The Chase Bliss Onward is a very special kind of glitch and ambient effects pedal. It was presented for the first time at this year’s Superbooth and the idea and sounds immediately appealed to me.
The Onward was developed together with Tom Majeski, who previously developed effects as Cooper FX and has now become part of the Chase Bliss team. The Onward is the product of this cooperation and is roughly based on the Cooper FX Outward.
Housing, potentiometers and switches of the Chase Bliss Onward
The housing of the Onward has the compact format that we already know from Chase Bliss pedals and, with dimensions of 12 x 6.1 x 5.8 cm (L x W x H), fits on any pedal board. The grey-brown paintwork is decorated with a graphic that is reminiscent of the design of the Outward and, in my opinion, is elegant and well done.
Two click-free footswitches activate the two effects “glitch” and “freeze”. They can also perform in a few additional ways, which I will discuss in more detail later. The Chase Bliss Onward has an analog dry-thru signal path and either a true bypass or a buffered bypass. The status is displayed by a bright LED in the reflector housing. A small three-way toggle switch provides direct access to presets. All buttons, potentiometers and switches are very robust and firmly screwed to the housing.
All controls are arranged in the upper half of the pedal and the foot therefore has enough space to step on the footswitch without hitting the potentiometers. The potentiometers have a metal shaft and the potentiometer knobs which are made of matt gray painted metal offer very good usability with their knurling and white markings. They are firmly screwed to the potentiometer.
The six potentiometers control size, mix, octave, error, sustain and texture. In the secondary function, sensitivity, balance (ramp), duck depth and a user setting for sustain can be set. I will explain the exact function of the individual potentiometers in the practical part.
Three triple toggle switches offer different modulation settings. The left switch offers three types of error modulation, the middle one changes the behaviour of the sustain and the right one activates two modulations.
The jacks of the Chase Bliss Onward are on the sides of the pedal. All 6.3 mm jack sockets are designed in amp style and are firmly screwed in. On the right is the input, which can also be used as a stereo input, as well as an Exp/CV connection that enables the connection of an expression pedal or control voltage. A 9 V DC socket is used for power supply. The pedal requires at least 200 mA and battery operation is not possible.
On the opposite side there is the mono or stereo output in the form of a TRS socket and a MIDI glitch connection. Here you can either connect an external foot switch or feed in a MIDI signal, which can also be used to control all hidden features and dip switch functions. A USB socket is provided for firmware updates.
The dip switches of the Onward
The 16 dip switches, for which Chase Bliss is known are attached to the front panel. These can be used to activate the different modulation options for all parameters, either via ramping or via LFO. The 8 switches in the control section are responsible for this. In the customize section there are another 8 switches that change the operation and function of the Onward. For example, “MISO” activates a mono in, stereo out function, “Spread” spreads the stereo spectrum, “Latch” changes the function of the foot switches to a momentary switch and “Sidechain” changes the volume of the freeze effect when the glitch effect starts. “Duck” adds a ducking effect to both effects when additional notes are played, while “Reverse” reverses the playback direction of the glitches and “½ Speed” doubles the playback time of the glitches. At the same time, it reduces the audio quality and thus creates a lofi character. Last but not least, the sample behavior of the pedal can also be changed via “Manual”. New audio samples are then generated when the foot switches are held down in order to achieve a little more control or a certain effect. So you can get a lot out of the pedal here.
The Chase Bliss Onward is delivered in a stylish cardboard box and some stickers are included. You also get the “Field Guide”, a stylish little booklet that is truly more than just an instruction manual. The pedal is described very well here and you get initial ideas and suggestions for getting started with using it. It is worth reading through this guide at your leisure. It ends with “you’re ready, you know everything. Go forward and see what you find.”
The Chase Bliss Onward in practice
The compact Chase Bliss Onward offers two effects: a freeze effect for soundscapes and a glitch effect for stutter effects. Both run in parallel, but can also be used separately or at the same time.
The freeze effect
The effects of the Onward are based on sampling short audio sequences. The freeze effect creates a soundscape that literally freezes the signal. The mix pot can be used to set the mix ratio between the original signal and the effect signal. If you want to float away completely, you can turn the mix pot all the way up to only hear the effect. Depending on how you choose the sustain setting, you will then get beautiful swell effects.
The “Size” pot is used to set the sample length. This also affects the freeze effect, as the time it takes for the sound to swell and fade away is changed. The Chase Bliss Onward captures the sound very well and the frozen sounds flow wonderfully smoothly out of the speakers. Of course, you may have to adjust your playing a little, as fast rock riffs are certainly not ideal for such a chilled effect pedal. If you want to play over the freeze sound, you can simply hold down the freeze button. The incoming audio signals will then be passed through until you release the button.
