Safari gets major privacy updates and the ability to put web apps in your dock

Safari might not be the most exciting part of macOS, but Apple isn't giving its web browser the cold shoulder. The latest version includes a number of useful improvements, including better privacy controls, encryption features, and the ability to create "apps" from any web page. 

The splashiest feature might be the new web apps. This puts a website in your dock on macOS, just like any other app and opens it with a minimal interface that helps mask the fact that you're just using a webpage in a browser. If this sounds similar, that's because it's almost exactly like shortcuts in Google's Chrome which can also put a link, complete with a favicon in your dock and opens the site in a simple frame with none of the normal browser controls. This helps blur the line between desktop and web apps, which was part of Chrome's whole pitch, especially as it grew into Chrome OS. 

The more important improvements to Safari though, are to privacy not just on macOS, but iOS 17 and iPadOS 17 as well. Now private browsing blocks more trackers and your fingerprints from sites so they can't identify you. You can also now lock private browsing sessions behind your fingerprint, so you can step away from your computer without worrying that someone can sneak a peak while you're shopping for a gift or having to close your session.

Profiles on macOS and iPadOS also allow you to separate your browsing by topic or context. So you could, for example, keep all your work tabs in a separate Safari window that has its own cookies, extensions and favorites. Then you can quickly switch to your personal profile to pick up where you left off trolling eBay for deals on vintage cameras. 

Lastly, users will be able to share passwords or groups of passwords through iCloud Keychain with end-to-end encryption. The latest version of Safari will be available later this year as part of macOS Sonoma which will be launching in beta next month as well as iPad OS 17 and iOS17.

Follow all of the news from Apple's WWDC 2023 right here.

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/safari-gets-major-privacy-updates-and-the-ability-to-put-web-apps-in-your-dock-183749938.html?src=rss

The best passive bookshelf speakers for most people

Vinyl has been on a resurgence for some time, and the pandemic somehow only accelerated that. It’s got many out there looking to upgrade from a cheap Crosley turntable and build out their first HiFi system. Of course, there are multiple pieces that go into building a decent stereo, but perhaps the most important is the speakers. If your speakers don’t sound good, it basically doesn’t matter what you connect them to.

Active vs. Passive Speakers

This is understandably the part of their setup that people likely spend the most time researching. And you have to make a number of choices. One of the biggest is: active or passive? Both have their advantages, but for the sake of this guide we’re going to focus on passive speakers, which require a separate amplifier.

Active speakers have a built-in amplifier. Usually, the two things are specifically designed to work together, which means you're getting a more faithful version of the manufacturer’s aural vision. And since you don’t need an external amplifier, active speakers also take up less room. While active speakers are more expensive than passive, the fact that you need to buy an amp to power passive speakers means the savings aren’t as great as they might initially seem. The primary benefit of passive is greater flexibility. You can’t go out and buy a new high-end amplifier and connect your active speakers to it; you’re stuck with what’s built in. Also, since active speakers require power, you’ll have to make sure they’re near an outlet.

Passive Bookshelf Speaker Guide
Terrence O'Brien / Engadget

We’re also putting a cap on our spending for this guide: a somewhat arbitrary $600. Anything over that and you’re starting to get into budget audiophile territory. It also basically limits us to bookshelf speakers between five and six inches. While you can certainly get floorstanding speakers for that much, the quality of the drivers will likely be better on bookshelf speakers at the same price point.

A note about testing

Obviously, I could not test every set of five to six inch bookshelf speakers under $600, but I’ve tried enough and done enough research to feel confident in my recommendations. I’m sure there are other good speakers out there, but I don’t think anyone is going to regret buying the sets here.

Additionally, speaker preference is largely subjective. But I did my best to be as objective as possible. All of the speakers were connected to a Pyle PSS6 switcher with the same wire for quick side-by-side comparisons. After I’d tested them all myself I enlisted multiple people to listen blindly and then rank them based on their preference to see if their opinions lined up with my own. Testing included playing new and vintage vinyl, as well as streaming songs from Spotify.

Also worth noting: I am not an audiophile. This is not a guide for audiophiles. I want my music to sound good, but I’m not about to drop the price of a used sedan on my stereo. My setup includes an Audio Technica Audio-Technica AT-LP120 and a Chromecast Audio running through a Technics SA-EX110. This is not fancy stuff, but it is certainly an upgrade from a Crosley Suitcase turntable or even a higher-end Sonos sound system.

The best for most people: Audioengine HDP6

Honestly, a lot of the speakers I tested sounded eerily similar to each other. But not the $399 Audioengines. They had a much brighter sound and a lot more clarity than all the others, with the exception of a significantly more expensive KEF pair. The particular pair I tried also came in a gorgeous “walnut” enclosure that helped them stand out in a sea of utilitarian black.

The HDP6s deliver especially strong mids that shine when it comes to vocals and guitars. But they sound quite balanced across the entire spectrum. Towering compositions like Nine Inch Nails “The Day the Whole World Went Away” sprung to life and revealed nuances that, frankly, I’ve never noticed before even on headphones. And Promises, the recent album from Floating Points, Pharoah Sanders and the London Symphony Orchestra, was so enveloping it made me want to throw my current floorstanding speakers in the trash.

While no bookshelf speakers on their own are going to be able to deliver the sort of room-shaking thump that floorstanding speakers or a subwoofer can deliver, the HDP6 performed admirably with bass-heavy songs. They didn’t have the most low end of my test units, but drums and bass were still punchy and clear.

For those who want the best sound: KEF Q150

If your number one concern is sound quality, regardless of anything else, check out the Q150s. These are the entry-level option from noted audiophile brand KEF and the only speakers that beat out the Audioengines in any of my blind taste tests. They didn’t come out on top every time, and some people had trouble deciding between the two, but ultimately I think the KEF’s have the slight edge in pure sound quality. They had a bit more volume at the extreme lower and higher ends of the spectrum. It added a certain sparkle to tracks like the Beach Boys’ “Wouldn’t it Be Nice,” while Run the Jewels’ “JU$T” hit a little bit harder than on the HDP6s. The difference can be subtle depending on what you’re listening to, but it’s undeniable in side-by-side testing.

The audio profile of the KEF is similar to that of the Audioengines. They’re both much brighter and with a lot more treble and midrange than all the other speakers in this roundup. If you’re into listening to classical or jazz on high quality vinyl, these are going to deliver exactly the sort of frequency response you’re looking for.

What stops the Q150 from topping this list is the list price. At $600 they're essentially tied for the most expensive speakers I tested. (The Polk R100s were $599, but didn’t make the final cut.) While the Q150s sounded slightly better than the HDP6s to my ears, they weren’t necessarily $200 better. At the time of this writing, however, the Q150s were on sale for $400, making them a compelling option to the Audioengines.

For the bargain hunter: JBL A130

The JBLs were pretty consistently in the middle of the pack when it came to listener preference. They’re not as bright as the KEFs and the Audioengines, but not quite as muddy at the lowend as the Polk S15s. If you’re just looking for a decent set of speakers and don’t sweat over spec sheets, or if you’re primarily listening to streaming music and only putting on vinyl occasionally, these are a great option if you can find them on sale.

