20 Effects Pedals to Pair With Synthesizers: Reverb, Distortion & Beyond | Reverb Synth Sounds

Treat yourself or find the perfect gift for your favorite music maker. Effect pedals: they're not just for guitarists! Synth players have plenty of options to experiment with, and Justin is calling out 20 great picks to step up your synthesized exploration.

The Pedals (and Timecodes):
0:00 - Gain and Line Level Considerations

0:57 Reverb:

Delay:

Chorus:

Distortion:

Phaser & Flanger:

Filters:

32:57 Other Fun Effects:

[dep]

Justin Delay, from Reverb, showing delay and reverb pedals... I'm confused....

[jas_bataille]

It is very true that using a reverb open-up the sound. My dad who's a sound engineer for over 40 years now, like to hard-pan a two-track from guitar or synth, with a different reverb on the right and a different one on the left, and a very subtle tremolo in the middle. This actually create a slight organic volume shift between both ears that mimics how sound organically reflects on the various surfaces of a room and how your left ear never pick it as 100% the same volume as your right as the sound comes first to one or the other. It really elevate a middle-based track or mix. A bit extreme on a summing bus but sounds damn fantastic on acoustic guitar and synth. Also my favorite reverb pedal is the Digitech Hardwire one. SO underrated. It got a Lexicon chip inside and switches with like, 32 positions :O Might not have the fanciest connectivity but, from a sound man perspective, it's the best I found.

[nirke_]

Love this guy. Knowledgeable, gives clear explanations, and his surname is actually Delay. What's not to like?

[attizzoso]

Magic trick: if you raise your elbow and twist your shoulder while turning knobs the effect will be 10x

[MakeSomething]

Your approach is so warm and inviting. Reverb makes great videos. Thanks Justin!

[josef.david.mushpile]

When stacking effects I always love putting all the chorus and phasers after the reverb and delay. Since its modulating the reverb output you get huge beautiful sweeps.

[christaylor]

Always enjoy Justin's demos, not only are they informative; it's clear that he enjoys what he's doing. Keep up the great work, Justin!

[alias]

Dude, I really like the way you are talking to us ! Not reading your script on the screen behind. Gold these days.

[Thomas_Choo]

I love and respect your passion man. Your understanding shines through the way you wave your hands while explaining them. AND you clearly see the music on a blank space.

[jarkokoo]

Great video, Great tips!

My pedal chain, in order: 10 band eq -> distortion -> phaser -> chorus -> delay -> reverb. Like Justin mentioned in the start of the video, synths produce a LOT of unwanted low end, no matter what the sound is. Thus I recommend getting an EQ unit as the first unit in your chain, so you can kill a lot of the unwanted frequencies. EQ is also a great way to shape the sound in a very intuitive way. Generally I'd go as far as saying that a good FX-chain is as important as the actual synth, in terms of sound shaping.

The next FX-pedal purchase(s) for me are most probably going to be a different distortion pedal and perhaps some filter-type of an effect.

[podhditalia]

"well, right away, it's delay, you've heard it many many times..."
HOLY PUN BEJESUS

[thstguy]

I killed my wah pedal with my keyboard but man that was the coolest sounding two minutes ever

[samlee]

Everything.

Pair everything with everything.

This is how it's been done and how it will always be 🤝

[amuletsmusic]

20 pedals that pair well with tape loops and 4 track recorders

[shyharmonic]

I could listen Justin all day, someone at Reverb please give him his own show!

[christopherrusch]

i never would have imagined a big muff sounding THAT badass on a synth

[WildernessMusic_GentleSerene]

Wow. The best synth pedal tutorial I have ever seen in 30 years.

[andrewpappas]

Synthesizers + distortion = Retro-sounding NES/Sega-era video game

[smokesystem]

gotta love the dude, his passion levels are so high

[erichewes]

if you're plugging into a eurorack system the harvestman black locust gives you fx looping, and up to four effects pedals or inserts, level and wet dry controls. and it takes care of all the impedance and level issues via built in preamps, a great little peice of kit for mixing pedals with synths