Butterfly Effects Dobbo is a playful stereo granular FX pedal/stompbox designed to spark curiosity and for colorful sonic experimentations.
I’m a big fan of granular processors. Where this engine is installed doesn’t really matter to me. There are great plugins, apps, hardware synthesizers, and even pedals. There’s a suitable tool for every workflow.
Today I stumbled upon a granular pedal that I completely missed, or is still flying under the radar. It’s Dobbo, the recent pedal from the new Belgium company Butterfly Effects.
Butterfly Effects Dobbo
Dobbo is a stereo live granular pedal designed to spark curiosity and inspire new sonic directions, says the Butterfly Effects. The pedal offers a charming, colorful interface with various potentiometers and switches.
Like traditional granular processors, Dobbo takes small bits of sound and rearranges them in real-time. Of course, it can also stretch, pitch, and blur these bits in different ways or transform them into rhythmic textures.
Dobbo users are greeted by familiar parameters known from other granular FX. Rate controls the speed at which the grains are triggered either internally with optional tap tempo control or via MIDI clock.
Then, time sets the delay time of the grains, pitch sets the pitch of the grains (-2 oct/+ 2 octave), and mix is a dry/wet mix control.
For the pitch, you can also tweak the behavior of how the knob pitches the grains. There are three modes available: smooth, octave, and semi-tone.
Space controls the spatial character of the grains. In the first third of the knob, the grains are panned randomly. If you pass this point, you add a reverb to the grains, and the stereo panning or volume continues to increase.
Additionally, you can set the playback direction (forward, reverse, or random) and the envelope of the grains with dedicated switches.
Playful Randomization
A highlight of the pedal is the chance section, consisting of the chance knob and dice button. They allow you to individually randomize the rate, size, time, and pitch parameters.
Thanks to the colors around the LEDs of this section that correspond to the colors around the knobs, you can very playfully explore new parameter settings by randomizing them.
Moreover, Butterfly Effects Dobbo has a hold mode, with which you can hold up to five seconds of audio in the internal buffer. You can also save your favorite settings in eight preset locations.
On the connection side, it has a stereo input and output, where the input uses a TRS stereo socket. Plus, it has an expression pedal/MIDI input, allowing you to control parameters expressively.
Musicians who prefer to use the pedal with electronic instruments will be pleased, as it offers full MIDI support with MIDI clock, CC messages, and program changes.
First Impression
A lovely granular FX pedal with a feature set that’s not too packed. I really like it because it has a very hands-on interface with minimal menu diving.
Butterfly Effects Dobbo is out now for 350€ + VAT and ships from Belgium. The next batch will be available at the end of the year.
More information here: Butterfly Effects
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