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Not really stereo
I wanted to love this pedal (it seems that everyone else does) but there were too many small issues and one big one, so I'll be getting a refund unfortunately.
The biggest problem was that the stereo input sums to mono as soon as you try to use the stutter or sequencer effects. So playing with the sample rate, filter and bit rate knobs with stereo audio works as expected, with nice crushed stereo audio coming out of the pedal as long as the stutter and sequencer are turned off. But as soon as you enable one of them then everything switches to mono. I contacted Meris and they said that was expected behaviour, but to me it seems like a massive shortcoming.
Other more minor gripes:
- I couldn't get the bit crush effect to work nicely with the sample I was using, with lots of space between notes. The same sample in Ableton Redux or Tritik Krush would preserve the silence between notes as I reduce the bit rate, but the Ottobit would emit an annoying hum until I turned the bit rate back up, as if there was some artifact from the algorithm or something (I've no idea).
- The input is stereo TRS and the output is 2x mono, which seemed a bit weird - maybe not a big deal though.
- It might get easier with practice, but the dual ALT controls for setting up the sequencer meant that I kept deafening myself by trying to adjust the bit rate after using that same knob to set up the sequencer. Also personally I found the dual controls quite confusing, like you have to try and remember whether the current state of a knob actually corresponds to what you're hearing, or if it's just left like that from adjusting the sequencer.
The biggest problem was that the stereo input sums to mono as soon as you try to use the stutter or sequencer effects. So playing with the sample rate, filter and bit rate knobs with stereo audio works as expected, with nice crushed stereo audio coming out of the pedal as long as the stutter and sequencer are turned off. But as soon as you enable one of them then everything switches to mono. I contacted Meris and they said that was expected behaviour, but to me it seems like a massive shortcoming.
Other more minor gripes:
- I couldn't get the bit crush effect to work nicely with the sample I was using, with lots of space between notes. The same sample in Ableton Redux or Tritik Krush would preserve the silence between notes as I reduce the bit rate, but the Ottobit would emit an annoying hum until I turned the bit rate back up, as if there was some artifact from the algorithm or something (I've no idea).
- The input is stereo TRS and the output is 2x mono, which seemed a bit weird - maybe not a big deal though.
- It might get easier with practice, but the dual ALT controls for setting up the sequencer meant that I kept deafening myself by trying to adjust the bit rate after using that same knob to set up the sequencer. Also personally I found the dual controls quite confusing, like you have to try and remember whether the current state of a knob actually corresponds to what you're hearing, or if it's just left like that from adjusting the sequencer.
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