For those that need more bass: ELAC Debut 2.0 DB6.2

Ok, so these speakers break our rules a bit but, if you opt for the slightly larger 6.5-inch DB6.2s, instead of the DB5.2s, you get a lot more thump at the bottom end. The Debuts can’t quite match the Audioengine or KEFs when it comes to clarity, but you’ll feel every 808 hit a lot more. Backxwash’s new album I Lie Here Buried with my Rings and my Dresses raged harder on the ELACs than it did on the Polks, JBLs or even the KEFs. And they only cost $350, which isn’t bad at all.

If you’re primarily listening to electronic music and modern hip hop, you might consider the Debut 2.0 DB6.2s.

For those who want to ignore my advice:

If you can’t find the JBL A130s on sale, and really want to save as much money as possible, you could snag the Polk S15s. The S15s don’t sound bad, but the JBLs are definitely superior. They don’t have as deep of a soundstage as the other speakers I tested and the lowend can be a little undefined. These are probably better suited as part of a home entertainment system than a stereo. At a list price of $229 they might seem like a bargain, but I’d save your pennies for a bit longer and spring for something better.

The Polk R100s are decent sounding speakers. Perhaps slightly better than the JBLs, though with a sound profile closer to the Polk’s own S15. The problem is they’re $600, tying them for the most expensive I tested. At half the price these might be a solid option, but the $600 KEFs and $400 Audioengines were ranked higher than the R100s by every tester.

I have no doubt that these are very good speakers: They’re currently Wirecutter’s top choice. But I could not test them and therefore cannot vouch for them.

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/the-best-passive-bookshelf-speakers-under-600-dollars-for-most-people-140057354.html?src=rss

The Roland SH-4d is a groovebox disguised as a synthesizer

A lot of Roland's recent instruments, that aren't just rehashes of classic gear, take an "everything and the kitchen sink" approach. Sampling and drum synthesis? Why not. Presets numbering in the thousands — plural? Of course! A dedicated vocal effect section and phantom power for running a condenser mic? Would be silly not to. The SH-4d follows the same basic formula, it has basically any feature you could want, and few you wonder who would want them, but sticks it in a box focused synthesis and sound design (mostly).

Unlike most of Roland's newer fare though, the SH-4d has plenty of hands-on controls. There's a full two octave keyboard, 16-step sequencer buttons, four faders and 32 knobs. It even has motion controls for some reason — You can actually pick up the synth and tilt it to change parameters. I'm not sure what the appeal of that is, but you know what, I'm just glad to see Roland adding controls instead of stripping back more.

Under the hood is a robust sound engine with 11 oscillator types, ranging from emulations of classic analog sounds from Juno-106 and SH-101, to metallic FM tones, PCM samples and 31 different wavetables. There's a multi-mode filter, an amp envelope, and LFO and a multi-effects engine with 93 different options, including nine reverb types and five choruses. The 128 x 64 LED screen isn't the sharpest, but it's definitely an improvement on the somewhat archaic seeming displays on the Verselab and TR-6S

Based on the demo clips, it seems like the instrument is leaning heavily into Roland's legacy as a cornerstone of techno, house and other electronic dance music. But it's it will likely be versatile enough to work for other genres as well. As long as you're pairing it with other instruments.

But the SH-4d doesn't stop at sound design. There's also a five track, 64-step polyphonic sequencer with motion recording and three different playback modes. The first four tracks can control any of the 11 oscillator models, The fifth is a dedicated rhythm track that can play back a selection of 439 different samples and virtual analog waves. 

The sequencer and rhythm section turn the SH-4d into more of a groovebox than a synth, which has kind of been Roland's specialty over these last few year. But its interface definitely screams synthesizer, which is a welcome change from the menu-divey affairs the company has been pumping out recently. 

At nearly four pounds and over a foot wide, not to mention almost eight inches deep, the SH-4d isn't super portable, but it can be powered four AA batteries none the less. You can also power it with a standard USB-C charger like you might use for your phone, which is nice. Plus, at least you know it won't eat up too much desk space. The Roland SH-4d will be arriving sometime in March for $650.

Elon Musk says he’ll step down as Twitter CEO, but won’t sell the company

Elon Musk has said that he will step down as CEO of Twitter once a suitable replacement can be found. On Sunday he ran a poll asking if he should leave the role, and Twitter users overwhelmingly told him to go. He didn't immediately respond to the results, but by Tuesday he seemed to have accepted the will of the people, after originally suggesting that he might instead change it so that only paying users could vote in Twitter polls.

Of course there's no timeline for Musk to hand over the reins yet. And as his tweet says it will require finding "someone foolish enough to take the job." Following a chaoticstring of badpress and thegutting of its staff it might be hard to attract high quality candidates to the position. But, the bar has been set exceedingly low under Musk's tenure and a simple change of face at the top could do a lot to improve Twitter's image in the short term.

Of course, there is a chance that the change could be largely cosmetic. Musk tweeted that he planned to stay on and run the software and server teams. And there's no indication that he plans to sell the company, which he bought in October for $44 billion and quickly took private. So it's clear that he wants to still be involved in the company's operation, but it's unclear just how much. 

It's hard to imagine the hard driving businessman who made a major spectacle of firing Twitter's entire executive team and dissolved the board when he took over simply stepping aside at this point. But he has also in his short reign allowed the whim of polls to make several major decisions

Regardless of who eventually takes over as CEO, they'll be taking over a company that is almost unrecognizable compared to just a few months ago. Roughly 70 percent of the staff have either been laid off or quit. Advertisers have fled the platform as hate speech and trolls have thrived. And the content moderation and safety efforts have completely stagnated. The company is also now facing increasing pressure from the government on a number of fronts. 

East Beast and West Pest review: Affordable intros to the addictive world of modular synths

The price of entry into the world of modular synthesis has been trending downward for sometime. Moog even recently released the Mavis, a DIY Eurorack-compatible synth for just $350 – a shockingly low price from the company. But Cre8Audio seems to think that prices haven’t come down fast enough. It has been setting the pace in an incredible race to the bottom – and I don’t mean that as a bad thing.

In May, Cre8Audio announced the East Beast and West Pest – its first pair of self-contained synths for just $250. They’re some of the cheapest analog semi-modular synths that I’m aware of, save for the Korg Volca Modular, which is sort of a weird dead end on the synth family tree.

What they share

Unsurprisingly, the East Beast and West Pest have a lot in common. The basic chassis is the same, both have a 20-point patchbay, a 32-step sequencer, an arpeggiator, a one-octave keyboard, an LFO and a digital multi-mod tool. Even the core oscillator is very similar, with the West Pest having most of the same waveshapes and a slightly “buzzier” tone. It’s the rest of the sound-shaping modules that set the two apart from each other, with the East Beast and West Pest predictably leaning into East Coast and West Coast synth styles, respectively.

The build quality on both is about what you’d expect from something at this price point. There’s a lot of plastic and don’t seem like they’re designed with the rigors of your life in mind. They don’t feel cheap or toy-like, though; they just feel like what they are: entry level synthesizers. The larger knobs are easier to handle than the tiny ones on a Volca and the overall package feels a touch more robust than an IK Multimedia Uno. They’re also a lot more fun looking than those instruments. I know that the almost comicbook-esque aesthetic here won’t be everyone’s cup of tea, but I quite enjoy it. It’s playful and a bit silly, and let’s not forget – synths should be fun.

