SCAN & SPREAD deep dive! Chase Bliss Habit PART 2 | Secret Weapons Demo & Review

[@Farold_Haltermeyer]

Annnnd again, must give you huge kudos for being the first demonstrator to actually give the pedal controlled context and not reliance on the randomness it offers. Superb. You sold another one, hope you're on commission. P.S. As a producer/director for some 20+ years I understand the invested time you're putting into these epics and as a one-man show it really is staggering. Thank you again.

[@onionheadguy7094]

Thank you so much for making these videos. It's such a niche hobby, yet your content is so high quality and comprehensive. We don't deserve it. ❤

[@gonzalozech]

Hello Mark, I've been watching a lot of demos of Habit, I really appreciate that you took the time to learn how the pedal can be used to generate a "usable" musical output. I don't want to fall into comparisons, but I just can't.. I had a very bad misinterpretation of the pedal's possibilities as I could only see randomness and caotic noise, and I was specially waiting for your demo to have a real sense of it in a context I could use. I bought the Mood, Blooper and Thermae because of your demos and I'm enjoying them so bad while learning how to use them, thank you.

[@mobiledaw1436]

Many thanks for sharing your knowledge. Expecting my habit tomorrow. Love the low pass filter and everything else it can regurgitate, not into the snakes and ladders finish but it will grow on me I’m sure.

[@thegrimpilgrimusadeanmicha8587]

First improbability drive concept made.

[@azazabacheche3973]

excellent and informative video. thanks!

[@bremki]

Getting some This Will Destroy You vibes about 20 minutes in. Great stuff, homie!! :)

[@steveball7086]

Yea, just a great instructional video. I so appreciate that you’ve obviously invested the time in getting a deep understanding of the pedal’s functionality. This makes all the difference in imparting useful knowledge.

[@louisbaffert742]

Great vidéo Mark ! I have the LVX and the Microcosm, I wonder if Habit could bring something else ? ...

[@PolskiAmbient]

So cool beggining!!!

[@benjaminclapton1109]

Great video! Around 40:45 how are you changing the scan feature to come back more normal than the stuttering sound? Then is the level controlling how long the scanned bits are coming back for? I love this pedal but my biggest concern with it is that the scanned sounds were kinda random and stuttering, I really want parts of my scans to come back for a second or two more cohesive

[@collisiondevices]

you're the best Mark

[@dan-ij5im]

thanks. this is a very interesting pedal. I think talented people could do marvels with it. q: could some nob replace the ex-pedal to sweep through the recording?

[@chrishansondc]

I don’t get it, namely the scan knob. I did learn a bunch and both am more intrigued and frightened by the pedal than ever. Beautiful music and instruction, thank you.

[@USAJ31]

GREASY!

[@JeffreyLangsLoudGuitar]

Good demonstration, though a couple of extra elements would’ve made it make more sense. Firstly, being able to see what you’re actually playing would’ve given better insight into some the low settings of Spread in particular. Without knowing at times what was your playing and what was coming out of the pedal itself it’s hard to know what exactly is going on. Secondly, when you’re doing the long section at the end, when you change dip switch settings you don’t indicate what you’re changing up there, which means it’s still a mystery as to what’s going on.

[@timrizzo3941]

Now having been able to get a couple dozen hours in - it CAN be frustrating. More often, it's just amazing in a way that I've never heard before. It's a compositional tool, a kind of Rube Goldberg machine to feed your ideas into that will give them back to you in all kinds of wonderful and surprising ways. A truly new and powerful tool for composition. I love all of the trio, and it's close with the Blooper and its ability to turn anything at all into a looping glitch beat to play over, but this one's my favorite, both the most accessible and most earth shaking. I will always note certain moments where my understanding of music and sound changed forever - first hearing Sonic Youth's The Diamond Sea is one - and this is like that. I know I'll look back on it as a sea change.

[@sk8rn8thegr8]

ordered, coming tomorrow, a bit scared of this pedal tbh but i think that's a good thing

[@jesselough]

Fuck is the opener on this one ever strong. Sometimes this pedal overwhelms me a little and I kinda get option paralysis with it and use it less than I’d like, but this is such a great refresher of the kind of material I love making with habit (albeit way slower 😴). Wicked good.

