Discomfort Designs Supreme Balloon Stereo Tremolo & Panner

Over the last several years, Discomfort Designs has been quietly releasing some of the most creative effects pedals on the market, from the My Continuing Battle With The Queasy Feels Stereo Multi Modulator, to the Riemann’s Grave Octave Bit Crusher Distortion Filter, to the Phantom Limb Delay Looper, and more. Today, we’ve got one of their newer releases for you all, the wild and exploratory Supreme Balloon Stereo Tremolo & Panner. This one is simply perfect for anyone who loves modulation, but wants to break out of the box and really create something new and original…

Supreme Balloon is an advanced tremolo pedal designed to cover the full range of classic amplitude modulation while introducing a set of innovative controls for creating uniquely expressive and unconventional rhythmic textures. From smooth, vintage-inspired pulses to complex harmonic movement and unpredictable modulation patterns, Supreme Balloon offers both familiar sounds and entirely new territory. This pedal features standard Depth and Rate controls for setting the intensity and speed of the modulation. For rhythmic shifts, the dedicated Speed footswitch multiplies the current modulation rate by four, enabling smooth transitions from slow, subtle movement to rapid stutter-like effects.

At the heart of Supreme Balloon is a flexible waveform engine built around Sawtooth, Sine, and Square wave LFOs. The Morph control allows smooth transitions between waveform shapes, creating continuously variable modulation curves rather than abrupt waveform changes. In addition, the selected waveform can be flipped or inverted within the morphing process, opening up a wide range of asymmetrical and evolving modulation patterns. The Split control blends between standard tremolo and harmonic tremolo by dividing the incoming signal into separate frequency bands and modulating them independently. At lower settings, the effect behaves as traditional full-spectrum tremolo; as the control is increased, the signal transitions smoothly into harmonic tremolo, producing rich, phase-like movement and enhanced dimensionality. A unique Skip toggle introduces randomized dropouts in the modulating LFO cycle, creating irregular pulses, missing beats, and unexpected rhythmic variations. This feature can add subtle human-like inconsistency or dramatic, unpredictable interruption depending on the selected settings.

There are even hidden momentary functions for each of the foot switches. Momentary on from a bypassed state, and hidden ‘while on’ features, which both just add to the functionality and uniqueness of the Supreme Balloon. This, like other Discomfort Designs creations, is a wonderfully innovative and distinct pedal, unlike anything in this realm that I’ve seen before, and I absolutely love it. Be sure to check out our demo video to see and hear just what this green machine is capable of, and then head over to the Discomfort Designs website to grab one for yourself – cheers!!