Cre8Audio East Beast & West Pest
Terrence O'Brien / Engadget

The keyboard is a welcome inclusion, perfect for auditioning patches or punching in sequences and arps. But, like the one on Moog’s Mavis, I wouldn’t want to actually rely on it for performance. The keys are small and a little wobbly. Plus most of the keys have two additional shift functions for controlling various features.

Honestly, the better bet is to use an external controller and set the built-in keyboard to default to the yellow / green functions instead. This is made easier by the fact that both the East Beast and West Pest have MIDI inputs and MIDI to CV converters for controlling other parameters. That’s not unheard of on a budget semi-modular synth, but it’s not a given either. Even some of Moog’s more expensive instruments like the DFAM don’t have MIDI support. I will make one minor note here though, MIDI notes were quite a few octaves higher than expected straight out of the box and I was initially a bit confused until I found the instructions for changing the octave offset in the manual.

One of the more unique shared features is the digital multi-mod tool. Since they only have one LFO and one envelope generator (or “dynamics section” in the case of the West Pest), this gives the instruments an extra set of controls to draw on. This can be an additional LFO, envelope, random generator or MIDI-to-CV output. There are some limitations, for instance you can only map a single MIDI CC, and the envelope is a simple decay envelope with seven preset rates, but it’s a nice addition nonetheless.

Cre8Audio East Beast & West Pest

It’s a similar story with the sequencer and arpeggiator. They get the job done, and I’m glad they’re here, but both are pretty basic. The arpeggiator only has two modes – as played and random. While the sequencer can be 32 steps, you basically just add notes to the end until you’re happy with it. If you make a mistake your only option is to clear the whole thing and start over.

While dialing in basic sounds and patches is pretty straightforward, there are a bunch of options and features hidden behind those shift functions. And navigating them isn’t always intuitive. Obviously, I’m not expecting a giant display with detailed graphics on a $250 synth, but the “4-bit display” (read: four LEDs in a line) can feel arcane at times. I’ve had both for over a month now and I still have to refer to the manual to remember that the first two LEDs mean I’m dividing the clock by two for the LFO; or that the first, third and fourth lights mean I’ve set the swing to 64 percent. This is obviously not a deal-breaker by any means. But if you’re the type of person who proudly refuses to read manuals you might feel frustrated at times.

East Beast

Cre8Audio East Beast & West Pest
Terrence O'Brien / Engadget

Let’s dig into the more “normal” of the two instruments. This is probably what most people envision when they think of a synthesizer. A big rich oscillator, a filter for shaving off harmonics and an ADSR envelope for controlling amplitude. While this doesn’t really sound like a Moog, it clearly shares a similar lineage.

The multi-mode filter and oscillator are straight from boutique synth makers Pittsburgh Modular which gives this decidedly budget affair some serious street cred. The oscillator has sine, triangle, saw and square waves, and you can combine two of them to deliver thicker, more unique sounds when needed. It’s something that Pittsburgh Modular has been perfecting for around 10 years. It does sound pretty massive.

Being a mono synth, you’re not gonna get compelling pads out of the East Beast, but it shines as a lead and bass machine. It can do big room shaking low end, thick creamy solos and delicate high-end plucks. It even has pulse width modulation for the square wave, which gets you wonderful video game noises, and FM for harsher, more bell-like tones. I actually think it’s at its best playing softer leads, using the filter to shave off a lot of the high end.

Cre8Audio East Beast & West Pest

The filter is probably the star of the show, by the way. Often it’s what brings the most character to the sound of a synth, and this one delivers. It’s variable state, going from low pass, to band pass to high pass. But it can also combine those in interesting ways. It does acid bass lines and nasal reedy sounds. There’s a reason the filter cutoff knob is about four times larger than all the other controls on the front panel: It’s probably the most powerful tool here for shaping your sound.

Both Cre8Audio and Pittsburgh Modular like to brag that this unique filter has “no dead spots”, that it’s really “all one large sweet spot”, and you know what, they’re probably right. I had a real hard time making this filter sound bad. No matter how much you crank the resonance, in every mode, even with the filter mod set to ludicrous levels, it’s surprisingly musical. It doesn’t self-oscillate, which might be a bummer for some, but it doesn’t bother me too much.

West Pest

Cre8Audio East Beast & West Pest
Terrence O'Brien / Engadget

The West Pest is sort of like the East Beast’s hippy cousin. It’s a tad strange, and has to do everything a little differently, but it’s no less compelling – just a bit tougher to tame. It has many of the same features and a very similar oscillator, but it trades the variable state filter and ADSR envelope for a lowpass gate and adds a wave folder.

I’d venture to say that, similar to the East Beast, the Pest is most comfortable with bass and plucky leads. But the timbre is completely different. It’s more aggressive and sharp, trading in the creamy goodness of its counterpart for the plasticky weirdness more often associated with Buchla synths.

Because it travels in less familiar territory, it can feel a little harder to make work in an arrangement. But, it can be a more satisfying solo instrument. Both synths have robust randomization features, including randomly cycling through oscillator waveforms and generative sequencing capabilities, but those feel more at home on the West Pest.

Cre8Audio East Beast & West Pest
Terrence O'Brien / Engadget

Setting the digital mod tool to random, and connecting it to the release mod jack will alter how long notes ring out. Then using the random pattern generator with morphing will play a continuously evolving sequence. And then you can get the oscillator wave to change for every note, giving you something truly unpredictable. Feed that through an epic reverb pedal and you’ve got a custom, soothing soundtrack for working or reading to.

Yes, you could accomplish a similar thing with the East Beast since it has most of the same randomization tools (save the release mod), and it’s probably the more versatile instrument, but I find the results on the West Pest more pleasing. And, honestly, this is one of the ways I often use synths in my studio – passively as a sort of fidget toy or to set a mood while I plug away on editing articles for Engadget.

With other gear

Cre8Audio East Beast & West Pest

The one thing I will say is that the West Pest does need a little external help to shine, more so than the East Beast. Its rubbery bass sounds are pretty usable on their own, but once you start getting into the higher frequencies, reverb and delay become a must.

But what you’re probably more interested in is how they interact with other modular gear. The 20-point patchbay makes it simple to integrate into a larger Eurorack (or compatible) setup – whether these are your gateway drug or just the latest symptom of your incurable GAS (gear acquisition syndrome).

Cre8Audio East Beast & West Pest
Terrence O'Brien / Engadget

I would say the patchbay is probably where you make the most trade-offs here, though. While there are indeed 20 patch points (evenly divided between ins and outs), four of them are dedicated to MIDI functions and one is the audio output. So that leaves 15 points for internal patching. Now, that both of these act as a MIDI to CV interface is extremely useful, and can simplify controlling other gear that isn’t MIDI compatible. For instance, you could feed MIDI from your computer to the West Pest then pass those controls on as CV to something like Moog’s Mavis. But it does eat into the options available to you for sound design on board.

It would be great to have access to the LFO rate or resonance level on the patch bay, for example. Or to have a few utilities like a mult. Cre8Audio crams a lot of versatility into the patchbay, through the multi mod tool, which gives you an extra envelope, LFO or a random generator, though it also has limitations. There’s enough power here to get you exploring the basics of patch design, but you’ll probably start wishing for a few more ins and outs sooner than later.

