Catalinbread Coriolis Effect

The Catalinbread Coriolis Effect is a multi-effect pedal that packs a sustainer, wah, filter, pitch shifter and harmonizer into one box¹. Announced by Portland, Oregon's Catalinbread at NAMM 2019 and targeted for release on March 28, 2019¹, it works differently from most filter pedals or octave and pitch pedals: instead of an LFO sweeping a filter, it samples your signal and lets you drag that sample down in pitch and brightness with two knobs². The current version is a limited edition, with only 25 units available³.

The idea behind the pedal comes from physics. Catalinbread named it after the classical mechanics phenomenon, and the maker describes turning the two main knobs down as dragging your playing into the heart of a black hole, red-shifting your tone into a lower pitch and filtering out the high frequencies⁴.

What it does to your sound

The Coriolis Effect splits your signal into dry and wet paths. The wet path is sampled, and the two main knobs act on that sample. Premier Guitar's reviewer noted how unusual the approach is: the pedal produces pitch-shift and filter effects without any LFO modulation at all².

• Velocity adjusts the pitch of the wet signal. Clockwise there is no pitch shifting; at 12 o'clock the sample sits near an octave down; counter-clockwise it lowers the frequencies all the way to zero Hertz, which silences the wet signal³.
• Acceleration is a 2-pole low-pass filter on the wet signal. Clockwise nothing is filtered (all pass); counter-clockwise the signal is filtered down to nothing (no pass)³.
• Position controls the dry/wet mix, full wet clockwise and full dry counter-clockwise³.

MusicRadar described the result in plain terms: the Velocity and Acceleration controls shift your tone into a lower pitch and filter out high frequencies respectively⁶. With both knobs turned down, the wet signal drops in pitch and darkens until it disappears, while the dry signal stays put underneath, which is where the harmonizer-like interval effects come from as the two paths separate.

The Hold button

The Hold button is the sustainer side of the pedal. Pressing it stops any new sampling and loops the current sample³. How you press it changes what you get:

• Initialize during a chord and the chord sustains for upwards of two minutes¹.
• Initialize while playing melody lines and you get a fast-delay or stutter sound¹.

MusicRadar described the same function as looping the current signal with up to two minutes of sustain⁵, so the pedal can hold a chord for a solo or chop a melody line into stutters depending on when you hit the button.

Expression pedal control

The EXP jack takes an expression pedal connected with a 1/4" TRS cable³. An internal toggle sets whether the expression pedal controls Velocity or Acceleration³, so you can sweep the pitch or the filter with your foot, wah-style. There is also an internal expression pedal polarity switch¹, which lets the pedal work with expression pedals of either wiring, and MusicRadar noted the input lets you manipulate parameters on the fly⁵. If you are shopping for a controller, see expression pedals.

Bypass and power

Inside the pedal there is a bypass mode switch that selects between true bypass and buffered bypass¹. That choice matters if you run long cables or a large board: buffered bypass keeps a buffer in the signal path with the pedal off, while true bypass removes the circuit entirely.

Power comes from a 9V center-negative DC supply³. Catalinbread warns that plugging in anything other than 9V center-negative DC risks voiding the warranty³, so a standard modern pedalboard supply with the correct polarity cable is the safe route.

Where it came from and what it costs

Catalinbread announced the Coriolis Effect at the NAMM 2019 show in January 2019¹, with pre-orders opening through retailers and a target release date of March 28, 2019¹. MusicRadar reported it as available for $229 on April 1, 2019⁶; the announcement price was $229.99 MSRP⁵, and the two figures differ only in how each outlet rounded the price. Like Catalinbread's other pedals, it is handmade in the US⁵, hand-built in Portland, Oregon¹.

What reviewers said

Premier Guitar reviewed the pedal in August 2021 and highlighted its "Unique pitch-shift/filter effects" and the fact that "It doesn't even employ LFO modulation"², pointing to the sampling approach as what sets it apart from conventional filter and pitch pedals. At launch, the press coverage focused on the range of functions in one box: MusicRadar called it a pitch and filter multi-fx that moves between effects, pulling in elements of a wah, pitch-shifter, harmonizer, sustainer and low-pass filter⁵.

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