[@Jamooshoe]

Great videos. On a seperate note, could you please explain why you use the CBA gen loss as opposed to the other versions? Beyond the realestate, Im wondering if you prefer it’s sound? Thanks

[@markjohnstonofficial]

I only have the CBA and the v2. I think the v2, for subtle sounds actually sounds better BUUUUT honestly I’m just a sucker for the workflow on this version. The knob config is more intuitive for me and I like, very specifically, the wow on this version more. But literally everything else sounds better then the new one.

[@lcglazer]

dont forget it's a flex that you have one. I remember dwelling on getting one all that day, had it in my cart but didn't checkout. It didn't sell out till the middle afternoon surprisingly!

[@thisriver]

Hi great video. I thought you might help me with two questions: Is Habit polyphonic? or can it handle chords? (i own the Meris Hedra and it's a bummer that it can only respond to single notes). Does Habit have any mix control? I can't seem to find this spec anywhere. So is the effect always present at the same rate v/s the dry signal? Thanks so much and cheers from Chile.

[@ArgonautsMusicalTravellings]

The Level knob acts as a mix control and you can go fully wet by using the dry kill dip switch.

[@tendingtropic7778]

Great video thanks! I noticed you use the benson mixwave plugin (in LUNA?) -> which settings do you usually use in the plugin?

[@DalelCampbell]

So you think you could created a guide like this for the Mood?

[@markjohnstonofficial]

Doing a MOOD deep dive would be quite fun but these are very time intensive. This is the result of nearly a week of work.

[@DalelCampbell]

@@markjohnstonofficial Truth be told, I am really surprised it is only a week of work. The insight you've give with regards to the application of this pedal is truly helpful. So thank you! I hope Chase Bliss will commission you to do a Mood overview, and an approach to using the Habit and Mood together! I think that would be if great value to them, as it seems people think there is too much over lap. As an aside, I really enjoy your musicality. You have helped me gain a greater perspective on sound design and composition as a whole. Thank you for your contributions to guitar culture. Best, Dale

[@panzerenjoyer22]

This pedal is so beautiful sounding. Really great video, too! What key are you playing in?

[@markjohnstonofficial]

Playing in C. I’m using D chord shapes but I’m a step down

[@ejjes]

Another great deep dive! What do you think your primary use case for this would be, as someone with all the options you have? Maybe the full song tape loop approach from the end of the video? Or are any of the individual features stand-out enough to warrant use for their own sake?

[@markjohnstonofficial]

I really love the modifiers on the delay. It’s a great reverse delay, a great tape warble delay, and all that. That’s a solid use case. I also think that having this at the very end of a signal chain for long form meditative looping projects is high value. This has the ability to create non repeating patterns better than anything I’ve got.

[@timrizzo3941]

Gosh, that's a huge benefit- to facilitate an ever evolving composition that still has recurring themes and on the fly rather than needing to plot it out entirely. Honestly, the delay is gravy-Gives new meaning to the old adage,"Once is a mistake, twice is jazz"

[@holmanconde]

Looking more and more like our lord and savior everyday.

[@markjohnstonofficial]

Blessings

[@kodykindhart5644]

Saving us with delay and effects?

[@robdavies9478]

So the big question... Habit, Microcosm or both?

[@robdavies9478]

I appreciate they're not the same thing, but I get some similar vibes from them both.

[@markjohnstonofficial]

I wouldn't even say I get similar vibes. One is a mono delay with a tape-esque loop that lives before the delay and the other is a stereo resampler / resynth / flexible phrase looper with reverb and modulation and all sorts of bells and whistles. I like both. The microcosm's looper is more controllable and the Habit's delay is more predictable

[@robdavies9478]

@@markjohnstonofficial Appreciate the time you took to reply. I think I was trying to convince myself I didn't need/want both. I should just accept the inevitable! Excellent video as usual.

[@robdavies9478]

@@markjohnstonofficial Should say as well that your Microcosm video really opened up the capabilities of that pedal to me. I'm continually surprised by what I can get out of it now. It's a pedal I can never see myself being without.

[@robertevans7534]

@@robdavies9478 I went through the same dilemma last week, Microcosm or Habit. I settled on Habit, and I’m beyond happy with it - but I do still want the Microcosm to help fill in the ambiance. Did you end up making the jump on either/both?

[@matthewdavis473]

You need to show yourself playing more so I can copy your style. Lol

[@kennetheginton1182]

This demonstration put me to sleep!

[@benjaminclapton1109]

please respond to my other comment i'm really interested in your response:) @Mark Johnston