[gtranslate]
News

Stompbox meets retro gaming: Arcades from Cooper FX

Feeling nostalgic? Want to make guitar playing more like Nintendo 64? Cooper FX’s new Arcades pedal brings back those old-school game vibes with a guitar pedal run on cartridges.

The Arcades is a multi-effect pedal creating your desired effect based on what cartridge you put into it.Arcades

Cooper FX’s new Arcades pedal runs on cartridges to produce different effects. Far from a gimmick, it’s a retro device that produces great lo-fi sounds.

Each cartridge has eight effects and there are four available cartridges: Reverb, Delay, Pitch and LOFI. Buyers of the Arcades can choose either the Ambient package (with the Reverb and Delay cartridges) or the Experimental package with Pitch and LOFI.

While coming off as a bit of a gimmick to some, the system opens up some cool possibilities, particularly the ability to swap with friends/bandmates and for the production of new cartridges so new effects can be put in without having to buy a new pedal.

Meanwhile, the knobs on the pedal change parameters based on what effect and what cartridge you are using. The Arcades really does specialise in lo-fi, old-school sounds, hence why some of the parameters on an effect like delay include Noise and Age.

It excels at grainy textures, warbly tones and low-resolution glitches. It’s also great as an unpredictable noise machine that will inspire new ways of playing and relating to your guitar. But that’s if ‘cartridge-based pedal’ wasn’t enough to entice you.

More info about the Arcades can be found on Cooper FX’s website. Also check out the following playthrough of the pedal by AndyDemos, who always does a fantastic job: