Dr. Dunnivant on Chaos Audio

Whether you are a beginner exploring the guitar or a seasoned professional, you’re about to discover an innovation that will enhance the joy you know as a member of the string instrument community. I’ve played guitar and a wide range of string instruments for almost 50 years, and I haven’t seen anything shift my assumptions about playing like this. What if you could take any existing string instrument and with one device enjoy endless combinations of sound? What if that device connected you to a community of musicians across every genre and ability, building an endless library of effects that would expand your entire universe of sound? I can tell you that this dream is now a reality, and you can be a part of this new audio world.

While acoustic is my long-favored arena, a few months back I bought my first solid-body electric guitar. My father was a professional musician, and quite honestly I’m far from it. My brand of happiness is to find new string instruments and dive in. I have banjos, mandolins, three-string guitars, a Spanish Quatro, Irish Bazouki, and even a cello to name a few. I even bought a “shovel guitar” last month as well….yup…made from a shovel. My father was a Gretsch man, playing those great 1950s hollow-body electrics. I’ve been toying with string sounds for decades, searching for those vibrations across blues, jazz, country, rock, and international genres. Then, I bought my first pedal and jacked it into my new Gretsch…and an entire universe of sound came through my door.

My particular pedal model isn’t important, as there are so many out there. I remember my father’s collection of pedals on the floor at home and on stage. He played in the early 70s with Jerry Lee Lewis, Tom T. Hall, Tanya Tucker, and old country legends like Lefty Frizzel. We were Bluegrass fans as well being from Tennessee, where Lester Flatt and Earl Scruggs would show up and pick on the porch of my grandfather. Music surrounded me my entire life. I spent 30 years as a college professor and eventually became a campus president. As I said, I wasn’t quite the musician my father was, though I always escaped my work-life through guitar and my growing string instrument collection. Back to the pedals…

Most musicians have those collections of pedals as the industry long provided only one effect, one sound variation, per pedal. The cables strewn across stage and switching technologies have gradually changed. Today we have wireless connections from our instruments to our amplifiers and speakers (or earphones). We use our computers to record, loop, and explore effects. Some pedals have a set or selection of effects. But, no matter what you buy, you eventually hit a ceiling of options and exhaust the combination of dials and knobs as you seek that desired sound.

Not anymore…enter Chaos Audio!

Like many innovations that shift an industry, a handful of younger minds have banded together to forever change the world of sound. This team took a look at that mess of cables and confusing deck of pedals and came up with a very pragmatic observation–why not create a pedal that had every sound? Yeah…easier said than done. The great news is that they did it!

Introducing: Stratus. The intelligent, all-in-one multi-tool for electric guitarists (and every string instrument you can plug into a jack)! Combining the capabilities of an online multi-effects platform, looper, and guitar tuner, Stratus is the perfect effects solution for beginner and advanced guitarists alike. Even better, it comes with an app that will offer you an endless variety of effects…through… one… pedal… Simply download the app, customize your effects, and you’re ready to start exploring!

With full control over every aspect of your effects chain, including the order of your effects and what their knobs are set to, you’re not limited to pre-installed presets or effects rigs. And with access to a continuously updated selection of pedals through an online library, you’ll never run out of ways to experiment with and shape your sound.

Best of all, your membership in the Chaos Audio Community comes free with the pedal. Each month you can download free and market effects created by other members, be able to enter contests for new sound effect awards, and access a library of instructional videos for all levels of players. Did I mention this lifetime membership free with the pedal? If you’re like me and all but addicted to the joy of playing any string instrument, you simply must see this pedal to believe it!

Visit www.chaosaudio.com for more details. Join us in the growing Chaos Audio Community and look forward to downloading an endless library of effects. You’ll find me there too, hooking up that Shovel Guitar as well as my trusted Gretsch…and that Spanish Quatro too…just to see what sounds I can get out of those strings. Did you know there’s actually an Ironing Board Guitar too! yup….it’s on my list…