If I remember your posts correctly, you have a clear idea of your sound aesthetic, found it with Take 5 and Grandmother and are looking for a pedal that could enhance this vision. I think this might not be the best pedal, since it does a lot of things really well, but maybe doesn’t have that specific character of one thing it does particularly well. You might probably be better served with one character pedal that has a unique sound and fits well with your aesthetic or breaks it in an interesting way.
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From the look and modules on this, I was hoping it would sort of do something along the lines of RC-20 Retro Color, in pedal form, so probably my expectations are misplaced. Yeah, not for me, unfortunately.
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Well, the obvious choices for that sound are Chase Bliss Generation Loss and Lossy or Kinotone Ribbons. But I’m sure you know of these. So far, I think the lofi effects on Chromaconsole are fun, but not on the level of Gen Loss.
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Yeah, I came close to buying the Gen Loss a couple of times. It would be a no-brainer to try if it weren’t so pricey in Japan, but it’s not too far off price wise from what I bought my Moog for, lol. The thing I’m wrestling with when it comes to the Gen Loss is that it kind of sounds a bit too exaggerated to me. Like watermelon-flavored bubble gum, instead of watermelon. If that analogy works. I’m worried that everything I put through it would start sounding too colored, and I would get bored with it.
I recently bought the Benson Delay instead. It kind of has a bit of the lofi vibe, but is more subtle/organic sounding to my ears, while having a bit of the lofi aesthetic. We’ll see if it totally scratches the itch or if the Gen Loss proves too tempting in the end.
You are right though about the sounds I like. I think the Boards of Canada probably ruined me.
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Imo you can dial in very mild settings and get character without the pedal being really noticeable. However, that only applies to when the mode knob is at the lowest setting, meaning no mode is active. All of the modes have a quite characteristic imprint on the sound and do heavy filtering/EQ-ing, regardless of what your wow and flutter knobs are set to. I think in combination it’s alright this way, I can use the mode settings if I want something to sound more obviously altered and neglect it when I only want a few touches. I prefer the sound over RC20, but I personally wouldn’t say the pedal is worth the expense of a Grandmother.
A lot of the more mild settings could be replicated with LFOs and a plugin. Maybe some tape plugins could also help you if you’re searching for a more BOC sound. There’s also this guy making these awesome BOC style patches, probably he has some for Take5 or Grandmother that you could download and study, lots of modulation ideas. But you probably already know all of this. From what I’ve heard from you, I think you’re already nailing this nostalgia for something that never existed sound pretty well.
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I already like this more the more I explore it. Combining effects and changing the signal path is great. And I like that it can hold so many presets and is really easy to use.
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A simple demo of the kind of sounds I want to use Chromaconsole with. Source is two DN tracks. Starting dry with Chromaconsole not activated. Then slowly introducing effects in order of effects. Effects order: Howl into reverse into doubler into broken.
Starting with mild settings like on the photo, going a bit more crazy and fully wet in the end. The change in character at around 2:30 is a result of howl being changed to tilt dark. Volume changes are due to increased amount of howl and increasing the mix button.
One thing that’s a bit weird is that the sound of DN was altered even with global mix set to zero. As soon as bypass is pressed, there seems to be some filtering going on, even without any settings. (edit: I think that happened because the knob for filter etc. is only neutral when set to 12 o clock, I had it at 6).
I thought combining the effects would be a bit too much before I tried it out, now it feels a bit more like combining them and playing around with it is the best way to get the most out of it. Really looking forward to learning and exploring it, really impressed so far.
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“Unlike many effects, it is designed to be run at 100% wet, mixing dry signal in for taste.” - quick start
Funny I’m reading this now, it’s exactly what I did last night with great results. Had a few notes that were interesting but too busy for a composition, so I ran it into Microcosm Mozaic and then into a smeary effects chain on Chroma (howl into reverse into pitch). Instant atmospheric texture. And then I realized I have a filter on Chroma that I can use for performance. Ran all of that into a hi passed Gen Loss mode and it became even more atmospheric. Love this pedal, exactly what I was originally hoping to use OT for!
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I’ve never read a more relatable sentence on this forum.
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There’s not so many parameters to tweak, but is it possible to control extra parameters w. midi cc?
Another demo demonstrating delay and drive in context of using Chromaconsole with Gen Loss MK II. I think the two of them interact beautifully. Sound is an arp from SH 01a. Thought I might as well share my explorations.
Settings are mostly in that ballpark. Routing: drive, reels, doubler, filter (low pass). I’m introducing the effects in this order. Filter remains mostly untouched after the first obvious demo.
You will notice that around 2:30, there’s a shift to a more lo fi, high passed sound. That’s when Gen Loss is activated. I’m also introducing a bit of reverb from Specular Tempus. Starting with no saturation on Gen Loss and going full saturation to show how the two flavors of drive on Chroma and Gen Loss are interacting. In the end, I’m playing with the delay feedback of reels.
Same notes without arp but this time with pitch running into reverse and a high pass filter. Before Chroma it is fed into pattern delay 3 of Microcosm (Chroma starting at 0:30). No other pedals or plugins used.
And last round: same chain with Microcosm but different sequence. No drive this time, but a lot of high pass. I love the effect but it gets really muddy.
Let me know if these demos are helpful/interesting to you. It’s more fun than I thought recording these explorations. Not sure if using it with other pedals in demos gets confusing.
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The fuzz doesn’t sound bad at all and this is a cool video.
Also, pretty cool.
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It’s good to hear the Chroma in the context of a Track. I really like the use of it in both Tracks. Cool Tracks!
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Can’t wait to hear how does this thing sound on top of some dub chords
My chroma console arrived today. Played my guitar through it for a couple of hours and I’m very impressed. It’s kinda hard to get this thing to sound bad. The drive FX are top notch, especially the sweeten FX turned all the way up is exactly the kind of saturated tone I was looking for. The cascade delay, tape and squash are also early favourites. I haven’t even tried gesture and changing FX orders. It’s a creamier shade of white in comparison to the microcosm but that’s more noticeable in real life than on the picture.
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With MS-20.
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I think Hologram Electronics knew exactly what they were putting out on the market. This pedal doesn’t cease to impress. That last video with the MS-20 is really neat!
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Ok this demo really got me. GAS reignited.
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