ZVEX Effects Instant Lo-Fi Junky Vertical

Description

Hello, and welcome to the world of the Instant
Lo-Fi Junky™. Any of you who’ve heard the sound of the Lo-Fi
Loop Junky™ will understand this pedal immediately… its
purpose is to imitate that sound in real time. Joel Korte, the
extraordinary engineer behind this new device, was able
to create a combination of THAT chip compression, Belling
bucket-brigades, and ultra low-current National Semiconduc–
tor op-amp filters to exquisitely copy the texture and feel of
the original Lo-Fi into this new and extraordinary box, adding
some new sounds that have never been heard before.
To get the basic real-time Lo-Fi sound, turn the middle knob all
the way to the right and set the waveform switch to triangle. By
adjusting the speed and depth it’s pretty easy to achieve a very
similar texture to the original Lo-Fi Loop Junky™. Lower the tone
knob if you wish to darken the tone.

Next, try turning down the middle knob all the way toward
the “comp” side. With this setting you’ll enjoy a remarkably
spanky bright and clear compression. It lasts forever but has
dynamics like there’s no tomorrow. As you turn the middle knob
back toward the Lo-Fi side, you’ll hear the chorus blend start
to happen. The sparkly clear compressed signal will mix with
the smashed, lo-fidelity warbled signal and become a luscious
emulsification that can be blended to the most perfect depth.
Unlike other choruses where the only depth control you have is
the depth of the sweep oscillator, this unit lets you set exactly
how much of the two signals are present in the mix… more
clear compression if you want the sound to be basically clean
with a hint of chorus, blended 1-to-1 for pure chorusing sound,
or mostly vibrato with a hint of chorus by turning the knob
mostly to the right. The chorus sound sounds most traditional
with either the sine or triangle setting. They are subtly but
noticeably different.

Now try switching the waveform to square and set the middle
knob mostly to the compression side (to the left). You can blend in
just enough of the square-wave modulated Lo-Fi sound to make it
really eerie. For the spookiest sound, set the speed control to the
tempo of your performance and the depth all the way up, adjust–
ing the mix for just enough modulation. I really love this setting…
it’s so unusual and fun.

We had a producer come through our booth at the NAMM
show when we were demonstrating the Instant Lo-Fi in 2011,
and we turned it off to show how much sustain the compressor
had when it was engaged. He looked at Erik (our demonstrator)
quizzically and said “but why would I ever want to turn it off?”
Maybe you’ll feel the same way about the Instant Lo-Fi. It’s
dangerously addictive.