Many of you would know I’m not a big fan of chorus effects. But a batch of pedals I brought on sale in early 2017 had me explore a number of these cheap chorus pedals from Behringer. The Behringer Chorus Space-D (code name: CD400) is part of the third (forth?) generation of Behringer pedals. I honestly don’t know which pedal this device is trying to clone, but it is definitively not the classic Juno-style chorus.
The lettering on the front of this pedal shows that this is a stereo pedal that takes a single mono audio input. So, I’d say the this would be an interesting tool to give some stereo width to a mono instrument. And I must say it delivers on that, but it also does much more.
The control of this pedal is a four-knob affair, similar to a lot of other chorus pedals: there is a Level knob on the left for you to dial the level of the chorus effect, while the two knobs on the right allow you to adjust the rate and depth of the modulation. This is all pretty standard, and can push some live into even the dry pads I make with the Volca Keys (see video). The modulation rate can be taken down to almost zero, for those occasions were you don’t want your harmonics going all over the place. Both the rate and depth of the modulation can be taken to high extremes, to the point that this pedal stops being a mere effect at the end of your synth and becomes part of the sound-design setup.
But where this pedal really shines (in my very, very humble opinion) is the EQ knob. This one-knob equalizer can make you bass sound deeper and darker, providing some extra warmth to your pads. Turning it the other way around and it highlights the mid-highs of your synth. With a 12 dB/octave filter (like the ones on the volcas), this balances out the low cutoff values o the filter, and opens the door to bass sounds that can still cut through the mix.
All in all, this is a very interesting pedal, that usually sells for less than 25 euro. It shares the same plastic construction of the other pedals in Behringer’s 400 series, which is a little more hefty and robust than the previous generations, but does not have the nicer finishing of the 600 series. Still, it does the job well, and can certainly withstand normal use both in the desk as well as in the studio floor.
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This pedal is a little bit hard to find (at the time of writing, one one was available on e-bay), but you might want to try the folling links.