Xploration • Curation • Recommendation
Butterfly Effects unveils its Dobbo Granular Playground - with smart Grains randomisation across 4 key variable parameters
When I initially saw this device, Chase Bliss was the first brand that immediately sprung to mind - as superficially, minus the bottom Randomizer ’Dice’ section - the topology kind of mostly resembles the typical and classic Chase Bliss control topology - of 6 knobs, 3 x toggle-switches, and dual, multi-function Footswitches!
Whenever I consider the acquisition of a particular pedal, I need to be able to foresee what slot it should be deployed from on the pedalboard. And the Dobbo is a pretty obvious replacement for the Hologram Microcosm - at least for how I use that device. There are a couple of slots that would accommodate this pedal well - also the slot which currently houses the AC Noise Ricorda - where I mostly use that also as a granular effect.
You have a pretty extensive control topology where you set the size and impact of the granular effect - which includes directional vectors, pitch-shifting, delay, and envelope follower.
What makes the device truly unique is the randomisation in playback that you can achieve - particularly through the bottom ’Dice’ section. This allows you to randomly ’wiggle’ the 4 key parameters - Rate, Size, Time (Delay) and Pitch - which wiggles the effect around either side of where each of those upper dials are set - the degree of wiggle is then set by the ’Chance’ knob. A mini Parameter Select black knob allows you to select which of the 4 key parameters you are wiggling!
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 / Slot Atck / Fast Rels, 5s Timer, Tap (Hold), DICE } Chance (% random wiggle around centre) : per Rate / Size / Time / Pitch, Param Selectro, Preset : 1-4, Bypass.
Ports : 9V DC [-] 300mA, EXP / MIDI, In (TS Mono) / (TRS Stereo), Out Left, Out Right.
This device is enormously potent - and yet really beautifully intuitive too. I’ve acquired a number of granular devices over the years - and this one has the advantage over most of those - with 4 onboard presets. It’s going to take you a while to set all the paratmets to the optimal values - so it’s important that you can preserve that hard work - to make it immediately reproducible versus having to dial in different settings every time.
These granular devices produce largely twinkly / twittery effects for me - with really intricate artefacts being generated around your playing - adding dimension, dynamics, and texture. And you have all the controls you need to make those sounds as prominent or as subtle as you need to perfectly serve whatever music / melody you are playing.
Another Chase Bliss similarity - is the exceptional Dobbo manual that accompanies this release - which is right up with the quality of those exceptional Chase Bliss Field Guides.
For this first overview I'm not going to delve too deep into individual features and functions - as I hope to be doing an in-deoth review of this - when the next patch arrives - towards the end of May. My understanding is that first batch preorder are going out on the 17th of this month - with Butterfly Effects' Vic then purring all efforts into keeping up with the growing demand for his pedal.
Another pedal that this one is in a similar ballpark to is Discomfort Design's Phantom Limb - which is though a Mono device. The Dobbo's full stereo ins and outs (TRS input) means that the Dobbo is a far more suitable proposition for my 1/3 stereo board / rig.
You have various smart hidden modes of operation - like selecting between Momentary and Latching hold functionality - where the device holds onto last 5 seconds of the incoming signal rather than constantly update the output based on the ever-changing input. At its core this a consistently scanning / recording microlooper device - which ongoingly loads your patterns of play into the core engine of the device - to trigger all those beautiful textural grains / granules.
This is the first device from Belgium's Butterfly Effects - and it's been quickly championed by Belgian Effects Giant David Rolo - who first put me onto this device. My good friend Henry Kaiser - further reminded me a week or two later. March was an incredibly busy month for me - all those shows that I attended - and the 3 in-depth Show Reports that I did for each.
It's as well that Henry reminded me - I had already taken screengrabs / visuals from the Butterfly Effects site - while during unusually busy periods I might overlook and fail to complete those articles.
I definitely want and will seek to acquire this device from the next May-ish batch - it really is the perfect replacement / swap-out for the Hologram Microcosm - in a significantly smaller form factor - which really appeals to me too.
There's something about the really intuitive Dobbo interface / control topology which appeals to me. I very much look forward to doing a deep dive into this pedal in the next month or two - so stay tuned!
The Dobbo is admittedly a somewhat costly proposition at €425 (c$465 / £360). Currently, and as mentioned - the first patch is already sold out and due for imminent delivery, and the second batch is supposedly scheduled for the end of May. You need to be signed up to the Butterfly Effects Mailing List - to be in with a chance to snag one of these. I expect these to be in very high demand!
Demos
