Collaborations or crossovers can be a very difficult thing to pull off successfully, but the recent pairing of Death By Audio and EarthQuaker Devices for the development of the Time Shadows pedal is the music industry equivalent of the kung fu-meets-samurai brilliance of Zatoichi and the One-Armed Swordsman. Time Shadows II is described as “Subharmonic Multi-Delay Resonator,” but that just scratches the surface of the incredibly complex effects lurking within this diminutive yet powerful stompbox. In essence, Time Shadows is an advanced unit with three very distinctive algorithms or modes.
EQD mode (developed by EarthQuaker Devices) is “an envelope-controlled sub-octave filter delay” or “pitch-morphed delay filter;” DBA mode (contributed by Death By Audio) is a “multi-delay regenerating filter” or “multi-delay filter remorphinator;” and !¡ mode, a new addition that wasn’t featured on the initial limited-edition version of the pedal, is a “pitch-warping dual delay” created by EQD’s Jamie Stillman and completed for the new version of Time Shadows. Each mode has its own distinct personality, which gives the box functionality similar to three entirely separate multi-effect and/or synth pedals. Time Shadows provides only three controls for tweaking sounds – Time (delay time), Filter (filter frequency envelope and gate for EQD mode, filter frequency and phased delay line shift point for DBA mode, mix for !¡ mode) and Span (intensity) – but this mod.