United States · Est. 2013
Chase Bliss Audio
The most advanced analog pedals ever made. Micro-controller-assisted analog circuits with deep MIDI and preset capability.
About the brand
Chase Bliss Audio was founded by Joel Korte in Minneapolis, Minnesota, in 2013. Korte's breakthrough insight was to use a microcontroller not to process the audio signal digitally, but purely to control the analog circuit — setting knob positions via MIDI and storing presets. The audio path itself remains entirely analog.
The Warped Vinyl MKII vibrato/chorus, the Tonal Recall analog delay, and the Thermae analog pitch-shifting delay are among the most sophisticated analog pedals ever built. Each one has 16 dip switches on top that control additional parameters, giving players extraordinary depth of control.
Chase Bliss has since collaborated with Meris, Empress Effects, and other boutique builders on co-designed pedals. The Dark World reverb (with Keeley) and the Habit delay have expanded the company's sonic vocabulary while maintaining the core philosophy of analog audio under digital control.
Key facts
- Analog audio path controlled entirely by microcontroller
- Full MIDI implementation and preset storage in analog pedals
- Warped Vinyl: one of the most acclaimed modulation pedals ever built
- Founded by Joel Korte in Minneapolis in 2013
Iconic pedals
Tonal Recall
Bucket-brigade analog delay with a microcontroller that allows preset storage and MIDI reception. The most controllable analog delay ever made.
Warped Vinyl MKII
Analog chorus and vibrato with multi-waveform LFO and expressable ramp. Authentic analog sound with virtually infinite modulation possibilities.
Thermae
Analog delay with diatonic pitch-shifting. Each repeat can move to a different note in the selected scale, creating unique melodic delay patterns.
Dark World
Dual-channel reverb co-designed with Keeley. One channel is dark and ambient, the other is bright and shimmering. They coexist and interact in unexpected ways.
Notable musicians
- Jonny Greenwood · Blooper
- Mary Lattimore · Thermae
- William Tyler · Mood
- Andy Shauf · Thermae