The Sound of Bedtime Stories: Experiencing the Walrus Audio LORE

Hey everyone! Welcome back to the blog. Apologies for the extended absence. When you're a one-man-show it can be tough to manage the whole "work/life" thing. But today is a good day to come back.

This week, we delve into the dream-inducing sounds of the latest creation from Walrus Audio: Lore.


But before we dive into the depths of Lore we should start by talking about ambient guitar sounds...

All it takes is a little fairy dust...

My Bloody Pedalboard

Boy, where do we begin? I suppose it helps to answer the question: WHAT IS "AMBIENT" GUITAR? Like any question when it comes to guitar tone you're likely to get MANY different responses. To me, "ambient guitar" is a style and a MOOD of playing guitar. It is heavily reliant on effects such and reverb and delay to create a sense of LARGE spaces and evoke a sense of introspection. Ambient guitar can also be orchestral in nature. One player can sit and create sounds of many musicians either through use of dense effects or looping. A perfect example of this is the incomparable Robert Fripp and his innovative Frippertronics.

This ambient approach has also found it's way into many genres and has even birthed a few sub-genres. Amongst them is Shoegaze and the "patron saint" of the Shoegaze world would be Kevin Shields of the band My Bloody Valentine. Having made a career out of this punk-meets-film-score style, Mr. Shields has amassed himself quite the pedalboard and guitar rig!

Photo credit: https://happymag.tv

OOWEE! That looks like fun. But it does show a small..."problem" that comes along with ambient guitar tones: it requires A LOT of gear.

And this is where we can bring Walrus Audio back into the story...

Lore is hardly Walrus Audio first entry into the ambient guitar realm. From the release of Fathom through the release of the stellar MAKO R1, an ambient strain has always run through Walrus Audio's catalog. Take a look for yourself...

And of course, all of these video are available to watch ANYTIME on my YouTube channel ;)

Walrus Audio has always found a way to make their ambient sounds not only easily accessible but incredibly musical.

And Lore is no exception.

Lore is referred to as a "Reverse Soundscape Generator". This means that there's quite a few "reverse" effects built into it.

Of the FIVE Programs built into Lore, THREE incorporate Reverse Delay and FOUR involve a Reverse Reverb. But don't go thinking the five Programs

are just variations of one type of effect. Lore is a sneaky 2-in-1 pedal.

Each Program contains a dual effect combo of Delay & Reverb finely tuned to create large, ambient washes.

The FIVE Programs include:

1 - Reverse Delay & Reverse Reverb

2 - Reverse Delay & Octave Up (Shimmer) Reverb

3 - Reverse Delay & Octave Down Reverb (possibly my favorite)

4 - Reverse Reverb Into Forward Reverb

and 5- Pitch Delay Into Pitch Delay

Although Lore's controls are very clearly labelled, they don't always adjust what you may THINK they'll adjust.

When I first got Lore I spent quite a bit of time with the Manual at my side, referencing what exactly I was doing to the sound.

You'll probably find yourself doing the same thing as I did. But after some time you'll get the hang of it and rely on a much better tool:

YOUR EARS!

Despite the initial need for the Manual, I've become quite comfortable with Lore. I can honestly say it's one of my favorite releases of 2022!

I find the most inspiration from Programs 3 and 4. They seem to work best for my style of playing and the "ambient" tones I'm going for these days.

But I also love the exploratory nature of the pedal.

It works well with so many of my favorite instruments! Les Paul, Telecaster, Strat, Bass VI...I can't wait to try it on vocals!

You may have noticed a fair amount of FUZZ in the video. That came courtesy of the Way Huge Smalls Swollen Pickle. I can't think of a better fuzzy friend for Lore!

But there's another pedal I used throughout the video that I can't quite tell you about yet. Something special coming next month...so stay tuned! Or better yet, JOIN THE EMAIL CLUB! The video link will get sent to the moment it goes live.

I hope you enjoyed the video! Looking forward to sharing many more cool things very soon.

Happy Stomping! - SPJ