EarthQuaker Devices - Time Shadows - Subharmonic Multi-Delay Resonator

This joint collaboration between EarthQuaker Devices and Death By Audio is a major update to the original Time Shadows that was released in 2020 and limited to 1000 units! Time Shadows now features 3 modes, user assignable expression control and 6 preset slots to save and recall your favorite settings. The EQD Mode is an envelope controlled sub-octave filter delay, the ALL NEW !¡ Mode is a dual delay where each repeat simultaneously shifts up and down with each regeneration, and the DBA Mode is a multi-delay regenerating filter. All three sounds are wildly different from each other and yet share a perfectly designed harmony to be completely complementary and suitable for every style and genre of music.

Three Wildly Different Modes That Share A Perfectly Designed Harmony

Pitch-Morphed Fuzz Delay Filter

The EQD Mode transforms whatever you play into the sound of a jazz space bazooka! It takes the input signal, blows it out with the power of digital distortion, blends it with a polyphonic sub octave, feeds it into a delay, then spits it out into a highly resonant envelope controlled lowpass filter.

Pitch-Warping Dual Delay

The !¡ Mode is an energy beam that brings your earthly transmissions repetitively closer to the heavens while simultaneously diving deep into the hells. It’s a dual delay where each repeat simultaneously shifts up and down with each regeneration.

Multi-Delay Filter Remorphinator

The DBA Mode is a multi-delay filter remorphinator that goes from icy shimmers to cosmic space caves of bouncing repeats. 

Global Features

Presets

Time Shadows has six available preset slots for you to save and recall your favorite settings. The settings for each of the three controls, the mode switch and the expression jack assignment can be saved and recalled in any of the slots. 

Operating Modes

Time Shadows has two operating modes which are indicated by the color of the Save/Recall switch LED. In Live mode, the pedal will operate exactly where the controls are set and any changes will have no effect on the presets unless saved. In Preset mode, stored presets, including expression pedal mapping, are selected using the Preset switch, and the physical settings of the controls will be ignored. It’s never been easier to switch between Live and Preset modes on the fly, vastly expanding your sonic cosmos - no bending down required!

User-Assignable Expression Control

Use any TRS expression pedal to take control over the Time, Span or Filter.

Design Notes

The initial idea for a collaboration pedal was brought to us by Reverb as an idea to help promote The Pedal Movie and I pretty much demanded to work with DBA, lol. I love everything they make and really appreciate their aesthetic and philosophy. I look forward to any opportunity we have to hang / work / rage together! Needless to say, I am beyond stoked to work with Ollie and the whole DBA crew again on this project! 

I started working on my program a few weeks into the pandemic. I had just moved my office back into the basement and was working on a lot of ideas that I had rolling around in my brain but previously didn’t have the time to try out. I had several ideas for a simple guitar synth but this one really stuck out for me and I kept coming back to it. It just sounded massive and had such a simple control set yet could cover a lot of ground. I think I spent a couple weeks fine tuning it then set it aside to work on what became Aurelius and the Ledges but I couldn’t stop thinking about it. Reverb approached us about a promotional idea for The Pedal Movie and I thought this was a perfect fit, especially with DBA in mind as a partner. I knew Ollie would come up with something sick to round it out and he really delivered! His program has so many different, amazing sounds available with just three controls! The two programs are nothing alike yet shocking cohesive! He really killed it and brought this pedal to life!

Fun Fact: When we went to build the original Time Shadows, I gave our production manager the master EEPROM (the little IC that houses all the magic) to copy for the full run without realizing that there was an additional program that I was working on in one of the locations. If you set the mode selector just right, you could get it to stick in the middle and access this unfinished idea! For this new run, I finished the program and we change the 2 position toggle to a 3 position and brought this easter egg out into the world.

I’m very happy we are now putting this in permanent rotation! The prices for the original Time Shadows are bonkers and this updated version with the additional mode, presets and a SUPER useful assignable expression control really open up a whole dimension in tone mangling!

-Jamie Stillman, EARTHQUAKER DEVICES

I was thrilled about this project, especially since we've grown close with the EarthQuaker crew and have been huge fans of their wild sound manipulators for years. Jamie and I had often talked about collaborating on some designs, so when Jamie asked me to, I was immediately on board.

The idea was that Jamie had been working on one half of a pedal and thought I could design the other half, creating a switchable dual-pedal. When he sent it to me, I was blown away by how cool it was and thought, "How can I create something that even comes close to the epicness of the EarthQuaker side?" After many endless days of tweaking, re-tweaking, and reworking, I finally came up with something that complemented the genius of the EQD side.

My design featured a bendable crystalline filter sound that could warp into delays, sometimes morphing when played, and adding a robotic gleam to everything. While the EarthQuaker side is a unique sound, I wanted the DBA side to serve as both a core building block and a gateway to wild dream comb filtering and total sound transformation. My inspiration came from the aggressive metallic sounds of machines, the band Six Finger Satellite, the Electro-Harmonix Electric Mistress, and the desire to explore uncharted sonic territories.

-Oliver Ackermann, DEATH BY AUDIO

Controls

Time: Controls the delay time.

Filter: Arguably the most fun control on Time Shadows! On the EQD side this controls an envelope for the filter frequency and a gate for the cutoff to the input of the delay. On the DBA side this controls the filter frequency as well as the shift point of a precisely phased delay line for pole zero interpolation. In the magic middle position, this controls the mix…

Span: Controls the intensity of repletion.

Preset: Six available preset slots for you to save and recall your favorite settings! The settings for each of the three controls, the Mode switch and the expression jack assignment can be saved and recalled in any of the slots.

TECH SPECS

Dimensions: 4.75 x 2.50 x 2.25 in. (121 x 64 x 57 mm) with knobs

Current Draw: 75 mA

Input Impedance: 500 kΩ

Output Impedance: 100 Ω

TRS expression pedal wiring

Tip: Wiper

Ring: +3.3V

Sleeve: Ground

Flexi-Switch® Technology

This device features Flexi-Switch® Technology! This relay-based, true bypass switching style allows you to simultaneously use momentary and latching style switching.

• For standard latching operation, tap the footswitch once to activate the effect and then tap again to bypass.

• For momentary operation, hold the footswitch down for as long as you’d like to use the effect. Once you release the switch the effect will be bypassed.

Since the switching is relay-based, it requires power to pass signal. 

Power 

This device takes a standard 9 volt DC power supply with a 2.1mm negative center barrel. We always recommend pedal-specific, transformer-isolated wall-wart power supplies or multiple isolated-output supplies. Pedals will make extra noise if there is ripple or unclean power. Switching-type power supplies, daisy chains and non-pedal specific power supplies do not filter dirty power as well and let through unwanted noise. DO NOT RUN AT HIGHER VOLTAGES!

Download the Operation Manual

WATCH THE DEMO HERE