Why I Love The Hologram Chroma Console | Review & Demo

[@riotbell5365]

Really cool to see this properly demoed on synths. I always love your penchant for warbly sounds.

[@MilesAwayOfficial]

Thank you fellow warbly sound lover! They are the best, and you know I will instantly love any pedal that excels at them like this does, haha

[@Wild_D]

This is one of the best videos about the chroma console

[@MilesAwayOfficial]

Thank you so much and welcome to my channel! I try to do all my demos in this musical style :)

[@MidlifeSynthesist]

Duuude!!! That first jam!🤯🤩🤩

[@MilesAwayOfficial]

Thank you brother! Stoked you enjoyed!!

[@bitbotrecords]

Oh yes very cool 😎

[@DJSILKWOLF]

Some serious Boards of Canada vibes in here. I can't wait to get this unit. It's so incredibly packed with features and there's no menu diving. Love it.

[@MilesAwayOfficial]

Great compliment thanks!! Glad you enjoyed :)

[@CaidicusProductions]

What an EXCELLENT starting jam! I'm still at the start.

[@MilesAwayOfficial]

Thank you so much! I had a ton of fun making that one :)

[@pooshNchums]

Appreciate you including the pedal comparisons (which I requested 😊). As always your musicianship shines through. I have a lot of gear but none of your composing or producing chops. Always learning. Thanks for the review!

[@MilesAwayOfficial]

Thanks again for suggesting that and watching! Glad I could help and inspire, the chops just come with time and practice !

[@neonether]

Fantastic comprehensive demo! Love the tones!

[@MilesAwayOfficial]

@@neonether thanks!

[@ichigen511]

Came here to learn about the pedal left falling in love with your musical talent. Amazing and inspirational jam! Cheers!

[@MilesAwayOfficial]

Thank you so much!! My current stuff on spotify as Miles Away is more dance, but stay tuned for my new music this year if you like this demo :)

[@Station2Station-du2gh]

As someone who intensely hated the Microcosm, this one is interesting. The Microcosm - every instance of it made everyone sound the same. It was like a box of sugar. This one has variety and flavor - and options. Thanks for showcasing!

[@MilesAwayOfficial]

Thanks for watching! I personally really love the microcosm cause of the genre I make but I get why you might not. This is definitely the more versatile pedal

[@Station2Station-du2gh]

@@MilesAwayOfficial I'm into the same genre - just always thought the Microcosm takes away from the beauty due to it's overstepping sonic fingerprint.. But hey - whatever right? Keep up the good work. Forgot the thumbs up - just given.

[@albertpsaros]

INTRO SONG ROCKS!!!

[@MilesAwayOfficial]

Thank you so much!!

[@kierenmoore3236]

Useful demo, thanks!! - didn’t know every algorithm is stereo … the stereo fuzz is cool! Creative demo at the start. 😎👍🏼 The pedal looks beautiful, too!

[@MilesAwayOfficial]

Thanks so much and glad you enjoyed man!

[@paulclarkin6312]

Very helpful video thanks. Loved the music too. Definitely worth considering. Already have a microcosm and I find it unique!

[@MilesAwayOfficial]

My pleasure! They go so great together, check out my latest video I just posted :)

[@tColorsinspacerecordings]

Wow man, you just sold me on this pedal for sure😊

[@MilesAwayOfficial]

high praise thank you!!!

[@brddork]

I was playing guitar completely in the box but have recently started building up a pedal board again and received the Chroma Console as a christmas gift. I've been loving it and agree that "Sweeten" just pretty much just something I always want on and the reverb is good, but kind of one note. I'm currently looking for a reverb to add on to it for both synth and guitar stuff but there's just so many good options these days. That was a super cool video; thanks for sharing.

[@Eli_B3000]

I have several reverbs, I almost always buy used. It definitely sounds good through: Immerse Reverberator "wet" setting, Blackhole, Big Sky, Collider Delay+Reverb. Even the cheaper reverbs like Hall of Fame sound good, just go with a stereo one.

[@MilesAwayOfficial]

Thanks for watching and glad I could help! I have lots of reverb videos, including a shootout, and I'm working on a new one for 2024. Stay tuned! Basically if price is no issue, get the Meris Mercury X. If you want something more mid/low budget, then it gets a lot harder as there are great options from many companies.

