Stompbox start-up Groundhog Audio has unveiled its ambitious plans for the OnePedal – an AI-powered creation that promises to mimic famous tones at the click of a button.
Soon to be launching via a Kickstarter campaign, the OnePedal is the latest indicator of artificial intelligence's growing presence in the guitar gear world, but kicks things up a notch by encouraging players to “sound like your favorite song with a single click.”
The OnePedal works, the firm says, by syncing with a player’s music library via a connected device. When a specific song is selected, the box can weave its tone-replicating magic, and adapt a player's tone to emulate the elected recording.
The sparkling pedal itself hinges off presets, with three banks selectable via its bottom row of footswitches, while two extra footswitches allow players to scroll through the rest of the presets. The Groundhog knob in the center can also be used to navigate its banks.
In theory, then, a player could have quite a bank of tones at their disposal, from Eddie Van Halen’s Hot For Teacher lead tones to David Gilmour’s cleans and gut-churning SRV Dumble sounds. Preview images also tease that it can lift effects – a dollop of MXR Phase 90 (or an impression of) for those EVH leads, for instance – as part of its charm. See below for a signal chain that rocks an octave pedal, OD, and a distortion pedal.
With the Kickstarter yet to launch – slated for “this summer,” according to its website – details remain sparse. But if it can truly change its spots as claimed, this could prove a very intriguing prospect.
There are some lingering questions. How many presets can it hold? Can it connect to a music streaming service like Spotify or Apple Music? How tweakable will the tones it delivers be? And, of course, just how effective is the tech? Time will tell.
Groundhog Audio was founded by tech wizz Max Engle, who wanted to streamline the slow and exhaustive tone-building process like never before. “Max sought out to build a company for guitarists who just want to play without sacrificing their sound,” Groundhog says.
There are echoes of the rePEDAL here – an overdrive pedal that uses AI to randomly regenerate its character at the click of a mouse – and it too highlights the growing prominence of AI in music-making.
Ahead of its Kickstarter campaign, Groundhog is gauging interest in the pedal by inviting players to invest a refundable $1. In return, they’ll receive a limited edition Groundhog Audio guitar pick and sticker with their onePedal order.
Visit Groundhog Audio for more.
