Everything you need to know about ONWARD by Chase Bliss | Secret Weapons

[@frankmarino1385]

This is probably one of the most thorough and understandable pedal reviews that I have ever watched. I would call this a Master Class for not only understanding the capability of the Onward, but a clear explanation and demonstration of how to configure the device to evoke so many weird and wonderful textures for a newbie like myself that would like to get straight to the beauty of the sounds without pouring through the manuals. I will definitely be saving this video in my playlist as a go to reference. Thank you for sharing this information.

[@oscillatingdecay]

This generation of chase bliss is just *chefs kiss*

[@MaTTheWish]

Mark is a excellent musician. I always love the intros, so tasteful.

[@ThePedalboardOrchestra]

I absolutely agree, his intros are always outstanding 🙌

[@ClotheslineRevival]

A fittingly epic video for an epic pedal. Thank You!!!

[@TVTheDive]

Best tutorial ever, from my point of view. Thanks a lot & respect!

[@Officialfilter]

I love your music so much!!! Great Job!!

[@markjohnstonofficial]

Ahhh damn. Thank you, that’s incredibly cool to hear.

[@TheBurdenOfHope]

The contextual songs make your demos and the Longform format make for just a sublime experience

[@R1GAMBLER]

ditch the word "sublime." ditch your cat. eat RED MEAT.

[@ABC-bm7kl]

Brilliant tutorial, Mark! You answered all of my questions and illustrated some wonderful functions of which I was unaware. New sub!

[@charleyeastman1795]

I am enjoying the era of pedal video *auteurs.* Thanks for this helpful deep dive. I would not have considered buying this pedal without it.

[@cyrildavid]

EDIT: The intro was hype as hell. Always love watching these premieres for this reason.

[@patrickr6505]

SO what.. Every product is "hyped"..

[@markjohnstonofficial]

The alternative being… a new release that nobody is looking foreword to?

[@cyrildavid]

I realize now text is hard. That was meant to be a positive comment based on the intro song. "This is hype" or great :)

[@patrickr6505]

@@cyrildavid Ok!!👍

[@patrickmckay6621]

​@@markjohnstonofficialwhat a great intro!awesome atmo

[@gonzalozech]

Chase Bliss releases pedals faster than I can save to buy them

[@YesItsReallyKeith]

yeah.... and not cheap !!!!

[@ArrakisOCE]

That's because they are all the same pedal - just different artwork and slightly different coding in the EEPROM. It can all be achieved by basic software.

[@gonzalozech]

@ArrakisOCE that's incorrect, there's also different hardware involved. For example, Thermae uses 3 bucket brigade chips, which are not used in other pedals.

[@ArrakisOCE]

@@gonzalozech True, they do seem to have a couple of analog pedals which are clearly marketed as such - basic BBD chip circuits, etc, most likely delays and chorus. Any pedal not expressly marketed as analog is almost certainly identical inside - the difference is the programming of the FV-1 chip. You can build your own FV-1 pedal and either download EEPROM images or even have a go at programming your own.

[@dylanrogers510]

So cool watching your personal style develop so much across the years.

[@brentt8893]

The most in-depth and accessible introduction to a pedal I’ve ever sat through… Thoroughly enjoyable… Cheers Mark… All the best…. 1:02:36

[@chrislink73]

Just got my Onward yesterday! Love it already, but there is so much I still need to learn about it -- there's always a bit of a learning curve with CBA pedals because they pack so much into these little pedals. You made it sound great in the intro, thanks for the helpful video!

[@mrmohantyexperiments]

The production quality on that intro was absolutely sick my man. You’re awesome.

[@jimcowart8636]

Mark - what a phenomenal walkthrough - thank you! I'm very interested in both Onward and Chroma Console (for different reasons and use cases, of course) - but your walkthrough of Onward has tilted me toward it first. Very grateful to have found your channel.