[@MilesAwayOfficial]

I've heard great things about Immerse! Neunaber make great stuff. Do you happen to know if it takes line level well, or is it more tuned for guitars? That's sometimes my worry with reverb pedals. @@Eli_B3000

[@NicolasMelis]

great pedal

[@kylew706]

Your demos are killer! Deff the best jams for a review channel. Next to Alex Ball, but I wouldn’t say he’s a review channel. Love seeing you grow brotha!

[@MilesAwayOfficial]

Thanks so much! Alex Ball is an OG, great channel. Thanks for supporting me!

[@BuckpLAYZnOGAMEz]

Thank you for this video, I've been itching to get my hands on a chroma console

[@MilesAwayOfficial]

Hope you enjoy it!

[@Jason_Drums_]

Fantastic Demo 👌 Awesome Intro 😃 what a Brilliant Pedal this is 💯 🤩 🙌

[@MilesAwayOfficial]

Thanks man! It really is a cool one. Glad you like the jam, its a bit of foreshadowing for some of my new style songs :)

[@Jason_Drums_]

@@MilesAwayOfficial 😃 Can't wait to hear the new songs 👌🤩🙌

[@Livguava]

oh nice! was looking forward to your video on this

[@MilesAwayOfficial]

hope you enjoyed!

[@outofabook]

Thanks!

[@vznquest]

what a beautiful pedal & sound

[@MilesAwayOfficial]

Agreed! Thanks for watching!

[@Newtperc]

WHERE did you get that spectrum visualizer?! And is it analyzing ambient sound or analyzing an audio input?

[@MilesAwayOfficial]

Massdrop FFT Audiolight! it's a light that reacts to whatever noise is in the room.

[@GTChris]

The gesture recording is perfect, that makes this worth getting. Before that I wasn't that impressed. Same reason I love the NightSky. These digital pedals are indeed a plugin in a box so in order for them to account for something more, they need to tell a story and a sequencer or gesture recording does that. Imho

[@MilesAwayOfficial]

Exactly my thoughts! No shade to guitar channels, but some of them I feel miss the power of this by using it for classic guitar multi-fx. With the gestures and the variable signal routing, this is really a synth nerd pedal in guitar clothing!

[@ryanhursh6322]

Damn that opening jam caught me off guard 💯💯💯

[@MilesAwayOfficial]

Thanks so much!! Glad you enjoyed

[@ilovecatsandsynths9702]

Dang, I’m tempted by this. You’re making me into a pedal collector! It’s funny, you were saying how the reverb isn’t so great, then you demo it and I’m like “it sounds pretty good to me”… then you played that clip through the Sloer and it just blew the Chroma Console reverb away. Maybe I like lofi reverbs. I’m tempted. Of course, “weak reverb” translates to “use the diffusion module for something else!”

[@MilesAwayOfficial]

haha, I am glad my love for pedals with synths is spreading to you :) that's my point, if you already own a good reverb, this pedal is a great all in one solution for lots of other fun sounds! but yea, Sloer or Mercury7 just have much nicer sounding reverbs to me with more control (makes sense)

[@touchcircle22]

freakin great demo music.....

[@MilesAwayOfficial]

Thank you so much! I try to make every demo song as musical as possible :)

[@RikMaxSpeed]

Masterful playing!

[@MilesAwayOfficial]

Thanks so much!!

[@tylergay361]

That was sick af 😂 good job bro

[@MilesAwayOfficial]

Thank you!

[@allyourbasearebelongtous2191]

