If I didn’t have a massive hole in my wallet, I’d be getting a Blooper in this first run. One of the most interesting things in my opinion is the combination of layers, slicing, and midi control. I’ve also been eyeing getting an Octatrack, but that’s an even more substantial hit to the ol’ bank account, and I don’t think it has the sheer immediacy of manipulation the Blooper offers. Along with the ramping and modifiers, Blooper looks like it can mangle and restore a loop(s)/layers with much more focus on experimentation than the Octratrack.
The main advantage of the Octatrack is that you can program a set around it if your music has a fair amount of structure. Both it and the Zoia have an advantage of being able to store and recall preset sounds.
Which product you should get depends on your situation:
- Are you playing solo or with a band?
- Is your music structured or totally improvised?
- Do you need to work with prerecorded audio or are you fine with only sampling from an audio input jack?
- Do you need presets or are you fine with quickly dialing knobs/flicking switches to change sounds?
- What is your audio source - guitar, drum machine, or what?
In our band, I play electric violin, so my choice of Zoia was for the reasons you hint at. I can squat down and tweak knobs once in a while, but not a whole lot when I’m supposed to be bowing something at the same time. So an FX unit that lets me recall presets is better suited to the band situation, where I’m expected to produce certain sounds for certain parts of a song.
I do like the look and features of the MOOD and Blooper but they seem better suited for my solo work than the band.
Unfortunately, It doesn’t look like it will be stereo, only mono.
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This is a very good point. Also it only 40 seconds of recording time.
I think Blooper is more of a happy accidents/experimental machine.
Octratrack and Zoia are more structured environments but still allow all types of mangling.
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I also find comparisons to the Octatrack very odd. The blooper has an interesting feature set, but it’s nowhere near what the Octatrack can do.
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Theyll be a Blooper emulation up in the Zoia patchstorage in no time (if there isn’t already…haven’t checked).
And in stereo. Only 16 seconds though.
same in many ways, hence my question. i’m basically sort of trying to avoid getting an OT since i have 5 elektron boxes in my studio right now and am not generally wont to homogeneity. i do think there is a sort of philosophical/practical overlap in the way all these machines (mood, zoia, blooper probably) handle sample mangling, looping, and happy accident creation that makes them suitable for a lot of what OT would do for me. and i’m trying to figure out what’s best for my workflow/practice at present.
What is your workflow/practice at present, now that you mention it? I must have missed it - asking out of curiosity, not to be mean or anything.
Kickstarter preorders are shipping, anyone got their hands on one yet?
I got an email saying they weren’t shipping till Dec 12th. Definitely interested to see what people think of it.
Dan Phelps has been uploading some informative videos. Points of interest in this one:
7:28 - Demo of recording a short guitar riff, then using Additive Mode to twist it around and alter it.
8:40 - Demo of recording one guitar chord as a loop, then using modifiers to mangle it
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I just ordered one. Quarantine GAS got me. Looking forward to exploring that thing!
Two days in… this thing is insanely fun.
Does anyone else have one? Have you tried MIDI LFOs from Octatrack? I’m running into an issue where the LFO from OT does not sweep smoothly. It jumps and is inconsistent. Even without LFO, the assigned knobs jump… it’s like the OT is not sending midi smoothly. This is not the case sending MIDI CCs to something like my Minitaur.
I’m running OT MIDI out > Disaster Area midi to TRS box > TRS MIDI in on Blooper. Chase Bliss pins are configured correctly.
If I use my FaderFox midi controller to the Disaster area box, all movements are smooth and accurate. But any knob or LFO movement from OT is not usable.
Love this performance by Glasys
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Had this for a week now. Truly inspiring kit. It’s just me, a keyboard and the Blooper. It’s more a minimalist sampler in pedal format, really.
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Would it be theoretically possible for the blooper to receive stereo I/O support via firmware update, or would it require a hardware change? I believe the I/O is already TRS on both sides.
I can imagine performing live with this setup for a long time and not getting bored
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I don’t have the cool to keep such an act going. But yes, conceptually, that’d be lovely.
I’ve done some loops with a Prophet 6 through the Blooper. It’s when you use such a quality instrument through such a nuanced effect, that both really show their true colors. There’s so much stuff going on in a downright proper analogue that just comes out even more, when you apply it through a magical box.
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I see that Chase Bliss Posted on their Instagram yesterday that they are close to having session wave file export. It looks to me from the screen shot they posted, that the layers might export individually as well. This would be an amazing feature for an already great pedal.
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