[@monkoosbob0]

I was interested in the MXR Layers for similar purposes but this is much closer to my ideal "sustainer" pedal. Thanks for the video

[@benreigle8104]

Excellent review. The in depth explanation of the midi and how Onward locks in was exactly the information I was looking for. 🙏🏽

[@tonyburnett6286]

Very informative. I'll need to watch sections over again while I play with the pedal. Great job.

[@jessephillips722]

You have the best reviews and demos. FYI. Thank you

[@bobbyblair6862]

I've never really wanted a CB pedal because of the learning curve, but this demo was superb. I have to have one of these! Great job!

[@thevaliant_music]

This intro song blew me off my feet! So freaking awesome!

[@sese6344]

Your videos became my always on companion while implementing everything into my mc6 pro. Superb Thanks for your awesome work

[@jburdsinfuse]

It took 25 seconds to hit the sub button - that intro was 🔥

[@crag_]

the intro reminds me of boston manor, thanks for such a detailed review

[@drcockles]

Love the intro demo music yet alone the pedal stuff, lovely 🤟🏽

[@sons7429]

This was really helpful. Thanks!

[@g0ld3nh34rt]

I just bought the mood a week ago. But after watching the video on onward, I feel like this is more or less what I wanted from the mood than what I got.

[@patrickr6505]

Don't worry,Run Onward into Mood because Mood has a fantastic stereo reverb..

[@SONWU]

excellent demo!

[@sykorabsurd]

... "drifting off into timeless nonsense"... is as fine a description of music & therefore of human existence as I've yet heard.

[@jordanmuller4735]

Props to the Minus The Bear reference :)

[@YesItsReallyKeith]

EXCELLENT TUNE !!! wow !!!!

[@sons7429]

Great video man! This is an unreal user manual for this pedal! When I’m using mine with the freeze, I’m getting some distortion… could this be my playing or possibly my compressor hitting the pedal? 🙏I have the texture at noon.

[@KunchangLeeMusic]

Agree with you about revisiting old pedals I’m hoping we get a dark world mark two and a thermae mark two that would be wild

[@dariopos]

This is amazing, I get a bit lost with running midi from a daw to pedals, any help I could get on this would be very appreciated

[@colepearson2345]

Thanks for another great video. Im curious.. will Clean replace the Cali 76 on your board?

[@ClangLab]

The intro song is 🔥

[@patrickr6505]

Wow tap tempo is a cool feature ...

[@jakobDium]

i got the microcosm already. and want to buy the onward or the mood mk2.what do u think its a better option to pair with the microcosm? cheers

[@piericberg9213]

Hello Mr. johnston I'm curious about the Bass you're using? Sounds great!

[@Speedster27]

He talks a lot about pedals (in a great way) but damn In this specific video it he’s like HES REALLY excited for this one

[@markjohnstonofficial]

I like things that make my guitar weird but on the DAW’s grid really well. It’s basically my favorite thing

[@Speedster27]

@@markjohnstonofficial no 100% I feel the same damn way about this pedal I’ve been waiting for your video for a good bit

[@abshinasi4581]

What is the Les Paul looking guitar at the start?

[@MR1JUNO]

Man I enjoy your intro songs. Are your songs available on Apple Music?

[@DeepintheWood_Folk-and-More]

Anyone told him that hi is the clone of Peter Green? Great review man!

[@markjohnstonofficial]

Oh I’m very aware.

[@DeepintheWood_Folk-and-More]

@@markjohnstonofficial I love your reviews man, keep on, keep on... Cheers from France!

[@TheToneWork]

This is what I was hoping for in Mood. It's not quite a Microcosm, but I might like it more. Seems like it's a lot less random than Mood.

[@g0ld3nh34rt]

My thoughts too. Just bought the mood but may return it for onward

[@78awhite]

@@g0ld3nh34rt just a note on that... I find that the Onward and things like the Reverse Mode C make great "Mood Food". I don't find the mood to be random, it seemed less so the more I understood the clock function/interaction.

[@g0ld3nh34rt]

@@78awhite when you say mood food are you saying it's like mood in those instances? Or that onward would feed great into mood

[@patrickr6505]

I think he's talking about feeding it into Mood.. Also have you tried synching the channels in Mood?..It gives it a lot more control and timing.. I wouldn't be able to get rid of Mood,it's amazing,so is Onward..

