Cosmodio Instruments Glitch Witch Analog Auto-Modulated Logic Fuzz

One of my very favorite effects creators from the last few years is Cosmodio Instruments, who build pedals that are meant to be unconventional, out of the norm and made for experimenters and knob-turners. Continuing in the tradition of their Pet Yeti Distortion Fuzz and Gravity Well Wavefolder, Tremolo and Sonic Refractor, their latest release (out today) melts faces and scares those unfamiliar, as it should. The Glitch Witch Analog Auto-Modulated Logic Fuzz starts off as a kind-of normal fuzz, but even that’s a stretch, then morphs continually into something beyond description…enjoy this one!

At the dawn of civilization, vulnerable hominid primates devised tools! Fire! Language! Machines! Each technology unleashed powerful new possibilities, some of which were intended, but many of which were not…you now hold such possibilities in your very hands! When the humble CMOS logic gate was first forged from crystalline silicon, nobody imagined that these seemingly simple analog devices could be harnessed to create unimaginable sonic chaos. Proceed with caution… or, don’t. Actually, go ballistic and have some fun! The Glitch Witch auto-modulated logic fuzz is your retrofuturist companion for exploring the sonically aberrant boundaries between order and chaos, pitch and rhythm.

At the robotic heart of the 100% analog Glitch Witch pedal is a fast, fun, and heavy AF CMOS fuzz. Its all-original and unconventional circuit can achieve massive, modern, fullspectrum gated fuzz, yet can also harken back to the roar, grind and grit of an under-biased MKII Tone Bender. The real frenzy ensues when frequency dividers are integrated into the fuzz engine, producing a matrix of musical possibilities, including sub-octave, bit crush, harmonic glitch, ring modulation, pulse, strobe and chop effects. When the frequency dividers are active, all rhythmic effects and modulation rates are locked to subsonic divisions of the notes and pitches of the input source. A high pitched note will be modulated more quickly and a low note more slowly. In this way, Glitch Witch evokes the “Rhythmicon” concept, devised by Leon Theremin and Henry Cowell in the 1930s, which illuminates the fluid gradient within the phenomenon we humans perceive distinctly as pitch and rhythm.

The purity of logic and mathematics will fuse with the chaos of nature as they are together heated by overwhelming amounts of gain to form a searing singularity of sound! The result is as aggressive as it is delightful, as intuitive as it is surprising. The Glitch Witch is everything and anything but subtle, and that’s just how we like it! Be sure to check out our lengthy demo video below for all the ins-and-outs of this fine machine, then head to the Cosmodio Instruments website to snag one for yourself – cheers!!