Recording - July 2018 - 30

GFI System

External control, from foot
to lap(top)

The simplest way to extend your control
of the Specular Tempus is with an external
footswitch; it can use a single, double, or
triple switch, connected via 1/4" TRS
cable to the Aux In. GFI provided us with
its Triple Switch, a small yet robust remote with nice extras like different heights
for the outer vs. center switches, and a
toggled setting to make it work with Strymon's switching electronics as well as
GFI's (Strymon pedal owners take note!).
The switches can be set to move
through Banks and Pages, provide
momentary on or off for either A or B,
select a programmed Favorite Patch,
tap tempo, activate Warp (changing
the delay time to a preset subdivision
of its current value), or offer Auto-Swell.
Auto-Swell slowly turns up one knob of
your choice (per Patch) to its maximum,
and then back down to its programmed
level when you let go. It's good for
fading in reverb modulation, playing
with delay times... all kinds of fun.
Adding a MIDI controller gives even
more transparent control. The Specular
Tempus accepts MIDI Program Changes
and Control Changes to access any
program, turn any knob, or push any
button, allowing for manual control from
any MIDI device or even automation
from within a DAW. The latest firmware
update recognizes MIDI Clock, allowing
30

RECORDING July 2018

the unit to globally sync to
your DAW or sequencer.
Last but not least, there's a
little program for macOS and
Windows called SpecLab. It
lets you set up global parameters like switch assignment and
MIDI Channel, tweak parameters in algorithms, rename
and save patches, update
firmware, and reorganize
Banks with basic Read and
Write commands. It accesses
the Specular Tempus via USB,
which is the only thing the
USB port is used for-a small
drag, as it'd be cool to have
single-cable MIDI control over
this connection as well.
Oh, and the Aux Out is a relay
switch, latching or momentary, that
can be used to change amp channels
or send Tap Tempo pulses to external
pedals capable of using them.

The algorithms

The five Classic reverbs in the Specular
Tempus include Spatium, Room, Tile
Room, 70s Plate, and Spring. All of
them are dense, rich, and tonally interesting, with different characteristics in the
tail, with Tile Room being the brightest
and Spatium being the warmest. The
Atmospheric reverbs add effects like
pitch shifting, modulation, harmony,
tremolo, etc., to the reverb tails, for a
wide variety of special sounds.
The Spring is nice and twangy and
the 70s Plate has that thin response that
keeps it from overwhelming your mixes,
but my favorite is still Spatium. People
love to compare the "sound" of particular
reverbs-Eventide vs. Lexicon vs. TC, for
example-and choose favorites; I am a
huge fan of the Spatium algorithm, which
adds warm and enveloping space to any
source. My only warning is that it's easy
to overuse because it's so very rich and
smooth... like stuffing yourself on chocolate
when you're already full!
The Delays are based on Digital,
Analog, and Echo algorithms, with varying
degrees of warmth and pitch instability;
http://www.lachapellaudio.com
Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of Recording - July 2018