[@g0ld3nh34rt]

I ordered an onward. I’ll play around with both and make a decision.

[@brandofhero]

Somehow your music reminds me of Manchester Orchestra mixed in with Brand New.

[@markjohnstonofficial]

Yeah we take both of those comparisons.

[@PaulOBrienComposer]

That mustang has a real nice tone balance. Are they stock pickups?

[@markjohnstonofficial]

I love this guitar. It’s all original from 1972 and I’m the second owner.

[@Musicislife668]

What program do you use for the drum tracks on your intros? They sound so crisp

[@markjohnstonofficial]

Mixwave Aaron Gillespie mixed into atr tape and a Distressor plugin.

[@cpkirk9585]

Can you play over the freeze? - like the EHX Freeze for example

[@letmeooze]

I think so. I think if you press and hold the freeze switch, the light turns green and it stops following your playing and just holds the last frozen sample.

[@cpkirk9585]

​@@letmeoozethank you 👍

[@tokiboi6777]

so it's a mediocre digital delay with a freeze? I understand something else under the term "glitch" I guess.

[@Ambient-Auroras]

Start releasing these tracks already Mark

[@midnighthour4299]

Looks like another pedal already done by red panda, and unless you use midi, itsnot for 75% of players.

[@ericbee8569]

It's like TWO Red Panda pedals in one

[@winstonsmith8236]

75% of players of which genre? I bet post rock/ambient/shoegaze/soundtrack/drone/electronic players would disagree. I certainly do.

[@gmo2932]

I’m not onboard this pedal. Rare miss by chase bliss imo. If mark can’t make it sound good then no one will. And I’ve seen many demos, this is by far the best.

[@yurijogurtsov8710]

haven't finished watching yet, sure it's gonna be great. but really, why many reviewers waste so much screen time explaining the basics, if CB have already provided a clear and thorough explanation of every function by the inventor himself? and the (RT)FM being available. MJ feels particularly slow here: it took 45 mins to learn/hear smth others didn't show in 10mins... and this despite talking so fast ;) still a great demo, as it lets one hear 'into' the sound very well. but it took a full hour to get to Texture control.. wouldn't the no-talk format work better I wonder? ps: a CB beta tester told me Size influences Freeze a little bit too (despite it still grabs the last bit like MJ says), and it can be heard here. Size also influences the Animate behaviour (and A is a part of F). also, isn't Texture CCW just SRR (so-so sounding), no bitcrush at all? pps: finished, skipping more and more to the end. it's great still, despite being too long ;)

[@markjohnstonofficial]

I’m being particularly thorough here. Like I said in the video; I think this is one of the most useful implementations of this style of effect in pedal format I’ve ever played and I want to make sure I’m really getting the point across. The video is also cut down from over 120 minutes of footage for something comically adjacent to brevity, but I understand not everyone has the patience for my approach. Theres zero chance I’m implementing an intentionally shorter format , nor will I be considering a no talking format. Plenty of other channels do the no talking less than 15 minutes thing and I’ve got no need to join them.

[@patrickr6505]

Personally I love Marks thorough deep dive with explanation..As he says their are tons of no talking short demos available..To me I like both formats but Mark's demos are a joy to watch....

[@yurijogurtsov8710]

@@patrickr6505 MJ has his merits that's for sure! for one, it let me hear the range of every knob so well as if I had it here with me. this is rare. but this is exactly why I think subtitles would've worked even better, and saved half the running time

[@yurijogurtsov8710]

@@markjohnstonofficial that's cool man. as I said, despite my criticism, the very important virtue of your demo is that it allows to hear the entire range of every knob, in many combinations (and they interact here a lot, organically so to say). I enjoyed this aspect alot. this is the reason why I suggested subtitles instead of speech - who'd dispute it allows an even deeper dive into the sound? surely it's up to you. but discussion here is also read by others, incl. those who only start their channels for example. so they can see there's a demand for a different format. at least this