The Discomfort Designs Glow Cloud Toxic Delay Device is a delay pedal that goes well beyond echoes. Built around the PT2399 delay chip, it combines overdrive, bit crushing, noise and a short, resonant lo-fi reverb in one box, and it can process external signals or generate sounds entirely on its own. Pedal of the Day reviewed it in May 2021 and described it as taking "overdrive, delay, bit crushing and general noise, wraps them all up into one wild package"1.
What it does
At its core the Glow Cloud produces what Pedal of the Day called "Analog style, lo-fi and borderline anti-fidelity delays," courtesy of the PT2399 chip, the inexpensive digital delay chip found in countless pedals and known for its dark, degraded repeats1. On top of that sits an overdrive stage, a bit crusher, and a short and resonant lo-fi reverb. The reviewer summed up the resulting palette as "sewer pipe echoes, eerie bit-crusher memories, and tectonic disturbance noise chaos. Oh, and also some short and resonant" reverb1.
The pedal is not limited to guitar. It will process external signals like guitars, keyboards, microphones and drum machines, or it can create complex sounds on its own with nothing plugged into it, which puts it in the territory of a sound generator as much as an effects pedal1. For players comparing it with more conventional delay pedals, the difference is scope: where a standard delay repeats what you play, the Glow Cloud reshapes and degrades it, and can keep going without you.
Noise and oscillation
Pedal of the Day singled out the noise and oscillation features as "the wildest things Glow Cloud has to offer"1. The overdrive stage, labeled Shmog, is part of that: when the Shmog control is turned up, the sound breaks up into blipping squeals and screeches1. That makes the pedal as much a source of controlled chaos as a tool for clean echoes, and it is the reason the reviewer found it hard to file under one heading.
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Discomfort Designs
Pedal of the Day
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Questions
What kind of pedal is the Glow Cloud Toxic Delay Device?
It is a delay pedal built around the PT2399 chip, but Discomfort Designs wraps several other effects into the same box. Alongside lo-fi, analog-style delays it offers overdrive, bit crushing, noise and oscillation features, and a short, resonant lo-fi reverb. Pedal of the Day described it as taking overdrive, delay, bit crushing and general noise and wrapping them all into one package aimed at experimental players.
What can the Glow Cloud process besides guitar?
According to Pedal of the Day, the Glow Cloud will process external signals like guitars, keyboards, microphones and drum machines. It can also create complex sounds on its own, without any input plugged in, which makes it usable as a sound generator as well as an effects pedal.
Sources (1)
- Discomfort Designs Glow Cloud Toxic Delay Device, Pedal of the Day, 2021-05-14