The Chaosound Anti-Effect is a pedal from the Polish company Chaosound that imitates electroacoustic track damage: the clicks, dropouts and stutters of a broken recording or a failing connection. Chaosound announced its release in February 2013, and Guitar World reviewed it later that year at a list price of $2391. It does not fit the usual categories: the maker states that it is not a distortion or tremolo, though in some settings you can achieve something they call ChaosTremolo2.
What it does to a signal
Guitar World's reviewer described the effect in blunt terms: "the Anti-Effect causes a guitar's signal to stutter and sputter like a bad cable being jiggled by a highly caffeinated crack addict"1. The same review called it "a unique weapon of mass distortion that mangles a guitar's sound like a pipe bomb in a picnic basket"1. Delicious Audio, quoting the designers, put it more soberly: "Offering unprecedented signal demolition, the Anti-Effect allows you to achieve countless number of sound depending on the settings"3.
For a player, the point is that this is not a distortion, tremolo or filter pedal in the ordinary sense. It produces the sound of a signal failing, on purpose, and the character of that failure changes with the settings213.
Controls and footswitches
| Control | What it does |
|---|---|
| Rate | Adjusts the speed of the effect1 |
| Sequence | Controls the damage1 |
| Depth | Controls the damage3 |
| Max Depth switch | Equivalent to turning Depth all the way up; "expect chaos to enter your life rather abruptly" when engaged3 |
| Sequence control (four-position) | Selects among four sequence positions1 |
The two footswitches are both momentary, meaning they act only while held down: they turn the effect on, or produce the effect at full depth, for as long as the switch is pressed1. That makes the pedal an effect you stab at in bursts rather than latch on for a whole song, closer in playing feel to a momentary volume or expression pedal than to a standard overdrive or fuzz.
The pedal's controls are simple: a rate control adjusts the speed of the effect1. Chaosound houses the Anti-Effect in a large, black metal case, designed by Slawomir Badowski and his son Lukasz1. Reviewers describe the results as weird, unpredictable and unique, with Delicious Audio calling it "unprecedented signal demolition"3.
Where it goes in a chain
Delicious Audio reports that the pedal is most interesting when set at the end of the chain, regardless of whether the regular pedals upstream are distortion or any other modeling effect3. Placed last, it processes everything the rest of the board sends it, so its dropouts and stutters affect the whole sound rather than one layer of it.
Who makes it
Chaosound is a company from Poland, which Guitar World described as mysterious1. The Anti-Effect was invented by Slawomir Badowski and his son Lukasz, whose silhouettes appear on the pedal, right and left respectively1. Premier Guitar announced the release in February 20132.
Videos
Guitar World
AntiEffectCHAOSOUND
AntiEffectCHAOSOUND
Questions
What does the Chaosound Anti-Effect do?
It deliberately damages the guitar signal, producing stuttering, sputtering dropouts that Guitar World compared to a bad cable being jiggled. Delicious Audio described it as offering unprecedented signal demolition, with countless sounds depending on the settings. It is not a conventional distortion, tremolo or filter pedal, though some settings produce an effect Chaosound calls ChaosTremolo.
Is the Chaosound Anti-Effect a tremolo?
No. Chaosound states plainly that it is not a distortion or tremolo, though in some settings you can achieve something the maker calls ChaosTremolo. It sits outside the usual effect categories, imitating the sound of electroacoustic track damage rather than modulating volume or clipping the signal.
What does the Max Depth switch do on the Anti-Effect?
According to Delicious Audio, engaging the Max Depth switch is the same as turning the Depth control all the way up, and chaos enters your life rather abruptly when you do. It is a shortcut to the pedal's most extreme settings without dialing the Depth knob there by hand.
Where should the Anti-Effect go in a pedal chain?
Delicious Audio reports that the pedal is most interesting when set at the end of the chain, regardless of whether the other pedals are distortion or any other modelling effect. Placing it last lets it mangle everything upstream of it, which is where its signal-damage character works best.
Who makes Chaosound pedals?
Chaosound is a company from Poland, described by Guitar World as mysterious. The Anti-Effect was invented by Slawomir Badowski and his son Lukasz, whose silhouettes appear on the pedal. The Anti-Effect was released in early 2013 with a list price of $239.
Sources (3)
- Review: Chaosound Anti-Effect Pedal, Guitar World, 2013-10-20
- Chaosound Announces the Anti-Effect, Premier Guitar, 2013-02-19
- Guitar Pedal News: Chaosound Anti-Effect Pedal, Delicious Audio, 2013-05-20