Lümbelievable
In 1975, Peter Sellers returned to now one of his most famous roles, Inspector Jacques Clouseau, in The Return of the Pink Panther. For the third Pink Panther sequel, the bumbling detective trots across Europe in pursuit of The Phantom, a mysterious thief in possession of the Pink Panther, the world's largest diamond.
The film's opening sequence alludes to the size and detail of the diamond, creating an optical illusion of a panther within it, when exposed to certain sunlight. From there, an animated title sequence sets off the film proper to Henry Mancini's famous, jazzy theme.
Within the Pink Panther diamond, its natural detail and beauty play tricks and make a viewer imagine something mystical, mysterious, and magical. Today, we're talking about a similar phenomenon. What's really inside the new Walrus pedal? Not sure – but at the same time, it's clear as day.
This is Walrus Audio Lüm Texture Engine.
Pure Lümagination
Introducing the Walrus Audio Lüm Texture Engine
For Walrus Audio, the ethereal and mysterious is no new challenge. The brand slings plenty of ambient-forward, mystical effects across their production line including the Lore reverse reverb, Fable granular generator, and Qi Etherealizer multi-effect. With so many flavors of hazy, dreamy, sound-scaping, what more could you want? Enter the Walrus Audio Lüm.
Originally a limited release through international dealers and Walrus themselves, the Lüm introduced the brand's classic ethereal, ambient musicmaking in a more compact form with nothing lost in translation. Differing from their existing ambient-inspired effects, the Lüm homed in on one-and-done, filtered granular and reverb effects meant to cut to the chase on textural musicmaking. A couple hundred Lüms left Walrus headquarters last year in a cool blue color, expectedly being the first, last, and only.
The demand for this limited release being so electric, Walrus simply had to bring the Lüm back, and what's more, work it right into their mainline production series. Today, the Lüm enters the Walrus Audio line with a fresh take on granular and reverse reverb effects with all the compact design, seamless playability, and lush musicality you've come to know and love from similar Walrus effects. Let's talk about it.
Illüminating!
Walrus Audio Lüm Texture Engine Design and Controls
The Walrus Lüm is a three-mode, ambient-forward granular and reverb effect. Granular, a type of effect most closely associated with powerful delays, creates hazy, cloudy trails of tiny delay samples for glimmering, glittery voices. Your usual granular delay effect either produces a web of sparkling delay samples that gleam like the night sky, or smooths over in a smearing wash more resembling a reverb. Lüm follows in the latter example.
Lüm's first mode sets the pace with its granular voice. Gravitating more towards the reverb cloud persuasion of effects for larger, blurrier, hazier washes of reverberant grains, Lüm's primary voice is closer to a reverb than a glitchy delay. Across the Lüm's three-position toggle switch, Walrus delivers different angles on spacious, washy reverbs primed for use in soundscaping and other ambient-leaning musical modes. Let's go over some controls.
Walrus Audio Lüm Texture Engine Controls
- Mix – Pretty easy starting out. Left for less effect, right for more. When we start talking about the specific sounds of the Lüm and how it moves throughout a signal, this control will get more screentime.
- Decay – The time your effects ring out. Less for less, right for more.
- Filter – The sharpness or softness of your effect. When dealing with the effects' ambient or layering abilities, this control will also prove pretty influential.
- Stretch – The sample rate of the effect from half-speed to double-speed. This control influences the voice of your effects with higher voices on higher speeds and lower on lower.
- X – The frequency of grain glitches or the decay of the reverse reverb decay. With two of the Lüm's three modes focusing on grain glitches and one on reverse reverbs, the X control shapes the voices of each effect.
- Moment – An effect ramp footswitch. Walrus opens up the playability of Lüm with its second footswitch that allows for automation of any of the five front-facing dial controls for interesting sonic movement and melding.
Red Wine Supernova
Walrus Audio Lüm Texture Engine Tones
For fans of granular effects, rosy reverbs, and hazy soundscaping, Lüm has plenty of treats in store. For newcomers to the effect looking for a streamlined but expressive representation of the sound, Lüm's got treats for you too.
The effect's three modes cover plenty of ground for granular and reverb effects. Across its mode switch, we've got:
- Mode I – Grain Cloud – A busy multi-tap-style delay that quickly piles up and smears on itself to suggest a hazy reverb cloud. Probably the most "granular" of this granular delay, Mode I is where you'll get the most pure granular delay tone with the most prominent, glimmering glitches in the mix.
- Mode II – Grain Reverb – Getting cloudier with it, Mode II washes your grain delays in a thick reverb tuned with a sweet, hazy tone. This mode offers more for players looking to lay down a thick foundation of reverberated fog to musically voyage through.
- Mode III – Forward/Reverse Reverb – Reminiscent of Walrus pedals like the Lore reverse reverb, the Lüm's third mode puts a regular reverb algorithm before a reverse reverb algorithm, resulting in a resonant, radiant reverb reflecting out every which way.
What you get with the Walrus Audio Lüm is a multifaceted, cloudy-yet-crystalline granular effect with plenty of places to go and even more ground to cover. Switch into any of its three modes and you quickly get along to captivating sonic pastures. On each mode, incoming signals kick up clouds of reverberating sweetness with glitchy and inverted quirks at every turn.
The Lüm's grain cloud textures inspire colorful soundscaping. For more thick and hazy palettes, the Lüm lays down a sweet air that establishes a lush background upon which to riff. Truly, the Lüm is an instant mood-setter if you're looking for a pedal to cut to the chase on expansive reverbs to set the stage and maybe color outside the lines. Lüm's granular effects get exploratory, but thanks to its Mix control and its baseline calm-and-cool tone, things don't get out of hand. Those searching for a handy pedal to drop in and drift away in – but not into self-oscillation frontiers – the Lüm is a reliable tool for such uses.
Soft and Sweet
Walrus Audio Lüm Texture Engine Further Functions
Like plenty of other Walrus Audio creations, the Lüm has a couple secret weapons under its hood for deeper playability. Wrapping this up, let's run a few of these down.
- Ramping – With its Momentary footswitch, Lüm control changes can be automated. What's more, holding the Lüm's bypass footswitch and adjusting the mode toggle, your ramping speed can be switched between a near-instant ten milliseconds to a lethargic five thousand.
- Presets – The Walrus Lüm features an internal programmable preset bank. Navigate through the pedal's three slots to shuffle through your favorite Lüm sounds onstage or in the studio.
- Bypass Modes – By default, the Lüm comes programmed with buffered bypass. However, an additional option exists with the pedal for "Instant Cut," which simulates true bypass switching to instantly cut off the effect when its bypass footswitch is clicked versus its default trailing bypass operation.
Walrus Audio Lüm Texture Engine Final Thoughts
In classic Walrus Audio fashion, the Lüm Texture Engine is a compact, powerful, musical device. Hitting highs in effects that deliver classically but also in new, exciting ways, Walrus does it all with the Lüm. Those seeking out a one-and-done granular effect with room to negotiate and explore surely should add the Lüm to their list of pedals to try out. Soundscapers all over should take note of the simplicity and musicality of Lüm alongside its quick and expressive playability. Drop Lüm on your board, your desk, anywhere you need it, and it summons a sugary vortex of glimmering grains. What more could you ask for?
