I figured I’d share my experience with the Darkglass Anagram after using it during a gig this past weekend. We’re a four-piece band and played at a local brewery.
This was my second time using the Anagram and I'm getting used to it. It held up well throughout the show with minimal tweaks to my sound. I ran both a Spector Euro and a Sabre through a Mesa Subway stack (the 1x15 and 1x12 combo). My pedalboard setup was pretty straightforward: Anagram, a Shure wireless, and a 3 Leaf Audio Proton, all powered by a TrueTone CS6 (took a risk but yes, it can power them!)
In preparation, I dialed in 4-5 presets ahead of time, tailored to different sections of our set.
- The envelope filter didn’t quite give me that "quack" I was after, even with some overdrive in front. Thankfully, I had the 3 Leaf Proton in the loop.
- I tried both the HL and Limiter compressors but found it hard to tell how much effect they were having. I miss a gain reduction meter, or a blinking led, led or some sort of UI indicator.
- Touchscreen gestures still feel a bit clunky. Sometimes I just want to tap a block, but I end up entering 'drag' mode (when the screen turns purple). And scrolling up and down when using two parallel rows of blocks isn’t the smoothest experience either.
- Switching between presets and scenes during the set proved to be one of the more challenging parts. I kept forgetting I had to hold the right knob to toggle between Scene and Preset modes (don't use Stomp). Naturally had to switch presets in between songs, but kept forgetting to switch back to Scene, and those 2-3 seconds slow things down. I'm thinking I might need a dedicated button to really streamline things.
- Related to the above, foot navigation is something I’m still adjusting to. I’ve gotten used to pressing two footswitches to bank up or down (I wear size 10.5 shoes), but it’s not second nature yet. Adding the magnetic toppers from my stomp helped.
-It was a nice discovery that while inside the pedal config screen, you can toggle through scenes and see the differences at the knob level apply in real time. The Anagram intuitively stores these settings as you tweak scenes through and you need to click Save only once, as opposed to the stomp.
- Wish there was a latch mode. eg: We play “Black” by Pearl Jam, and I need a somehow pronounced chorus for one short lick in the verses, I missed being able to quickly toggle that effect on and off with a hold action. I had to switch scenes just to bring in the chorus, then switch back. Got exhausted and didn't do it in the second verse.
- On the bright side, we played “Sober,” and I was able to run the Proton in the loop with a Duality block and the Sublime octaver. That combo actually worked well for synthy sounds. BUUUT I did try integrating an expression pedal to control filter cutoff on the Mooger Fooger block, but didn’t get the result I hoped for. As i said, the built-in envelope filter still leaves a lot to be desired. I managed to assign expression control to the fuzz, octaver and some mellow delay, but since it can't affect the FX loop other than volume, didn’t really deliver the sound I was after (look for Sober byTool in Budapest on YT).
- One more note on gestures and interactions: I use 4 macros to configure parameters controlled by the EXP pedal and I find myself having to apply excessive speed and distance on my swipes across the horizontal screen to scroll through them. I'd probably adjust the velocity and touch slop thresholds to make the Anagram more sensitive to shorter and lighter swipes, cause it gets exhausting.
Still, this was only my second gig with the Anagram. I’m getting more comfortable with it each time, and I know that with more practice I’ll be faster at navigating it and setting up presets that follow our setlist more intuitively. I didn’t have to bend down this time, which felt like a win. That said, I ended up using my heel to turn some knobs.. oops.
There’s definitely room for sonic and functional growth, but overall I’m really enjoying the Anagram. The flexibility and ease of setting up blocks and routing on the fly is impressive, on the stomp, I could never. I’m genuinely excited to be an early adopter and see how the platform evolves. There's really nothing like it right now in the industry and it's exciting to help the platform evolve, with it's growing pains and all.
This was my second time using the Anagram and I'm getting used to it. It held up well throughout the show with minimal tweaks to my sound. I ran both a Spector Euro and a Sabre through a Mesa Subway stack (the 1x15 and 1x12 combo). My pedalboard setup was pretty straightforward: Anagram, a Shure wireless, and a 3 Leaf Audio Proton, all powered by a TrueTone CS6 (took a risk but yes, it can power them!)
In preparation, I dialed in 4-5 presets ahead of time, tailored to different sections of our set.
