EarthQuaker Devices announces Aurelius tri-voice chorus pedal

January 1, 2023 · 5 sources

EarthQuaker Devices announced the Aurelius tri-voice chorus, a compact digital chorus pedal that combines chorus, rotary and vibrato effects in one unit, at NAMM 2023¹². Guitar World reported the announcement on April 7, 2023, and called the Aurelius "not your run-of-the-mill chorus pedal," attributing the phrase to the builder¹.

The pedal presents Vibrato, Chorus and Rotary Chorus modes via a three-way toggle switch, and players have six slots to save presets, recalled with a six-way rotary dial and saved with the Preset button². Width, Rate and Balance controls shape the effect, and any of the three can be assigned to an expression pedal through the pedal's TRS jack¹². In all three modes, Rate controls the speed of the low frequency oscillator². MusicRadar describes Chorus mode as a blend of chorus and flanger that is warmer and slower than the vibrato, with Balance adjusting the level of the modulated signal; in Vibrato mode, dialing Balance all the way back produces a pitch vibrato².

The Aurelius uses digital architecture¹. Its chorus and vibrato tones are inspired by the 1970s Boss CE-1 Chorus Ensemble, and the rotary mode draws on classic Leslie speakers, down to the phasing and speeds of the low frequency oscillator¹. Bass Musician Magazine credits EQD founder Jamie Stillman with studying the horn and rotor movement of Leslie speakers and emulating the LFO phasing and speeds, exaggerated for guitar, bass or other instruments³. Holding the footswitch activates EQD's Flexi-Switch technology, moving between the pedal's current setting and a chosen preset¹. Guitar.com describes two operating modes: a Live Mode (green LED) where the pedal runs at the control settings, and a Preset Mode (red LED) that recalls stored settings and ignores the physical control positions⁴.

The Aurelius has top-mounted jacks and is handmade in Akron, Ohio². It runs on a standard 9V pedalboard power supply². It is available now for $199¹. MusicRadar also gives the price as $199²; GearNews lists an MSRP of EUR 265 and a price of $209.00 at Thomann⁵.