MXR has introduced Layers, an innovative new soundscaping pedal based on stacked sustains that allows players to create dense musical landscapes using just a single standard-sized stompbox.
Layers is a layering and sustain pedal. The magic of Layers comes from its ability to stack three sustained, er, layers on top of each other. The lengths of each layer can be set from short to infinite, and the pedal handles chords and single notes alike, holding them in dizzying sustain ranges.
It’s a fun ambience-creating tool for bedroom guitarists and live musicians alike, and features sub-octave functionality and the ability to connect to external tap tempo, expression and keyboard sustain pedals.
Each level has its own LED status light and is accessed by pressing the footswitch. A single button limits the pedal’s functions to one level for optimized effect. Double tapping the footswitch turns off all levels at once.
Four controls are available to fine-tune each layer: Mix, Trig, Attack and Decay. Mix sets the volume of the layer effect, but the dry signal remains present even at maximum setting.
The Trig control changes the auto-trigger sensitivity of the pedal and Attack is all about the attack of the effect itself, so when the control is turned back the effect comes on quickly, while at the other end of the scale it swells, creating a smoother, more cinematic effect.
Finally, Decay determines the sustain of the notes stacked on top of each other. Sustain is shortest when turned down and goes to infinity when turned up all the way. MXR points out that high frequencies are more sensitive to faster decay than their lower counterparts. Decay is activated once the footswitch is released, locking that layer.
Each button can be adjusted in relation to each stacked layer, meaning they can be interwoven across the three layers in an incredible number of combinations.
This principle is also extended to the sub-octave key, which allows the user to select which layers their “fat underground vibes” are applied to and which are not.
The pedal features mono, stereo, and wet/dry modes for extremely wide application. Ultimately, it seems like MXR’s Layers offer a world of tone-shaping fun, and since it comes in MXR’s standard case, integrating it into existing pedalboards is a breeze.
“Create richly detailed soundscapes that take musical expression to new levels,” says MXR. “With a versatile set of controls, this pedal can be as simple or complex as you need it to be. Whether you want to extend individual notes or create layered, atmospheric soundscapes, the MXR Layers Pedal expands the creative potential of your instrument.”
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The Layers pedal follows the highly anticipated and delay-plagued MXR Randy Rhoads Distortion+ pedal. In developing it, MXR’s experts opened up the late guitarist Ozzy Osbourne’s famous “Chip Pan” pan pedalboard for the first time in 40 years to recreate Rhoads’ personal Distortion+ distortion pedal.
MXR Layers is available now and costs $219.99.
Visit MXR to learn more.
