Old Blood Noise Endeavors Dark Star Stereo Black

The continued pull, the drift unabated, the controlled wash of gravity and the chaotic meander of its combined uncertainties. In fact, the original and highly loved Dark Star is a pedal that historically was OBNE’s most popular reverb. People bonded with its warmth and aliasing, its long trails and the way it encouraged you to turn the mix fully up.

Now, it’s in with the new. Dark Star Stereo expands on the promise of ambient reverb and is a pitch shifting, bit crushing, filtered reverb pedal with just about every feature you could ask for. One massive stereo voice, with a wide suite of controls that likes to go anywhere in your signal chain – all that’s left is for you to decide just how dark you must go.

Reviving the magic of the long-trail lo-fi reverb algorithm that made Dark Star a breakout hit years ago, Old Blood Noise Endeavors announces a new Dark Star for a new era, with a drastically expanded feature set and improved signal quality that is sure to draw in old fans and new.

New features like Stereo Input and Output, on-board Presets, Trails, Expression control over all parameters and MIDI control, of both Parameters and Presets, all help to give more versatility to this device than ever before. Beyond that, the new Dark Star does away with the three-mode toggle, instead creating a single mode combining all the Pitch-Shifting, Bit-Crushing, delayed goodness of the original. Access your favourite sounds as well as new combinations, with new shapers like Filter, Multiply, Volume and Stereo-Spread.

With Dual Pitch-Shifting capabilities for its independent Left and Right channels, when running in Stereo, the Dark Star can create lush or discordant textures, ranging from subtle detunes to dramatic double octave shifts. The pedal also includes a versatile Filter control that lets you shape the reverb signal with a high or low pass filter, for customised clarity. The built-in Crush distortion adds unique textures, with settings that move from subtle soft clipping to intense lo-fi grit. Additional controls for Lag and Decay let you set the Reverb pre-delay and decay time, while Multiply and Spread bring unique feedback and stereo width control, enhancing depth and intensity.

The Dark Star’s Aux footswitch can be customised for momentary or latching effects, like infinite sustain, low-pass filtering, or instant octave pitch shifts, providing flexible creative control at your feet. Save and switch between three unique on-board presets, with clear LED indicators and use the Expression Jack for hands-free dynamic control over any parameter.

Adding to the pedal’s extensive flexibility, the Dark Star is fully MIDI compatible with presets being selectable via Program Change messages as well as all parameters being accessible and controllable via CC. With both Mono and Stereo routing options, plus selectable True-Bypass or Trails modes, the Dark Star offers a comprehensive blend of both intuitive and advanced features for musicians that are looking to sculpt immersive soundscapes.