OPFXS Asteroide: I saw it first!

[niftyprose]

Hello guys, I saw this not-particularly-illuminating press release on PremierGuitar and checked the corresponding product demo:

https://www.premierguitar.com/articles/ ... -asteroide

...absolutely blown away. I don't expect this to rival the TubeScreamer in popularity but I have spent a chunk of the last few years trying to figure how to produce a harmonically complex, responsive bass drone without the robotic timekeeping of a looper and here is most of my wishlist in a single box.

In a perfect world it would have random vibrato, Raptio-esque control over sample size, and a dry output, but I ain't complaining. Goodbye OC-3!

[Jero]

Definitely looks interesting

[frodog]

This is cool, definitely would be useful in my bassist-less band. I'd like it to have an effects loop though, or dry-through.

[whoismarykelly]

They also make an OC3 type pedal that just has dry and octave level controls. These are super interesting. Might have to grab them to see if they can expand my options.

[coldbrightsunlight]

Very cool functions. At the start of the demo I thought "I could just do this with the superego and an octaver" but quickly ate my words. The fact that it follows the envelope of your playing is really interesting.

Unimpressive article though in terms of explaining the thing.

[taco satori]

Super interested to see this in action, as it kinda scratches at Freeze / Freqout / pseudo-bassist duties of interest to me in my guitar/drums duo. The company’s FB hints at a hidden feature, too?

[Confuzzled]

Very cool functions. At the start of the demo I thought "I could just do this with the superego and an octaver" but quickly ate my words. The fact that it follows the envelope of your playing is really interesting.

Unimpressive article though in terms of explaining the thing.

agreed. the article and demo did nothing for me. The concept alone makes me want to find better demos.

[Dowi]

They also make an OC3 type pedal that just has dry and octave level controls. These are super interesting. Might have to grab them to see if they can expand my options.

i just saw that one, read the manual, and i must say i'm impressed, i'm reeeeeeally curious to see if the tracking can be really set in a way that doesn't mess up chords like they said.

(Also, i don't know why i never heard of them even if they're 2hrs from where i live )

[taco satori]

Picked one of these up via a Stateside distributor. It's cool! One quirk I found is that once you engage the octave following mode with a long press, you can't re-enter the envelope mode again until you bypass the pedal first, then activate it again. It would be nice to be able to have the envelope follower active, temporarily engage the octaver, then return to the envelope follower, instead of being stuck in the last-note-at-release-of-switch-is-sustained mode.

I'll have to play around with it more. Doing the long press octaver in dual mode is kind of a trip: it sounds like the first note of the harmony is sustained while the octaver follows your playing around until you release it.

Things in general are somewhat glitchy when in octaver mode towards the lower and extreme upper ranges of a guitar tuned standard. There's a range where higher notes just refuse to be captured by the pedal. It's a nice thing to play harmonics over once you have a note captured in the envelope follower mode, gives it a little extra oomph. Feeling good about this purchase so far.

[niftyprose]

As predicted, the Asteroide doesn't seem to have been a big seller, although it has picked up a good demo from Anne Sulikowski and a few other plaudits. It's pretty much indispensable for my upcoming project but I put off buying pending some other business. This weekend I found out quite by accident that OPFXS is discontinuing it in favour of the new V-Uno, a user-programmable box which offers the same functionality but requires USB interaction.

Omar of OPFXS is a really nice guy and I wish him every success with the V-Uno, but I'd much prefer a dedicated box that I can use without a computer. I *think* I managed to grab a passing Asteroide off Reverb today, although transatlantic USPS has been a problem before and I won't know I've got it 'til it's sitting on Gill's living room carpet. Anyway, if anyone else is havering, I would get in quick -- secondhand examples are scarce.

NP

[coldbrightsunlight]

I'm not shocked it wasn't a huge seller but it is a shame because it's a very cool box and there are many clever design features in it, it's just quite a niche idea. I agree with you on dedicated boxes vs. programmable ones, though I can see why the company would move in that direction..