Xploration • Curation • Recommendation
A deeper hands-on dive into the Butterfly Effects Dobbo Granular Playground - how best to make use of it, and where it shines!
I’m a little late with my in-depth review of the Dobbo for a variety of reasons. In part because of the heatwave we had in the UK - which limited playing time severely, in part because I was a little burnt out at the time, and in part because I was figuring out how to get the most use and utility out of this pedal.
"Dobbo takes small bits of sound and rearranges them. It can stretch, pitch and blur these bits, or transform them into rhythmic textures."
Most would likely file this under the category of ’Table-Top Pedal’ - along with many of the recent Chase Bliss pedals and several others of that ilk. You can use this as a Synthesizer performance instrument - tweaking knobs from a sequenced input - giving you full hands-on tweakage access. It also works very well as a Vocal performance instrument - as aptly showcased by Bex in the first demo below.
For guitar players the angle of approach is slightly different - you can use this with your looper of choice - to the same degree as the synth brigade - tweaking a sampled input with both hands on the pedal. I however am a guitar-based stompbox guy - which means that the vast majority of my pedals sit on the floor - and are controlled by my feet (or big toes even!).
I have a microphone shelf which typically holds the most tweaker-intensive pedal of mine - which is currently the Polyend Step Drum Machine. That one makes no sense to have fully on the floor - as you’re always needing to adjust parameters by hand. The same is kind of true of the Butterfly Effects Dobbo, but it can be successfully deployed as a preset-based floor-based stompbox for the most part - but it needs some elevation so that you can more easily access its controls.
To which ends I was seeking a small pedestal or plinth that I could seat it on - for easier access to said pedal’s controls - but without the need to rely on a whole slew of extended length cables. I found a small stool for the intended purpose - and the Dobbo is raised sufficiently for me to have relatively easy hands-on access when seated - so I can relatively easily twiddle those controls! If I wanted to make whole and complete use of the pedal - I would need to elevate all my pedals to table-top status - which just isn’t how I operate!
Mostly the only time I tweak pedals in situ is to adjust parameters just very slightly on the fly - or else do that Analog Delay style feedback trick - when you wind that knob up and down - usually as a final flourish to a song.
Controls - Rate (Grains per Second : 0-20), Size (of Grains : 10ms > 1s), Mix (% Grains), Time (Delay : 0-5s), Pitch (-2 > +2 Octaves), Pitch Mode : Smooth / Octaves / Qnt Semitones, Space (Panning / Verb), Direction : Forward / Random / Back, Envelope : Fast Atck / Slow Rels } Balanced Atck/Rls | Slow Atck / Fast Rels, 5s Timer, Tap (Hold), DICE } Chance (% random wiggle / sway around centre setting) : per Rate / Size / Time / Pitch, Param Selector, Presets : 1-4, Bypass.
Ports : 9V DC [-] 300mA, EXP / MIDI, In (TS Mono) / (TRS Stereo), Out Left, Out Right.
The control topology is very well thought out. intuitive and highly usable - but there’s sill something of a learning curve involved to get the most out of this device. When I first saw the Dobbo - I thought it could replace that part of the Hologram Microcosm that I used the most - the ’Granules’ segment while I also use the ’Glitch’ segment a fair amount - which is not covered by the Dobbo. As far as ’Granules’ go though - the Dobbo is the most Granular of Granular Devices - with infinite variations and multivariate accents and patterns of play. This is very much a ’Parametric Device’ with myriad variations - far and above any equivalent granular device that I have encountered to date.
For such a device - there is no substitute for trial and error - you literally need to go through every knob in different steps - individually and in combinations - where I usually split the knob into 5 segments FCCW 7 o'c, 9 o'c, Noon, 3 o'c, FCW 5 o'c. And note the sounds and patterns of playback you get for each of those positions and knob combinations.
For the Size knob in particular you pick up some really unique variations of accents - where at FCCW you get these sort of click sounds - a little like the striking of a wooden block with a drumstick (but slightly more subtle). By 9 o'c you start hearing more of those more typical twittery sounds (sometimes somewhat accordion-like), which then progressively intensify and elongate as you dial the size knob up. I mostly like it at either 9 o'c for more subtle and clicky effects, or fully Maxed for that full twittery flavour.
I have the Grains Mix set fairly high, while for Rate I don't tend to move too much away from around 9 o'clock which feels very optimal for me. Delay works differently for different accents - that for me is normally either at 9 o'clock or around noon - elongated delay is tricky to make fully melodic. While I'm sure there are further possible combinations available that I just haven't discovered yet!
For the Pitch variations I tend to stick to Octaves - as they are easier to dial in - and you don't need to fine-tune the pitch to an exact interval / semi-tone (which can be automatically quantized). The actual Pitch knob is usually locked in on the Max setting for me. And as you can see in the first Bex Demo below - you can observe how those interval settings are best used by the table-top crowd - to modulate the output of the device in different registers - as indeed showcased by Bex below. For us Stompbox folks - those parameters aren't particularly usane - as those need to be regularly readjusted on the fly!
