At the back, you’ll find the necessary audio inputs and outputs, along with 5-pin MIDI In and Out / Thru and an expression pedal jack. My only complaint here is that the stereo input is a single TRS connector, as opposed to the separate right and left connectors. This is quite unusual for synthesizers and other guitar pedals and means that you may need a double TRS to TS cable to connect your equipment. On the plus side, Hologram Electronics includes a power adapter in the box, which almost no pedal manufacturer does anymore. (This turned out to be a real godsend, as my cheap pedalboard power supply introduced a lot of noise.)
There are a number of buttons, lights and buttons on the front that can seem a little intimidating at first, but it is easy to find out when you start. The lone encoder on the right navigates through the various presets. Each effect lights up as you select it and the four lights above the middle pedal (which turns the pedal on and off) indicate which specific preset for that effect you have selected. These lights also show the value levels, the direction of audio playback and how you navigate the global menu.
All eight buttons on the left have relatively clear primary and scroll functions. (The secondary controls in light gray are accessed by holding the shift button.) I say relatively because, although it is pretty obvious what “mix” does, the “Activity” and “Repeats” controls are a little vague. The manual divides very well, however:
“In general, Activity offers ‘more’ or ‘less’ than each preset does, and Repeats controls how long the effect lasts.”
In short, they are macro controls that are not mapped to a specific parameter and instead control a number of things, depending on the effect you have chosen. They are also highly interactive – meaning that changes made to Activity can affect the way the Repeats control behaves. A simple example of this would be the Standard effect, which is a rhythmic multitap delay. Increasing activity increases the number of “rings” or delay lines. While Repeats controls the number of times each ring sounds. As you put more lines of delay on top of each other and the more they repeat, they create new and increasingly complex rhythms until you reach complete chaos.
This level of interaction and depth also means that the Microcosm feels just as at home on a desktop as on a pedalboard. Although you can connect an expression pedal and perform some filter sweeps, the way it reacts when you start turning several buttons at the same time makes it look like an instrument as much as an effect. In fact, it is very easy to record a simple loop through the Microcosm and build a complete, rich and evolving arrangement simply by changing the parameters. It is very easy to get lost by turning the buttons while a loop is playing, slowly pushing it towards an environment wash.
The looper
Terrence O’Brien / Engadget
The loop is also an essential ingredient in what makes the Microcosm special. It is flexible and full of features. Ignoring everything else, the Microcosm is a great looper pedal. After activating it by pressing the phrase looper button, the basic functions are straightforward: the left pedal starts and stops recording and adds overdubs. A long press will undo or redo an overdub. The right pedal stops playback when you press it and clears your loop if you hold it down. This is more or less how any loop works.
From there, things get much more interesting. On the one hand, you can quantize your recording and synchronize it via tap tempo or MIDI. This can help prevent strange gaps or crashes at your loop point, but more importantly, it syncs with the rhythmic effects of the pedals to keep everything smooth and cohesive. There is also a button to quickly reverse your loop, in addition to speed control that can operate in a staggered mode (1 / 4X, 1 / 2X, 2X and 4X) or run smoothly from 1/4 to 4X of speed. Most loopers I know of are only half speed and double speed, if they have speed controls.
Then there is the “Burst” mode, which records by pressing the left pedal and starts playing immediately when you release it. Pressing again erases your loop and starts capturing new audio. This mode definitely takes some getting used to and I still haven’t figured out the best way to enjoy it, but it’s there.
One of the most exclusive features is the ability to position the looper before or after effects. This gives you the option to print a loop with an effect and then record a new line at the top with a different one. Either record a clean loop and change the effects after the fact to create a sense of evolution or just listen to different ones until you find what works best with a specific riff. Just a peculiarity to note: since the user’s presets can include a pre-recorded loop, scrolling through them will interrupt playback. Therefore, if you are using the looper and changing the effects in a live setting, be sure to avoid user banks.
There is also a button called “looper only”, which disables the primary effects. This is critical to the versatility of the Microcosm, as it does not disable the reverb, modulation or filter sections. This means that you can use the Microcosm as a simple chorus, vibrato or reverb unit, or treat the filter section almost like a wah. That said, the filter’s voice and sensitivity are not really suitable for replacing a wah. One thing that would be nice here is the ability to define the extent of an expression pedal because, honestly, only the top of the filter sweep is useful on a guitar.
