Poly Results Beebo overview | Engadget

Alright, however an important half is what’s inside: the software program. Regardless of a number of warts, it’s largely a hit. Sure, the UI could be a bit gradual to reply. And sure, it’s a lot simpler to chew via the DSPs energy and max out the CPU than you may anticipate. However the modules are all fairly helpful, straightforward to make use of and sound nice. There are 97 of them starting from easy VCAs, to amp emulators, to ports of Mutable Devices modules like Plaits and Clouds.

There’s clearly no technique to cowl all of them, however let’s speak about a number of highlights. The ports of the Mutable Devices modules are all wonderful, however I discover Grids (referred to as Drum Patterns) and Clouds (Granular) to be essentially the most helpful. Clouds is a granular “texture synthesizer.” Briefly, it chops up incoming audio in realtime and spits it again out as an nearly unrecognizable mass. Till now, in the event you wished to get Clouds in your pedalboard it might have meant sticking one thing extraordinarily fragile like a eurorack case or an Organelle on there. So it is a large deal for guitarists with a extra ambient or experimental bent.

Grids is a kind of computerized drum sequencer, and it’s nice for shortly placing collectively rhythms. However you need to use its outputs to manage something that can settle for a CV (management voltage) enter (which is a lot of the modules). So you may create rhythmic interaction between a delay and a bitcrusher the place completely different parameters are accented at completely different instances.

Talking of bitcrushing, the Bitmangle module is gorgeous. It makes among the finest sputtering and ugly noise I’ve heard. It’s not a normal bitcrusher, and as an alternative combines cross modulation with the standard bit-based degradation. Only one factor to pay attention to: It’s loud. It’s extremely beneficial that you just mix with a compressor, noise gate and a VCA after the actual fact to maintain your ranges in examine.

One of the best factor about these modules is all of them play good with the inner CV controls so that you add LFOs, or a 16-step sequencer, or the Chaos Controller so as to add motion to the parameters, so your results by no means keep static. And sure, you possibly can even mix these modules with Grids continuously altering patterns of parameter modulation. (For instance, an LFO can slowly change the drum sample on Grids, which in flip rhythmically maxes out the time on a delay in an evolving approach.)

• On this primary instance and LFO is getting used to pan between two completely different results — a pitch shifter and a refrain. The primary half is a gradual sinewave LFO the second a part of the demo is a sq. wave at 320bpm with a temp ratio of 320x, creating an nearly ring modulated impact.

My one gripe is that there’s no visible suggestions as to what the modulation and sequencers are altering. When you join an LFO to the time of the delay, you don’t see it change, the slider simply stays the place you left it. This implies you really want to trace down any downside areas together with your ears.

Maybe the issues I used essentially the most have been the amp sim, cab sim and convolution reverb modules. The 2 energy amp sims are fairly first rate. They’re not the perfect amp simulators I’ve ever heard, however they’re not dangerous both. I’d like to see Poly Results develop and enhance on these choices. Nonetheless, between these and the cab sims, the Beebo makes a stable DI (direct enter) field. I don’t know that it may utterly substitute my amp, however it’s positively higher than the builtin amp sims in Ableton.

The cab simulators are IR- based mostly, and Beebo comes loaded with a complete bunch of IRs to get you began, together with these recorded from basic amps like a Fender Bassman and a Vox AC30. However it’s also possible to load customized ones that you just’ve downloaded and even recorded your self.

The identical is true of the convolution reverb unit. There are a bunch of impulse responses already included from classic analog and digital reverbs, to actual areas just like the London Palladium and Pool of the Black Star in Winnipeg. You may as well simply discover free reverb IRs on-line to load your self. Or, if you wish to have some actual enjoyable, you possibly can load any 48 kHz .wav file and use that as a reverb. Your outcomes will fluctuate, relying on the pattern you utilize, however I had lots of success with a bong rip harvested from Elektron’s free Aotearoa sound pack and a recording of an odd rhythmic HAM radio broadcast. You need to use a drum break and get a patterned delay, or run drums via the reverb with a melodic pattern loaded as an IR and get chaotic cascades of no matter you’re utilizing as an IR.

That is the true energy and pleasure of utilizing Beebo: the power to experiment and do issues that simply aren’t attainable (at the least with out 1000’s of {dollars} price of drugs) in the true world.

The one obtrusive gap within the module lineup is the shortage of a looper. There’s a looping delay module, however it’s fairly barebones. Poly Results is engaged on a moderately robust looking multi-loop module, however there’s no concrete timeline for when it’s anticipated to land.

Considerably surprisingly, I discovered myself much less drawn to the synth aspect of Beebo than I anticipated. That’s not as a result of it’s dangerous; I simply have extra handy methods of getting lots of the similar sounds. My MicroFreak has among the oscillators from Plaits (Macro Osc) and the Organelle has a port of Grids that I can load up with my very own drum samples. When you’re solely a guitarist, however wouldn’t thoughts having a technique to dabble on the planet of modular synthesis with out dropping a bunch of cash, it is a nice technique to do it. However, I seemingly would not purchase it for the synth sounds alone.

Whereas you need to use the pitch monitoring module or the built-in 16 step sequencer together with the quantizer to play the resonator or macro oscillator, it actually calls for an exterior MIDI controller to benefit from it. This provides a complete different layer of complexity to the equation that you could be or might not be able to embrace.

This implies both going all in on MIDI integration on your board or leaving the Beebo in your desk. Neither is flawed, however it’s one thing to pay attention to. I not too long ago took the plunge and rigged my pedalboard as much as reap the benefits of MIDI, however the Beebo nonetheless discovered a house on my desk as a rule. And that’s largely as a result of I discovered myself utilizing it fairly in another way than I might the ZOIA.

With Empress Results’ modular pedal I usually discover myself loading it with new presets as soon as each couple months. And I design a brand new patch about as usually. However with the Beebo I used to be way more more likely to begin from scratch every time. The interface is far more instant and it’s simpler to navigate complicated patches and make tweaks.

Which brings us to the large query many individuals are most likely asking: Do you have to purchase the ZOIA or the Beebo. And the reply is… each? This may sound like a little bit of a copout however, though they’re comparable in idea, the execution and have checklist is completely different sufficient to say it’s not essentially an either-or state of affairs.

However, in the event you have to choose (and I get it, they’re not low cost), right here’s what I’ll say:

If you’d like the world’s strongest multi-effects pedal, with an insanely energetic group sharing new presets day-after-day, go together with the ZOIA. There are individuals way more proficient than I’m constructing new and distinctive results and sharing them on patchstorage.com — practically 800 as of this writing. Its reverb algorithms are second to none, it excels as an experimental looper, and it simply serves because the MIDI grasp of an adventurous pedalboard. ZOIA is an ideal end-of-chain do-it-all pedal and would positively be on my desert island checklist.

However, in the event you’re extra involved in exploring modular on a small scale and plan to continuously tweak and customise patches, go together with Beebo. Its interface is far more conducive to on-the-fly digital rewiring. It could possibly principally substitute your amp and the IR-based reverb is a supply of countless enjoyable. Plus, the ports of Mutable Devices Eurorack modules are among the many most original issues you could find in a guitar pedal.

Beebo isn’t good. It may be buggy. And though the interface is intuitive, it’s nonetheless a fancy gadget. However, it’s additionally a completely distinctive and unbelievably highly effective piece of music gear. For the relentless sonic experimenter its draw might be plain.