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Subdecay Octasynth (VS) Earthquaker Devices Bit Commander

Posted: Mon Aug 01, 2011 2:29 am
by Kayzer
I had a hell of a new pedal day this weekend and even more fun doing some demos for 2 very awesome pedals.
Big thanks to Prymaxe for a neat service and an awesome custom declaration… *g*

Since I am out of guitar synth style pedals from early this year I pulled the trigger on those two babys to see by myself if they are worth it…
Expectations are high being a former Mothership and Mini Ark owner.

First of all its not as easy to compare those 2 pedals cause the Bit Commander is more like an Octron (+ Sub Octave & medium gain fuzz) while the OctaSynth is more like a square/sin wave generator with a very very good envelope filter.

Both Pedals track very very well but both get a bit messy on the first 5 low notes of my dropped C string and somewhere around the 5th fret of the octave C (I am tuned to CGCFAD)
Tracking on the upper registers is a blast, you might notice that I cant stop playing the super fast chromatic Nintendo stuff… Never had a pedal before that could track such stuff this fast…

Here are 2 Standalone demos for both pedals, there is a dedicated VS (shootout clip) coming up later today and I am currently working on an OctaSynth into Bit Commander demo cause both pedals sound absolutely stunning while played into each other…

Here we go

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vhOVjbpdvUI[/youtube]
[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7_Aep9SEM1A[/youtube]

Bit Commander VS Octasynth (dedicated shootout video...)

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bsOXl_dVcSw[/youtube]

Octasynth into Bit Commander!

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D3_lXFbYA3Q[/youtube]

Re: Subdecay Octasynth (VS) Earthquaker Devices Bit Commande

Posted: Mon Aug 01, 2011 10:49 am
by univalve
i'm still waiting on my fucking commander since june 16th... :(
The octasynth is great. Did you try it with a 4x12? Earth shaked at our rehearsal room. :!!!:

Re: Subdecay Octasynth (VS) Earthquaker Devices Bit Commande

Posted: Mon Aug 01, 2011 11:49 am
by Holy Schnikes
univalve wrote:i'm still waiting on my fucking commander since june 16th...

Haha, same exact date that I shipped a Clari(not) to Germany. Sadly, it was never granted access to you're fine country, god damn Customs!

Re: Subdecay Octasynth (VS) Earthquaker Devices Bit Commande

Posted: Mon Aug 01, 2011 4:09 pm
by Kayzer
[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bsOXl_dVcSw[/youtube]

Re: Subdecay Octasynth (VS) Earthquaker Devices Bit Commande

Posted: Mon Aug 01, 2011 8:28 pm
by Officer Bukowski
Is the Bit Commander always so aggressive sounding?

Judging by your demos I prefer the Octasynth.

Re: Subdecay Octasynth (VS) Earthquaker Devices Bit Commande

Posted: Tue Aug 02, 2011 1:30 am
by Kayzer
Officer Bukowski wrote:Is the Bit Commander always so aggressive sounding?

Judging by your demos I prefer the Octasynth.


Yeah it is...

Re: Subdecay Octasynth (VS) Earthquaker Devices Bit Commande

Posted: Tue Aug 02, 2011 10:30 am
by Dandolin
Beautiful stuff! Thanks!

I'm curious as to whether you've had an opportunity to run the Bit Commander into your Wolftone Chaos. I can see that doing that might increase aggression and noise on many settings, but the Chaos has some interesting muted, filtered tones that I imagine might add some of the dimension that the Octasynth brings. I love the sound of the octave up on the Bit Commander--lots of character and not too pristine, but not glitcharama either; but overall I think the Octaynth would provide more tones of interest to me in and of itself. My feelings about the two might change, though, depending on how they stack and interact with other pedals--I really liked the Subdecay modular demo for showing some of the fruits of judicious combinations. Definitely not trying to make extra work for you, but if you're moved to to do a demo where you stack these together or with other pedals, I for one would certainly value it highly.... Thanks as always for sharing your finds in such an edifying way....

Re: Subdecay Octasynth (VS) Earthquaker Devices Bit Commande

Posted: Tue Aug 02, 2011 6:10 pm
by Bellyheart
[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D3_lXFbYA3Q[/youtube]FUCK

Re: Subdecay Octasynth (VS) Earthquaker Devices Bit Commande

Posted: Wed Aug 03, 2011 2:09 am
by Kayzer
Dandolin wrote:Beautiful stuff! Thanks!

I'm curious as to whether you've had an opportunity to run the Bit Commander into your Wolftone Chaos. I can see that doing that might increase aggression and noise on many settings, but the Chaos has some interesting muted, filtered tones that I imagine might add some of the dimension that the Octasynth brings. I love the sound of the octave up on the Bit Commander--lots of character and not too pristine, but not glitcharama either; but overall I think the Octaynth would provide more tones of interest to me in and of itself. My feelings about the two might change, though, depending on how they stack and interact with other pedals--I really liked the Subdecay modular demo for showing some of the fruits of judicious combinations. Definitely not trying to make extra work for you, but if you're moved to to do a demo where you stack these together or with other pedals, I for one would certainly value it highly.... Thanks as always for sharing your finds in such an edifying way....


I still have to come up with a dedicated stacking session for the Wolftone Chaos. Edkoppel told me that a muff after the Chaos is super crazy and I will probably also try it with the octa and bit when I do this session. Maybe I get it done around the weekend. Infinitphase VS octa and Bit are coming up next and then its freakenstein fuzz time… IGOR ITS ALIVE!!!!

Re: Subdecay Octasynth (VS) Earthquaker Devices Bit Commande

Posted: Wed Aug 03, 2011 2:10 am
by Kayzer
Bellyheart wrote:[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D3_lXFbYA3Q[/youtube]FUCK



haha, you are too fast for me buddy...! ;-)

Re: Subdecay Octasynth (VS) Earthquaker Devices Bit Commande

Posted: Wed Aug 03, 2011 7:39 am
by Bellyheart
Wait....was it there? I don't remember it being there.

Re: Subdecay Octasynth (VS) Earthquaker Devices Bit Commande

Posted: Wed Aug 03, 2011 8:16 am
by Kayzer
Bellyheart wrote:Wait....was it there? I don't remember it being there.


No it wasn´t thats why i said you are tooooo fast for me...

Re: Subdecay Octasynth (VS) Earthquaker Devices Bit Commande

Posted: Wed Aug 03, 2011 3:16 pm
by Dandolin
Kayzer wrote:
I still have to come up with a dedicated stacking session for the Wolftone Chaos. Edkoppel told me that a muff after the Chaos is super crazy and I will probably also try it with the octa and bit when I do this session. Maybe I get it done around the weekend. Infinitphase VS octa and Bit are coming up next and then its freakenstein fuzz time… IGOR ITS ALIVE!!!!


You have my full consent and support for this schedule, sir. :love:

Re: Subdecay Octasynth (VS) Earthquaker Devices Bit Commande

Posted: Wed Aug 03, 2011 3:23 pm
by Holy Schnikes
The Subdecay sounds bad ass. I like that it's cleaner, with less grit. I'd prefer to just pair it up with different dirt and fuzz anyway, have that clean octave synth sound to start with.

Re: Subdecay Octasynth (VS) Earthquaker Devices Bit Commande

Posted: Thu Aug 04, 2011 7:42 am
by univalve
picked mine up today at the customs office!!!