I bought one of these this last weekend. I lOOOOOVE it of course. It's a great pedal. It would be worth it if it were just the delay and lo-fi section. Every single effect is really great. This is the thing though... no one is talking about it... like at all. Seriously. So far no one. Mono. All of these creators go on and on and on and on about the stereo stuff. Dont get me wrong... stereo really is amazing and of course everyone talks about that. But the "thing" is they forget that most guitarists don't run Stereo regularly. Most run mono. Who just has an extra $1200 guitar amp just... laying around. Guitarists trade and sell stuff to get other stuff. Unfortunately extra amps don't stick around. I know this isn't everyone. I'm just saying running a stereo rig is not as numerous as a mono rig. And no one has shown how great the pedal sounds as a simple mono run within the signal chain. It's so good. Everything sounds amazing in a normal signal chain. Hologram killed it with this pedal. Con. There is one con with the pedal. "Secondary Functions." You just push the first and second bank buttons together and that gives you access to those functions. It's easy... but it's still a "con." Boss has (as usual because they're the best) mastered this. It's so easy but people come up with these convoluted ways to do it. I just don't get it. If they just had concentric knobs there would be no reason to worry about weird ways to do the job. You can just do it analog. Lol. It's so simple. But yeah. That's the only con. A small thing... but still. Such a great pedal.

[@MilesAwayOfficial]

Late reply but thx for the comment! For synth people like me, stereo is actually a huge deal since even most cheap poly synths are stereo out. But I totally feel you, for guitar its not as important! Cool feedback about the concentric knobs, I didn't think of that but it totally would be faster for workflow :)

[@peiwei3873]

You have great taste in gear. I have 80% of the same stuff. Will ha e to checkout that box and the erica drums. I prefer maschine though.

[@MilesAwayOfficial]

oh awesome! Thank you!!

[@MrFeego]

Trem-olo.. or Tre-mo-lo?! 😧

[@gnawvy]

Reverb is nice on the Chroma , definitely not as dynamic as the other you showed but can sound just as good implementating the other effects with it

[@MilesAwayOfficial]

Yea true! its not bad, but I don' t like giving up the other better diffusion effects for it!

[@alexyoungbased]

Love this thing, just wish the tracking for that pitch module didn't have a literal full second of latency.

[@MilesAwayOfficial]

It's not as good as Meris live pitch tracking for sure, but its really good as a creative effect mixed in for Microcosm/Reverse Mode C style pitched ambient sounds.

[@GorgBasil]

True. I wish Hologram could 'perfect' this in a future update for this pedal.

[@screamstation]

Nice one. The question is, do you need it if you already own Microcosm?

[@MilesAwayOfficial]

@@screamstation completely different pedal. Microcosm is a specialized for ambient and glitch effects, this is like a toolkit of tons of different classic fx types you can mix and match. If you make ambient mainly, this might disappoint you, but if you are looking for a versatile creative canvas this pedal is unbeatable

[@screamstation]

@@MilesAwayOfficial That’s great to know. Thanks!

[@bio303]

Why'd you have to go so hard on that demo song @ 1:30? Good lord, it's fire!

[@MilesAwayOfficial]

LOL thank you ! I try to make each demo song into something people would actually want to listen to!

[@producewithjt]

I actually LOVE the reverb with short decay times! But no, it doesn’t do “long and lush”..

[@MilesAwayOfficial]

Fair! I tend to like my reverbs long or not at all! haha

[@wavytapes5052]

just got one and am interested in using it as a send in logic as well. not sure how to set that up you should make a tutorial

[@MilesAwayOfficial]

It depends on the interface you have, search a specific tutorial for that- for Logic it’s really straightforward: once you figure out the I/o on your interface, just change the outputs of the track you want to send out of logic away from 1/2 to whatever inputs your interface uses to send stuff out! (Usually 3/4)

[@BlackMan614]

I'm kinda meh with all of these lofi tape emulation pedals. Seems to me the warbly, lowfi tape sound has a limited use. Maybe they should do a hybrid pedal, dsp warble teamed with bbd analog delay??

[@MilesAwayOfficial]

That's a really cool idea!

[@thelevicole]

In the comparison between the the 4 pedals and the chroma console, it gets _really_ muddy in comparison to the 4 pedal chain, which is exactly what my experience is with non-guitars. And that's my beef with Hologram, they really make these things for guitars. They work fine for synths, but there are definitely issues, like this one. My synths sound muddy as hell through this pedal. I even calibrate mine almost every time I use it...

[@relative_vie]

this beats analog heat fx lol in the sense of sound and cost. this literally has the warmth that elketron forgot about

[@MilesAwayOfficial]

Glad you enjoyed it! Its a really fun pedal, I just posted a video on the Big Sky MX if you are curious there too!

