This entire concept is an atrocity fundamentally from the ground up. This pedal is USELESS without using the Neuro desktop or phone app. That alone would be ok, if it weren't for the extremely convoluted mess that is Neuro and Source Audio's website in general.

The entire point of this pedal is to upload either factory or community presets on it, there are 6 on board slots for presets which is nice, theoretically.

1. You cannot preview presets to even know what they sound like unless you have the pedal hooked up to play while hooked up to the PC, which is redundant and also convoluted and difficult because...

2. The pedal requires a wired connection to either the computer or phone. There is a Micro USB-B input, and a 1/8 trs input that you can allegedly use. Apparently the TRS input is rendered useless for presets after the update so you're left with the awful micro USB-B input. The manual says to hook the pedal up to your android or iphone with a USB-C or thunderbolt connection, which means you need an adapter from micro USB-B to USB-C or thunderbolt, NEITHER of which is provided, and neither of which is a common cable that anyone has laying around, period. This pedal came out in 2021, it's 2024, it should be wireless bluetooth at this point, or AT LEAST USB-C input. This makes it extremely frustrating to find and use presets while playing the pedal.

3. The only way to possibly preview presets without burning them to the pedal first (redundant?) is that SOME, aka a very very small fraction of presets have links to previews on soundcloud or youtube. But guess what?! You can only see those preview on the Source Audio neuro WEBSITE, and NOT on the Neuro desktop or phone app! Genius! Even THEN, when I attempted to calm down and circumvent all of this nonsense and just use the website instead of the app to find some of the few presets I liked that actually had previews, NONE OF THEM OPENED. I scrolled through pages of presets and listened to dozens of previews and opened each preset I liked in a new tab, only to find out at the end of it all, NONE of the tabs actually opened to those presets and I had lost all of the ones that I liked.

It was at this point I listed the pedal on reverb. This is absolutely ridiculous and convoluted. This is something I would expect from a digital pedal in 2010 or something. How come literally every company from Boss to Chase Bliss has a better pedal platform with easier to use interfaces, AND they're analog?! This is an all digital pedal, it should be a breeze to use. But it's not. Honestly Source Audio has become a vile source of black hatred for me now, and I would suggest that anyone and everyone boycott them so that they go bankrupt and no one has to deal with their awful, awful interface.

They even released a post on Reddit recently that said "We released Neuro 3 too early" WHOOPSIE. YA THINK?!?!?!?!?!

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On the positive side let me first say Source Audio def makes some well-built quality products
on the down-side they are a company that hasn't quite realized their potential
this pedal along w/ many of their others relies heavily on their "Neuro" app to share and alter presets w/ the Neuro community
However the app is in it's infantile stages and a totally revamped app is promised for the fall of this year
I would suggest holding off purchasing this product until then
Also the manual is not accurate and leaves a lot to be explained
Source Audio's customer service is very spotty if you need answers
I do see them having a great 2024 when they mature!

Okay so I have finally had more time with this pedal. I think I can give a more detailed analysis of why this pedal has blown my mind. First I want to cover what another reviewer complained about. He said that it did not stack well with his other pedals. I don't doubt that he is having this problem however I have found no such problem. Sometimes you have to work with your other pedals when you introduce another family member. I go from the Ultrawave into an LA Lady and into an EQ 2, all of which are Source Audio pedals. Then I go into some other pedals for modulation reverb and delay. Not only does the Ultrawave combine beautifully with my LA Lady, it also plays well with the second channel of my amp which is a crunch setting. It also sounds fantastic with my Strymon Deco boost function. the distortions on this pedal are definitely different. You have to work with it to find more traditional distortions that are pleasing. It's platform seems to be built around synthesized sounds. However,, when you work with it you can achieve some unbelievably transparent six string chords... Even diminish, augmented, minor and major 7 chords all ring out with no grind or odd harmonics. This is not something that has ever been accomplished by any other pedal, not with this type of transparency. Having said that, it is still not my favorite stand alone distortion pedal ( The LA Lady with my amp is) but blended with others, it is incredible! The synthesized features like I pointed out in my first review are not that much my thing, but are nice to have on hand when you want them or need them. However like I pointed out in the first review the compressor is staggeringly good. The signal to noise ratio on this is like nothing you can buy anywhere. The amount of squash available without noise is insane. And if that wasn't enough, of course it has a Mix function for parallel dry signal, but it also has a soft knee function. 0 db, 3 db, 6 db, 9 db, 12 db, or 15db curve. This allows you to increase squash without the hard percussive effect for those of us looking for a more logatto style of attack. I think that if Source Audio would market this compressor as a standalone and include EQ, it would literally have no competition. The Ultrawave pedal also comes with two on board EQs. If I could rate this Compressor 10 stars I would. Overall, you get great distortion if dialed in correctly, you get synthesizer type sounds, you get the best compressor I know of. You get 2 EQs, noise gate, tons of control including midi presets and more. The compressor by itself could sell for $700.00 or $800. And by the way for those that do want the real percussive Chicken Pickin, it does that as well with a noise floor unmatched, ultra quiet! Good grief, thank you Source Audio and thank you Sweetwater.

