Walrus Audio Luminary V2

The Walrus Audio Luminary V2 is a polyphonic quad octave generator pedal: it takes your guitar signal and generates four octave voices, two below the note you play (-2 and -1) and two above (+1 and +2), each with its own volume knob so you can blend any combination¹. Because it is polyphonic, it tracks chords, not just single notes, and Walrus Audio describes the result as "crystal clear and immediate octave tracking" for creating "inspiring symphonic gusts of sound"¹². It is a digital pedal, built on the Analog Devices Sharc DSP platform with high resolution A/D and D/A conversion¹³.

The V2 arrived on April 24, 2018 at a retail price of $319, refining the original Walrus Audio Luminary released in spring 2016³⁴. Walrus Audio has since discontinued it: the maker's own product page lists it as discontinued and no longer available¹.

What it does: four blendable octave voices

The core of the pedal is the four octave voices. Each of the four knobs across the top of the pedal controls the level of one octave: -2, -1, +1 and +2¹. You can blend and mix them any way you wish, then shape the result with the Filter, Flutter and Attack knobs⁶. In practice that covers a wide range: in Sweetwater's demo of the V2, Don Carr highlighted "organ tones, stuttering synth pads, subtle 12-string-style sounds, and much more"⁷.

The Dry/Wet control sets the balance between your clean signal and the generated octaves. Below 12 o'clock the octave signal stays lower than your dry signal for subtler blends; above 12 o'clock the dry signal sits lower than unity¹. For players chasing organ-style or synth-style textures, that blend control is where most of the musical settings live.

The controls

The Attack control is worth a moment for players new to octave pedals: because it dictates how fast the octaves bloom after the initial attack, higher settings give a swell rather than an instant octave hit, which suits pad-like parts¹. The Filter knob works only on the octave signals, not your dry tone, and doubles as an envelope effect at high settings¹.

On the V2, the Flutter knob produces a tremolo effect on the octaves¹⁶. On the original Luminary the same knob enabled a chorus effect on the octaves, with the knob controlling the rate⁸. That chorus-to-tremolo swap is one of the concrete differences between the two versions.

Presets and live mode

The Luminary V2 has three onboard presets for saving go-to sounds, plus a live mode, so up to four custom sounds are available at any moment¹. In live mode, the settings on the face of the pedal are active, which is where the fourth sound comes from⁷. Gearnews described live mode as being "for when you want to lose yourself in tweaking your sound"⁴. On the original Luminary, presets were saved by holding down the preset switch for three seconds⁹.

The V2 also added Smart Momentary Bypassing, which lets players switch between latching and momentary operation depending on how long they hold their foot on the switch¹⁰. In Sweetwater's demo, Don Carr explained the momentary behavior: starting with the bypass switch off, holding it down makes it momentary, meaning the effect is on only while the switch is held⁷.

An expression pedal can be connected to the Luminary V2, and the expression control can be assigned to manipulate any combination of -1 and +1 octave volume, +1 octave volume, Attack, Flutter, and Dry/Wet¹⁴. That makes it possible to sweep octave levels or the wet/dry balance with your foot mid-phrase.

Power

Power requirements are 9V DC at 300mA minimum¹. The original Luminary drew less, at 250mA minimum¹¹, so the V2 is hungrier than its predecessor. Two things a player needs to know:

Versions and editions

The Luminary line has two versions. The original Luminary Quad Octave Generator was announced in April 2016 at $319, running on the same Analog Devices Sharc platform with the same four octave voices, three presets and live mode⁸²¹¹. The V2, announced in April 2018, kept the price at $319 and shipped from April 24, 2018³.

Walrus Audio's own summary of the V2 refinements:

• Refined octave volume knobs¹
• Lengthened attack time¹
• Revised envelope low-pass filter¹
• Tremolo effect on the Flutter knob¹
• Added Smart Momentary Bypassing¹

The enclosure also changed shape between versions: the original measured 4.67" x 3.68" x 1.547", while the V2 is a smaller 4.77" x 2.6" x 1.39" die-cast box⁸³. Both carry the dystopian dictator's watchful eye artwork in black and red ink on a sand pebble textured enclosure¹⁸. The V2 artwork is by illustrator Adam Forster, described by Walrus Audio as "an updated version of a dystopian dictator's watchful eye"³⁶.

What reviewers said

Reviews of the original Luminary circuit, which the V2 shares, were positive about tracking. Pedal of the Day's reviewer wrote:

Pedal of the Day's reviewer called the Luminary's octave tracking "some of the best octave tracking on the market bar none," and found that its tracking was impeccable with a bass guitar playing chords⁹.

That matters for bass players in particular: polyphonic octave tracking on chords is where many octave pedals fall apart, and the reviewer found the Luminary held up⁹. The same reviewer noted that while octave pedals come in many configurations, units that operate in a useful octave range and track well enough to be musical are hard to find⁹.

Sweetwater's Don Carr demoed the V2 at launch, covering the octaves, the control set, the preset system and the momentary bypass:

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In the demo, Carr walks through the four octave voices, the preset and live mode behavior, and the momentary switching, and generates the organ, synth-pad and 12-string-style sounds the pedal is known for⁷.

For players comparing octave options today, the Luminary V2 sits among polyphonic octave generators rather than monophonic octave fuzzes: its strength is clean, blendable octave voices with modulation and envelope shaping on top, rather than aggressive synth-bass sounds. Since it is discontinued, the original Luminary and secondhand V2 units are the closest matches in the octave and pitch category.

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