- Hard Rock: For the 90s grunge tunes, I went with a compressor, fuzz, chorus, and a Neural Amp.
- Americana: Mellow rock tones, inspired by IMA’s sig preset with a bit of grit, some chorus and octave
- Chewy-ish: IMA replicated, for more synth-style sounds.
- Slap: Built for the Chili Peppers stuff, but I chickened out and didn’t end up engaging it at all
- The envelope filter didn’t quite give me that "quack" I was after, even with some overdrive in front. Thankfully, I had the 3 Leaf Proton in the loop.
- I tried both the HL and Limiter compressors but found it hard to tell how much effect they were having. I miss a gain reduction meter, or a blinking led, led or some sort of UI indicator.
- Touchscreen gestures still feel a bit clunky. Sometimes I just want to tap a block, but I end up entering 'drag' mode (when the screen turns purple). And scrolling up and down when using two parallel rows of blocks isn’t the smoothest experience either.
- Switching between presets and scenes during the set proved to be one of the more challenging parts. I kept forgetting I had to hold the right knob to toggle between Scene and Preset modes (don't use Stomp). Naturally had to switch presets in between songs, but kept forgetting to switch back to Scene, and those 2-3 seconds slow things down. I'm thinking I might need a dedicated button to really streamline things.
- Related to the above, foot navigation is something I’m still adjusting to. I’ve gotten used to pressing two footswitches to bank up or down (I wear size 10.5 shoes), but it’s not second nature yet. Adding the magnetic toppers from my stomp helped.
-It was a nice discovery that while inside the pedal config screen, you can toggle through scenes and see the differences at the knob level apply in real time. The Anagram intuitively stores these settings as you tweak scenes through and you need to click Save only once, as opposed to the stomp.
- Wish there was a latch mode. eg: We play “Black” by Pearl Jam, and I need a somehow pronounced chorus for one short lick in the verses, I missed being able to quickly toggle that effect on and off with a hold action. I had to switch scenes just to bring in the chorus, then switch back. Got exhausted and didn't do it in the second verse.
- On the bright side, we played “Sober,” and I was able to run the Proton in the loop with a Duality block and the Sublime octaver. That combo actually worked well for synthy sounds. BUUUT I did try integrating an expression pedal to control filter cutoff on the Mooger Fooger block, but didn’t get the result I hoped for. As i said, the built-in envelope filter still leaves a lot to be desired. I managed to assign expression control to the fuzz, octaver and some mellow delay, but since it can't affect the FX loop other than volume, didn’t really deliver the sound I was after (look for Sober byTool in Budapest on YT).
- One more note on gestures and interactions: I use 4 macros to configure parameters controlled by the EXP pedal and I find myself having to apply excessive speed and distance on my swipes across the horizontal screen to scroll through them. I'd probably adjust the velocity and touch slop thresholds to make the Anagram more sensitive to shorter and lighter swipes, cause it gets exhausting.
Still, this was only my second gig with the Anagram. I’m getting more comfortable with it each time, and I know that with more practice I’ll be faster at navigating it and setting up presets that follow our setlist more intuitively. I didn’t have to bend down this time, which felt like a win. That said, I ended up using my heel to turn some knobs.. oops.
TLDR; My wishlist:
- Improved envelope filters with more character and sensitivity. Q control, Filter cut off.
- Some sort of visual compressor meter
- Phasers
- Latch mode for momentary on/off toggling of effects. Maybe there is one and im missing it?
- Smoother screen gestures for scrolling, tapping and dragging
- Easier way to toggle between Scene and Preset modes
- More footswitch functionality, or the option to assign more custom actions
- I know its coming, but MIDI support, ideally with per-preset CC mappings. I'm itching for MIDI support to come to the Anagram, as my Future Impact IV is just sitting here on my desk, waiting to be integrated into the setup. eg: I want to be able to control Filter cut offs on Preset 1, and VCOs on Preset 2, with the same expression pedal' for example
There’s definitely room for sonic and functional growth, but overall I’m really enjoying the Anagram. The flexibility and ease of setting up blocks and routing on the fly is impressive, on the stomp, I could never. I’m genuinely excited to be an early adopter and see how the platform evolves. There's really nothing like it right now in the industry and it's exciting to help the platform evolve, with it's growing pains and all.
