Electro-Harmonix adds Pico Attack Decay to NYC DSP series

October 2, 2023 · 3 sources

The Electro-Harmonix Pico Attack Decay is a shrunken, digital version of the original Attack Decay, Delicious Audio reported on October 2, 2023¹. It is one of nine Pico pedals in Electro-Harmonix's digital NYC DSP series, which MusicRadar reported on September 21, 2023²³.

The original Attack Decay Tape Reverse Simulator is known for producing volume and reverse swells, backward tape sounds, artificially short staccato notes, and bowed instrument effects¹. Premier Guitar dates the analog original to around 1980 and notes that the Pico version derives from the digital reissue that appeared in 2019³. The Pico runs in Mono mode, with one volume envelope for all notes, and Poly mode, where each note has its own volume envelope¹.

The controls are four knobs and a mode button¹:

It uses a compact Pico chassis and ships with a power adapter¹. MusicRadar lists the Pico Attack Decay at $136.90². Premier Guitar put it at "just 20 bucks less than the larger, full-featured Attack Decay," which it describes as including a built-in fuzz, expression control, presets and an effects loop³.

In Premier Guitar's review, the writer found that fast attack times paired with shorter decay times produce clipped, stuttering textures, and that Poly mode often adds a vowelly, filter-like character³. The same review says that at its price, the small size may be the main appeal next to the larger Attack Decay³.