[@LAZ-org]

... I see what's going on here... you want me to sell almost all my pedals... but to do that I need to buy another pedal *which button to press meme intensifies*

[@MilesAwayOfficial]

LOL. The dilemma we all face.... no but seriously, don't sell your pedals! The only pedals I think are on the chopping block for me are Lofi/Modulation pedals, cause I will always be a reverb/delay nut. But for mod effects, I think I can use this for 95% of my uses.

[@jansonrawlings8169]

@@MilesAwayOfficialIt’s amazing how good these modulation FX are. I have a vintage mutron phasor and this thing sounds just as analog and classic in my opinion. What a time to be alive

[@GamerAJ-1025]

@@MilesAwayOfficial is it able to do really nice lofi-esque chorus effects?

[@victoratanasov6390]

Interested to find out all of the synths and gear you currently own and use in your studio, current setup and if you are thinking of buying anything else, waiting for a synth 🙂

[@MilesAwayOfficial]

Studio tour video coming soon! I irrationally want a Prophet 10 because its so classic and inspirational. I'm currently listing some gear to fund it. Besides that, UDO Super Gemini looks really cool too.

[@victoratanasov6390]

@@MilesAwayOfficial Having the UDO Super 6 and knowing how it sounds, could just imagine what the Super Gemini is. Would love to check your studio tour video and what’s for sale to be replaced by the Prophet 10.

[@martincarbow5491]

@@MilesAwayOfficial "I irrationally want a Prophet 10 because its so classic and inspirational." Seconded. From my personal experience: Go for it. That thang sounds just awesome if you add some characterful fx after. Just imagine the raw P10 sound through that Sloer… Re: Chroma Console, the sounds and possibilities seem to be great - apart from the reverb, agreed. However, I prefer separate fx because I like to see and control in real time what's going on (I do love the gesture recording and the variable signal routing,.though). So for me, it's gonna be the 2000 Dollar boutique fx chain some time in the far future, LOL…

[@anonymous_friend]

If you have an earthquake, that syntrx on the shelf is done for.

[@MilesAwayOfficial]

True, but I live in BC, so if we have the mega 8-9 earthquake that scientists say will happen eventually , a broken Syntrx is probably the least of my worries 😂

[@outofabook]

Damn, this is easily the best pedal demo video I've seen on youtube. That demo song was SICK, and some great comparisons and explanations in here.

[@unclemick-synths]

Great review - looks like this pedal has mojo.

[@MilesAwayOfficial]

Thank you! It absolutely does

[@Ton369]

For $399, you too can make your music sound like a sound track from a 1970's science fiction film with a corrupted audio feed.

[@MilesAwayOfficial]

You can do a whole lot more than that!

[@JS-BoK-pr2us]

Nope

[@alexeykurilo4381]

Oh, lol. I thought you kinda know what you are taking about, but compering it with Zoia make me thinking you are noob. Zoia can replace all those pedals) but thanks for review anyway…

[@stefanherzog]

Sure, you can do a lot of those things on ZOIA/ZEBU, but not necessarily all of those things at the same time with the same fidelity (CPU) and most importantly: you only have one knob. And yes, you can add a midi controller etc. but ultimately you seem to be missing the point of the Chroma Console: it's so much more playable and immediate than the ZOIA/ZEBU, the latter being much more cerebral. (Disclaimer: I own both a ZOIA and a ZEBU.) So, consider also the inevitable you-can-do-this-on-an-iPad bros in the comments sections on geartube. On a technical level they might be right, but with making music the question is never just "could you do it?" but rather "will you actually do it?". And if a tool inspires somebody to do something then it simply doesn't matter that you could program the same thing on raspberry pi with pure data or whatever. Interfaces matter.

[@alexeykurilo4381]

@@stefanherzog all you just sad makes sense man, but one knob in zoia is never been disadvantage. It is always one knob and first page of your patch where you can have all controls that you need, color coded and located as you need.. It is not like i was trying to say that microcosm made bad pedal, it mostly about part where autor compering pedals, for my taste it was completely wrong..

[@MilesAwayOfficial]

Obviously I know zoia can replace everything, I did 30 min zoia video last year. I don’t own any other stereo compressor, so zoia had to fill in during that section.

