I don’t think Chase Bliss ever has all their still available products in stock at once. They seem to be constantly rotating their production line depending on their estimations on demand. There’s a couple of months before the next batch of the CXM hits our shores here, and that one’s very much alive, I’d say.
I kind of like it. Somehow, being forced to wait sometimes does make you appreciate its arrival more.
Anyone have any good work flows for signal routing?
I really love my Blooper and am considering a Mood. I need to think through my signal routing first though. I’d like to be able to quickly switch the order and levels of the signal chain to be my mixer’s sub mix > Mood > Blooper, and rearrangements of that. Seems like the Pladask Matrise might work. It’s an active matrix mixer in pedal board format. I’m also considering a passive matrix mixer, which would be cheaper but perhaps degrade the signal some.
I’m using a patch bay. My sound sources are normalled to mixer channels, but I can use the patch bay to insert Blooper, Mood or another pedal between the source and the mixer. It’s not as convenient as twisting a knob, but works great. Another option is something like MTX8 Future Sound Systems
Cool. I didn’t know about the MTX8. I think a patch bay is the way, and probably something I’ve been procrastinating about learning about for too long.
this is what I do. synths/machines into patch bay, then into rack mixer. pedals all sit on a shelf but there’s power sources for them right next to the rack. so when I want to try one: grab it from the shelf, plug into power, plug audio in/out, and go. it’s a couple extra steps and I wouldn’t do it if I only had a few pedals. I used to leave them all plugged in and ready to go; but eventually I was tripping over them.
I’m curious to know more about this looping workflow. I’ve been contemplating getting a sampler for my setup and have glanced over the blackbox. I’ve got a blooper and love modulating it from Ableton, if the blackbox can do most of what the blooper can do I might pick one up.
Yep same except I have a desktop mixer and my pedals are on a shelf below the mixer. I have a pedal power supply and Midibox mounted to the underside of the surface the mixer is standing on, so everything stays super tidy. Here’s a few pictures of my setup:
I can’t think of anything the Blooper does, the Blackbox can’t do, with the exception of a modifier or two - mainly the rhythmic stutters, I’d say.
The workflow is entirely different of course, and the character isn’t the same. The Blackbox has this hi-fi shine to it, which is why I’m still sticking to Chase Bliss stuff, but for other purposes. That vintage vibe of nostalgia, Chase Bliss does really well.
But as far as looping goes, layering and warping your loops, the Blackbox is great. It pitches up and down, you can easily trim and slice your loops, reverse, modulate the pitch, use the filter for character and stuff. And as mentioned, you got sixteen of them running in parallell, so no rendering all recordings into a layered file.
Look, the Blooper is fantastic in many ways. But it’s primarily its character and more warped out stuff I enjoy with it, and I think the Mood does that way better.
BTW there’s a MTX for sale right here on Elektronauts if anyone is interested (not mine, I just saw it posted)
Even though it ain’t stereo?
Going to your post office must be a pleasant experience. In my travels - not that i’ve seen that much - I’ve seen some beautiful towns and villages where I thought I wouldn’t mind frequent walks to the post office, the cafe, etc.
It’s not bad 
it’s a walk along the river, across a bridge and then through a small oak alley. And the owners always go, “Synth of the week, is it then, lad?” And they talk me into buying chocolate every time I’m there.
This makes me feel warm and fuzzy inside 
We got snow and -10C here now, so I’m happy to radiate some sunshine, if only for awhile
Oh damn, I’m glad I don’t live in your town. I’d be buying too much chocolate!
Judging by the current going rate on reverb, I apparently sold mine about a year and a half too early. I remember a time when second-hand gear meant that it was cheaper than new. The cult of Chase Bliss is thriving.
Honestly…after having both now for a longer time, I came to the same conclusion. Mood is favorite, blooper is out.
Anyone wants to trade a Blackbox in for a mint Blooper?
Did you get a 2nd one for stereo? 
If you’ll have some time, could you please post more demos of how you use it with synths / rhythmic material. Curious to see / hear!
Haha no 
although … 
