Hologram microcosm

[slumberjack]

It’s a very interesting device that sometimes does very beautiful things [...] with Microcosm you have to get feel for what I will (hopefully) respond to [...] It’s like learning an instrument, which is never a bad thing.

I really liked 30% of the sounds I could get from it, and found the rest sounded gimmicky at best, and plain bad at worst [...] it feels like the best thing ever at first, but the novelty of the effect wears off, and you find it making its way into your writing flow less and less

Question for you, but also for anyone else: did you feel like it was too much "opinionated" in the sound, textures and patterns it produce? That it plays its music, not yours? I'm very excited by the premises of this product, since I'm a sucker for that type of rich and thick ambient glitch-y things. But I'm afraid I won't be able to make it sound like "I" want: sure, I like experimentation and let the instruments guiding my playing, like in a feedback process, but I also like to understand what's happening (and that's why I love my Morphagene, for example, there's both chaos and order in it, I can tame it). Unfortunately this is something that is really hard to tell just by looking at great-sounding demos, because I don't know how much intention (and intervention) from the musician there's in the process.

I played with it now a couple of times and did always find something useful. It really does depend on the source. I'd only wish the filter would be switchable to HPF and that there would have been two or three reverb modes.

[lyesmel]

Question for you, but also for anyone else: did you feel like it was too much "opinionated" in the sound, textures and patterns it produce? That it plays its music, not yours?

That is exactly how I feel about it - couldn't have put it better. The algorithims become very predictible and recognisable to my ears. There is some possibility for modulation within them, but it does not feel alive like something like Morphagene does. Of course this is a guitar pedal and is not build to compete with plugin chains or eurorack, so as I mentioned it can add alot of a guitar pedal focused setup but for someone working with a DAW or Eurorack with potential within those is far greater than the microcosm can offer.

[carlotter]

Does anyone know how to set the output to line level? The manual mentions how to switch from instrument to line level for the input but not for the output. Unless it’s linked?

[xcc]

Does anyone know how to set the output to line level? The manual mentions how to switch from instrument to line level for the input but not for the output. Unless it’s linked?

I would assume it’s linked. I’ve switched mine back and forth a bit and they seem to match up.

[carlotter]

Makes sense, thanks for checking

[Nelson Baboon]

wonder if anyone else has had the following issue with the Microcosm? I can't say exactly when this started....it's possible that it started after I sent it midi controllers - maybe something 'stuck' in its settings somewhere?

My initial reaction was extremely positive. I got it for use with synths and violin, and i first tried it with the double knot, and got spectacular results. While the double knot has a very strong sound, I think, it can use some fucked up processing to really bring it alive in another way. And it just worked great.

At some point, the damn Microcosm just pretty much stopped working. I had to try and try to get even the slightest effect from it. Most of the time, turning the mix knob to fully wet would just give me nothing at all. But sometimes after fiddling with input levels, etc, i'd get just a little result, but it was so faint as to be totally boring. Volume was so low at 100% wet that it was basically unusable. Sometimes a little more, but the various knobs did virtually nothing. My memory of the initial session faded, and it seemed to me like the damn thing just sucked.

I bought it from them (through Reverb) and was about ready to ask them for a return or to try another one, when I tried doing the complete factory reset routine (I had tried the settings reset previously). And WOW - yes - this is what I first experienced. it's fucking great on synths. But I'd like to know what went wrong with it.

[tioJim]

It crashes. I think they updated the OS. I had one for a bit and liked it but flipped it to pay for a larger purchase (that does granular)

[Nelson Baboon]

i believe i have the latest os, since i got it from them. Not everything needs granular.

[HavaH1138]

Some of the demos I've seen for this are stellar. It really stands out above any other demos Ive heard for granular/loop based pedals. So many of the more "glitchy" digital effects pedals I see now have a very specific sound to my ears when there is pitch based and granular effects happening. The Microcosm has none of the familiar sonic signature of those other devices, and seems to reconstruct loops in a very musical and original way. I am about to place a preorder, Im just curious - after seeing the popularity of the pedal - how long Ill be on the waiting list. The website has said a limited batch will be ready to ship mid Feb, now it just says Feb 2021. I like supporting small, innovative companies and I don't mind waiting, I've just been in scenarios before with other companies where 2 months became 6 months, etc...

[Nik]

I am about to place a preorder, Im just curious - after seeing the popularity of the pedal - how long Ill be on the waiting list. The website has said a limited batch will be ready to ship mid Feb, now it just says Feb 2021. I like supporting small, innovative companies and I don't mind waiting, I've just been in scenarios before with other companies where 2 months became 6 months, etc...

Mine came to the UK last November. At the time I think the wait was 10 days and that was when it shipped AFAIR - there was no significant additional delay (apart from HMRC that is!).

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Regarding the triggering issue - yes, there is one, but you can work with it (though it could bite you in a live situation I guess).

Note though that there is a gotcha with the firmware, or there was for me anyway, and that is that the triggering fix may need to be enabled. I think mine shipped with it not turned on and I don't think it was mentioned in the manual how to enable it.

## While in Global Configuration mode, tap the Select/Shift button 3 times rapidly. The indicator lights should change to either blue (representing the old triggering style) or green (representing the new triggering style). You can toggle back and forth by tapping the Select/Shift button 3 times.

[unexpectedbowtie]

I love the look of the device, but at the price point I can't take a chance on it D:

[xcc]

I love the look of the device, but at the price point I can't take a chance on it D:

Totally get that, but for me it saved money since it replaced multiple other uncheap pedals. At the very least it let me sell the Blooper and Particle 2 and still gain a ton of other fun stuff.

[smetak]

Totally get that, but for me it saved money since it replaced multiple other uncheap pedals. At the very least it let me sell the Blooper and Particle 2 and still gain a ton of other fun stuff.

I actually have a blooper and particle 2 with the microcosm, though on a separate channel, on my board.