Chaos Audio Stratus multi-effects pedal set for December 9 release at $399

December 9, 2022 · 4 sources

The Chaos Audio Stratus, a Bluetooth-enabled multi-effects pedal controlled through an iOS or Android app, is set for general release on December 9 at a US price of $399, according to Guitar World¹. The pedal has been through several iterations over the past two years, the site reported, including an update in 2021 following a successful Kickstarter campaign¹.

The Stratus is a single compact unit with one footswitch and a dial on top, paired by Bluetooth to a mobile app that accesses Chaos Audio's online library of digital effects; players can chain up to five effects and position them anywhere on the signal path². The effects include digital emulations based on the Fuzz Face and Big Muff Pi, two overdrives (one modeled on an amp-style drive, the other on the Tube Screamer), a gain boost, a distortion modeled after the Boss DS-1, reverb, phaser, flanger, auto-wah and the Bitdowner, which degrades the signal to sound like an 8-bit arcade game². There is also an onboard tuner and a five-minute looper, a single knob with a push function for adjusting parameters and looper recording, a footswitch for toggling between tuner mode and the effects, a USB-C connection and two 1/4-inch input/outputs².

Guitar World reported that the pedal will ship with 24 digital effects, with more to be added regularly¹. Chaos Audio CEO Landon McCoy described the product as an ecosystem rather than a single pedal:

Earlier coverage put the price differently. MusicRadar reported in June 2021 that early-bird Kickstarter offers were $219 and that the recommended retail price of the finished units was $299²; Gearnews gave a recommended retail price of $269 in June 2021³ and $249 via Kickstarter pledge in November 2020⁴. The $399 figure is the one given for the December 9 general release¹.

Chaos Audio also claimed to be the first effects firm to send a guitar pedal into space, with the Stratus carried by a weather balloon launched from Panama City Beach, Florida, reaching approximately 108,000 feet before it returned to earth and was recovered from a tree about 150 miles away in Quitman, Georgia¹. McCoy said the stunt was intended to draw attention to a product the company considers "out of this world"¹.