Wrap-up

Cre8Audio East Beast & West Pest

The East Beast and West Pest are both undeniably impressive values. At this price point there’s simply nothing like them on the market. They are usable and musical semi modular synths with unique and compelling features. What’s more they’re easy to integrate with other modular gear, and you can even take them out of their cases and mount them in a larger Eurorack set up. They’re near ideal choices for someone that’s looking to learn synthesis.

That is different from saying they’re an ideal first synth, full stop. If you’re just looking to pull up some great sounding presets and get on with your day, these are not for you. Cre8Audio’s instruments demand exploration and experimentation. And recalling a patch will require you to take copious notes. However, if you’ve ever watched a YouTube video of someone’s monstrous modular rack with unbridled jealousy, these are a good place to start your journey.

East Beast and West Pest review: Affordable intros to the addictive world of modular synths

The price of entry into the world of modular synthesis has been trending downward for sometime. Moog even recently released the Mavis, a DIY Eurorack-compatible synth for just $350 – a shockingly low price from the company. But Cre8Audio seems to think that prices haven’t come down fast enough. It has been setting the pace in an incredible race to the bottom – and I don’t mean that as a bad thing.

In May, Cre8Audio announced the East Beast and West Pest – its first pair of self-contained synths for just $250. They’re some of the cheapest analog semi-modular synths that I’m aware of, save for the Korg Volca Modular, which is sort of a weird dead end on the synth family tree.

What they share

Unsurprisingly, the East Beast and West Pest have a lot in common. The basic chassis is the same, both have a 20-point patchbay, a 32-step sequencer, an arpeggiator, a one-octave keyboard, an LFO and a digital multi-mod tool. Even the core oscillator is very similar, with the West Pest having most of the same waveshapes and a slightly “buzzier” tone. It’s the rest of the sound-shaping modules that set the two apart from each other, with the East Beast and West Pest predictably leaning into East Coast and West Coast synth styles, respectively.

The build quality on both is about what you’d expect from something at this price point. There’s a lot of plastic and don’t seem like they’re designed with the rigors of your life in mind. They don’t feel cheap or toy-like, though; they just feel like what they are: entry level synthesizers. The larger knobs are easier to handle than the tiny ones on a Volca and the overall package feels a touch more robust than an IK Multimedia Uno. They’re also a lot more fun looking than those instruments. I know that the almost comicbook-esque aesthetic here won’t be everyone’s cup of tea, but I quite enjoy it. It’s playful and a bit silly, and let’s not forget – synths should be fun.

Cre8Audio East Beast & West Pest
Terrence O'Brien / Engadget

The keyboard is a welcome inclusion, perfect for auditioning patches or punching in sequences and arps. But, like the one on Moog’s Mavis, I wouldn’t want to actually rely on it for performance. The keys are small and a little wobbly. Plus most of the keys have two additional shift functions for controlling various features.

Honestly, the better bet is to use an external controller and set the built-in keyboard to default to the yellow / green functions instead. This is made easier by the fact that both the East Beast and West Pest have MIDI inputs and MIDI to CV converters for controlling other parameters. That’s not unheard of on a budget semi-modular synth, but it’s not a given either. Even some of Moog’s more expensive instruments like the DFAM don’t have MIDI support. I will make one minor note here though, MIDI notes were quite a few octaves higher than expected straight out of the box and I was initially a bit confused until I found the instructions for changing the octave offset in the manual.

One of the more unique shared features is the digital multi-mod tool. Since they only have one LFO and one envelope generator (or “dynamics section” in the case of the West Pest), this gives the instruments an extra set of controls to draw on. This can be an additional LFO, envelope, random generator or MIDI-to-CV output. There are some limitations, for instance you can only map a single MIDI CC, and the envelope is a simple decay envelope with seven preset rates, but it’s a nice addition nonetheless.

Cre8Audio East Beast & West Pest

It’s a similar story with the sequencer and arpeggiator. They get the job done, and I’m glad they’re here, but both are pretty basic. The arpeggiator only has two modes – as played and random. While the sequencer can be 32 steps, you basically just add notes to the end until you’re happy with it. If you make a mistake your only option is to clear the whole thing and start over.

While dialing in basic sounds and patches is pretty straightforward, there are a bunch of options and features hidden behind those shift functions. And navigating them isn’t always intuitive. Obviously, I’m not expecting a giant display with detailed graphics on a $250 synth, but the “4-bit display” (read: four LEDs in a line) can feel arcane at times. I’ve had both for over a month now and I still have to refer to the manual to remember that the first two LEDs mean I’m dividing the clock by two for the LFO; or that the first, third and fourth lights mean I’ve set the swing to 64 percent. This is obviously not a deal-breaker by any means. But if you’re the type of person who proudly refuses to read manuals you might feel frustrated at times.

East Beast

Cre8Audio East Beast & West Pest
Terrence O'Brien / Engadget

Let’s dig into the more “normal” of the two instruments. This is probably what most people envision when they think of a synthesizer. A big rich oscillator, a filter for shaving off harmonics and an ADSR envelope for controlling amplitude. While this doesn’t really sound like a Moog, it clearly shares a similar lineage.

The multi-mode filter and oscillator are straight from boutique synth makers Pittsburgh Modular which gives this decidedly budget affair some serious street cred. The oscillator has sine, triangle, saw and square waves, and you can combine two of them to deliver thicker, more unique sounds when needed. It’s something that Pittsburgh Modular has been perfecting for around 10 years. It does sound pretty massive.

Being a mono synth, you’re not gonna get compelling pads out of the East Beast, but it shines as a lead and bass machine. It can do big room shaking low end, thick creamy solos and delicate high-end plucks. It even has pulse width modulation for the square wave, which gets you wonderful video game noises, and FM for harsher, more bell-like tones. I actually think it’s at its best playing softer leads, using the filter to shave off a lot of the high end.

Cre8Audio East Beast & West Pest

The filter is probably the star of the show, by the way. Often it’s what brings the most character to the sound of a synth, and this one delivers. It’s variable state, going from low pass, to band pass to high pass. But it can also combine those in interesting ways. It does acid bass lines and nasal reedy sounds. There’s a reason the filter cutoff knob is about four times larger than all the other controls on the front panel: It’s probably the most powerful tool here for shaping your sound.

Both Cre8Audio and Pittsburgh Modular like to brag that this unique filter has “no dead spots”, that it’s really “all one large sweet spot”, and you know what, they’re probably right. I had a real hard time making this filter sound bad. No matter how much you crank the resonance, in every mode, even with the filter mod set to ludicrous levels, it’s surprisingly musical. It doesn’t self-oscillate, which might be a bummer for some, but it doesn’t bother me too much.

West Pest

Cre8Audio East Beast & West Pest
Terrence O'Brien / Engadget

The West Pest is sort of like the East Beast’s hippy cousin. It’s a tad strange, and has to do everything a little differently, but it’s no less compelling – just a bit tougher to tame. It has many of the same features and a very similar oscillator, but it trades the variable state filter and ADSR envelope for a lowpass gate and adds a wave folder.

I’d venture to say that, similar to the East Beast, the Pest is most comfortable with bass and plucky leads. But the timbre is completely different. It’s more aggressive and sharp, trading in the creamy goodness of its counterpart for the plasticky weirdness more often associated with Buchla synths.

