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Darkglass Anagram Multi FX Announced

#281
I have been considering a digital modeler for a while and have checked into demo's of most of the popular/obvious ones. I like the general idea, but then I get slowed down by the practicality of my actual use case vs all that these cool little boxes can do. There is also a pretty big disconnect for me when watching the demo videos by DG as well as folks like Nate N. They all seem to feature tons of thrashy, sub-octave distorted, super riffy metal-ish kinds of passages and over the top slapping .... which can certainly be eye/ear catching, but don't reflect the reality of my playing needs, or the playing of most working bass players that I know at all.

So, in my case, I play generally clean fingerstyle with occasional needs for filter, octaver (up and down) some modest overdrive/boost. I also use a pick as needed for certain styles and slap when called for.

My always on pedalboard items are: Cali76CB and Noble DI.
To that I will add:
VT or VT Deluxe for Ampeg SVT or B15 clean and dirty. I use the Deluxe when I need to have multiple settings.1
OC-5 (+1, and +1 and -1)
MXR Bass Filter
PhatPhukB for boost, plus in lower settings I just like what it does to my over all clean tone.

I use a Metro 20 board and can get the always on stuff (Cali76 and Noble) plus any 3 of my other pedals on the board at one time. It's a nice compact package, where the Noble powers it all, and I'm very comfortable setting up for the tones and FX I really use, and it sounds great to me and the people that hire me.

Now, having said all that. I would like to be able to use multiple variations on all the "added" pedals. For example: a clean B15 tone with +1 octave and boost vs a bit overdriven SVT with +1 and -1 octave, and here's where I think a modeler device like the Anagram could be helpful for me. If I could get the same or similar FX tones and set the variations I want from each of them, and then have those in a simple foot-switchable device, that would be pretty useful to me. And it looks like the Anagram would fit my small board with the Noble after it to give some tube/analog warmth out to FOH.

Real world function and reliability come before cost concerns for me.

So would this box work for my pretty basic needs, or should I just stick with what I have ??
 
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#283
pfschim said:
I have been considering a digital modeler for a while and have checked into demo's of most of the popular/obvious ones. I like the general idea, but then I get slowed down by the practicality of my actual use case vs all that these cool little boxes can do. There is also a pretty big disconnect for me when watching the demo videos by DG as well as folks like Nate N. They all seem to feature tons of thrashy, sub-octave distorted, super riffy metal-ish kinds of passages and over the top slapping .... which can certainly be eye/ear catching, but don't reflect the reality of my playing needs, or the playing of most working bass players that I know at all.

So, in my case, I play generally clean fingerstyle with occasional needs for filter, octaver (up and down) some modest overdrive/boost. I also use a pick as needed for certain styles and slap when called for.

My always on pedalboard items are: Cali76CB and Noble DI.
To that I will add:
VT or VT Deluxe for Ampeg SVT or B15 clean and dirty. I use the Deluxe when I need to have multiple settings.1
OC-5 (+1, and +1 and -1)
MXR Bass Filter
PhatPhukB for boost, plus in lower settings I just like what it does to my over all clean tone.

I use a Metro 20 board and can get the always on stuff (Cali76 and Noble) plus any 3 of my other pedals on the board at one time. It's a nice compact package, where the Noble powers it all, and I'm very comfortable setting up for the tones and FX I really use, and it sounds great to me and the people that hire me.

Now, having said all that. I would like to be able to use multiple variations on all the "added" pedals. For example: a clean B15 tone with +1 octave and boost vs a bit overdriven SVT with +1 and -1 octave, and here's where I think a modeler device like the Anagram could be helpful for me. If I could get the same or similar FX tones and set the variations I want from each of them, and then have those in a simple foot-switchable device, that would be pretty useful to me. And it looks like the Anagram would fit my small board with the Noble after it to give some tube/analog warmth out to FOH.

Real world function and reliability come before cost concerns for me.

So would this box work for my pretty basic needs, or should I just stick with what I have ??
Click to expand...

Short answer, yes.

You're basically outlining one of the very functional uses of a good multi-FX unit that is capable of presets, scenes, etc.