I also wish there was an easy way to disable and activate effects dynamically, instead of having to peck at the tiny buttons. Being able to turn granular effects on and off regardless of the looper with a pedal, or being able to operate the looper even with the pedal off, would be huge.
Since you can’t turn them on and off individually with the pedals, I wouldn’t just rely on Microcosm’s built-in modulation and reverb, but they’ll definitely do the trick. Depending on the style of music you play, you could potentially take just that (and maybe a trigger pedal) to a jam session and have everything you need. The control selection is limited to speed and depth in modulation and “Space” in reverb, but you get four different types of reverb and they all sound great. They are not always the most subtle, but considering the audience of experimental and environmental musicians, this is not really a problem.
The effects
Terrence O’Brien / Engadget
Okay, so we spent a very of time talking about everything except the main effects here. Obviously, we can’t cover all 44 presets in detail and, frankly, that would be boring if we tried. But let’s start with the simplest: the two Multidelay options. They are variations of a digital multitap delay. The pattern repeats these strokes in various rhythmic combinations, while Warp handles repetitions with filtering and pitch changes. They are perfect for solos and space solos and work just as well with synthesizers as they do with guitars.
My favorite here is definitely the two mode of the Warp preset, which puts a resonant bandpass filter on each touch. Depending on the settings, it can be anything from a subtle glassy pad perfect for backing up a strummed guitar to a crisp ping that begs to be paired with the percussion.
The Glitch section is the most difficult to tame, but it is also rewarding when you do it. More than many of the other presets, you need to play the Glitch effects, responding to them in real time. Arp is probably the most aggressive in disassembling his original signal. It cuts off the incoming audio and lets out an arpeggio. Increasing the activity button here increases the number of steps in the arpeggio, and the different modes introduce additional effects like random filtering and bit compression. The slightly smashed fourth mode can turn even the cleanest guitar into a crunchy synth bass.
You will probably want to use a clean guitar for Arp effects as well (as well as many of the Micro Loop modes). Although a firmware update in August improved the tracking and triggering of synthesizers and distorted guitar, there can still be difficulties if an effect requires extreme precision to trigger correctly. This really only affects heavily distorted signals. If you have a touch of overdrive, this is not a problem. But super fuzzy guitars or droney synth chords can cause problems.
Here, mosaic mode one is creating a duplicating / harmonized effect on the guitar.
My favorite of the Glitch effects is Interrupt. As the name suggests, it interrupts its dry signal with several irregular bursts of noise. To get the full impact, you need to make the mixture 100% moist. And, by far, what I had the most fun with Microcosm was ripping solos in Interrupt mode one, which introduces the CD jump as stuttering. As I said, this pedal stands out in ambience and drones, but it is capable of much more.
Micro Loop modes are a cross between Glitch and Multi delay effects. If you’re familiar with pedals like Mood from Chase Bliss Audio or Count to Five from Montreal Assembly, you should have a general idea of what to expect here. Short snippets of how you play are captured, repeated and manipulated in various ways. Glide creates pitch curves, while Seq produces new rhythmic patterns that are no different than the sounds you would find in Arp mode.
Then there is Mosaic, which I would say is the best representation of what the Microcosm is. They are simple short loops reproduced at variable speeds, creating pitch effects. Although you can use it on almost anything effectively, including percussion, it shines with strumming guitar melodies and sparse piano chords.
Mode one can add a soft glow under a pad, while mode two can introduce a counterpoint almost like a bass to a guitar line. As for mode four, it can explode in almost cartoon rains in more extreme settings. Although I think Mosaic is at its best when you can still hear the individual loops as they hit each other creating new melodies and rhythms, washing them completely with the integrated reverb creates beautiful synth-like drones.
Finally, there is the Granules section, which offers the kind of sound that people usually imagine when they think of “granular”. Haze is all about textures and pads, while Tunnel is perfect for building epic drones. These can be subtle scenarios almost similar to reverberations or they can completely replace the source audio with cinematic soundscapes.
The Strum effect is what I struggle with the most. He repeats the beginning of the notes to create rhythmic textures, but the results can be unpleasant and rude without a decent amount of reverb. Now, the fact that I didn’t click immediately with that specific effect is not a blow to the Microcosm. I was still able to find sounds I liked among the presets. But, even if I didn’t like it – even if I didn’t like the four – there are 43 others here. This is still a batting average of 0.909.