20 Years of Innovation: The History of Source Audio (Part 2: 2011 to 2015)
GO BACK AND READ "20 YEARS OF INNOVATION: THE HISTORY OF SOURCE AUDIO: PART 1: (2006 to 2010)"
2011
Released in 2011: Soundblox Pro Bass Envelope Filter, Soundblox Pro Guitar Envelope Filter, Source Audio Hot Hand MIDI-EXP Controller, Source Audio Programmable EQ
2011 was an epic year for Source Audio and more specifically the Hot Hand Ring. We will never forget the evening when a new YouTube video showed up in our inbox. It came from a bassist who was still a student at nearby Berklee College of Music. Jesse had been helping the young musician find a sound that he was trying to achieve through a gear combination of the Hot Hand ring, the Source Audio MIDI-EXP Controller, the Soundblox Bass Envelope Filter, and some 3rd party effects pedals. The guy's name was Nathan Navarro and his band was Pinn Panelle.
Hot Hand MIDI-EXP Controller (Used by Nathan Navarro in the Pinn Panelle video)
The sound Nathan was looking for eventually showed up in the aforementioned video, a live Pinn Panelle performance of the song "Scary Monsters and Nice Sprites" by Skrillex. Nathan was using the ring to achieve the "dub-step wobble" synonymous with Skrillex's electronic music. It was an effect usually done with computer plug-ins, but had not yet been achieved in a rock band context. It worked, and it sounded amazing!!!
The first time we watched this video, the entire Source Audio team was blown away. "Wow, that is a great application for Hot Hand," someone said. We checked back on the video a couple of hours later and it had a couple thousand more views - everyone was very impressed. The next morning the video had hundreds of thousands of views. What?!?! This thing was turning into a legit, viral video! In the days the followed, Hot Hands started to fly out of our warehouse. After about three weeks they were all gone, and we wouldn't be able to make more for several months. Supply and demand can be an unpredictable beast. To be continued...
David Gilmour and the Source Audio Programmable EQ
Another noteworthy release in 2011 was the Source Audio Programmable EQ, an 8-band digital equalizer pedal with 4 presets and MIDI control. It was a relatively simple idea, but nobody had done it before and Jesse's compact and sleek design made it the perfect solution to many, many musicians' problems. One of those musicians was a British guitarist named David Gilmour! 🤯 The Programmable EQ magically showed up on Gilmour's pedalboard during his 2016 return to Pompeii, the site of Pink Floyd's legendary 1972 concert film (Check out the Photo Essay on The Guardian). Below is a photo of Gilmour's pedals from the 2011 Pompeii concert.
Gilmour's pedals from the Pompeii concert.
Previously Gilmour was using several Boss Equalizer pedals. He had to use a separate EQ pedal for making fine, tonal adjustments to every single drive pedal he had in his live rig. Obviously, the Programmable EQ allowed Gilmour to do the work of four analog EQs with a single pedal. And word was, it sounded fantastic. David's guitar tech eventually got in touch with us and shared the playful term he and Gilmour used for the Programmable EQ, they called it "the better box." Turn it on and the guitar sounds better–yep, that's what you want from an EQ.
The Source Audio Programmable EQ in Action at Pompeii
2012
Released in 2012: Hot Hand 3 Universal Wireless Effects Controller, Soundblox Pro Poly-Mod Filter, Dual Expression Pedal
After the success of Pinn Pannelle's Skrillex video, we found that what we thought we was a substantial supply of Hot Hand rings was suddenly down to zero. And orders for more were coming in every single day. This was a problem. But rather than simply rebuilding a new supply, we decided to revisit the design of Hot Hand and find ways to improve it. We knew that we wanted Hot Hand to be compatible with more than just Source Audio pedals. At this point running Hot Hand with a non-Source Audio pedal was a complicated and expensive endeavor, requiring the ring and the Hot Hand MIDI Expression Controller (a short-lived pedal that converted Hot Hand motion control into MIDI continuous controller messages). Jesse went back to the laboratory to solve this problem and emerged with the Hot Hand 3 Universal Wireless Effects Controller, a perfect solution that made it easy to use Hot hand with any pedal that had an expression input. Hot Hand was back and it was HOT!!!
