Swirls

CHORUS

Swirls combines three effects—a tri-stereo chorus, a micro pitch-shifter, and an aggressive VCA compressor—to capture the iconic, thick 80s rack sound in a single pedal. This effect stack became especially well-known through Michael Landau’s album Tales from the Bulge, which originally required large, complex rack setups. Swirls delivers this signature sound in a compact format without the bulky equipment. The chorus is a precise emulation of the Dyno-my-Piano Tri-Stereo Chorus, tuned against the more modern Fulltone TERC unit. The micro pitch-shifter uses the classic overlap-add method found in units from Eventide and Digitech, producing a wide, chorus-like sound but without the traditional low-frequency modulation of a standard chorus. The fast, aggressive compressor—loosely based on the dbx 160x—sits before the modulation effects and adds the distinctive “pop,” especially noticeable when playing a Strat in the second position. Altogether, Swirls delivers the essence of a historically rack-sized sound in one compact pedal.