Very Happy Customer

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As a stand alone unit, this pedal is fantastic! Tons of sounds, tons of options, tons of control. However it stacks horribly and that's the reason I had to return it. The goal was to put it in the middle of all my other dirt/fuzz pedals and have it be the wonder that it is. So that would look like Dr Scientist The Elements>Blackout Fix'd Fuzz Deluxe>Ultrawave>EQD Palisades>BAT Pharaoh Supreme. But the Ultrawave doesn't send or receive very well. When stacking into the Palisades and Pharaoh, you have to cut the volume and high end off the Ultrawave to levels that are so low, you can't use the chosen setting as a stand alone setting because the volume and tone are both cut back so much. If you don't do this the Ultrawave will give your signal a huge boost and the high end would make Jay Mascis whence a little. When you try to stack into it, it makes the digital aspect of the Ultrawave very obvious. The sound becomes a kind of warbly and discombobulated. This is a huge disappointment for me, because I wanted the Ultrawave to fill several shoes on my board, that it could potentially fill. But if it can't stack, then it won't work. I play mostly Post Rock/shoegaze stuff and stacking is life. I will restate that as a stand alone pedal this thing is brilliant! Source Audio has done a fantastic job with this, and if you don't plan on stacking it, it's a solid purchase that will give you a ton of options, and a level of control that will satisfy all of your super specific needs. Sweetwater was easy to deal with, and pleasant. They take the return shipping out of my refund, which is kinda lame, but the staff were polite, understanding, and helpful. It's also not on them that their company shanks you for return mailing. Okay then. There ya have it.

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When I first initially bought this, I bought this for the distortion side of it. It does offer multi band distortion which allows you to get rid of grind on chords..I like using the single band the most because it is the most guitar like.. if you are into synthesizer effects, which I am not, you will also like this pedal. It also has a great EQ on board as well as a TREMOLO feature and a lot of control over each of these that is assignable with an additional slave pedal.... it does all of those things real well, however the star of the show is the compressor! I have been trying forever to find the right compressor. Plenty of squash without noise. I think I will die if I hear another compressor video talking about parallel compression and how not to use too much squash and how chicken Pickin is all that people
seem to ever talk about. However, compression can be used and should be considered a lagatto tool as well. What happens when you don't want all that percussive nature on the pick.... that's where the smoothness of the compressor can come in. I have never seen in a single pedal a compressor that even comes close to this one. The compressor is worth the price of admission. It is going to replace my Maxon tube compressor.. it is unbelievably quiet and powerful and Suttle if you want it to be, or strong as hell and remains natural and quiet. And with Midi capability, it takes this pedal to the next level... there are some decent distortion sounds that you can get that sound natural, even though nobody seems to demo those. But the best tool on board is the compressor... At least that's my opinion.. I wish that source audio would pair this compressor with the LA Lady. Then I could get rid of one pdeal... Anyway you cut it this is huge advance forward. Thank you Source Audio and thank you Phil S. at SWEETWATER who always does an outstanding job for me!

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