Gamechanger Audio Motor Pedal: A Synth Pedal With A Motor?!
It even has a little gas pedal!
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Gamechanger Audio Motor Pedal: A Synth Pedal With A Motor?! · Source: Gamechanger Audio
Gamechanger Audio creates rather unusual synths and pedals. The new Gamechanger Audio Motor Pedal is no different. It is a synth pedal that bears similarities to effects like the recently released Meris Enzo X. Instead of a digital synth engine, however, it houses a little electromagnetic motor. And that is far from it.
Synth Pedal With A Motor
The basic principle of synth pedals is to track the pitch of the incoming signal and generate a corresponding synth signal either of the same pitch or a set interval. Whether with or without fuzz, as Jack White likes to do, any solo or lick instantly sounds more interesting and wacky. And as pedals like the Meris Enzo X or the Boss GM-800 (which even has its own tracking pickup) show, there is a not-so-small fan base for this type of effect.
Gamechanger Audio took a page from its own Motor Synth when developing the Gamechanger Audio Motor Pedal, it seems. And only does it look amazing, it also sounds a whole lot more aggressive than most other synth pedals.
For example, the small electric motor turns at 146 revolutions per second when it is fed with a sine wave at 440 hertz. Similar to a guitar pickup, a specially calibrated inductor picks up the vibrations of the small motor.
Gamechanger Audio Motor Pedal With Five Synth Engines
The Gamechanger Audio Motor Pedal includes five synth engines with different sounds. The Motor engine is the one known from GCA’s Motor synth. It has a more glitchy, growly character. In the second engine, MXD, the signal generated by the motor is modulated by a digital waveform (from the description, this sounds a bit like FM/PM), which produces particularly metallic and harsh sounds.
In M-Wave mode, said digital waveform is linked to the motor signal via Hard Sync and Pitch Lock, which produces more synthesizer-like sounds. The fourth mode, Coil Mode, seems particularly good at creating epic meandering drones. In the fifth mode, Vocoder, the motor pedal becomes just that: a vocoder.
It analyzes the modulator signal (i.e. guitar, synth or voice) in up to 24 bands and modulates the carrier signal with it, which is again the motor’s rotation. Sounds like a weird Kraftwerk/Daft Punk effect.
A Gas Pedal?
Could’ve, would’ve – at this point, the engines’ different sounds and characteristics can only be imagined. Because the demo video with the punk rock duo in the junkyard does sound and look awesome. But it leaves a lot to be desired in terms of the pedal’s different engines.
The Gamechanger Audio Motor Pedal has ten controls to shape the sound: Engine switches between the five modes mentioned above. Mod changes the amount of modulation, while Shift changes the pitch of the motor signal. VIBR/Glide adds vibrato to the signal. In the center, Release adjusts the speed of the envelope follower, while Clean sets the amount of dry signal mixed in.
On the right side, Motor determines the volume of the effect’s signal, Tone attenuates lows or highs, Drive overdrives the internal preamp, and Pedal determines the behavior of the gas pedal. That’s right, Gamechanger Audio goes even further and doesn’t just include a footswitch to activate the effect, but also a small toggle pedal that they call the gas pedal.
The Pedal knob cycles through Accelerate, Brake, Pitch, Vol and Dirt, and depending on which one you choose, you can use the gas pedal to create a variety of different effects. For instance, you can use the Accelerate and Brake settings to create a similar pitch-up or pitch-down effect to a Whammy pedal. Wicked!
How Much Does The Motor Pedal Cost?
I’ll be honest: I’m very open to instruments and effects that do something a little differently. But I’d need to hear a few more sound demos of the Gamechanger Audio Motor Pedal to be able to form a better opinion. I’m very much looking forward to doing just that at Superbooth 2025!
However, if you’ve already got the bug (and you can tell I’m pretty taken with it, too), you can get a bargain in the presale that started yesterday. From April 15 to April 30, 2025, it only costs 299 USD. After that, the pedal will cost 379 USD. What’s more, during the presale period, in addition to the black edition, there are also blue and red editions, both only avialable during the presale. GCA say the pedal will be shipped in June 2025.
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