Roll for initiative
"The wall consists of seven layers, each with a different color. When a creature reaches into or passes through the wall, it does so one layer at a time through all the layers. Each layer forces the creature to make a Dexterity saving throw or be affected by that layer’s properties as described in the Prismatic Layers table."
"The wall, which has AC 10, can be destroyed one layer at a time, in order from red to violet, by means specific to each layer. If a layer is destroyed, it is gone for the duration. Antimagic Field has no effect on the wall, and Dispel Magic can affect only the violet layer."
Them's the rules. For those woefully out of the loop right now, above is a passage from the Fifth Edition of the Dungeons & Dragons Player's Handbook, originally published in 2014. The passage in question details a few of the characteristics of Prismatic Wall, a Level 9 adjuration exclusive to Wizard and Bard-class characters. Prismatic Wall, a spell erecting a magical wall ninety feet long, thirty feet tall, and one inch thick, features seven layers, one for each of the seven hues found in the spectrum of visible light, each inflicting a different type of damage – fire, acid, lightning, poison, cold, paralysis, and blindness – that must be dispelled by corresponding counteracting spells.
All of this to say, Prismatic Wall is a very powerful spell. What's more, the crew over at Electronic Audio Experiments have conjured up something ethereal and otherworldly to match the gravitas of such a reality-bending incantation. Grab your character sheets and D20s, everybody. This one's going all night.
This is the Electronic Audio Experiments Prismatic Wall Sympathetic String Resonator.
Another Brick in the Wall
Introducing the Electronic Audio Experiments Prismatic Wall
When it comes to bold, new effect designs, the team over at Electronic Audio Experiments are among the modern market's premier players. The Electronic Audio Experiments catalog spans ferocious, amp-like drive pedals, eccentric modulators, and so much more. Even the shortest stop in EAE's realm will certainly grace you with divine visits from their Longsword overdrive, Mirror House pitch-shifter, or Citadel preamp, just to name a few.
The Electronic Audio Experiments ethos centers innovation and inventiveness alongside tonal expression. EAE, founded and run by a close-knit cast of players equal parts electronic engineers and musicians, is a brand constantly pushing the proverbial envelope for refined technological designs and inspirational musicality.
This all brings us today to one of their more recent releases, the Prismatic Wall Sympathetic String Resonator. A quick science lesson, EAE, in their naming of the "Sympathetic String Resonator," refers to the phenomenon of sympathetic resonance, where vibratory bodies respond to external vibrations of similar harmonic makeup. The team at Electronic Audio Experiments set out to capture this physical phenomenon after being inspired by the sounds of the mic'ed strings of a grand piano in a room full of guitar amplifiers. Resulting in a new kind of resonator effect altogether, the Prismatic Wall walks a blurry line among a reverb, synthesizer, modulator, and delay as it stirs new sonic concoctions.
Incoming signals, may they be from a guitar, synthesizer, or any other sound source, are met with a kaleidoscopic hall of synthesized strings as produced by EAE's crack digital design. From this sonic engine we're treated to a variety of sonic journeys on which to embark. Let's get into our controls.
Gimme Sympathy
Electronic Audio Experiments Prismatic Wall Controls
With the Prismatic Wall, we're equipped with a host of unique controls to fashion our synthesized resonator. Let's start it up.
- Mix – At the onset, we have our Mix control that harnesses the presence of our resonator. Clockwise, we can make the effect louder. Counterclockwise, we can quiet it down. This Mix control will prove critical as we deal with the other controls.
- Decay – Controlling the sustain of the reverb, the Decay control can let the reverb run rampant or be reserved to slight echoes. The Decay control lets us in on the character of the synthesized strings as they create long resonations or shallow plucks.
- Damping – Our Damping control shapes the tonal character of the reverb. The reverb can be spiked or smoothed over to get pronounced or muffled.
The basis of the synthesized resonator centers around its Mix, Decay, and Damping controls. Elongating or shortening our reverb gives us the body of the effect to further shape with our other settings.
