ilovefuzz.com

The CSIDMAN (discman) is now on the CB site, even though it's about four months away from its 5/23 release date.

http://www.catalinbread.com/product/csidman/

Based on the teaser clips and the rough cut videophone footage from NAMM, I feel like this pedal is being short-changed a bit. I think it's best usage will be in front of other delays. It could be great for pseudo-trem stutter or fast, short delays pinging against other cascading echoes. This write-up from CB also talks about using it in a less over-the-top fashion.

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z7FQ9L996WQ[/youtube]

Controls:
TIME Controls the echo delay line’s delay time up to 725mS, as well as the rate of the glitch.
MIX Gives you control over the wet/dry balance from 100% wet to 100% dry.
FEED Controls the amount of feedback going back into the unit.
CUTS (used in conjunction with the LATCH knob) controls the buffer memory length.
LATCH controls the relative time in a cycle that the CSIDMAN is in a latching skipping state. When full counterclockwise, it doesn’t skip, allowing you to use the pedal as a traditional digital delay. When full clockwise, the unit is stuck repeating whatever is in the buffer memory. At noon, this knob is a 50/50 balance (though random) between a skip-playback state and non-skip sample state.

For skipping CD behaviors:
MIX full clockwise
FEED full counter-clockwise, though turning it up creates cool overloading effects that responds to playing dynamics.
TIME to taste
CUTS above noon
LATCH above noon

For an “ambient collaborator” behavior:
MIX Noon or to taste.
FEED anywhere turning it up creates cool overloading effects that responds to playing dynamics, but can run away regardless of MIX setting.
TIME to taste, but I like starting from 9 to 12 O’clock
CUTS just below noon
LATCH noonish

For a traditional digital delay set up:
Set your LATCH knob full counter-clockwise, ignore the CUTS knob, and use your TIME, MIX, FEED knobs for the desired sound as you would a traditional delay.

Ok, now I'm interested.
This seems to do exactly the kind of simple audio buffer-fuckery I was kinda wanting to program on an OWL or something similar. The same thing with some CV inputs for most parameters (a la Malekko) would be even better.

It's nice to have a proper explanation, btw. Too many effects builders like to write all sorts of abstract descriptions/bad poetry that doesn't give you any real info about what's actually happening inside...

I wasn't really into the Foxtrot. I had to part with mine, though I'm sure someday I'll give it another go because I'm such a sleaze for pedals.

(some more from the CB site)

[I was first introduced to glitch/stutter effects through that ridiculous Jonny Greenwood video a number of years ago. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OjV9dud_NY0 For years in the back of my head I puzzled over an application for such musical cacophony. I mean it is an over the top freakout for peak climactic moments in a performance where the music seems that it cannot rave-up any further.

Cool, that’s a one trick pony, right? Well, not at all. It came together when I realized the potential for this sort of effect to dice up familiar gentle sounds, in an uncomfortable yet beautiful way. I was reminded of an effect my friend and guitarist Paul Rigby (Neko Case, Garth Hudson) asked me for, something that sounded and intermittent like broken cable. Having spent time listening to Paul play. The economy, restraint and subtlety that he plays with fits almost within the subconscious of music in such a way that when he’s not playing everything sounds naked and vacant. There’s also something here for these applications…]

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OjV9dud_NY0[/youtube]

Yeah, I do like the fact that he mentioned Alva Noto (and Ryuichi Sakamoto) after that, too.

Yeah, it definitely sounds like a cool pedal. Think I'll stick with my Possessed though.

The Bicycle Delay sounded pretty fun as well, glad to see Catalinbread focusing more on weird shit again, instead of digital clones.

Is there a detailed explanation of what the Possessed actually does somewhere ?
Something factual, not poetry...

Doesn't Eivind's demo sort of do that? I don't recall, but I feel like it did.

Edit: nope. Only the smell knob. It's only smells (please don't understand that reference).

oscillateur wrote:Is there a detailed explanation of what the Possessed actually does somewhere ?
Something factual, not poetry...

No, but I definitely read something about a haunted radiator, squirrel hiccups and ghost cum on pedal poems dot com, if you change your mind, poindexter.

I guess it samples random pieces of what you play and chop them up? Not really the same as the Catalinbread, but the result is similar, ie. they cover the same kind of ground. There's a demo somewhere of a guy running a drum machine through it, explaining exactly what the knobs do. I honestly enjoy the more intuitive aspect of it - I don't need to know exactly what is going on, I just know what to do to make the sounds I like.

The Possessed just chops up incoming audio that it continuously records through a buffer. All the knobs control the buffer from rate of trigger -> sound quality -> sample size -> volume -> dry/wet.

Strange Tales wrote:The Possessed just chops up incoming audio that it continuously records through a buffer. All the knobs control the buffer from rate of trigger -> sound quality -> sample size -> volume -> dry/wet.

So similar but not exactly the same as the Catalinbread one then (I mean, there are not that many simple things to do to an audio buffer to get this kind of effect).
I've got a friend who has one here, I need to make some music with him again and try his Possessed a bit to see what does what...

theres actually a masf + machinedrum video on vimeo that explains all the controls on the possessed. i've had to reference this many times as i always forget exactly which is which i eventually wrote it down

TASTE - DURATION
TOUCH - MODULATION
SMELL - SIZE
HEARING - VOLUME
SIGHT - DRY/WET

edit: oops Eivind already mentioned the video

There you go. Sexy stuff, and one of fairly few non-fuzz/delay pedals I really enjoy using.

I was thinking that maybe the csidman would be a nice alternative to the possessed since it's cheaper and will probably be more widely available. So I tried to figure out the difference. As far as I can understand, the main difference is that the possessed can be more random because it has an lfo controlling variations in buffer size (touch) whereas the csidman has a constant buffer size depending where the knob is set.

So, the possessed has glitches that are all the same rate, where the possessed can do glitches at different speeds.

Maybe someone with a possessed can tell me if that's true.

CME just got their first Dream Sequence in.

http://www.chicagomusicexchange.com/col ... ewarrivals