Say hello to the Catalinbread Semaphore Tremolo, a newly redesigned pedal which, according to the manufacturer, combines a fantastic audio path with a diverse tremolo that has a bottomless feature set including eight different waveforms, tap tempo and divide, tap tempo input, and expression pedal capabilities. The compact size, along with the feature set of the Semaphore Tremolo, suits both foot tappers and knob twiddlers alike, making the Semaphore both versatile and pedalboard friendly.

The Semaphore Tremolo's audio path incorporates optically controlled JFET gain stages to sculpt a clean boost sound, one that is present and alive without being peaky or harsh. With this redesigned pedal, Catalinbread has quadrupled the number of waveforms, providing everything from classic square, triangle, and sine waves to ramping sounds and a "mind-bending" random shape. In conjunction with the Shape contour, which morphs the waveshape, numerous waveforms are waiting to be unlocked, Catalinbread says. The Semaphore Tremolo also provides an easy to use Tap Tempo section and a control voltage input to control the tap tempo with another unit.

When it comes to controls, the Semaphore Tremolo has Rate, Tap Divid, Shape, Waveshape, Depth, and Volume controls.

Rate controls the speed of the tremolo. On the Semaphore Tremolo, this knob's characteristics are affected by the position of the Tap Divide control. If the Tap divide is set at a higher rate, you will notice that the Rate knob's sweep will change as well. The expression pedal nullifies the rate control when plugged in.

The Tap Divide control serves as the engine for the Tap function of the pedal. Since a tremolo can obviously operate at a much faster rate than one could tap out, this control takes your tap tempo and multiplies it by the corresponding note beats. The quarter note represents the same tempo that you tap out. Once a tempo has been tapped in, the Tap Divide can function as an in-time rate control. Nifty.

Likewise, the Shape control is used to morph the selected waveshape. At the noon marker, your waveshape will represent the shape on the Waveshape control, but to either side this shape will slant, providing numerous sounds and endless possibilities. The Shape, however, has no effect on the Random waveshape setting, because it is random.

The Waveshape control provides eight different waveshapes, including sine, square, triangle, hyper-triangle, ramp up, ramp down, lumps, and random.

The Depth control dials in how much tremolo is in your signal. Dialed all the way down, the Semaphore Tremolo can be used as a boost, and you can bring up the depth enough for slight shimmers in your signal, or all out depth, for maximum effect.

Lastly, the Volume control does exactly what you think. Unity on the pedal is around noon, depending on the voltage running, and provides plenty of boost or attenuation.

The new Catalinbread Semaphore Tremolo will begin shipping on November 1, 2011 for $249.99. For more information, visit catalinbread.com.