For what you're describing, there are several ways to skin the cat, so to speak. So you could figure out what you want to do. 'Scenes' would allow you to create a preset with a specific chain of pedals/effects, and then your footswitches give you 3 variations of those pedals/sounds with regard to which are engaged and how they're set. For example, you've got a preset where the signal chain is setup with VT drive > B15 drive > octave > filter > tube pre > cab sim. Scene #1 (footswitch 1) might be VT drive > octave +1 > tube pre > cab sim. Then footswitch 2 is B15 drive > filter > tube pre > cab sim. Footswitch 3 is VT drive > octave +1/-1 > filter > tube pre > cab sim. So you can eliminate 'doing the dance' to make multiple changes within that preset signal chain, and you can change the settings on any pedals from one scene to the next. The limitation with this (mentioned in demos) is that you cannot 'reorder' the blocks from one scene to the next within a single preset. So you couldn't flip flop the octave/filter order in that scene preset - you'd need to move to another preset to do so.

Another option is more of the traditional 'stompbox' mode. So you could use that to setup a full signal chain for a preset, and then you can assign each of the three footswitches to specific effects you want to turn on/off as you need - like a traditional pedalboard. (I think this makes more sense if you only use 1-3 "effects" and want everything else fixed in the signal chain OR you play more improvisational stuff where you're randomly adding or removing effects for flavor.)

Obviously this is a rudimentary explanation, but it hopefully gives an idea of how you might use it for the purposes you're describing.
 
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#284
Played with mine for a few minutes last night, I'll admit I'm a preset kind of guy, very few and fairly underwhelming on the Anagram. Went to relax for the evening wondering if I made a mistake. Watched a few videos and plugged it back in this morning with more insight into the controls and how it works, its very easy to use, simple to create sounds all of which sound great, tuner is the nicest I've seen on a rig next to my QC, looper is fun etcetera

the bass reverbs sound great

Its a small, fast loading, well built pedal with a lot of great sounds, my QC is overkill and honestly all I really do is play with the presets, I'm too busy with work and life to devote a ton of time to it, the Anagram is very straight forward and I prefer it greatly to the stomp XL I had for a bit. Got mine for a little over a grand out the door, considering Darkglass has pedals in the $500+ range this fella seems like a bargain
 
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#285
9c1ny said:
Played with mine for a few minutes last night, I'll admit I'm a preset kind of guy, very few and fairly underwhelming on the Anagram. Went to relax for the evening wondering if I made a mistake. Watched a few videos and plugged it back in this morning with more insight into the controls and how it works, its very easy to use, simple to create sounds all of which sound great, tuner is the nicest I've seen on a rig next to my QC, looper is fun etcetera

the bass reverbs sound great

Its a small, fast loading, well built pedal with a lot of great sounds, my QC is overkill and honestly all I really do is play with the presets, I'm too busy with work and life to devote a ton of time to it, the Anagram is very straight forward and I prefer it greatly to the stomp XL I had for a bit. Got mine for a little over a grand out the door, considering Darkglass has pedals in the $500+ range this fella seems like a bargain
Click to expand...

100 %
Cant´t agree more.
Im more focused on the essentials and really happy how the pedal turned out.
Looking forward for the Audio Playbackk possibilities. Wanted to play along some tracks, but not possible at the moment it seems.
But that thing sounds HUGE. Already velcroed on my board :)

Downloaded some NAM Files. Which sound already better than many many captures on the QC. There is a Brassmaster NAM which is really awesome. Good to see that Fuzzes can be captured.
And I found some good Sansamp NAMs :p
 
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#287
Chrishi87 said:
3 of the DC7 Outlets. So enough power left for the Capo :)
Click to expand...
Thanks. I deleted my post - as when I read through the entire thread I realized it had been answered a bunch of times already. I have True Tone bricks - so will have to explore whether I can power the Anagram and my OE compressor as well (I'm a compressor snob and just love that pedal).
 
