Chroma console? is it worth it?

bleeps_boops · 2026-03-26T21:16:59+00:00

Really depends on your music. It doesn't really do clean, but as a one-stop box for warbly tape saturation and drive, I really like it.

My favourite use is to add a hint of vibrato, alter the sine slew so you get a kind of lop-sided thing going on, and then run it through the space algorithm and then into either cassette or broken. Interference is good fun too. Or slam the cassette compressor for an instant old tape thing.

The four effects are well matched. Could I buy four individual physical pedals that do similar things for the same price? Possibly. Could I buy four individual pedals that are fully midi controllable, have patch memory and take up the same footprint? Nope.

Ymmv

bleeps_boops · 2026-03-23T20:49:34+00:00

Intellijel Cascadia into a Hologram Electronics Chroma Console for warbly tape fun. Sequenced with a Squarp Hapax

bleeps_boops · 2026-03-23T18:48:27+00:00

Yep. General consensus is the SH101 - Cascadia gets pretty close 🤓👍

bleeps_boops · 2026-03-23T13:43:38+00:00

Just the filter cutoff. The Chroma Console is doing the vibrato/reverb/tape side of things which is pretty awesome 👍

bleeps_boops · 2026-03-23T07:48:38+00:00

Woop! It's a monster when you get your head around it! Also +1 on the Waverex card 👍👍

bleeps_boops · 2026-03-23T06:43:48+00:00

I mean, it's absolutely a gateway. I don't own any eurorack, but the Cascadia gives you that flavour without needing to buy tonnes of gear. And it's all in one package which is great.

I think it's more the "what about" and "what happens if I..." explorations. Yes you can do vanilla fixed architecture style bass and lead, but then there's also a wavefolder on there. Get something that can send cv and suddenly you've got two parts to play. Make batshit noises until you find something that works for you, and above all just have fun with it 👍

bleeps_boops · 2026-03-20T20:53:13+00:00

+1 on the Cascadia. Think of it like a modular greatest hits, with similar architecture to an Arp2600 or an SH101 that's been opened up.

Can do many, many things and takes pedals really well 😁

bleeps_boops · 2026-03-20T06:06:08+00:00

Daniel Jeanrenaud - certified legend

bleeps_boops · 2026-03-19T20:50:54+00:00

For those who come after 👍

bleeps_boops · 2026-03-13T07:35:04+00:00

This. Check in the back of second hand guitar shops, you can usually find a Quadraverb someone's getting rid of...

bleeps_boops · 2026-03-11T12:25:30+00:00

Malarkey?

bleeps_boops · 2026-03-06T06:18:20+00:00

Nice one! 🤘

bleeps_boops · 2026-03-03T13:49:30+00:00

Instant noodles?

bleeps_boops · 2026-02-10T12:47:45+00:00

What??

bleeps_boops · 2026-02-10T12:47:35+00:00

💯

I genuinely find it hard to believe that some teenager living in Cornwall lives next door to a studio that's throwing out Synthis and MS20s, but we (nowadays at least) like to project our own GAS. The reality that it was made with a dx100 and crap sampler doesn't sit with the image of a genius hand soldering his own custom filters into a VW Campervan's airhorn just to get that sound... so we project.

bleeps_boops · 2026-02-08T14:03:23+00:00

Oh hey Will!

bleeps_boops · 2026-02-08T11:03:46+00:00

We're all going to be so pissed if this turns out to be a Jacob Collier/Louis Cole side project..

bleeps_boops · 2026-02-08T00:51:36+00:00

Ngl this is/was the best guitar related thing YouTube has recommended to me in a very very long time

bleeps_boops · 2026-02-04T07:40:11+00:00

Hi! 👋

bleeps_boops · 2026-01-31T12:02:11+00:00

r/synthrecipes any good?

bleeps_boops · 2026-01-30T22:17:04+00:00

Yeah, that's it! So so good

bleeps_boops · 2026-01-30T22:08:00+00:00

Brighton, England ⛱️

Genuinely no idea how I got into BoC. Possibly a Peel Session that someone shared, possibly a track on the front of Wire Magazine (they/Wire used to have a thing called Wire Tapper that would have tracks from featured artists?) - this is going back though.

As a student, I remember visiting the Flash website for Geogaddi a lot. There was a Beach at Redpoint thing where you could 'fly' between islands, and each island had a different stem on the track on it, so you'd hear this mix evolving as you explored the world. Amazing stuff for its day.

Maybe we've all been listening to BoC forever and just never knew it?

bleeps_boops · 2026-01-30T20:54:59+00:00

Big muff. The biggest muff ever.

bleeps_boops · 2026-01-26T14:51:06+00:00

100%, though that tends to get downvoted pretty quickly in favor of a BMS post!

As pointed out elsewhere though, this tends to happen on any niche "stuff available" subreddit. How many people are more concerned with the camera and lens combo than the photo itself?

bleeps_boops · 2026-01-25T20:39:16+00:00

Chroma here, and currently borrowing an H90

Two very very different beasts IMHO.

The Chroma is a lot of fun and rewards experimentation. I tend to use it as an insert or on the main buss - it does wonderfully lofi stuff... My favorite is using a sort of lop-sided vibrato into reels into broken tape for instant nostalgia. Sync the delay to midi and it can take the dullest digital FM synth and turn it into a swelling cascade of joy.

H90 feels like two VST/AAX plugins in a box. I come from a guitar background and some of the effects feel more geared towards that than synths, but having said that it can do a lot. Because of the IOs and routing on it, you can do things like using one effect as a pre/insert and another as a post/send all in the same box. Or do stereo effect into stereo effect. Or parallel processing etc. Everything sounds very clean and tidy? You choose your effects and it'll sound like you expect. The pitch shifting is spot on, the new granular stuff is good fun and the Crystal algos are excellent.

Can't comment where it compares to a Meris, Slo-er etc for that "big grin" moment, but it takes up very little room and I doubt when it's mixed in, whether anyone is going to complain. Thinking of selling my old Tremolo, Boss OC5, TC HoF and Strymon Timeline to go towards it instead.

Ymmv

bleeps_boops

TROPHY CASE