NOKILL Pedal Co. Chinese Crested Space Invader: A Surprisingly Musical & Useful Synth Pedal

Usually a lot of these synthy/fuzzy/glitchy pedals are plenty fun but hard to fit into a musical context – but maybe not this one!

The Dog-Themed Synth Pedal

Up next from our dear friends at NOKILL Pedal Co. is the Chinese Crested Space Invader, another dog-themed pedal that nicely follows up on the Borzoi Glitch Fuzz we reviewed in December. This is not only a fun and cleverly concocted synth pedal, but also kicks off our 2026 pedal review season here at Guitars For Idiots! At first glance, the Chinese Crested Space Invader may seem a bit complex, but I found the controls to be very intuitive. The four main control knobs are:

1-Volume

2-Rate control for the LFO speed

3-Width control for the pulse width modulator (PWM)

4-Blend controls the blend of the octave signal

In addition there’s a few toggle switches below that are quite important including i) toggle for selecting the PWM voice/type, ii) toggle to turn LFO on or off, and iii) toggle for turning octave to octave up, octave down, or alternating between the two. So while it may seem daunting at first, it’s really not overly complicated to dial in usable tones.

Pedal Demo

My Thoughts & How It Works

Reviewing and filming a demo for a synth pedal is obviously a little different than doing so for your standard overdrive clone. The Chinese Crested Space Invader is not a pedal that everyone will need or want. That’s not a criticism, but it’s important to keep that as a frame of mind as this is not a foundational pedal for most players. What it is however is a very musical and user-friendly synth pedal for sweeping oscillations, rhythmic drones, and glitchy octave sounds. Despite the bevy of knobs and toggles, it’s easy to navigate and easy to tame this pedal into a musical setting. It’s wonderful that it can get absolutely noisy and wild, but sometimes it can be hard to fit that into a live or recording situation.

Especially towards the tail end of the demo, I was finding it easier and easier to get a fuzzy glitchy sound out of the Chinese Crested Space Invader when I wanted to actually hear the individual notes in each riff. I could also create a massive wall of sound, with swirls and pulses that would fit into many great soundscape or ambient endeavors. This balance is so key and is ultimately what makes this such a great pedal that may just find its way onto a pedalboard.

For this reason, I can confidently say this is the most musician-friendly of the glitchy/synth pedals I have reviewed in recent years. It’s got all the madness of the Glitchwave but can be tampered down to something more akin to the Borzoi Glitch Fuzz. This is a great idea with great execution and it’s not even all that expensive for a boutique synth pedal. If you’re into this kind of thing, head to NOKILLPedal’s website to get one of these for $150 USD.