[@MilesAwayOfficial]

@@alexeykurilo4381 zoia is great but it’s a totally different workflow and philosophy, exactly. You are limited by cpu and things take longer to connect, rearrange etc. it’s a programmer pedal Vs this is a inspiration pedal. Love both

[@lefunghi6151]

I really hate Hologram. Their pedals are great but theyre a bitch to get in Europe xD

[@MilesAwayOfficial]

hopefully they get a distributor near you soon!

[@kaykramer9045]

I just ordered one from Germany and it was here after 3 or 4 days. I was really shocked 😱

[@lefunghi6151]

@@kaykramer9045 Oh that is great news! How troublesome were customs for you? For me they're usually very hit or miss when I order from outside the EU to Germany. Had some absolute horror stories...

[@kaykramer9045]

@@lefunghi6151 No problem. All costs are calculated in the checkout process. So it’s really very transparent

[@SonicExplorer]

As cool as Lofi fx pedals are-I still feel they are overhyped and overpriced for what they are and what they do. I feel like they are fashionable right now and will eventually fall out of style over time. I still think they are cool but a lot of Lofi fx can be achieved with plugins xln retro color or if you want the real thing buy a cassette player or reel to reel and run your audio through it.

[@MilesAwayOfficial]

Agreed in that XLN Retro Color (Also Arturia Tapemelo) is an amazing plugin. If something is 'just' a lofi pedal, I agree it can be a bit 1 dimensional sometimes, but this can do lofi and then a ton more as well

[@nalaeel219]

You love it because you got it for free……

[@MilesAwayOfficial]

I’ve answered comments like these before: they aren’t paying me anything, otherwise I disclose it, and I only do videos on gear that I genuinely enjoy. This is a side hobby for me, my main work is my artist project Miles Away. I don’t benefit anything by being dishonest, so you are getting my honest opinion on everything I cover. Hope that helps :)

[@vineyardworker]

In a way it would be better if they paid you to do the review but you had to send the unit back. If you required yourself to tell us whether you used that money to buy the product, or spent it on something else, it would make for a more honest bottom line judgement about the product.

[@MilesAwayOfficial]

that's a fair and nuanced take. I can definitely suggest that next time a manufacturer and I get in touch. I will say completely honestly though, I am like Benn Jordan in that I don't do videos on bad gear. These videos take hours and hours to make, and they are a labor of love, so its just no fun to spend that much time on something I don't like. @@vineyardworker

[@vineyardworker]

I used to write reviews on software and hardware for computer magazines, years ago when you got paid by the word. Even when I had to send the products back, just getting to know the people who were sending the stuff made me feel like cutting them a break when I had a choice to make as to what to call attention to and what not. I never made stuff up, it was all ‘honest opinion,’ but it was hard not to downplay the less good stuff and not to play up the sorta good stuff.

[@GorgBasil]

so lets call the cons: for me, one thing I don't like about it and was expecting more and absolutely no one mentions ever is the delay it has when using low pitch. so turn pitch knob down an octave and play in real time (or something recorded): all sounds (wet signal) come with delay compared to the dry sound or the original attack. I can't use it as an octaver, especially for lowered pitch. I wonder if this is something that can be improved through future firmware updates.

[@lennypichardoborrello6532]

I just hate the guitar pedal format

[@dyscotopia]

Most standard stompbox guitar pedals don't look like this. This reminds me a bit of the shape of 1010 music's gear. I want to get into pedals with a little minimixer for gear with individual outs, but I keep buying synths and drum machines instead 🤷

[@Eli_B3000]

Somewhat agree, it fits on my desktop in my studio decently like a studio module should, but I wouldn't mind a different case for it.

[@MilesAwayOfficial]

Do you prefer rack gear? Interested to hear your thoughts. For me I love the small yet hands on format of pedals. Also, cost wise, the rack gear I lust after is way out of reach for now (Distressors, Lexicons etc)

[@unclemick-synths]

​@@MilesAwayOfficial I'm no fan of rack gear. I still have some old 19" units but none of them are in racks any more. I found racks so restricting in the 80s/90s even with patch bays. I much prefer grabbing stuff and plugging it in.

[@Itaketoomanypics]

dammit im sold

[@MilesAwayOfficial]

haha sorry but not sorry!🤣 it's a great one, enjoy it!