Because it travels in less familiar territory, it can feel a little harder to make work in an arrangement. But, it can be a more satisfying solo instrument. Both synths have robust randomization features, including randomly cycling through oscillator waveforms and generative sequencing capabilities, but those feel more at home on the West Pest.

Cre8Audio East Beast & West Pest
Terrence O'Brien / Engadget

Setting the digital mod tool to random, and connecting it to the release mod jack will alter how long notes ring out. Then using the random pattern generator with morphing will play a continuously evolving sequence. And then you can get the oscillator wave to change for every note, giving you something truly unpredictable. Feed that through an epic reverb pedal and you’ve got a custom, soothing soundtrack for working or reading to.

Yes, you could accomplish a similar thing with the East Beast since it has most of the same randomization tools (save the release mod), and it’s probably the more versatile instrument, but I find the results on the West Pest more pleasing. And, honestly, this is one of the ways I often use synths in my studio – passively as a sort of fidget toy or to set a mood while I plug away on editing articles for Engadget.

With other gear

Cre8Audio East Beast & West Pest

The one thing I will say is that the West Pest does need a little external help to shine, more so than the East Beast. Its rubbery bass sounds are pretty usable on their own, but once you start getting into the higher frequencies, reverb and delay become a must.

But what you’re probably more interested in is how they interact with other modular gear. The 20-point patchbay makes it simple to integrate into a larger Eurorack (or compatible) setup – whether these are your gateway drug or just the latest symptom of your incurable GAS (gear acquisition syndrome).

Cre8Audio East Beast & West Pest
Terrence O'Brien / Engadget

I would say the patchbay is probably where you make the most trade-offs here, though. While there are indeed 20 patch points (evenly divided between ins and outs), four of them are dedicated to MIDI functions and one is the audio output. So that leaves 15 points for internal patching. Now, that both of these act as a MIDI to CV interface is extremely useful, and can simplify controlling other gear that isn’t MIDI compatible. For instance, you could feed MIDI from your computer to the West Pest then pass those controls on as CV to something like Moog’s Mavis. But it does eat into the options available to you for sound design on board.

It would be great to have access to the LFO rate or resonance level on the patch bay, for example. Or to have a few utilities like a mult. Cre8Audio crams a lot of versatility into the patchbay, through the multi mod tool, which gives you an extra envelope, LFO or a random generator, though it also has limitations. There’s enough power here to get you exploring the basics of patch design, but you’ll probably start wishing for a few more ins and outs sooner than later.

Wrap-up

Cre8Audio East Beast & West Pest

The East Beast and West Pest are both undeniably impressive values. At this price point there’s simply nothing like them on the market. They are usable and musical semi modular synths with unique and compelling features. What’s more they’re easy to integrate with other modular gear, and you can even take them out of their cases and mount them in a larger Eurorack set up. They’re near ideal choices for someone that’s looking to learn synthesis.

That is different from saying they’re an ideal first synth, full stop. If you’re just looking to pull up some great sounding presets and get on with your day, these are not for you. Cre8Audio’s instruments demand exploration and experimentation. And recalling a patch will require you to take copious notes. However, if you’ve ever watched a YouTube video of someone’s monstrous modular rack with unbridled jealousy, these are a good place to start your journey.

Archetype: Rabea is an all-in-one virtual guitar rig that’s also a synth

Neural DSP is best known for its high-quality amp models, whether that’s its $1,850 Quad Cortex floor modeler or plugins for your DAW. Its latest offering is the €139 (roughly $142) Archetype: Rabea plugin. The Archetype series is a collection of artist collabs where Neural builds out a set of amp sims and effects to capture the essence of that particular musician’s sound. While a variety of artists across genres have worked with the company, the Archetype series has definitely trended toward the heavier end of the spectrum, with names like Gojira, Tosin Abasi, and John Petrucci getting involved. Rabea Massaad definitely falls into that category with his band Frog Leap, and backing up Stormzy. But Archetype: Rabea adds an interesting new wrinkle to Neural DSP’s formula – a synth.

Before we get to the synth part, let’s run through the core features. There are three amp sims in Archetype: Rabea – clean, rhythm and lead, which cover everything from bright Fender chimes, to death metal chug, to unadulterated shred. There are around 100 presets included that make dialing in tones simple. Neural takes a very skeuomorphic approach to interface design, and if you’ve ever used a guitar amp before (which I’ll assume you have if you’re reading this), you’ll feel right at home. All three amps sound pretty good right out of the box and it’s easy to tweak them to your liking.

Archetype isn’t just a handful of amp sims bundled together, though. You can combine those amps with various different speaker cabinets, simulated different mic placements, and there’s a four-band EQ for further fine tuning the tone.

The bottom end is quite tight and the distortion satisfying. I don’t think anyone is likely to mistake Neural’s plugins for a real-deal tube amp. But that’s kinda beside the point, as long as it sounds good. The sound straight out of the box is very full and sounds great on its own, but needs heavy EQing to sit right in a mix. Also, the amp sims can get quite noisy, almost like you’re standing right in front of a real cranked amp. Thankfully, there’s a noise gate builtin – make friends with it.

The whole point of Archetype is to be a complete guitar rig, so you also get a bunch of effects with each installment, too. Rabea comes with a compressor, octaver, overdrive, fuzz, delay and reverb “pedals,” as well as pitch shifting and doubling effects. Again, while these cover a wide variety of tones, they really excel at the heavier end of the spectrum, which is where many other digital amp and effects sims can fall flat in my opinion.

All of the effects are pretty solid, but the octaver and reverb are easily my favorite. The octaver lets you blend in both an octave below and above what you’re playing, and has both a vintage and modern mode. The former is great if you’re looking for that dirtier, glitchier old-school vibe. The reverb has a freeze function, with independent pitch control which – when combined with the octaver and doubler – delivers truly lush pads that will drone on forever. You can even change the pitch while you’re playing over it to create progressions. It’s a fascinating way to start sketching out ideas for songs, but it’s not really practical for performing.

Neural DSP Archetype: Rabea
Neural DSP

But what really sets Archetype: Rabea apart is the Overlord Synth. It’s a dual oscillator, monophonic, subtractive synth that follows the pitch of your guitar. This is a first for Neural DSP, and the company claims it’s a “world-first,” though I couldn’t independently confirm that claim. What I can say is that there are pitch-tracking guitar synth pedals and MIDI guitars that can control synths, there are also pitch-tracking tools that you can pair with a softsynth to control it with a guitar, but I wasn’t able to find an all-in-one pitch-tracking guitar synth VST.

The sound engine itself is nothing too fancy: two oscillators with four waveshape options, a low pass filter with four different modes, a fairly basic arpeggiator, and a pair of envelopes to control the amplitude and filter. You can coax dreamy and delicate plucks out of it, but it really shines as a synth bass machine. Because the options are limited, even someone new to synths should have a fairly easy time coming to grips with Overlord.

Of course, the big question is how well it tracks input from your guitar. And I’m happy to report that it’s nearly perfect. Now, it’s monophonic, so you can’t play big synth chords the way you might with a MIDI controller, but it had no trouble keeping up with groove metal riffs and mid-tempo pentatonic solos. The demos on Neural’s site even make it sounds like it can handle finger tapping, but my finger tapping skills are basically non-existent. There was rarely a stray note, or odd abrupt cut off. It’s easily some of the best pitch-tracking I’ve seen in a plugin. There is the occasional artifact when sliding around the neck, but once you adjust your playing style it’s pretty to minimize them.

