Tech Reviews: New products (October 2022)

Hammertone guitar pedals

Price: From £69.99–£84.99

Fender has released the Hammertone series of guitar pedals. There are nine pedals in this budget range including: Distortion, Flanger, Overdrive, Metal, Fuzz, Reverb, Chorus, Space Delay and Delay. They are robust with a hammered metal casing and simple controls, making them useful for beginners. The Fuzz, Overdrive, Distortion and Metal pedals also have an internal trim-pot control that allows you to adjust very high frequencies, which are useful for bright amps or single coil pickups. Each one is colour coded and the units are compact (112 × 62 × 56mm), with a top mounted jack input, perfect for use in pedal boards. The range provides a great choice of essential guitar effects at competitive prices. The pedals are powered by nine-volt battery or by AC adaptor, which are not included.

www.fender.com/en-GB/effects-pedals/hammertonepedals

TAL-Vocoder

Price: Free

The vocoder has evolved from technology first developed in 1928 by Bell Labs for use in telephony, but it was never used for this purpose as it made the voice sound too ‘robotic’. This feature is just what makes it so popular as a vocal effect in music production – if your students are looking to create some robotic Daft Punk, ELO or Kraftwerk style vocals, then this free vocoder plugin is just what they need. Tal Software has optimised this vocoder for voice processing; it takes the key features of your voice (through a mic input) and applies these to a ‘carrier’ signal (usually a synth) to create the robotic effect. You may also like this freeware if your students are taking A Level Music Technology as the vocoder is listed in the syllabus as an effect that students must have knowledge of.

www.tal-software.com/products/talvocoder

Benton's DNAfx GiT Mobile

Price: £49.00

This is a flexible and portable mini headphone amp for guitarists. It comes with a range of amp sounds and can also act as a USB-C interface for audio recording. There are 14 different classic US and British amp models to choose from, all based on the pro range. This includes clean to high gain/distortion plus 14 digital effects such as reverbs, delays and modulation. If you are short of practice spaces, then this could be a useful solution – students can plug in their headphones and rock out all day without disturbing anyone. The unit has a 3.5 mm jack, USB-C and Bluetooth connectivity, and comes with a rechargeable battery that takes only two hours to charge. Easy to store, dual purpose, and portable.

www.harleybenton.com/product/dnafx-git-mobile

Graillon 2 Live Changer

Price: Free

The Graillon 2 Live Changer is one of the best free autotune plugins available. Autotune is used both for pitch correction and as a creative tool, especially in trap, EDM and hip-hop styles. This plugin can help perfect those slightly off-key vocal lines or be used to add effects. There is a handy ‘cheat sheet’ available to download with the plugin with clear info on each feature. The free version is almost identical to the full version apart from a few advanced features, but if you enjoy using the freeware you can upgrade to the full version for around £25. Available as VST/AU plugin formats for PC and Mac.

www.auburnsounds.com/products/Graillon