The Keeley Synth-1 turns your guitar into a mono synth. It tracks a single note and then layers a synthesized waveform underneath. You can then mix this in with the dry guitar signal.
It’s built for single note lines rather than chords and if you play more than one note at once, the tracking deliberately falls apart into glitchy, unpredictable territory.
A Synth Layer Triggered By Your Playing
The Synth-1 listens to the pitch of what you’re playing then generates a matching synth waveform underneath. Just a single mono note, so it’s built around single note lines and lead work rather than chords.
The footswitch lets you switch between three distinct characters on the fly:
Square for a fat, classic synth tone, Sawtooth for something buzzier and more aggressive, and Sine for a smoother, rounder sound.
The Chaos switch is where things get unpredictable!
In its normal position, the pedal tracks pitch using positive and negative peak detection, similar in principle to a classic octave pedal, giving stable, consistent tracking.
Flip it to Chaos and the pedal switches to zero cross detection on the Sawtooth and Square waves instead, which opens the door to extra octaves, harmonics, and even a touch of flanging modulation creeping in. It’s less predictable, more than just rather than just “more unstable.”
Attack controls how quickly the synth wave swells in. It runs from instant on/off to a slow, bowed string style pad fade.
The Filter knob shapes the cutoff frequency of the wave, sweeping across the full 50Hz-5000Hz range regardless of which waveform or Chaos setting you’re using. It can be handed over to an expression pedal for real time, wah-like control instead.
Key Features
- Guitar-triggered, single-note synth wave generator, monophonic
- Three waveforms — Square, Sawtooth, and Sine, switchable on the fly
- Reverse Attack control for volume swells, from near-instant to slow gear-style fades
- Chaos switch alters the pitch-tracking method giving a unstable, glitchy character
- Blend control mixes your natural guitar tone with the synth wave
- Side-mounted TRS expression pedal input for real-time filter control
- Peak light indicates when signal is passing through the filter section
- True bypass, top-mounted jacks
Controls
- Level: Sets the overall output volume
- Attack: Sets the swell time of the synth wave, from roughly 4ms to 1500ms
- Blend: Mixes your dry and wet signals
- Filter: Sets the cutoff frequency of the synth wave. Range is 50Hz to 5000Hz
- Chaos switch: Chaos mode moves from peak detection to zero-cross detection. On the Sawtooth and Square waves, this adds octaves, harmonics, and light flanging modulation
- Wave Selector footswitch: switches between Square, Sawtooth, and Sine waves
- On/off footswitch: true bypass on/off, controls both the swell and synth wave together
Power
Runs on a standard 9V DC supply only. Requires 70mA supply.
Who Is This For
Player who want synth style single note lead lines and ambient pads via the slow Attack setting, or straight-up experimental noise-making via the Chaos switch. Not the pedal for chord heavy playing; it’s built and voiced for monophonic lines.
Watch The Keeley Synth1 In Action
FAQs
It’s a monophonic synth wave generator triggered by your guitar’s pitch. It tracks notes and layers a synthesized Square, Sawtooth, or Sine waveform underneath
A standard 9V DC supply. Centre negative. 75mA current draw
True bypass.
No, it’s built for single note playing
It changes how the pedal tracks pitch, making it a bit more unpredictable
Yes. The TRS expression input gives you real time control over the filter cutoff frequency. Use it for wah type effect.
Reviews
There are no reviews yet.