EarthQuaker Devices Time Shadows Subharmonic Multi-Delay Resonator

The Time Shadows Subharmonic Multi-Delay Resonator is a delay pedal built as a collaboration between EarthQuaker Devices and Death By Audio, two makers better known for fuzz and experimental effects than conventional echoes. It is what the makers call an "experimental split": a pitch-morphed fuzz delay designed by EarthQuaker on one side, and a multi-delay regenerating filter designed by Death By Audio on the other, in one enclosure¹²³.

The pedal first appeared in 2020 as a limited collaboration and was a roaring success, with the first run limited to just 1,000 units and sold out immediately². In June 2024 the two makers re-released it as a full production run, updated as Time Shadows II, adding a third delay mode, six preset slots and user-assignable expression control, at a list price of $199²⁴.

What it does: a fuzz delay on one side, a filter delay on the other

The Time Shadows is really two circuits in one box, and the Mode switch chooses which side you are playing through¹²³.

EQD Mode is an envelope controlled sub-octave filter delay⁴. EarthQuaker describes the signal path in concrete terms: it takes the input signal, blows it out with the power of digital distortion, blends it with a polyphonic sub octave, feeds it into a delay, then spits it out into a highly resonant envelope controlled lowpass filter⁵. Gearnews characterizes this mode as a powerful pitch-morphing fuzz delay filter⁶. Death By Audio founder Oliver "Ollie" Ackermann, who designed the DBA side alongside EQD's Jamie Stillman, described the two halves as "an insane synth buzz bazooka sound on the EarthQuaker side and a multi-intertwined delay filter remorphinator of cosmic waves on the Death By Audio side"².

DBA Mode is a multi-delay regenerating filter, the Death By Audio half of the split⁵⁴. Where the EQD side pushes your guitar through distortion, a sub octave and a filtered delay, the DBA side layers regenerating delays through a resonant filter, so repeats build and smear into each other rather than simply echoing.

The 2024 re-release kept both original circuits intact and added a third voice, so the pedal now carries three delay voices in total⁷⁸.

The controls and modes

The 2024 version carries the following controls⁴:

The Filter knob behaves differently depending on the mode. On the EQD side, it controls an envelope for the filter frequency and a gate for the cutoff feeding the delay's input⁹. Time simply sets the delay time⁵.

The three modes break down like this⁸:

• EQD Mode: an envelope controlled sub-octave filter delay, the EarthQuaker side of the split.
• DBA Mode: a multi-delay regenerating filter, the Death By Audio side.
• !¡ Mode: new in the 2024 version, a dual delay where each repeat simultaneously shifts up and down with each regeneration⁵⁴.

Guitar Player described the !¡ mode as a dual delay "where each repeat simultaneously shifts up and down with each regeneration," joining the original duo of EQD's envelope-controlled sub-octave filter delay and DBA's multi-delay regenerating filter¹⁰.

Any TRS expression pedal can be plugged in and assigned to control Time, Span or Filter⁵. Premier Guitar's reviewer found the expression input useful for the pedal's wilder territory, noting it "is great for making the Time Shadows' more radical sounds voice-like"⁸.

Where it came from

The collaboration was inspired by Reverb's full-length documentary, The Pedal Movie, which brought the two makers together². The original Time Shadows dropped in 2020 as a limited run of 1,000 units, sold out immediately, and many units went on to fetch high prices on Reverb in the aftermath². That resale demand is the simple answer to why the original commands so much on the used market: scarcity plus cult demand.

The original Time Shadows was a collaboration between Death By Audio founder Oliver "Ollie" Ackermann and EarthQuaker Devices' Jamie Stillman, and it was first released in 2020²⁴. The 2024 re-release carried a list price of $199²⁷.

What reviewers made of it

The pedal was originally released in 2020, re-released in 2024 at a $199 list price, and was designed by Oliver "Ollie" Ackermann of Death By Audio and Jamie Stillman of EarthQuaker Devices².

Guitar.com's review of the original found that nothing else really sounds like it. The reviewer compared it with other experimental delays, the Chase Bliss Habit and Thermae, the Meris Polymoon, the EQD Rainbow Machine, and the Red Panda Raster, Tensor and Particle, and concluded that all of those options are a good bit pricier than the Time Shadows⁷.

Premier Guitar called the pedal a stompbox analog synth, noting that its circuitry combines three delay voices (EQD, II, and DBA) with filters, fuzz, phasing, shimmer, swell and subharmonics⁸. Delicious Audio described the 2024 update as adding welcome features such as presets to the original's experimental split³.

Players comparing it with EarthQuaker's more conventional delay work can look at the Dispatch Master V3, the Space Spiral V2 or the three-mode Silos; the Time Shadows sits at the experimental end of the maker's delay range, where the repeats themselves are reshaped rather than simply repeated.

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