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#288
Chrishi87 said:
3 of the DC7 Outlets. So enough power left for the Capo :)
Click to expand...
seems to me you have moved away from using your Noble on your QC driven working/gigging board. Do you still see some value in running something like the Anagram into the Noble before FOH, or have you decided that what the Noble does is not that valuable/meaningful for live work ?

asking for a friend :laugh:
 
#289
Chrishi87 said:
100 %
Cant´t agree more.
Im more focused on the essentials and really happy how the pedal turned out.
Looking forward for the Audio Playbackk possibilities. Wanted to play along some tracks, but not possible at the moment it seems.
But that thing sounds HUGE. Already velcroed on my board :)

Downloaded some NAM Files. Which sound already better than many many captures on the QC. There is a Brassmaster NAM which is really awesome. Good to see that Fuzzes can be captured.
And I found some good Sansamp NAMs :p
Click to expand...
I connected my external audio source to the return jack. In a preset i have added a return block at the end of the chain enabling me to play along with songs.
 
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#292
For those that have a Helix product and the Anagram, how does the Anagram’s pitch shifting stack up to the Helix’s Poly Pitch/Poly Capo? I tune down 1.5 steps quite often in the Helix, and don’t like how much DSP that uses or that it still can get warbly.
 
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#293
v-12 said:
For those that have a Helix product and the Anagram, how does the Anagram’s pitch shifting stack up to the Helix’s Poly Pitch/Poly Capo? I tune down 1.5 steps quite often in the Helix, and don’t like how much DSP that uses or that it still can get warbly.
Click to expand...
I did a quick test yesterday 1-2 semitones down and it's way ahead from the Helix one (IIRC, given that I sold the Helix some time ago)
 
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#294
Chrishi87 said:
100 %
Cant´t agree more.
Im more focused on the essentials and really happy how the pedal turned out.
Looking forward for the Audio Playbackk possibilities. Wanted to play along some tracks, but not possible at the moment it seems.
But that thing sounds HUGE. Already velcroed on my board :)

Downloaded some NAM Files. Which sound already better than many many captures on the QC. There is a Brassmaster NAM which is really awesome. Good to see that Fuzzes can be captured.
And I found some good Sansamp NAMs :p
Click to expand...
I'm attempting my first NAM capture, of my Origin Effects DCX Bass at the moment. If I can get the capture sounding ok in an A/B I'll make it available. Really hoping it goes good on the Anagram as then I can sell the board and everything and go down to this single unit!
 
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#296
I’m curious to know how fast and seamless the scene switching is. Say I want to boost during a song, is it seamless just switching to another scene or is it easier to switch presets before a song and then switch to stomp mode?
 
#297
Parzival said:
I’m curious to know how fast and seamless the scene switching is. Say I want to boost during a song, is it seamless just switching to another scene or is it easier to switch presets before a song and then switch to stomp mode?
Click to expand...

Scene switching is instantaneous with no drops, although tails seem to not currently working. There is a momentary drop when changing presets, so do those before the song or during a silent part.
 
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#299
jimfist said:
However, the latency using the Pitch Shifter would vary depending on the frequency of the note being input, correct? Low E 41.2 Hz will track with more latency than open G string 98Hz. In this regard, latency testing is frequency dependent and should be done with this in mind SPECIFICALLY with respect to the pitch shifter for drop-tuning....or am I a meathead and missing something?
Click to expand...
"latency testing" here is in response to the processors being used as well as the AD/DA conversion (if you use FX loops on a digital device you end up having quite a bit of latency added from multiple AD/DA conversions in series)- everything digital has some latency. There is also latency that happens when switching presets on many devices. Pitch-shifting latency is a totally different consideration not taken into account here (will be interesting to hear how their pitch-shifter algorithms fare).
 
Last edited:
#300
gregmon79 said:
What does “neural loader” mean?

I think I understand. But not quite sure…
Click to expand...

The short of it is that amps / cabs / pedals models are made by training neural networks to act the way the original device would. The resulting model is just a data file describing the neural network and the weights between its nodes (perceptrons) that can then be loaded into a piece of software (the loader) that knows use use it with an audio signal to make it sound like the original amp / cab / pedal (inference).

It is called a neural network because its structure is based off of the network of neurons in the brain.
 

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