Gamechanger Audio Auto Chorus review – do you need dynamic modulation in your life?
€272/£299/$329, gamechangeraudio.com
Chorus is an effect that most people use to add subtle movement to a sound, like creating pretty ripples on a still pond. The Gamechanger Audio Auto Chorus wants to transform those ripples into rogue waves so intense they pose a danger to shipping – and it’ll let you automate the whole process with your playing.
READ MORE: Gamechanger Audio Auto Delay review – a dynamic delay that lets you wire it up how you want it
So if you like the idea of a modulation pedal that can dramatically change its behaviour depending on how hard you hit the strings or how high up the neck you play, this could be for you… that is, as long as you’re prepared for some serious tinkering.
Gamechanger Audio Auto Chorus – what is it?
Perhaps you’ve already basked in the literary magnificence of my review of Gamechanger’s Auto Delay. This is essentially the same deal but with modulation.
So it starts off as a standard stereo chorus with controls for effect level, rate, depth and feedback, plus a couple of three-way mode switches: one for wave shape (up, down or sine wave) and one for modulation type (chorus, ensemble or flanger). Stick to the bypass footswitch on the right side and that’s more or less the whole story.
However, like the Auto Delay, this pedal has a patchbay in the middle and comes with a bunch of cables to stick into it. These allow you to set up dynamic effects when the left footswitch is engaged, morphing to secondary settings (selected via the four mini-knobs) when your signal crosses a threshold of volume or pitch. And that’s where things start getting weird.
Image: Press
Gamechanger Audio Auto Chorus – is it easy to use?
I was going to say yes, it’s easy enough… but then I watched a demo of this pedal on a YouTube channel with tens of thousands of subscribers and the guy clearly hadn’t understood it at all. So maybe not, then. If you’re easily thrown off by complex controls, you might struggle here.
The primary controls, as mentioned above, are straightforward. The more advanced stuff is not, but it’s really just a matter of getting your head around the ‘if this then that’ principle at the heart of the Auto Series. Once that’s clicked, it’s mostly quite intuitive – aided by the twin LED strips, and six handy diagrams of suggested settings in the manual.
There’s more to explore beyond that if you want to – notably external CV and MIDI control plus, included in the box, a splitter that allows the Auto Chorus to track a clean signal even if it’s placed after a bunch of other pedals in your chain. But let’s just get to the sounds, shall we?
Image: Press
Gamechanger Audio Auto Chorus – what does it sound like?
There are plenty of nice traditional chorus sounds available with the depth set low, especially in stereo, and you can also get close to pure pitch vibrato with the level at maximum. Things turn a bit clangy when you flip to ensemble mode, though – and even more so when the flanger gets its whine on. Maybe some sort of tone control would have been useful here to soften the edges?
Anyway the depth, rate and feedback dials are all capable of pushing deep into unhinged territory, and that’s where the patch cables come in handy – letting you go there only under certain conditions, before jumping straight back to normality. All you have to do is set up those conditions beforehand, using the relevant controls and cables.
As with the Auto Delay, this doesn’t always work out quite as well as you might imagine it in your head; but with Gamechanger’s suggested settings as a starting point, I did come up with a handful of dynamic effects that qualified as both unique and potentially useful. A woozy chorus that only comes on when you play above (or below) a certain volume level? A flanger that morphs into a freaky ring modulator when you hit a particular note range? Something like both of the above at the same time? It’s all in here somewhere.
Gamechanger Audio Auto Chorus – should I buy it?
If you’re looking for something that sounds just like your old Boss CE-2 or EHX Small Clone, don’t go anywhere near this thing – it will bite your leg. But if you’re keen to explore just how un-mellow the sound of a chorus pedal can be, and are prepared to spend a lot of time playing around with knobs and cables to get there, the Auto Chorus might just be worth having in your armoury.
Gamechanger Audio Auto Chorus alternatives
The Beetronics Seabee ($349/£409) is about as close as any other chorus pedal comes to this level of wildness. The Death By Audio Space Bender ($270/£319) is a fruity modulation pedal with an envelope-following option; and while it’s a flanger, not a chorus, the EarthQuaker Devices Pyramids ($349/£369) has some similarly kooky tricks in its locker, facilitated by a ‘trigger’ footswitch.
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