Panda Audio Future Impact 1

The Panda Audio Future Impact 1 is a bass synthesizer pedal that resurrects the sounds and spirit of the Akai Deep Impact, the sought-after bass synth pedal of the mid-'90s, in an all-new pedal¹. It is not a reissue of the original hardware: Panda Audio says its hardware and software bear no relationship to the Deep Impact's, and it uses DSP technology rather than the exact-to-spec reissue route¹². What it offers a bass player is a huge synth bass tone in a compact stompbox, with far more programmability than the original ever had.

The original Deep Impact was a bass synth pedal like no other, used by bands like Muse to get a huge synth bass tone³. The Future Impact 1 keeps that character, with a synth tone that gearnews.com's writer described as able to sound "squelchy, funky or downright dirty"³, while adding 99 programmable presets, MIDI, and a desktop editor.

A bass synth pedal based on the Deep Impact

The Future Impact 1's circuit combines large effect processing blocks with an extensive set of synthesizer blocks, oscillators, filters, and envelope generators, to create what Godlyke's product page calls classic Moog-type monophonic synthesizer sounds¹. MusicRadar described the result as promising "Moog-esque synth sounds with a big low-end"⁴. An effect section with time modulation effects is also included¹.

The pedal delivers its sounds by way of monophonic tracking and processing, so there is no polyphony: it tracks one note at a time². It runs at 128kHz internally³.

On the question players most often ask, the answer is yes, the original tones are there. Premier Guitar's reviewer found that "while it reproduces all nine of the original's tones, it also adds many more abilities"², and concluded it "sounds astonishingly similar to its inspiration"². Beyond the nine Deep Impact sounds, it includes several time-modulation effects like reverb and delay, and a foldover distortion feature².

Presets, MIDI and connections

The Future Impact 1 has 99 program slots that are fully programmable with the desktop PC editor¹. Premier Guitar described these as 99 variations arranged in 10 banks², a big jump from the original Deep Impact's nine sounds². There is a PC and a Mac editor for the sounds³.

Unlike the Deep Impact, the Future Impact is equipped with MIDI IN and MIDI OUT¹, plus regular quarter-inch jack input and output³. Sound parameters are controllable via an external MIDI controller as well as the pedal's internal controls⁵. The Future Impact is also listed as a supported device by Disaster Area Designs, whose MIDI controllers can drive it⁶.

History and versions

The Future Impact 1 was announced on 28 October 2016 as an upgraded remake of the discontinued Ibanez Deep Impact, at USD $499 / EUR €399³. Panda Audio later positioned it as a refined reissue of Akai's Deep Impact, available through Godlyke Distribution for $499⁴.

The pedal has been developed steadily since. A third iteration, the pandaMidi Future Impact v3, launched with a newly expanded virtual analog sound engine with modular features, MIDI control, editor software and a soundset of 99 new patches⁵. By the v3.60 update of June 2021, Panda Audio had exhausted the available code space on the original hardware, requiring a move to new hardware and a new firmware structure⁷. That led to the Future Impact V4, described by Panda Audio as "not as a reissue, but as an entirely new and vastly-improved pedal"⁷, a bass guitar synthesizer and MIDI expander⁷. The V4 line later gained a V4.5 firmware upgrade, and a Future Impact V4 - VIP was shown at the NAMM 2026 show in Anaheim⁸.

The V4 and VIP hardware added a second sound engine: 99 Yamaha DX7-compatible FM programs on top of the existing 99 VA (Virtual Analog) sounds, plus oscillator sync where VCO2 can sync to VCO1 for more harmonically complex sounds⁸. The V4.5 firmware added automatic input mode switching, which detects whether the player is using the audio or MIDI input from the first note and reboots into the correct mode, and separate assignable MIDI channels for internal and external use⁷⁹. Users can still add and edit their own presets, so, as Premier Guitar put it, "you're not locked into someone else's palette choices"⁹.

What reviewers said

Premier Guitar reviewed the Future Impact I in August 2021 and was positive overall. The review's pros list read: "Outstanding analog-synth replication and wide-ranging filtering. Infinitely tweakable and programmable. Endless fun."² Its verdict was that the pedal "will reward you with some of the wildest, room-filling bass tones this side of a Minimoog."²

The same review flagged real limitations: no polyphony, a PC connection that is MIDI only, no power supply included, and a high price². On tracking, the reviewer found it "quite good" with choppy staccato playing and careful muting, miles better than vintage triggered synths like Korg's X-911, though rare glitching appeared that went away with a compressor pedal placed between the synth and the bass². The envelope filtering "had an impressive range of subtle quack to vowel-like whomp, coupled with a respectable amount of touch sensitivity"².

At launch in 2016, gearnews.com judged from the demo video that "it sounds on the money to me"³.

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