Catalinbread launches Soft Focus reverb pedal based on Yamaha FX500 patch

September 8, 2022 · 6 sources

Catalinbread released the Soft Focus, a reverb pedal built around the Soft Focus patch of the Yamaha FX500 rack unit, on September 8, 2022¹². The company described it as an "instant shoegaze button" and a "shoegazer's dream"¹.

At the pedal's core is a plate reverb with adjustable time, split into three paths: one through a multi-voiced chorus, one through an octave-up mixed with the reverb, and one leaving the reverb untouched¹³. The controls are Mix, Symph, Mod, Verb and Vol³. Mix sets the wet/dry blend, Symph sets the level of the octave-up, Mod sets the rate of the chorus, Verb sets the reverb decay time, and Vol adds gain to the dry signal, usable as a clean boost when the pedal is bypassed in buffer/trails mode²³⁴. The controls are described as interactive²⁴. The pedal runs on 9V or 18V DC with a minimum current draw of 100mA, and 18V is said to give more headroom³. It offers true and buffered bypass modes⁴.

Catalinbread says the pedal is not an exact recreation of the FX500 patch but was compared extensively against the unit¹⁵. The company cites the original's lack of a mix control, a sub-par preamp and a "ghastly tone-sucking" bypass signal as shortcomings it addressed¹². The fixed-time digital delay in the original patch was left out because it used too much memory¹³.

That quotation concerns the Elements Series, a separate line of one-knob pedals the company launched the following month⁶.

The Soft Focus is priced at $209.99¹⁴; GuitarPlayer and Guitar World give $209²⁵. It is available now²³⁵.