For the Space / Reverb / Panning knob - I mostly have that one either on the Ping-Pong Dot marker, or slightly elevated - to give those granules plenty of space to bounce around within.
Interestingly for the Direction vector - where traditionally I'm a fan of Reverse - that turned out not to be so much the case here - where that switch for my preferences sits mostly in the middle (random both ways) or to the left - on forward motion.
For the Envelope Attack / Release - that gives you slightly different rhythms of granular activation - where I mostly like that switch in the middle, or to the right for a more syncopated rhythm.
Finally the 4 x LEDs Chance / Dice / Preset Section at the base of the front facia allows you to vary the Random Wiggle / Sway on the 4 main parameters - Rate, Size, Time, and Pitch. For me the one that works most consistently is the Rate Sway - while I like each of them really - but often you then need to tweak the other settings to get the right degree of accentuation. Actually all of those work really well, but not all are consistently musical necessarily - in terms of carrying your desired melody!
I didn't find any of the 4 default loaded presets particularly useful for my own needs. Which is often the case for me - I often prefer to dial in my own presets to get the degree of output that I need!
It's interesting that as a floor-based stompbox user - this Dobbo pedal is mostly an incidental effect of several different flavours - for specific passage accentuation - while as a table-top instrument - you can use it to modulate the entire song - by constantly tweaking those various controls - as Bex does with some significant expertise!
One of my favourite classic twittery settings is as follows :
- Rate @ 9 o'c
- Size @ Max
- Mix @ 2 o'c
- Time @ Noon
- Pitch @ Max
- Space @ or near the dot marker mostly, c.10 o'c
- Direction @ Forward or Random Both Ways
- Pitch Switch in Middle - Octaves
- Envelope Shape in Middle (balanced) or to the Right for Syncopation
- Chance knob typically @ 3 o'c
- Target Param typically on Rate, but can vary!
Note that for SPACE - Until that little dot marker, the grains are panned randomly when using the stereo output. After that point a Reverb kicks in also while the stereo panning or volume changes keep increasing. I tend to have an always on Reverb active anyway (Strymon BigSky MX) - mostly on Plate, while I do elevate the Dubbo's Space on occasion too - to further expand those reverberations!
I tend to use the 5 Second Hold somewhat sparingly, and have yet to test the 2-way Preset Morph enabled by the Expression port. I haven't quite arrived at that juncture yet - where I do those more advanced moves. I'm kind of intermediary Dobbo currently - there are still further levels to ascend!
I've landed in a very happy place with this device now - where I feel I've mostly got to grips with it for what I intended!
I have had several highly satisfactory sessions with the Dobbo now, some delightful even - and have explored near enough every key facet of its capabilities (besides MIDI and Expression) - while I have still to fully discover every in-between variation - that will come in due course - by further experimentations and happenstance / serendipity.
While I'm very satisfied now that this device works for my preferences and sensibilities. It is both much greater and slightly lesser than the sum of my expectations. As most of this device is about the infinite shades of variations. It's not so much a Multi-FX device as a Multi-Parametric one.
The scope for tweaking here really is infinite - which is why my friend Henry Kaiser - who is mostly a stompbox guy like me - has proclaimed this to be very much in the table-top camp. While for me - I love the various presets I have been able to create with it - and I'm not the type to be constantly twiddling knobs during playback - so the device really works well for those scenarios. I think the tabletop brigade will of course get the most out of it though - but it does deliver for the stompbox folks too!
If you're looking for the ultimate Granular Device with the most versatility and degrees of variations - and with Presets onboard! - then this surely is the one for you. For sure there is a learning curve here - and you need to keep some sort of notebook handy for recording interesting settings combinations you discover along the way - as there is a multitude of fairly unusual combinations here - and you can't save all of those to presets! Actually you can with MIDI - via the EXP socket - which is not typically a preference of mine. I think by and large the 4 onboard Presets are in the main enough!
Overall this is a pretty genius device - and totally delivers on what I believe it was created for. It's somewhat of a pricey proposition - at least it was for me in the UK - pricy shipping and customs fees on top of an already premium price (I paid a total of €496, or x £425). While I do feel it was worthwhile overall. It doesn't replace the Hologram Microcosm - but it doubles down and vastly expands on the Granular Capabilities and variations of that device. Which means that it wholly meets my needs. And yes I've been able to get some very useful sounds and Presets out of it.
I was lucky to have been in on the second batch in June - I wasn't aware of it when the first batch went live in March I think it was. These will always sell out very quickly - as they are manufactured in small batches. This for me is very much the Ultimate Granular Playground - as I pretty much proclaimed from the start. It's a really cleverly conceived and a beautifully executed device.
The Dobbo Granular Playground can be yours for €425 from the Butterfly Effects Webstore - when back in stock! Batch 3 is expected in late August I believe - you will need to move very fast - as there are still legions out there that want one of these!
I recommend you read the very Chase Bliss Field Guide - esque Dobbo Manual - which is currently about the only details you can access on that website!
Demos
