Brian Wampler started his legendary career by modding pedals, and has always been a self-described “gear nut.” Not wanting to make something “boring” (his words) Brian decided to combine 11 custom-designed modulation effects into a single stompbox unit.
He’s thrown Wampler into the digital realm with the Wampler Terraform multi-modulation pedal. The eleven custom-designed modulation effects build out the Terraform’s vast, fully programmable engine into a small footprint stompbox configuration. With a true stereo design, the Wampler Terraform will surely become the centerpiece of your pedalboard in no time.
Routing and Expression
With the Terraform, you can choose to run mono (Normal Mode) or full true stereo. Within Normal Mode, Terraform lets you assign effects in your signal chain to PRE/POST, which determines where effects are placed within your mono signal chain. The Terraform makes setup easy by auto-assigning certain effects out of the box to either PRE or POST. PRE effects include U Vibe, phaser, flanger, envelope filter and auto wah. POST effects include dimension, chorus, tremolo, harmonic tremolo, slow gear and rotary.
While each of effects built into the Terraform are incredibly easy to tweak, you also have the ability to add an expression pedal to control any of the five tweak-able knobs on the pedal. The expression pedal settings are then stored within a patch to be called up on the fly later if necessary.
Terraform’s 11 Effects and MIDI Control
Now that you’ve got your routing all settled, it’s time to dive in and get acquainted with Terraform’s effects. First comes Dimension, which is a wave-filled chorus that soaks your tone like it’s been transported to the bottom of the ocean. The regular Chorus effect is a much more classic option with a single wave for the traditionalist.
Getting into tremolos, the Harmonic Tremolo is a wet, rotary-like trem that works well when you really want to push out the width of your signal. The regular Tremolo effect can add a slight wobble to your tone or a full-on chop. A cool trick is turning the depth all the way up and hearing a fully square trem that cuts out between notes.
Though Harmonic Tremolo is similar to a rotary, the Rotary effect on Terraform is unique in that the Rate and Depth knobs control the virtual “horn” and “woofer” like you would find on a traditional rotary speaker cabinet. This gives you the ultimate control over this old-school effect. Auto Swell and Auto Wah are pretty self-explanatory until it comes to tweaking. Using the variable knob on the Auto Wah makes the “Q” of the filter thin or fat, while the rate knob controls fast or slow speed. Rate and variable are also incredibly useful on the U-Vibe effect, in which the base effect is already as wet as possible. Serious experimentation will reveal some amazing, throbbing vibe effects to die for.
Phaser and Flanger both are potent effects on Terraform with the ability to go full wet for wacky tones. The Envelope Filter, like the Auto Wah, has variable adjustments for the “Q” of the filter for thinner or fatter tone.
All of these effects can be tweaked and made your own, then saved into one of eight preset banks. The first four preset locations are self-explanatory by the LED marking the location. Banks five through eight are marked by the LED light off and each other bank lit.
And if you’re into MIDI, you can recall a patch from the fully MIDI-mappable memory bank and feed a tempo and speed control into the Terraform. You can then assign any incoming preset change of MIDI to any of the 8 preset locations.
Now that you’ve got the info, go out and create a wide stereo ocean of modulation or add a stiff, square tremolo to a track. The options are endless with Terraform.
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