All sounds in this demo, other than the drums, are created using only a guitar running through Archetype: Rabea.

The real magic starts happening, though, when you combine all these various elements together. You can blend in the synth with your guitar, pitch the oscillators one fifth and one octave below, turn on the doubling effect and create just a massive wall of sound. You can then freeze that using the reverb pedal, retune the synth to play the same note and an octave up, and solo over that drone in equally bombastic style. Archetype: Rabea is basically guitar tone maximalism at its finest.

If you’re already a fan of Neural DSP’s products, Archetype: Rabea is an easy sell. It’s a high-quality virtual guitar rig with a truly excellent synth built in. Even if you’re primarily interested in the synth side of things, the €139 isn’t too bad. Yes, the synth is fairly basic, but you get a handful of effects to process it, and the pitch tracking is top notch. You’re probably gonna pay at least $99 for any decent commercial synth plugin, so an extra $40 to be able to natively control it with your guitar is a small price to pay.

Solo Stove’s Fire Pit 2.0 fixes the original’s biggest flaw

Solo Stove's fire pits have been a staple of Engadget buyers guides for a while now. They burn wood with incredible efficiency and minimal smoke. Plus, they're nearly indestructible and come with a lifetime warranty. I personally purchased a Bonfire model last year and couldn't be happier. My one complaint (other than price) is that it's a giant pain to clean. After a couple of fires you have to pick the whole thing up and turn it upside down into a garbage bag to get the ash out. And I'm sure it's far worse for anyone that went with Solo Stove's largest model — the 40-pound Yukon

The Fire Pit 2.0 lineup solves this massive headache by introducing a removable base plate and ash pan. After the pit has cooled down you just reach in, lift up the base plate then remove the ash pan and dump it out. I've been testing the new Bonfire 2.0 side by side with my OG model and confirm that this is a huge improvement. Some ash will inevitably get in the space under the ash pan— it doesn't quite reach to the edges of the nook it's nestled into. But it's easy enough to vacuum that little bit out with a dust buster or something.  

Solo Stove Fire Pit 2.0
Solo Stove

Most importantly Solo Stove hasn't changed anything its 360° Signature Airflow Technology. I had some slight concerns that changes to the bottom of the pit would mess with airflow and result in a less efficient burn, but that's not the case. I'm still rarely left with even a splinter at that end of a fire and smoke is barely an issue once it gets roaring. All the original accessories still work with the new models too.

The other thing that hasn't changed is price. Solo Stoves aren't cheap, and I was admittedly a little skeptical when I decided to splurge on one last year, but honestly it's a far better investment than a $99 fire pit from home depot that will just need to be replaced in a year or two — especially if you pick one up on sale. Right now the entire lineup is up to 45-percent off with the Solo Stove Ranger 2.0 going for $230, the Bonfire 2.0 $260 and the Yukon $460. 

Solo Stove Fire Pit 2.0
Solo Stove

Roland’s $199 Aira Compact series are a serious play for the entry level

It might seem hard to believe, but until now Roland hasn’t had a true competitor to Korg’s seemingly ubiquitous Volca line. Sure, the Boutique range is portable and battery powered, but they’re also twice the price of a Volca. And that’s without the keyboard accessory. Now, though, the company finally seems to be taking the entry level seriously with the Aira Compact series.

These new $199 instruments borrow tech from their big siblings in the Aira line, like the VT-4 Voice Transformer and the TR-8 Rhythm Performer. The T-8 is a drum machine that uses Roland’s Analog Circuit Behavior (ACB) to recreate sounds from the 808 and 909, and the J-6 Chord Synth does the same, but for the Juno-6. While there’s certainly nothing wrong with having more portable budget synths and drum machines, it’s the E-4 Voice Tweaker that really stands out. It brings pitch correction, a harmonizer, vocoding, plus pitch and formant shifting and a looper to the world of mobile music hardware.

Roland Aira Compact
Terrence O'Brien / Engadget

Before we get too far into specifics, though, let’s go over what all three have in common. They’re all quite tiny, for one. While they’re only slightly smaller than a Volca, the cumulative effect is obvious. On the back are ⅛” MIDI in and out jacks, as well as a USB-C port that’s used for charging the internal lithium ion battery, but can also handle MIDI and audio over USB. Across the top are ⅛” sync in and out jacks, as well as mix in and out jacks, which allow you to daisy-chain multiple devices together.

The ability to connect all three Aira Compacts, without the need for an external mixer, is undeniably huge. When you’re trying to craft a portable music making setup the less gear and cables, the better.

T-8

Roland Aira Compact
Terrence O'Brien / Engadget

The T-8 is definitely the most straightforward of the three, and probably the most immediately usable. While it has more advanced features, anyone who’s ever used a step sequencer before should immediately be able to start putting together basic beats. While I guess I should be thankful that you get 32 steps instead of a measly 16, it doesn’t feel like it would strain the hardware terribly to go for a full four bars.

Thankfully, there are some tools at your disposal to switch things up. There is a fill mode, plus step looping for creating instant custom fills by just holding down a few buttons. There’s also per-step and master probability options for introducing a touch of unpredictability, plus substeps, send effects, accent and velocity parameters. In some ways, it’s a more capable sequencer than you’d find on a Volca Beats. That said, Korg has automation in the form of Motion Sequencing, which the Aira Compacts lack.

Roland Aira Compact

The sounds aren’t particularly flexible without a lot of menu diving, though. From the front panel you can change the tuning and decay of the kick and snare – just the tuning of the clap and tom, and just the decay of the open and closed hihat. If you have a preference for a 707 kick and snare, tough. You get what Roland gives you, which is a mix of sounds from the TR-808, 909 and 606.

You can add overdrive, or switch the bass synth from saw wave to square wave, or swap out the clap for a second tom if you feel like slogging through the T-8’s somewhat arcane menu. But without a manual handy the cryptic eight-segment LED screen is difficult to decipher.

At least things like probability, velocity and effects are easy to manage. A lot of parameters require using the shift function, but it’s hardly the end of the world.

The bass synth is a nice addition. It’s based on the TB-303 and can handle acid basslines with relative ease. Again, there’s not a ton of versatility there. It does what it does, and don’t expect much more. I do wish that you could use the synth’s filter as another send effect, though. It would be nice to route the entire drum pattern through it for buildups and breakdowns.

J-6

Roland Aira Compact
Terrence O'Brien / Engadget

The J-6 is a somewhat more confounding beast. It’s a four-voice synth, based on the Juno-6. You can play the keyboard normally, but the rubber keys aren’t exactly great for playing in realtime. Instead you’re meant to use it in chord mode, where each key automatically plays a chord. You can switch between 100 different sets (confusingly labeled “genre” on the actual device), each of which contains 12 chords. And, in addition to just punching in the chord progressions manually, there are nine different “styles” with 12 variations each for playing arpeggios and rhythmic chord stabs.

This is great for quickly knocking out something that sounds pretty decent on its own, but I’d be lying if I said I had any idea what was going on. What chords are in what sets? Is there any logic to which variations are lumped together?

