wolfe with an e's blog
Five steps to better aviation with Hologram’s Infinite Jets Pedal.
This amazing granular “resynthesizer” doesn’t get all the love it deserves. I think much of that is the result of players not setting the pedal up for best performance and not completely understanding how it works. Follow these five steps for happier skies with Infinite Jets:
- Know what it’s not. It’s not a traditional guitar pedal. Infinite Jets is a synthesizer. It has oscillators (Voice knob) going into a voltage-controller amplifier (Env knobs) through voltage-controlled filters and a delay (Dimension knob). Think of it as three basic synth modules and it’s easier to understand and control. It’s not instantaneous. Like all granular synthesis, Infinite Jets samples your instrument live. So there’s always a lag between sampling and playback. It’s the nature of the beast. It’s not like anything you’ve heard. You may be able to get organ, flute, violin and cliche synth sounds out of IJ, but it’s not designed to imitate anything: The resynthesis process is unique, so it’s designed to create sounds of an unexplored realm.
- Do a factory reset. It’s possible between being built and arriving in your hands, your Infinite Jets had the internal parameters tweaked. Doing a factory reset means you’re starting from square one for the best possible behavior. To reset: hold down Footswitch A and B while plugging in the power. The LEDs will do a circle for about a minute and stop when reset.
- Use good levels. As with any volume-trigger-based pedal, Infinite Jets is expecting a reasonable level going in: not too hot, not too quiet. For best results in triggering, Infinite Jets should come after compressors and before modulation in your chain.
- Calibrate. If you don’t set the sensitivity, your Infinite Jets may not trigger with each note or chord. To calibrate: hold the Bypass and B footswitches for two seconds. After the flash dance, release. Then play the quietest notes you normally play. IJ will do another flash dance when it knows enough about your playing dynamics and you’re set to go.
- Read the manual. If your 55-page isn’t worn ragged, you’re not getting the most this pedal has to offer. Each Voice mode is unique in its resynthesis, effects and controls, so each Voice requires a deep dive to get the most out of it. This is probably the most complex pedal you’ll own (and likely most expensive too) so taking the time to learn it will make it more than worth your investment.
There a gazillion other pointers, but I think these are what’s needed to get a good start to proper piloting of your Infinite Jets.
Read all the Infinite Jets posts
Why buy me a coffee? No third-party ads, no affiliate links, no tracking cookies. Just honest content. Thanks.
InfiniteJets music pedalurgy infinitejets