- Tune – The first of our two other resonator setting dials starts with the Tune control. With this control, we can adjust the tune of our synthesized strings across a four-octave range. Throughout the Tune's range, the Prismatic Wall can be set to barely detuned to overtly discordant.
- Drive – The second of these two controls is Drive. This setting allows us to beef up the reverb's distorted character to overflow in its noisy resonations, should that be our prerogative. Keep this one in mind.
Finally, we have two more settings to run down. Let's get weird.
- LFO Amount / LFO Rate – With these two controls, we're put in control over the Prismatic Wall's onboard LFO modulation section. The Prismatic Wall's wobbling, wavering, modulated movement works alongside its Tune control to produce some real shapeshifting resonations.
The last couple considerations made for controls come in the form of push-button Aux, Mode, and Wave controls that change the function of the Aux footswitch, shape the makeup of the synthesized strings, and alter the form of the LFO modulator, respectively. Where you might want to use the second footswitch switch to stretch the pitch of the Prismatic Wall's strings or swap through presets, EAE has you covered. Where you might want to simplify or complicate the tonal character of the strings, EAE's got your back. Where you might want to keep your LFO modulation waveform consistent in a sine wave or leave it up to random chance, EAE's thought of that too. The Prismatic Wall is a thoroughly outfitted effect for regimented resonations or exploratory chaos.
Through the Looking Glass
Electronic Audio Experiments Prismatic Wall Tones
As we fire up the Prismatic Wall with all our controls at the helm, we set off into a dark, spacious, sea of synthetic resonance. The Prismatic Wall is at once a hallowed reverb, a peculiar modulator, and a noisemaker likely unlike any you've heard before.
Inching into the conversation with the Prismatic Wall, we can get into the shadowy subtlety of a ghostly windchime. As we crank Drive, we introduce the capacity for disaster as the Prismatic Wall welcomes an overwhelming ebb and flow of feedback. The distortion and saturation of our resonator affect the overall output of the effect massively as the Prismatic Wall entertains the possibility for a gnarly, feedbacking reverb that rears its head in the most unexpected places. Just as you think you have the restless spirit of the Prismatic Wall tamed, you may find yourself caught unaware as the effect assumes a mind of its own in some situations – all in the service of compelling tonal creations.
As we move throughout the Prismatic Wall's reverberated realm, we can make stops with its LFO section to introduce some movement to the equation. The pedal's sine and random waveform shapes allow us to get more regimented or more devil-may-care with the experience as a hypnotic modulation works its way into the effect. Shortening the Decay of the reverb and pushing its LFO speed and amount can result in a lagging, inverted modulator that stumbles its way through your signal chain. Couple this with the four Modes the synthesized strings can be shaped to and you can create a simply curious or dastardly complex resonator that plays by its own rules.
However you approach the Prismatic Wall, you have an otherworldly arsenal of tonalities at your fingertips, so play boldly. Further functions that further bring this pedal into technicolor include onboard preset slots, MIDI parameter control, and auxiliary footswitching. Totally, it's a digital powerhouse.
Electronic Audio Experiments Prismatic Wall Final Thoughts
The Electronic Audio Experiments Prismatic Wall excels in quickly cutting to new, reverberated conclusions. Things can be as simple or complicated as you see fit, where subtle and charming audible oddities share a table with the brooding harmonic harshness you'd hear in one of those new-age, arthouse horror movies. The Prismatic Wall is a pedal for dramatic sound design, introspective noisemaking, and weighing on a narrative thread until it breaks. In the event we've gotten too flowery with our metaphors today, we can only apologize and attempt to sum them all up with the following: The Prismatic Wall is an inspiring pedal. It takes on a whole new flavor of effect with skill for players seeking something entirely fresh. You might have already heard of the Prismatic Wall in passing, but for what it's worth, it's certainly a pedal to try for yourself, if you haven't already.
Critical hit!