The Hot Hand 3 Universal Wireless Effects Controller
2013
Released in 2013: Soundblox 2 Multiwave Distortion, Soundblox 2 Multiwave Bass Distortion, Soundblox 2 Dimension Reverb, Soundblox 2 Manta Bass Envelope Filter, Soundblox 2 OFD Guitar MicroModeler, Soundblox 2 Bass MicroModeler
By the end of 2012 Source Audio had definitely arrived. But there were still many criticisms being leveled at us. On the positive side, many of the believers saw Source Audio as an incredibly innovative company willing to push boundaries with gear like Hot Hand and the Multiwave Distortion. Many also said that the sounds inside Source Audio pedals were top-shelf. Our envelope filter pedals were certainly considered among the best in the market. However, one universally accepted criticism was that Soundblox pedals are too big, and too ugly... and they were plastic.
In 2013 the solution to these criticisms came in the form of the Soundblox 2 line of pedals. Soundblox 2 came in a compact metal housing with two presets, 12 different effect engines, and 2 presets, each with a dedicated footswitch.
The Soundblox 2 Dimension Reverb
Soundblox 2 also announced Source Audio's arrival in the reverb category with the SB2 Dimension Reverb. Bob Chidlaw was already an expert at crafting digital reverb effects from his days at Kurzweil, and he hit the ground running with the Dimension Reverb. This was, of course, just the beginning. Reverb is a category where Source Audio would make a lasting impact for years to come.
2014
Released in 2014: Soundblox Hub, Soundblox 2 Stingray Multi-Filter, The Soundblox Hub - MIDI Interface / Port Expander / Multi-Pedal Scene Saver
The Soundblox Hub - MIDI Interface / Port Expander / Multi-Pedal Scene Saver
One shortcoming of the Soundblox 2 line was that they were not MIDI compatible. Also, limiting them to only 2 presets was a bit of a waste considering their tonal versatility. Jesse's solution to this issue was introduced in 2014: the Soundblox Hub - MIDI Interface / Port Expander / Multi-Pedal Scene Saver. The Hub was capable of simultaneously connecting to as many as five Soundblox pedals. The little unit not only gave Soundblox 2 MIDI capabilities, it could also store what we call "Scenes." Scenes are multi-pedal presets, so with a single MIDI program change message the Hub could change the settings on all five of the connected Soundblox pedal. This is a concept that is still popular today among many Source Audio enthusiasts.
2015
Released in 2015: One Series Vertigo Tremolo, One Series Gemini Chorus, One Series Lunar Phaser, One Series Mercury Flanger, Neuro Editor for iPhone, Reflex Universal Expression Pedal
In 2014 it quickly became clear that though the Soundblox 2 was an improvement over the Soundblox line, there were still some issues. Primarily, the overwhelming opinion was that the aesthetics of the SB2 line were still a little too unorthodox. And they only had a mono input/output configuration. Especially in the world of reverb, stereo effects were getting more and more popular and expected. So at NAMM 2015 Source Audio introduced the Vertigo Tremolo, the first release in the new One Series line.
The One Series pedals were in some sense a more traditional approach to effects pedal housings. But the One Series had an ace up its sleeve in the form of the Neuro mobile app. The Neuro App gave users the ability to connect to their One Series pedal and access a far reaching collection of additional editing parameters. It was essentially like adding 20 additional knobs to the face of every pedal. One Series pedal owners could now create highly customized presets and store them directly to one of the six toggle switch positions on the pedal or store them in their own personal preset library in the cloud. The one drawback was that this new technology was currently only available on iPhones, that would soon change...
CONTINUE READING - "20 YEARS OF INNOVATION: THE HISTORY OF SOURCE AUDIO (PART 3: 2016 to 2026)"