The J-6 is also bound to disappoint anyone who wants to design their own synth sounds. There are 64 presets and, if there is a way to design a patch from the ground up I haven’t found it yet. The only controls you have over the synth engine itself from the front panel are filter cutoff and filter release. If you press shift those knobs control the resonance and attack of the filter.

Honestly, though, that’s fine. All 64 sounds here are pretty solid, even if a few of them are a little samey sounding. On something this small, with so few hands-on controls, I’d rather Roland just give me a small excellent palette to work with than force me to spend three hours menu diving.

E-4

Roland Aira Compact

Lastly there’s the E-4. It is an absolute blast. Full stop. It’s not that it doesn’t have flaws, it’s just that frankly they don’t matter much. Do I wish Roland had gone with an XLR input as opposed to a ¼”? Of course I do. Would phantom power have been a nice touch? Sure. But damn it, every time I fire this thing up I have trouble putting it down. The combination of auto pitch correction (you know, the generic version of AutoTune) and synthetic harmonies turn anyone into instant Bon Iver. And if you’d rather get your funk on, there’s a solid sounding vocoder with more waveforms than I can count.

You can also enable all the effects simultaneously, so you can auto pitch your vocals, generate harmonies, and then feed your newly chorded voice through the vocoder to create a choir of robots. Then slap on some reverb, delay or chorus to add even more depth, and start turning the Scatter knob to glitch yourself out in realtime. And yes the vocoder will follow the pitch of auto correct if you use it, or you can control it via MIDI keyboard.

Roland Aira Compact
Terrence O'Brien / Engadget

There is also a 24-second looper with the ability to overdub, so if you don’t like the preset harmonies, you can record your own backup vocals. Just remember to set your preferred effects first because pitch, harmony and vocoder are applied before recording. You can still use the reverb and Scatter to mangle your loop after the fact, though. Oh, and yeah, the E-4 has Scatter. It’s still not great, but it does work better on vocals than it does drum patterns.

Wrapup

Roland Aira Compact
Terrence O'Brien / Engadget

Roland is bringing some serious firepower to the world of tiny, dirt-cheap music gear. It’s borrowing features and tech from its more expensive instruments that start at $400, and bringing it down to almost impulse purchase levels. In fact, there’s a very good chance I’m gonna go out and buy that E-4 Vocal Tweaker real soon. The sub-$300 range is increasingly important for synth makers, and Roland’s first salvos shouldn’t be dismissed as the company merely playing catch up.

The Chase Bliss Habit helped me enjoy making music again

I’ve been stuck in something of a creative rut for the last year or so. I’ve been sitting on two (or maybe three) tracks for an EP since last January, unable to push through. It’s gotten to the point where, honestly, I haven’t even been enjoying making music these last several months.

I tell you this because, in a post detailing the difference between the Blooper, Mood and Habit pedals (which are all built around a similar core), Chase Bliss founder Joel Korte brags that the Habit “could get anyone out of a creative rut.” And if you only have one takeaway from this review, it should be that Joel is probably right.

Now, I’m not going to say that the Chase Bliss Habit is for everyone. It’s pricey, it’s weird and it can be complicated. But it’s also wholly unique and surprisingly versatile. It is, at its core, a delay pedal – a rather crisp and clean digital delay. And you can certainly treat it as such and get great results. It has tap tempo, MIDI capabilities and can handle everything from short slapback echo to Frippertronics-esque slowly degrading loops. But, if that’s all you use it for you won’t get your $399 worth.

Chase Bliss prefers to call Habit a “musical sketchpad,” and while that’s an apt description, it might confuse some people. This isn’t a looper in the traditional sense, so don’t expect to lay down a four-chord backing track and start writing melodies over it. Instead this is more of a happy accident machine where you might stumble into an inspiring idea.

Those are the two extremes, however. There’s a world of sounds in between for you to explore on the Habit, from tape-like warbles, to complex multitap delays and glitchy stutters. The trick here is that Habit is always recording incoming audio to a three-minute digital “tape” loop. And then you can add effects, harmonize with yourself, scan through what you played one minute ago or just emulate a casino full of slot machines.

Hardware

Chase Bliss Habit
Terrence O'Brien / Engadget

What’s impressive is that Chase Bliss manages to cram so much range into a standard-size guitar pedal. Part of that is down to the company’s extensive, but standardized control scheme. Basically, every Chase Bliss pedal (save for its Automatone series) is built around the same core platform that features six knobs, four three-way switches, a pair of foot switches and 16 dip switches on the back. It’s a lot of variables crammed into a very small space, and it can be quite intimidating.

But the manual for the Habit is comprehensive, easy to understand, fun and, dare I say, beautiful? It’s filled with illustrations and examples that help make what is a reasonably complicated device seem approachable. And it’s presented in a Field Notes-style booklet with a cardboard cover. It’s probably a silly thing to highlight, but this might be the best product manual ever.

Chase Bliss Habit

The hardware itself is likewise a step ahead of the competition. Now, there’s not a ton of ways to stand out in the pedal game if you’re sticking to standard sized metal enclosures, but Chase Bliss opts for knurled metal knobs and the LEDs are nestled inside tiny metal calderas. They’re small touches that elevate a Chase Bliss pedal above other players in the market, which is important when you’re charging this much.

The two primary knocks against it on the hardware front are a lack of stereo outs and a nonstandard ¼-inch MIDI connection. Frankly, I don’t think the former is a major issue. I have a small handful of stereo pedals in my collection, and I almost never actually use them in stereo. The MIDI port on the other hand is a bit of a downer, especially now that ⅛-inch TRS MIDI is a widely adopted standard. Instead you need a special adapter box or a custom wired cable to connect other MIDI gear to Habit.

Also, because Chase Bliss has to make room for the dip switches all the jacks are on the sides of the pedal. This is hardly dealbreaker, but connecting audio, power and expression does eat up a little more real estate on your pedalboard than if the jacks were on the top.

Modifiers

Those complaints are minor nitpicks, though, and they almost don’t matter once you start playing. Even when using it as a relatively straightforward delay pedal the Habit shines, especially once you start exploring the modifiers you select using the three-way switches across the middle. (The fourth switch just above the foot switches is used for selecting and saving a pair of presets, and we’re just going to ignore that.) The middle switch changes between the two banks or turns the modifiers off, while the left switch selects which specific modifier you’re using and the knob above it dials in the amount and style of said modifier.

Chase Bliss Habit
Terrence O'Brien / Engadget

Each modifier has two different variations, depending on which way you turn the knob. For example, modifier A-1 is a stepped speed change quantized to fifths and octaves. To the right of 12 o’clock plays the repeats forward, while to the left plays them in reverse. This means that even if you don’t touch any of the other controls you have seven distinct delays at your fingertips.

The other modifiers include tape-like lo-fi effects, smooth pitch changes and a multimode filter. But the two most interesting are probably the trimmer and the dropper. Trimmer slices bits of audio off the start or end of a note and can be used to create complex stuttering rhythms. Meanwhile Dropper causes your signal to drop out, appropriately enough. Turn the Modify knob to the right and you’ll find rhythmic patterns; to the left and the echoes will randomly disappear. Crank that and you get heavily degraded, almost granular effects (which you can really lean into with the Spread and Scan knobs, but more on that later).

