One of my harp goals for 2025 is to really familiarize myself with the pedals on my pedalboard. Up until now, I'm ashamed to admit that I've just sort of turned them on, futzed with the knobs a bit, and went with the "wing it" technique. Fun for a while, but I'd really like to be able to shape soundscapes with some semblance of knowledge about what's available in my musical palette and how to control it.
Quite a few people have expressed interest in my pedals, and so I thought I'd share my journey here in my blog. Hopefully some of you will get some inspiration and useful information from it!
The Lore by Walrus Audio is a reverse soundscape generator. From Walrus Audio's website:
"Made up of five different programs, the Lore is an ambient creation machine built around reverse delay and reverbs. Featuring two DSP chips running in series, each with their own analog feedback path, the Lore takes you on an adventurous journey rich with themes of reversing, time-stretching, pitch-shifting, and vast ambiance."
This pedal has five programs, and knob controllers for feedback, regen, modulation, mix, "x", time and tone. "X" controls a characteristic unique to each program. The other knobs have some variation of control depending on the program, but generally do similar things. The result is a variety of dreamy ambient sounds that bring to straight to a misty fairy forest or the like.
I thought it would be fun to start familiarizing myself with this pedal by trying settings that other people have discovered and liked. I found a video on youtube of a guitarist demonstrating some settings, and I tried each of them on my harp. Below are pics of the pedal with the exact settings I used, and a video demonstration of the result. The names of each setting are from my own wacky imagination - please don't blame Walrus Audio for those.
Setting 1. Sweet Bursts.
This first setting is a short and sweet burst of sound, which works better when you only want a short burst, then silence, or if you're playing fast and don't want too much chaos and muddiness forming in the underlying soundscape. Here are the settings, and a short video demonstration:
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Setting 2. Dreeeamy.
This next setting is soooo dreamy. It's lovely and subtle and creates a misty, echoey backdrop for a moderate paced improvisation. Behold:
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Setting 3. Mermaid Grotto.
This setting requires a bit more space between notes to really appreciate. Let those single strings ring, and listen to how the resulting sounds shift and move. This one has a sort of underwatery feel to it, like a mermaid grotto. I want to play around with this one and some whale effects and make an underwater soundscape!
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Setting 4. Faeries in the Snow
One of my favorites for sure! This has such a faerie feel to it. Sweeps you away right into an enchanted world. Great on it's own for meditation music, or as a dreamy, ambient foundation to lay down under a melody. Such a great partner for the harp! Some pedal effects just go hand in hand with this instrument - this is one of them.
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Setting 5. Groovy
This one is great for laying down a groovy rhythm. Brings to mind a 1960's guitar, but like, in a giant cave. Janice from the Muppets would really dig this.
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Setting 6. Enchanted Forest
This is my other favorite. I have a feeling I'm going to use this one alot. It sounds so great with slow ballads, giving them a mystical feel. Adds a gorgeous misty ambient reverb without muddying the notes.
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Setting 7. Lazy Harpist
This one pretty much creates it's own shifting, moving, breathing soundscape for you. All you need to do is pluck a note every now and then (hence the name). Then sit back and listen as this beautiful aural fantasy dances around you. Just amazing. This is another one that was absolutely made for this instrument. I believe I will be using this one quite a bit too!
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I hope you enjoyed this blog post and these sample videos! The Lore is a really great pedal for harpists, especially if you are interested in creating fantasy soundscapes, ambient music for meditation, healing, and yoga, or scores for storytelling, film, and video game projects! Please let me know what you think about this pedal in the comments. And if you have any questions, please ask! I love hearing from you!
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