Walrus Audio Luminary Quad Octave Generator

The Walrus Audio Luminary Quad Octave Generator is a digital octave pedal that generates four separate octaves, two below and two above your original note, and lets you blend any combination of them with your dry signal. Because it is polyphonic, it tracks chords as well as single notes, which most analog octave pedals cannot do. Walrus Audio introduced it in April 2016 at a retail price of $319¹, and updated it to a V2 version in April 2018². The pedal is now discontinued and no longer available³.

What it does: four blendable octaves

The core of the pedal is four octave voices: -2, -1, +1 and +2, each with its own level knob across the top of the enclosure³. You can dial in any combination of them, from a single sub octave under your dry tone to a full stack of shifted voices. Walrus Audio describes the result as creating "inspiring symphonic gusts of sound"³, and MusicRadar's launch coverage quoted the maker's language of "crystal clear and immediate" polyphonic tracking⁵.

A Dry/Wet control shapes the balance. Below 12 o'clock the octave signal sits lower than your dry signal; above 12 o'clock the dry signal drops below unity, so the shifted voices dominate³. That makes it usable both as a subtle thickener and as a full octave-synth voice.

The pedal runs on the Analog Devices SHARC platform, a digital signal processor, which is what allows polyphonic tracking of chords rather than just single notes³⁵.

The controls

The Filter control is the most experimental part of the pedal. Pedal of the Day's reviewer described it as acting "as a low-pass filter or envelope filter depending on its' setting"⁶, which matches the maker's description of an envelope effect appearing at higher settings³. With the modulation controls unengaged, the V1 delivered what the maker called "epic steel-like sounds," with more experimental territory available through the filter and a "seasick vibrato" character from the flutter knob⁴.

An expression pedal can be connected to manipulate any combination of the -1 and +1 octave volumes, the +1 octave volume, Attack, Flutter and Dry/Wet³¹, which lets you sweep the effect live rather than working the knobs by hand.

Presets

The Luminary holds three onboard presets plus a live mode, so up to four sounds are available at any moment³¹. Presets are indicated by red, green and blue LEDs and stepped through with the preset button. In Sweetwater's demo video, Don Carr explained the save procedure: step to the color you want, set the knobs, then hold the preset button until the flashing LED turns solid⁷.

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Power: 9V, 250mA to 300mA

Power requirements differ slightly between versions. The V1 runs on 9V DC, center negative, drawing 250mA⁴. The V2 requires 9V DC at a minimum of 300mA³. No power supply is included with the pedal.

That current draw is high for a compact pedal, and it rules out a battery. It also means a shared daisy-chain output that works fine for analog drives may not supply enough current for the Luminary's SHARC processor⁴⁸⁵.

History: Luminary V1 and V2

The Luminary launched as a polyphonic quad octave generator, offered by Walrus Audio at a US retail price of $319¹. The pedal is digital, and both this original version and its later revision are polyphonic octave generators, dialing in combinations of four separate octaves⁴⁹¹.

Walrus Audio later upgraded the Luminary, and the V2 refines the original polyphonic quad octave generator⁹¹⁰. The refinements include refined octave volume knobs, a lengthened attack time, a revised envelope low-pass filter, a tremolo effect on the Flutter knob, and added Smart Momentary Bypassing³. Reviewers noted that the Luminary Quad Octave Generators, both V1 and V2, are polyphonic octave generators⁹.

The V2 changes, per Walrus Audio³:

• Refined octave volume knobs
• Lengthened attack time
• Revised envelope low-pass filter
• Tremolo effect on the flutter knob (replacing V1's chorus)
• Added Smart Momentary Bypassing

Smart Momentary Bypassing lets you hold the footswitch for a momentary effect, a feature the V1 did not have³. The artwork carried over: both versions use a sand pebble textured diecast enclosure with black and red ink, featuring original artwork of a dystopian dictator's watchful eye³¹.

What reviewers said

Pedal of the Day's reviewer, Max F., was emphatic about the pedal's core strength⁶:

He reported that tracking was impeccable when tested with a bass guitar playing chords⁶, which is a demanding case for any octave pedal and directly relevant to bass players comparing options. He also noted that while octave pedals come in many configurations, units covering the desired octave range with this kind of control set were hard to find⁶.

Videos

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Questions