptics, offering a creative and intuitive tool for anyone looking to explore the unique and often misunderstood world of ring modulation and frequency shifting.
Vongon Paragraphs II
Vongon’s Paragraphs II is an updated version of their 4-pole low pass envelope filter pedal, now with stereo I/O, ultra-low noise, and expanded modulation options. Based on a Moog ladder filter-style digital filter implementation from the Vongon Replay synthesizer, it delivers a smooth, resonant character that works beautifully with any sound source, especially for shaping complex or distorted timbres. The cutoff and resonance controls provide precise shaping, with resonance capable of self-oscillating into a pure sine wave for creating pings and sweeping tones.
Where Paragraphs II excels is in its advanced modulation capabilities. The return of the rise/fall envelope now includes new modes that allow the pedal to dynamically respond to your playing, with stereo processing to create evolving filter effects. Follower mode adjusts the cutoff based on signal amplitude, while trigger mode uses transients above a threshold to activate the envelope. Cycle mode turns the envelope into an LFO for rhythmic modulations. The rise/fall time spans from 5ms to 4 seconds, offering a wide range of rhythmic and textural possibilities.
In addition to the envelope, an LFO creates stereo widening with inverted phase modulation between the left and right channels. As the depth of modulation increases, the LFO shape becomes more randomized, producing everything from stereo tremolos and Leslie-like effects to tape warbles and ring-modulator sounds. The pedal also includes CV/expression inputs for external control and comprehensive MIDI integration to adjust settings expressively. Designed for both instrument and line-level inputs, Paragraphs II is versatile and perfect for any setup. If you’re looking for a stereo filter with rich sound design potential and dynamic control, the Vongon Paragraphs II is the ideal pedal.