Named after the Greek word for motion, the “gnarly” Dreadbox KINEMATIC is a VCA-based compressor and envelope filter in one. And those eagle-eyed viewers might notice that it has three patch points, making it equally usable for Eurorack users and guitarists alike.
Livvy shows off both modes in her demo: the Comp Color mode (that’s the compressor) and the Envelope filter, which you move between via a toggle on the face of the pedal.
In the Comp Color mode, the pedal acts as—you guessed it—a VCA-based compressor with an extreme compression ratio. VCA stands for voltage-controlled amplifier, which is an analog compressor. Essentially, it’s an amplifier (in this sense, an amplifier is anything that amplifies audio signal) that alters its gain in proportional to a control voltage or modulator signal.
Knowing exactly how it works is probably less important than knowing that VCA-based compressors have extremely fast attack (that’s the intensity with which a note is plucked or strummed) and release (that’s the decay or how the note stops) parameters. Attack Magazine describes VCA compressors as “fast and punchy on rhythmic material” with the ability to “smooth out peaks without squashing everything in sight.”
The Dreadbox KINEMATIC also serves as a frequency booster and has up to 18 dB of boost potential. In other words, it gets LOUD.
The Envelope Filter mode is a 12dB low pass filter with an auto-wah. It has a slow envelope curve and it is weird, funky, and a ton of fun. Oh, and did we mention that it has an overdrive circuit and can also effectively function as a distortion pedal? The KINEMATIC has a lot going for it and is a real workhorse on a pedalboard.
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