If you don’t like it, you can sell it on Reverb and buy a complete Eurorack System. 
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Haha, true!
Well I caved and ordered and it’s absolutely 100% because of this thread. And that other what sounds are coming outta your gear using the Microcosm thread. Thanks ‘nauts. Not sure when the next batch ships but I’m excited, for sure. My set up feels pretty safe right now so I’d like to invite a bit of mayhem in to see what’s what.
I’ve finally got Microcosm setup in my studio, starting to explore now. A few issues have been bugging me straight away though:
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When I change the global settings, they all seem to save ok, except for Bypass mode. I keep setting it to True Bypass and it constantly reverts to Buffered with No Trails.
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It’s noisier than I expected – about 50% more noisy as my Ventris which is setup in the same way. I’ve double checked a bunch of different cables and that’s not the issue.
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The output is kinda quiet…
Anyone else experience similar?
Do you push the Encoder to accept the changes?
Have you tried both Instrument or Line Level?
i haven’t experienced any real noise issues with it except that it’s really easy to clip, and, yes, it does seem to be quite a quiet pedal.
i’ve not switched the true bypass on or off so can’t offer much there.
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For all new users:
- Global reset.
- You can press hift + Phrase looper button then 3 times shift rapidly to activate the newer triggering detection (light turn green then press middle footswitch to exit)
- You can set the Input level according what you feed the MC with in the global settings.
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Hologram Electronics told me that the latest FW is shipped with all new pedals.
Ok, as alluded to above, I’m fine setting global params etc. For clarity:
The new triggering is already selected
I’ve set it to line level because I’m feeding it from my mixing desk
I’ve set it to stereo, not mono input
Yes, I push the encoder to make changes
The changes I make to input level and stereo input etc. all save fine, it’s just the Bypass setting that doesn’t save
I’m definitely not clipping it
And as just mentioned, it should already be on the latest firmware
But another issue, Global Reset and Complete Factory Reset are really tricky to get to work. I press and hold the Phrase Looper + Reverse, or Shift + Phrase Looper + Reverse as instructed… and 19 times out of 20, nothing happens.
Also, the dry/wet mix kinda goes in steps, it isn’t smooth - particularly as you get towards fully wet.
I think it depends on which FX you’re on as some of them have Randomness.
My filter is very “steppy”. No useable filter sweeps there, way too incremental.
But, for me at the mo, the Pros outweigh the Cons.
Yeah – it’s not the filter, it’s the dry/wet mix. And it isn’t the wet that’s steppy, I think it’s the dry weirdly. Maybe the knobs themselves cause it?
yeah, the loop level is super steppy aswell
If you could change the triggering it means you have the new firmware.
I don’t really see why you’d need 20 global resets though.
If you have complaints you might have more chance to adress them to Hologram Electronics on Messenger or email. They said they’re preparing a firmware update, you might want to take a chance they consider your griefs.
Also if you look at the MIDI specs, you sometimes have choice over step or smooth controls (i.e. Time parameter IIRC).
Obviously I don’t… The point was that I had to try it 20 times because it didn’t work the first 19.
And yes, I’ve already emailed Hologram directly to see what they say. But meantime, I’m still interested whether others here have experienced similar things!
Turned on the Microcosm this morning and the majority of the presets are not effecting the incoming audio. Turning the mix knob anti-clockwise to dry slow gives me the uneffected signal that gets louder until 100% dry is fully obviously the loudest. This is the case for all the preset algorithms apart from Interrupt, Strum, Pattern and Warp. I’ve done a factory reset but nothing seems to help.
If i press the hold switch, i’ll get the effected held audio, but toggle back to thru mode and everything goes quiet.
I’ve sent an email the Hologram but was wondering if anyone else had experienced this or have any bright ideas as i’m more than a bit flummuxed!
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Did you try changing the Wav Shape?
Did you turn up the Effect Level?
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Yep to both @Tchu, but thanks for the reply.
I’ve just powered in back up again after a couple of hours and things seem to be working again. I’m no closer to what on earth is going on as I didn’t alter anything, so still a bit of a worry, but i’ll wait and see if Hologram come back to me with anything.
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Has it worked ok since?
I spent a bit more time with mine today. Yet more troubleshooting – pretty much all the algos have pops and clips that sound like the processor is clipping. It’s not audio clipping, it happens even with really low input levels. This thing looks pretty, but it’s very frustrating.
Mine finally arrived, just in time to put it on the drums of a song I was working on. I love that this thing clocks to MIDI easily. The first session, I had some weird thing going on where it started popping and crackling constantly; after shutting it down and walking away, it was totally fine the next time I switched it on (didn’t even change any settings!). Makes me think it wouldn’t be reliable enough for live use, but super fun in the studio.
On drums, it produces these really unpredictable results that can vary in quality, but overall I really loved how musical it was. Looking forward to trying the Microcosm on more melodic content!
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