I think this is a good approach with the MC. It’s easy to overdo it with the MC and just like you mentioned, it can get mushy pretty fast. I just sold my MC two days ago because of this. It can greatly enhance minimal compositions, but I also found it hard to integrate it into songs that are already quite busy. One way I found to make it more usable was to just turn the built-in reverb down to zero. It’s not a very pleasant sounding reverb anyway (imho) and helps a lot in keeping things tidy.
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I’d say they are pretty hard to compare. Firstly, the MC has a pretty straightforward looper built-in, which is completely independent from the other FX it has. No such thing on the mood2. There’s some overlap between the two pedals, e.g. when dialing the MC to one of the microloop presets, it can sound like the microloop setting on the mood2. I feel like the mood2 can go to more unique places with its routing and ramping functions, whereas the MC just sounds like the MC and it’s pretty hard to discover new territories that haven’t been shown in pretty much every YouTube demo out there.
Edit: Maybe it might be good to know that I sold them both 
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There you go.
But I found that some algos give interesting results on Drums (all together). Tunnel is one of them. The Mix knob is also a big factor. MC is all about experimenting and you have to embrace Randomness. Control freaks will be very disappointed by the MC. 
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In my workflow, the mc is a device that is used to create layers that will feature during the arrangement, and usually a single or couple of elements will be run through it. I always record it’s full wet signal (only use it as a send effect)
I don’t do ambient music, and the mc is the secret sauce that always delivers (when I use it). Have released a lot of house music tunes using it 
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@Python @Tchu thanks for the perspectives! I’m looking forward to the experimentation stage and getting comfortable with the randomness. Lots to learn.
@Phillip I’ll try to figure out how to bring that technique into my workflow. And I’m digging your tunes! I’m bookmarking your channel to check out more tracks later.
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@cogsy: Just run some plucky/rhythmic synth part with space in between notes into Mozaic 3/4 on triangle wave. You should get something like a musician playing along with you, it’s the thing that Microcosm does best imo. Build a track on that foundation, not that much else needed.
Haze 3/4 are good for pads/more atmospheric structures, to give it a bit more of a vibe.
For a more classic delay, pattern delay is really useful and has georgeous stereo panning. Set it to square.
In general, keeping activity and repeats at around 9 o clock always delivers the best results for me. Avoid the reverb. Tame Microcosm with mix and filter.
Great for transitions: Record a loop by just holding down the most right foot switch, increase mix to max, then crank the reverb and then slowly let the sound fade out by closing the filter.
Always record when exploring. You might not be able to reproduce stuff. If you have something nice going, take pictures of the pedal. And record variations that you could use for snippets, also a fullly wet version. It can be good at giving you textures that are in the background of a track and filtered out via a DAW, that really fit the track without giving away its origin from one of the actual track elements. You could also use the sample and play it on a keyboard, I‘ve made a few pads this way from more ethereal sounds.
I’ve posted some examples in this thread, so you can judge yourself if my results are something that you like. Here’s also something from another thread that shows the Mozaic as playing along with you:
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some good advice there!
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I absolutely love their new Chroma Console for adding some (not so) subtle flavors like compression, filtering, and movement. It also has a filter implementation that I think would be perfect for the Microcosm with resonant hi/lo-pass combined and neutral at 12 o-clock.
I hope they are considering porting it to the Microcosm in a firmware update 
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Going great! I took it out for a guitar jam over the weekend with some buddies. It sounds nice on a lightly driven guitar, with some tasteful reverb. I’ve also been using it playing keys and as a looper, so lots of fun to be had there.
What I’ve found is I have to be careful with how much harmonic content goes through it, how wet, and how much activity. Too much and it ends up as mud. And, I tend to prefer certain algorithms (pitch up rather than up and down), but it’s all about dialing in what sounds good on the track. And trying different things
My next goal is to use it on a rhythmic element in a track. I’m going to experiment using the OT to live crossfade wet/dry drum loops. If that doesn’t work, I may try capturing cool snippets and layering them in the mix, but I prefer to do it all live in a single take. Because of the inherent chaos, I just acknowledge that it will require a few takes in order to capture the magic, but that’s all part of the fun 
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I still love my Microcosm. When it´s synced to midi, the time pot is very important for my workflow. I can change from slow ambient sounds to fast picking sound in the style of radiohead. It´s such an amazing pedal. And the looper, filter and modulation makes it a whole pedalboard.
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Hello microcosm users! I’m with it since a month now and I can’t get the hang of it…I mean all is fine (apparently)and I enjoy what comes out but to me it is like it’s very sensitive to input level. I switched from line to instrument level input, even if I’m with synths. But it’s in the middle of a chain and when I record a loop in it, it sounds like a LPF was applied to the sound. With line level input is more apparent. Better with instrument level. But it really blurs out sounds if they’re not at an enough high level. Is anything wrong with mine?
Thanks
There’s a LPF on the MC, is it engaged? If you have the Reverb at max or so, it sounds LPFed.
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Make sure you’re not having the filter knob closed 
Check with YT demos if yours sounds the same or not. Mine doesn’t sound like it was lowpass filtered but I do think some of the algorithms and the reverb are filtering out too much high end/clarity.
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Can you specify whether the issue only occurs when bypass is activated and some amount of mix is dialed in? Or does the problem also occur when Microcosm is deactivated?
As has been said, check the filter knob. Also check effects level (shift and mix). You might also want to check the stereo settings. And then make sure the filtering is not part of the effect, as has been mentioned.
If you want to make sure, you could upload a dry sound file and a wet version of it with the filter like sound and a picture of your pedal settings. If we agree that it’s not part of the effect you used or knob positions, I can then run the dry file through my Microcosm and see if it sounds any different.
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I would also check you are on the latest firmware. One of the updates made a significant improvement to how the pedal reacts to line level sources.
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Thanks guys. About my settings… There is no filter (fully clockwise) and no mix. I speak for the recorded loop in pre-fx.
Also the pedal arrived a month ago brand new, so I would expect firmware v1.13 already installed (but I haven’t tried to check which version it is running on).
Later today I’ll try again and record audio files to be compared with your experience on microcosm.
Thanks a lot for your help so far
d^_^b
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Update: apparently I managed to get a consistent sound coming out from microcosm. With these last settings I get a 1:1 sound out of the looper compared to input sound. So far so good
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Is there a near software equivalent of the Microcosm, or can get 80% near similar results?.
I really like Arturia’s Fragments
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