Hello Elektronauts,
I know there are other older posts here about stutter pedals and beat manglers…
Now that the Hologram Microcosm has been out for a while, I am curious about anyone’s direct experience in live performance with it vs Meris Ottobit Jr – specifically for momentary glitching, stuttering, etc of drum patterns, bit crushing as well as filtering the stereo mix.
I’d be running my Digitakt through it (& possibly my 1010 Blackbox too).
I know that the microcosm has more versatility as a looper & fx pedal for other uses and that it could impart harmonic content to the drums, wondering if that will only muddy up the beats and lessen their sonic impacts.
Thank you for your insight!
Have you been using the DT in mono through the Ottobit? I think that it sums to mono when using the stutters and pitch effects.
1 Like
I’m interested in folks thoughts on this too, and here are some good clips in the meantime in the vein of the same context
2 Likes
ottobit looks like it takes the groove into account in its glitching a lil bit more, I dunno hmm
1 Like
Never used the Microcosm, but I can vouch for the Ottobit. Very cool for glitches and a loverly filter on it.
1 Like
Yeah that filter seems great. Do you have yours synced to midi?
Ha ha, yeah these are def the best videos on the subject and I just sent Ricky Tinez a DM on IG asking his opinion but we’ll see if he responds. He’s got a lot of followers.
Hi, Thanks for your response. I guess I should’ve added that I’m interested in one or the other pedal, I have no experience with either. (I don’t have an Ottobit but good to know it sums to mono, I would also be using it with midi and I gather that midi clock will work with an adapter vs Merris’s $80 converter box
1 Like
No, I just use taptempo. Works fine for me.
1 Like
One more vote for Ottobit vs Microcosm from @BlankFor.ms
He just posted a video on IG today of his DIgitakt going through the OB jr. Noting its “high fidelity and pristine degradation.” So, I asked his opinion in the comments (since I know he also uses a microcosm).
His vote was mostly for the distortion I think but I’m as interested in the stutter (which it has many rhythmic variations thereof)
I think I’m sold on it.
1 Like
the stuttering on the ottobit is better than anything I’ve heard on the sp-404
1 Like
I have Ottobit hooked up to Op-Z and can confirm it sums to mono on stutter.
I’m using the line module out with pan automation.
Edit: Filter and Sample rate are not summed.
Bitcrush is summed to mono.
1 Like
I’m one of the few people that we’re not a fan of Microcosm. I bought one but didn’t like how it works as basically a preset machine. It works like a delay effect that responds to transients. The reverb is lush anything ever and that was the hardest part of it to let go of.
I didn’t use the looper and never use it in a performance setting (I’m not a performer for some years).
Ottobit doesn’t have as many features but it does glitch very well and that bitcrusher with the LPF is lovely.
I think there’s enough microcosm content out there now to know if you like it, but stay away from ambient takes if you want to hear what it does.
2 Likes
So just to be sure, cause i was thinking in buying this pedal for the exact same things hahaha
If the bits knob is at max, sample rate and filtering works in stereo. Anything else sums to mono (?)
Exactly. Yes.
It’s not the worst thing. In this same setup, I definitely lose any stereo widening from source material but I can use onboard effects to create a different stereo effect just like anything else you could do to a mono sound source, ( ping pong delay, reverb, stereo chorusing).
It’s a dope pedal. I think it was the second pedal I bought. I remember having buyers remorse when I first got it but now I’m glad I’ve kept it around.
One more thing to know is that using a mono input with bit crush makes the volume jump too high (for my tastes). Having a stereo input, or even just using mono to dual mono adapter will make that a non-issue.
Getting hardware to work together is often an endless pursuit of adapters.
2 Likes
I appreciate your input/experience here. Thanks for taking the time to go into detail.
. Most of my drum sounds are barely panned L or R anyway (and Digitakt samples are mono to begin with). Stutter/glitch would only be momentary, so summing isn’t really big deal for me.
Yeah, when I’m just doing ambient soundscapes, I’ll reconsider a microcosm for melodic/harmonic content but Ottobit jr seems pretty much exactly what I’d like to add to my drum sounds.
And are you also just using tap tempo?
I read in another thread that people were able to get other Meris pedals to work with a cheap midi adapters vs the Meris box
Especially for drums, I prefer synced tempo over tap tempo, but tamp tempo works well too.
For synced tempo in the small setup above, I only needed a 3.5mm TRS with a 3.5mm to 1/4" adapter. Both OP-Z and Meris use Type A.
I do have this MIDI Box 4 — Disaster Area Designs which I like better for its flexibility with different midi types.
Right now I could actually get by with just the Meris adapter as all my current pedals are Type A (Beebo, Chase Bliss, Eventide & Meris).
Only some of my other hardware (Microfreak, 1010music) gear outputs Type B and that’s easy to work around by using 3 cables, (1) Type B to midi, 2) standard midi, (3) midi to Type A.
1 Like
I did not have Ottobit, only Polymoon, but in general Meris devices are of high quality sound and have no gain/headroom issues. The Moon just sounds magically and better than other delay pedals.
Microcosm has unique effects but it… just doesn’t sound big. There is also some latency, which is ok for textures, but maybe not for drums. And some algos are quite chaotic in nature.
1 Like
Fantastically specific, informative, helpful and inspiring information everybody. Thanks again
I never noticed any latency before. Not saying you’re not right… just that I never noticed.
How are you connecting yours?
I’ll give mine a try later today. I was actually planning on selling Polymoon. It’s great but not what I want most of the time.