Catalinbread has opened the vault and unleashed a haunting new version of its cult-favorite CSIDMAN digital delay. While the original pedal was rumored to be inhabited by restless spirits, this latest incarnation confirms it – the CSIDMAN has been possessed, re-emerging with a new Ghost control and an updated Cuts/Latch design that pushes its glitchy, stuttering character into even eerier sonic territory.
The CSIDMAN was always unapologetically digital, leaning into the quirks of early CD technology and recreating the random skips and stutters of a portable disc player. Unlike traditional analog-voiced delays, it prided itself on a clean, unfiltered echo path – but with the ability to fracture those repeats into unpredictable glitch patterns. The Ghost version carries that same ethos while introducing fresh spectral textures.
The big update comes in the form of the Ghost knob, which acts as a sample rate reducer across the entire effect. This lowers fidelity, layering intense lo-fi aliasing on top of the already chaotic skipping behaviors, creating delay lines that feel shredded by the supernatural. The Cuts and Latch controls – originally two separate knobs that were often adjusted together – have now been merged into one, streamlining access to the CSIDMAN Ghost‘s signature sputter.
Other controls remain faithful to the first edition. Feed adjusts feedback intensity, Mix blends between dry and wet signal, and Time sets delay length from slapback to around 700ms. At its heart, the pedal still offers a 100% analog dry path for preserving your core tone while allowing the repeats to disintegrate into spectral chaos.
The result is a delay that not only nails standard echo duties but also thrives on skipping, glitching, and granular breakdowns — now infected with an otherworldly lo-fi presence. The CSIDMAN Ghost is less a tool and more a haunted artifact, one that invites players to embrace unpredictability and channel the strange beauty of broken sound.
Get the CSIDMAN Ghost here for $199.99 and check out all our Catalinbread coverage right here.
