to back off on the Level
lest my practice amp get
overwhelmed. The glitching
as I bent and flubbed notes
were a blast. I felt like we
were off to the races.
The tonality started to
diversify as I started dialing
in the Subharmonic, with
the groove maintained
no matter the notes nor
octave-interval setting
I had, but MAN did
we go from zero to 60
when I started dialing
in the Oscillator. If the
Subharmonic is the bass,
the Oscillator is definitely
the treble. The speed of
the oscillation and timbre
of the pitch felt squealing
and chaotic no matter
what setting I had or how I
played. It honestly started
to give me a headache
and I felt I wasn’t really
in control anymore, so I
actually dialed that back
while focusing more on the
Square and Subharmonic
waves since I seemed to
prefer those.
sustained notes from one
octave to the other. The
Vibrato also provided some
fun laser effects as I upped
the rate of modulation.
Pairing the Square Fuzz
with my Jazz Bass also got
some thick dubby goodness
that reminded me of early
Muse.
In the end, I found myself
slightly at a loss about how
to recommend the Data
Corrupter. EarthQuaker’s
pitch and modulation
pedals are truly unique but
their practical applications
are definitely going to
vary from player to player.
This isn’t helped by the
list of recommendations
EarthQuaker has on its
website to get the best
sound from the
Data Corrupter
(use the
neck
pickup, play single notes
and not chords, and
others). For my part, I
prefer to plug and play.
Having to work around
the chaotic perimeters of
a pedal that literally gives
me a headache at certain
settings feels like tying my
hands.
THINGS WE LIKE
Square Wave fuzz and
Subharmonic settings are
good synthy fun.
CONCERNS
Watch out for that
Oscillator! It’s a mad beast!
The Glide setting actually
really helped here after
dialing the Oscillator back
because of how it moved
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