Controls

Chase Bliss Habit
Terrence O'Brien / Engadget

The controls across the top are, more or less, what you’d expect on a standard delay pedal. There’s level, repeats (feedback) and size (time). One important thing to note is that, as you increase or decrease the size, there is no change in pitch. The ones below it though are where the interesting things happen. We’ve already mentioned the modifier knob, but next to that are the Spread and Scan controls. Spread controls a second playback head which allows you to get standard multitap echoes at lower settings, but as you start to increase it, it reaches further and further back into the past. It’s less of a delay and more of a sonic time machine. If used smartly, you can create cascading counter melodies as you play along with yourself from 30 seconds ago.

Scan has two modes: auto (default) and manual (controlled by one of those dip switches on the back). In auto mode it introduces random snippets of old audio. The Scan and Spread knobs interact, so as Scan starts rummaging through the past, it drags that secondary Spread playhead with it. This is important because, as you crank up the Scan, you’re making Spread all the more unpredictable. This can be fun if you’re looking for glitchy chaos, or frustrating if you’re trying to lock into a groove with yourself.

If you set Scan to manual, you’re picking out the moment of your choice from the last three minutes. This is particularly handy if you’re using the Habit as a musical sketchpad, since you can record three minutes of noodling and then go back and find the bits you really want to savor.

Chase Bliss Habit
Terrence O'Brien / Engadget

There is a middle ground, which is my preferred method of using Scan. If you press and hold the left foot switch it momentarily sets Scan to maximum and then snaps back to where you have it when you let go. If you use this with Scan set to zero, you’re able to insert controlled bits of chaos exactly when you want to. And since both Spread and Scan are linked to Size everything stays in sync pretty nicely.

Then there’s the three-way switch on the far right labeled In-Out-Feed. This is probably the most powerful control on the entire pedal. In the middle, or out, position you get a predictable sound where every echo sounds exactly the same. When switched to in, each echo is fed through the modifier circuit again. This can give you sparkling chimes that climb in pitch until they send your dog running for cover. Or echoes that crumble more with each repeat. Or, notes that get shorter and shorter as the Trimmer modifier shaves more and more off.

To the right is Feed mode, which sends the output of the Habit right back through the input creating echoes of echoes and accumulating modifier effects off into infinity. This is where things can get really wild. This can get you metallic, almost reverb-like drones. But it also means that, if you start turning knobs, those changes are printed to the internal “tape loop” because what’s coming out is coming right back in again and getting recorded. This becomes even more powerful when combined with the Collect dip switch on the top.

Collect

Chase Bliss Habit

By default, Habit is always recording to a three-minute loop, but it overwrites what happened three-minutes ago. If you turn on Collect, then the loop is never erased and you’re able to overdub. This is where you can start building sketches of songs and then, by turning on Feed, record what happens as you tweak knobs and dramatically transform what you played.

Now, I’ll be honest: I haven’t had a lot of success using this to make an actual song. The quirks of Habit also mean that this mode is best suited for particular styles of music. You can create odd stuttering and loping guitar pieces, or ambient washes, but probably nothing with a traditional song structure. But, it’s still quite enjoyable and meditative to sit and slowly build up a composition by recording three minute passes of music. And that is one other thing to keep in mind: The internal loop is three minutes and there is no way to shorten it if you only want to record 30 seconds, so using Collect requires patience. This is a great way to find interesting sounds for sampling, though. Running an instrument into the Habit, and then running the results into the SP-404 has been incredibly fun.

That’s the other big takeaway you should have, by the way. The Habit is fun. Despite its complexity and occasional unpredictability, it’s easy to get lost in the joy of creating new and bizarre sounds.

Dip switches

Chase Bliss Habit

The thing that lends Habit its greatest sense of complexity is definitely dip switches on the top. They’re one of the defining features of a Chase Bliss pedal. They basically come in two flavors: expression and customization. You can, for instance, flip the Dry Kill switch to get rid of your unaffected tone. While there is some lag introduced by the pedal, it’s still useful for getting synth-like arpeggios or processing audio that you’re not playing live. This is also how you enable things like Collect, Manual Scan and latch. Normally, if you hold the left footswitch momentarily it automatically maxes out the Scan parameter, while holding the right loops the last echo. With latching on those will continue until you hold down the footswitch again.

The Expression and Ramping switches add movement or allow you to control specific parameters. For example, if you connect an expression pedal and then flip the Size switch, you can quickly increase or decrease the echo time with your foot while playing. But, all Chase Bliss pedals also have an LFO which the company calls Ramp or Bounce. Ramp can be one-shot or looping (Bounce), and can be a triangle wave, square or random. So you could, for instance, set the Modify parameter to increase and decrease pitch over time to create arpeggios, or randomly change the amount of Spread to sprinkle in bits of the past.

Chase Bliss Habit
Terrence O'Brien / Engadget

Ramp and expression can be in either rise or fall mode. Meaning, that either it sweeps a parameter up from the minimum to where you’ve set the knob, or down from the maximum to the knob setting.

One thing to note: When you enable Ramp the level knob changes the speed of the Ramp, rather than volume of the effect. So, set your levels first before you start messing with the dip switches. Oh, and if you connect an expression pedal without flipping any parameter switches on the back, it controls the level. This is handy if you want to fade in the delay only occasionally while playing.

The competition

Chase Bliss Mood and Blooper
Chase Bliss

Obviously, if you don’t need or want all these crazy features and are just looking for a straightforward delay pedal, don’t get a Habit. It can do typical delay stuff, but you don’t need to spend $400 on a “typical delay.”

There are delay pedals out there that cover some similar ground. For instance, the $299 Red Panda Raster 2. It’s a digital delay with pitch and frequency shifting, plus internal modulation. But it doesn’t really have equivalents of the Scan, Spread and Collect features, which are pretty unique to Habit.

The more likely choice you’re trying to make is between three different Chase Bliss pedals: the Mood, Blooper and Habit. All three are related, but their strengths lie in specific areas.

Like Habit, Blooper is a collaboration with YouTuber Knobs (which has since joined Chase Bliss) and its focus is on looping. It starts with the same core conceit of any looper: record audio and then play it back. Its unique features are in how you mangle that loop by overdubbing and applying modifiers. It’s probably the most complex of the three, and even has a browser-based interface where you can export loops and swap in different modifiers. I’d actually say “musical sketchpad” is a better fit for Blooper.

Mood grew out of the development of Blooper. It’s a more straightforward affair. It has an always-on recorder, similar to Habit, but it plays shorter “microloops” and includes reverb for added ambience. If you want spacey granular effects without having to search too long for sweet spots, then Mood is your better bet.

Chase Bliss Habit

Wrap-up

Habit, on the other hand, is focused on delay and freeform looping. Its strengths are in creating complex rhythmic echoes and unpredictable melodic interplay. It’s just as at home on a pedalboard supported by other effects as it is on a desktop being manipulated like an instrument in its own right. It has many of the same strengths as the Blooper and Mood, but it’s also probably the most experimental of the bunch. It’s also more difficult to tame – Habit is clearly chaotic neutral. It doesn’t care about rules or tradition, it wants only to be free to wreak musical havoc. And that makes it an undeniable blast.