FIRST SOUNDS // Qi Etherealizer by Walrus & Yvette Young

When Walrus Audio announced the Qi Etherealizer, a signature pedal and collaboration with Yvette Young, we were equally surprised and excited. Surprised and excited because the Qi is not a pedal that captures an artist’s sound, but a pedal that captures an artist’s essence, and gives you, the player, full access to make that essence your own.

The Qi Etherealizer is not one effect, it’s 4, with oodles of options to help you dial in exactly what you want and none of what you don’t! You have the choice between Tri-Chorus and Stereo Chorus to start, then Digital Delay with 3 subdivisions to choose from. Then a granular sampler with a ridiculous amount of control in just 2 knobs, 1 button, and 1 footswitch. Finally the effects chain is buttoned up with a glorious plate reverb and master tone knob.

Sounds simple? It is. However to leave it at just this would be missing so much of what the Qi brings to the table. You have the option of running those 4 effects in series (Chorus into Delay into Grain into Reverb) or you have them capable of running parallel, with Chorus, Delay, and Grain being fed the input signal independently, and all three feeding the reverb engine for the pièce de résistance. All this of course in glorious stereo (mono if you’re nasty) with 3 onboard presets, heaps more with MIDI, tap tempo, a dedicated switch for grain & reverb freezing, and the brand new MDSP module.

The Qi Etherealizer may be the new benchmark for what Walrus is capable, and trust me when I say it doesn’t disappoint. Don’t believe me? Listen for yourself and become a convert, then like, comment, and subscribe to help keep this channel going.