Catalinbread Delay & Reverb Series | Soft Focus

Are you looking to create the dreamy, ethereal sounds of the iconic shoegaze era? Look no further than the Catalinbread Soft Focus pedal! Inspired by the Soft Focus patch on the Yamaha FX500, made famous by Slowdive on their classic album Souvlaki, this pedal is the instant shoegaze button you’ve been searching for.

Unlike the original unit, the Soft Focus addresses the most glaring issues with its no mix control, sub-par preamp, and tone-sucking bypass signal. The Soft Focus is a heavily modified plate reverb with adjustable time, split into three paths for maximum versatility. One path contains a multi-voiced chorus modulator, while another features a well-appointed octave-up mixed in with the reverb. The third path leaves the reverb untouched, allowing for even more experimentation and sound exploration.

But that’s not all – the Mod knob controls the rate of the chorus on path one, while the Symphony knob controls the level of the octave on path two. And all controls are “coupled” to the tone of the reverb, providing an expansive playing field of sounds to discover and fine-tune.

While Catalinbread’s Soft Focus is not an exact recreation of the original, it was exhaustively compared with their own FX500, ensuring its authenticity and quality. And while a generic fixed-time digital delay is present on the Soft Focus patch, they found that leaving this feature intact ate into the circuit’s memory too much for little payoff. Instead, they leave that addition to you and your favourite delay for maximum creativity.

So whether you’re a seasoned shoegaze veteran or just starting to explore the genre, the Catalinbread Soft Focus pedal is an essential tool for achieving that iconic sound. Get yours today and start creating the ethereal soundscapes of your dreams!