The style of playing changes the freeze effect. Since the sampling is automatically triggered by the new audio signal, the type of effect can also be controlled very well with the playing dynamically. If you play slowly and gently, the sound becomes more flat, while playing quickly with a lot of attack can make the effect sound choppy.
The length of the freeze can be changed with the “Sustain” potentiometer. If you switch the toggle switch to fast times for attack and release and turn the “Sustain” potentiometer further, shorter segments will be created. This sounds particularly good with a kill dry sound. Of course, an endless sustain can also be created. From short echoes to crazy sound snippets to long synthesizer-like sounds, the sound spectrum is enormous. The middle position of the toggle switch selects a user setting that can be set in the hidden functions.
If you want to add some movement to the sound or add a little more character to the sound, there are numerous options for modulation. With the “Texture” potentiometer, which has its neutral position at 12 o’clock, you can add digital bit crushing effects if you turn the potentiometer to the left, or a more analog distortion if you turn it to the right.
The “Octave” potentiometer, turned to the right, adds the upper octave until only the octave can be heard. This gives the effect more air. Turned to the left, the lower octave is added, which creates really powerful sounds.
With the “animate” switch, you can add slow chorus effects or a vibrato. The speed of the vibrato is set with the “size” potentiometer. This adds little more movement the signal.
The “error” potentiometer adds a little glitch to the whole sound. Three “error” types which can be by using a toggle switch. One of these types changes the size of the sample, another mutes the effect signal now and then or changes the sample rate, and the third changes the direction of the playback and speed of the samples in order to add interesting pitch effects. The further you turn up the “error” potentiometer, the more intense and frequent the “errors” are generated. A hidden function allows to use the different types simultaneously. The type of malfunction also depends on the setting of the “size” potentiometer.
If you have activated the stereo spread function, the errors are distributed differently in the stereo panorama. This adds plenty of movement to the sound.
The glitch effect of the Chase Bliss Onward
The left foot switch activates the glitch effect, which is then of course also triggered automatically unless you hold down the foot switch. Depending on the “size” setting, very short stutter effects or slow square tremolo effects are possible. If you activate the half-speed option, these become even slower. You can use the “sustain” potentiometer to set the exact number of repetitions.
Since all potentiometers affect both effects, both effects always interact very well with each other. You can freeze a chord and then play different glitches over it. Or you can choose slow glitch effects, hold them and blend different freeze carpets over them. You always find new sounds and every change in the potentiometer position expands and changes the sound again.
The user manual also contains great examples of the glitch effect, which give a brilliant insight into the possibilities.
For the really brave, there are also the dip switches with which the potentiometers can be modulated. For example, you could control the sample size using an LFO or add more or less distortion. It is also interesting when the sustain is modulated, as this creates sometimes longer and sometimes shorter freeze effects.
The hidden functions of the Chase Bliss Onward
If you want to adapt the pedal even further to your ideas, all you have to do is to press both foot switches at the same time until the LEDs light up green. Now you can adjust the sensitivity, i.e. the sensitivity of the trigger, to your own guitar playing or the pickups. In addition, you can adjust the volume of the two effects, adjust the behavior of the duck and sidechain effects, and fine-tune the user preset for the sustain. The toggle switches can also be used to assign the influence of error, sustain, modulation, texture and octave to just one effect. For example, the freeze signal can remain unaffected while the glitch effect is distorted and broken down with the “error” potentiometer. A really great idea.
There is also an EQ function here. I particularly like it when you use the internal EQ to cut off the treble a little, especially with an added higher octave. Or you can use the EQ to thin out the effect signal a little so that there is more room for the clean sound. A very useful feature.
To undo all hidden functions, the “preset” switch can be switched back and forth three times. Everything is then back to its original position.
Tap tempo
If you want to adjust the effects to the song speed, press both buttons twice to activate the tap tempo function. Alternatively, the pedal can of course also be synchronized via MIDI. In this case, the “size” potentiometer is used to select the subdivisions.
Kill-Dry and trails can also be activated. In the well-known Chase Bliss style, a live setting and two presets can be selected directly. Others can be controlled via MIDI.
Conclusion
The Chase Bliss Onward provides a sonic paradise and it surprises and inspires in every setting. It is logically structured and sounds can be reproduced perfectly. The stereo options and the extensive modulation make the signal spherical and short glitches with added octaves add a bit of chaos. Here, two effects have been perfectly coordinated and packed into a creative and user-friendly pedal. The Onward is really in a class of its own and I don’t even want to turn it off anymore. From short glitches to Brian Eno sounds (he is also mentioned in the manual), everything is included here.
An absolute recommendation for fans of unusual glitch and freeze sounds. The Onward is more than the sum of the two effects. The interaction and the crazy error effects work differently depending on the sample size and always deliver new sounds. With the numerous hidden features, the effect pedal can be perfectly adapted to your own playing.
All sounds of this review can be found in the german version on Amazona.de
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