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Noise Engineering Dystorpia

Noise Engineering Dystorpia

They’ve engineered synth noises for years, but this is the California‑based company’s first foray into the guitar‑pedal world.

The Dystorpia is the first guitar pedal to be released by Eurorack modular veterans Noise Engineering. It’s appropriately named, but while its billing as a “futuristic fuzz” accurately describes the essence of this pedal, it doesn’t really do its full capabilities justice.

Fuzz, Fold & Features

Noise Engineering are known for a range of well‑thought‑out Eurorack modules with tailored palettes, on which any given knob‑turn moves from one sweet spot to another. That same philosophy lies at the heart of the Dystorpia’s highly interactive parameters, which largely centre around two distortion circuits: Fold (wavefolding); and Pura (a multiband full‑wave rectifier).

To my ears, Fold is a bit scooped but with some aggression in the high mids, and it’s unlike most other guitar fuzz pedals; wavefolding is more often associated with synth distortion. It can be brash and offensive if pushed too far, but it often works very well for guitar parts that could benefit from some added character. Pura is generally fuller‑sounding, particularly in the mids and low mids, and sounds more like what you’d expect of a guitar fuzz.

Pura is clearly intended to complement Fold, and the Dystorpia’s versatility really shows when the two are combined to create unique textures. Overall, the Dystorpia sounds modern, full, aggressive, and unlike any other fuzz pedal I’ve used. Small knob changes can make big tonal differences, though, and while you might be tempted to crank everything up to see what happens, I’ll save you the bother: absolute sonic destruction! I learned quickly that an eighth of a turn makes a big difference, and that uncovering subtle textures required a nuanced touch.

Interestingly, the Gain, Mid Band and Tone knobs are all active, even when the distortion’s Blend (wet/dry) knob is turned down. There’s a surprising amount of tone shaping here, so much so that I could achieve vintage overdrive tones with just the Mid Band and Tone knobs at around 10 o’clock, with some Gain inched in for some great saturation before the signal hit the other distortion circuits. Adding a bit of Pura back in, I could even find tones that resemble small‑speakered valve amps, such as a Fender Champ.

Dystorpia may have been designed for guitar, but it can really mangle synths in a beautiful way.

The input can handle the hot signals from modular synths (and the expression pedal input on the side can receive CV signals).The input can handle the hot signals from modular synths (and the expression pedal input on the side can receive CV signals).Here’s an unexpected bonus: the Tone knob is mapped to the expression jack, to allow wah‑wah‑type effects with an expression pedal; the Tone knob sets the lowest value the expression pedal will use when heel‑down. Cleverly, the expression input also works with CV signals, and when using the Dystorpia to process my Eurorack’s audio I didn’t even require an amplifier/attenuator module to convert the levels. The Dystorpia may have been designed for guitar, but it can really mangle synths in a beautiful way.

Amongst the other ‘special’ features is a Doom switch, which applies a lower octave when Sub is selected, and Blown adds the same sub at a higher volume, along with the added crunch of a distorted sub speaker. With Sub, you can craft some classic octave‑fuzz sounds, which work really well for both guitars and synths. The Envelope switch manipulates the dynamics of the overall signal, its Dyn setting applying an envelope that follows the clean input, but shapes the output, lessening the overall sustain and emphasising note attacks to improve articulation. It’s a very capable solution to an issue that often plagues fuzz pedals. The Gate setting of the Envelope switch enables a noise gate that sounded pretty natural to me. Another unexpected function is the Freeze footswitch, which seamlessly loops a fragment of what you just played. The switch can be tapped to latch/unlatch the freeze or be held down for a momentary freeze. It enabled me to explore Lynchian soundscapes with interesting industrial drones that I could then play over.

Noise Engineering DystorpiaI reported one small oversight: the lack of a label to indicate the Gain knob’s secondary function as an output level control, accessed by holding Freeze and turning Gain. It was explained in the manual, but Noise Engineering agreed with me, and it will be labelled on all new units.

Dystorpian Future?

The Dystorpia can do some conventional things, but ultimately it wasn’t created for guitarists looking for another Big Muff clone. In very Noise Engineering fashion, it’s an unconventional, unapologetically digital pedal that accesses sounds that would be impossible in the analogue world. It rewards adventurous explorers who live to push through new sonic doorways and discover new frontiers of fuzz.

Guitarists should rejoice that this innovative company have brought into the pedal space their years of experience and perspective from outside the walls of guitardom. I’m excited to see what they come up with next.

Summary

The Dystorpia exploits Noise Engineering’s modular synth nous to deliver an unusual fuzz pedal with some special features that plays as nicely with synths as with guitar.