ilovefuzz.com

echorec wrote: https://www.affino.com/blogs/my-blog--s ... sideration

That is a pretty weak article. This guy just made a top 9 wish list for bitcrushers he doesn't own or hasn't tried. I could make a list based on watching demos too, but I don't because that would be irrelevant.

OTO Biscuit: Very tweakable but hard to justify the price. I think I might flip mine to fund something else.
Meris Ottobit Jr: Does great sounds but (as previously documented) I had gripes with volume drop at the end of the spectrum, inconsistent knob range, and the way the stutter works.
IE Frantabit: Pretty wild crushing, not your typical bitcrusher. Only tried on briefly at ILFMW, didn't have the sound I was searching for but impressed on doing it's own thing.
BitQuest: Not deep or complex. Didn't sound good with a drum machine.

A few people around here that have the Scrutator and love them, but I haven't tried it yet. I like the price and availability.

Bitmap doesn't get mentioned often and not sure why.

could not stand the carrier frequency of my frantabit, that was like 7 yrs ago, so idk things may have changed, but it was fun...buying bit crushers were my first introduction to pedals. thought they would take me somewhere.. or do something, didnt have a clue... all I know is I wanted to move from acoustic noise to amplified harmony..stringing cat littler containers together with bells in them didnt work for long....so,
the ottobit and hexe look to be supreme....after I couldnt find a bitcrusher that I could stand, I gave up and bought a distortion pedal and a looper for my second introduction to pedals ...just buy a possessed. idk...fuck me right. merry fuckin christmas.

Definitely want a full-on bitcrusher and not just SRR, I've done that dance before. Ottobit and Scrutator look cool. The Bitquest has a crusher mode I see, but I'm not really interested in the other 8 million things it does. I remember being turned off by the Franta, but I don't remember why and may have to check it out again.

The SRR is far superior to the bit crusher on the BQ. But, if you want industrial trashed fucking distortion then the dirty side of the BQ with some crushing is in fact crushing. But it's definitely limited. I would not get it for a bit crusher only.

Had some time to tinker with a newly-arrived EHX Mainframe last weekend. It seems to cover similar textural territory to a Malekko Scrutator with additional features like "smart" sample rate tracking, one preset, and higher output without clipping. The buffered bypass may be a bit of a bummer for anyone wanting to feed it into germanium dirt. More tweaking will be necessary to fully appreciate its awesomeness.

wow blast from the past.

this is a funny coincidence, as i was talking to my musician friend this afternoon about using bitcrusher pedals with guitars.
i havent even thought about bitcrusher pedals for months or even years until today.
i think that sometimes coincidences arent actually coincidences.

i never dug it with guitar. it wasn't practical for me. i liked the idea more than the reality.

i had a frantabit and something else which i can't remember. the frantabit sounded great, i just didnt have a use for it.

but i have been on the lookout for a dr scientist bitquest for a little over a year. the only thing i want it for is to run it on the loop of an analog delay.
that would be filthy sick ass.
and also completely indulgent, over the top.

So...crushing the bits in pedal form...is Hexe still the fan fave here? I’ve been thinking about the HKA Design Digitizer quite a bit whenever I play...and while cooking, working, sleeping...seems like a really great sounding thing- anyone have first hand experience with one? What about the Roland/Malekko Bitrazer module- seems pretty cool but I haven’t really heard any first hand comments.

And finally, what is the word in the software realm? Any obvious plugins/iOS plugins that are on the shortlist for crushing/reducing/exploding music?

Late to the party as usual. I like bitcrush in theory but never find myself wanting it between the guitar and the amp, where it always seems to be in the way.

Earlier in the thread someone namechecked the AC Noises AMA reverb, the USP of which is that it bitcrushes only the wet signal. That's more like it! I'd also mention the discontinued Dreadbox Sonic Bits, some versions of which seem to be a straightahead digital delay with a bitcrusher on the delay line, and of course the OBNE Dark Star, a DSP reverb with a bitcrush option, again on the wet signal only. Bitcrush for the rest of us.

Fainthearted? Moi?

I always thought the bitcrushing effect sounded better on everything except guitar. I think it sounds better when you have higher frequencies fed into it, like a synth or drum machine. Idk I’m sure someone smarter than me can explain it better.

how long has this ehx mainframe been out? it looks good.

le lambin wrote:I always thought the bitcrushing effect sounded better on everything except guitar. I think it sounds better when you have higher frequencies fed into it, like a synth or drum machine. Idk I’m sure someone smarter than me can explain it better.

Yeah, I don’t really dig bit crushing on guitar. Sample rate reduction on the other hand is great

Mainframe does look cool- I’m a little skeptical about the sound quality because it’s EHX, but maybe I’m just being a snob about it and should try it out and see. I think it came out 6 months ago or so? Maybe a year?

I got a Mainframe for ILFmas! It is cool. You can get a lot of neat sounds, from slight sample rate reduction to garbled bitcrash. The filter is nice, and the pitch tracking mode is pretty cool. The sound of the pitch tracking can get a bit grating after a while, though, and it tracks somewhat weirdly. As a readily available and fully featured bitcrusher it's great, either way.

Nice! I'm impressed that at max it's 48khz/24 bit.

every time i play a bitcrusher/samplerate reducer on guitar i just think it sounds like broken and feel gross