Pamparo in Toronto

Bluetooth Multi-point
I was looking for a Bluetooth headset in Bestbuy when I noticed the Plantronics Discovery 650E with Multipoint technology. I kinda have an idea based on the name what multipoint would be, but, I still dared to ask. (some have been para-phrased by me)

Me: What is this multipoint technology?
BB: Multipoint, because is has 2 microphones.
Me: Hmm … interesting.
BB: Yeah, it supposed to make the voice sound better. I haven’t seen much returns on this one

Man, that is not even close … Here’s what Multipoint Technology is on the product page:

“Multipoint technology for easy switching between multiple phones or Bluetooth devices”

But that is nothing compared to this camera that is on sale right in the heart of downtown Toronto!

All-new exclusive Sony Syber-Shot

In case you did not get it, here’s the link to the original Sony product: Sony Cyber-shot

Catalinbread's Dirty Little Secret

And you think it’s something interesting!

Thanks to my rarely-used Analogman Bi-Chorus (which was sold for fairly good price), I managed to get this “Marshall-in-a-Box” pedal. Man, only if I can buy the chops of the pros! Alas, it’s not to be! At least, getting stuff like this makes me feel like a rockstar!

First impression … as soon as I struck an open-G chord with the gain barely at 9 o’clock position, I thought that I’d be keeping this for a while!

So there, now you know my Dirty Little Secret by Catalinbread!

It took forever to get the pedal shipped that my excitement had died down and had been replaced with anxiousness, second-guessing and to be honest, annoyed that it took more than 2-weeks from US to Canada. I’ll bet those people in Customs were all watching the Winter Olympics!

Regardless, it is here now and that’s what matters!

Apparently, this device is using the same chip that was on the DamageControl Timeline (SHARC AD21369). That is a lot of processing power and it’s evident that the engineers has put in a lot of efforts in creating this.

Pros:
1. Great analog sounds especially with the Bucket Loss
2. Tap-Tempo with dotted-8ths/triplets
3. Modulation can be very subtle to “warble’y” sounds when maxed

Cons:
1. Power, why does it have to use more than 100mA!!! oh well
2. Can’t go back to default non-tapped setting without changing the speed dial

On a side note, I compared it side-by-side with my Diamond Memory Lane (v1). Although the Brigadier sounded good by itself, it could not match the way the delay degrades on the ML. And this is not a knock against Strymon but I was just a little surprised that the ML really stood it’s ground.

Anyhow, here’s some random noodling that I did as soon as I got this baby!

The verdict after 30 minutes of playing with it … it has a velcro and a place in the board!

Pedalboard as of March 2010 (with Brigadier)

Obviously, I have to put more mileage into this to be able to utilize and judge all the features. But right out of the box, it produces very usable tones. It’s not as pristine as a digital delay even with the bucket loss at 0. And this is not what it was intended for. It was intended to simulate the bucket brigade analog chips which are really getting close to extinction. It does a great job at doing that … and a whole lot more. This will definitely stay with me for quite some time!