While the Microcosm certainly adds a lot of dynamic qualities to your sound, I thought it might be interesting to add some ‘motion’ to the sounds as well, by subtly or aggressively changing the amount and level of effects parameters over time. Why not try to control some of the effects parameters using Ableton MIDI automation?!? After a few sessions I got more comfortable with the main functions and decided to dig a bit deeper into the secondary functions and that’s when it hit me. When I first got the unit I literally spent hours flipping through the effects and turning the dials, experimenting with a simple synth melody played on repeat. These effects will definitely add dimension, space, texture and harmonics to your sounds, and opens up a ton of possibility for surprise. Here’s one by Ricky Tinez and a sound only demo of all presets on the Red Means Recording channel. There are a few great YouTube video reviews on it to give you a better sense of what this thing can do. If that weren’t enough, it also has a 60 second Phrase Looper as well! I haven’t even started messing with that yet, but can only wonder where my fertile imagination and moderate coding ability will take me! All told there are 11 distinct effects and 44 unique presets.Īll effects can be time synced to an external MIDI clock, and almost all functions of the box can be controlled via MIDI. Each variation comes with 4 presets that vary the effect ranging from subtle to intense.
It’s got 4 main effect categories like Micro Loop, Granules, Glitch, and Multi Delay, with 2 or 3 variations within each category. Hologram Electronics more aptly calls it ‘A new effects toolkit for adventurous musicians’ and I whole heartedly agree! To call the Microcosm an ‘effects box’ is really setting the bar pretty low. Modocosm is a MIDI modulation matrix plugin for Ableton Live that I built to manipulate some of the functions of the amazing Hologram Electronics Microcosm effects box.įor those who just want to get down to business, check out the Getting Started guide for more details, or check out the YouTube videos on installing and using the MODOCOSM plugin.