Chase Bliss Dark World Dual Channel Reverb Guitar Effect Pedal Cooper Keeley

Manufacturer's Description

Digital World.  Dark Heart. Dark World™ is the first fully digital offering from Chase Bliss Audio; a unique dual channel reverb that we made with a little help  from our friends. Cooper FX is responsible for the “Dark”  channel; a collaborative effort  influenced partly by their Generation Loss and  Outward designs. Keeley Electronics crafted the “World” channel, which houses three absolutely gorgeous Hall, Plate, and  Spring  algorithms. Put together, the channels can be routed in 33 distinct  ways, creating a stunning palette of reverb ranging from subtle, tasteful, and  lush all the way to broken video  cassette, glitch shimmer, and  infinite freeze. Add all this to the dense digital  control and  full MIDI, dip-switch, and  preset implementation Chase Bliss is known for, and  you have  yourself a very fun, powerful, and  player- friendly reverb pedal in a small package.
 
MOD | SHIM  | BLACK  TOGGLE

This toggle selects the reverb program that you’d like for the Dark channel. Mod is a reverb inspired by Cooper FX’s Generation Loss, and  is a warbly, wispy, degraded VHS emulator. Shim is a unique dual path reverb design with infinite-style Decay influenced by some elements of the Outward pedal. In this mode, one  reverb path freezes a slice of your incoming audio  while the other reverb path loops  back its previously  frozen  slice. The reverb paths switch roles (from freezing, to loop  playback)  back and forth at a LFO rate  dictated by the Decay knob;  CCW is crazy fast and  CW increases LFO time. In Black mode, audio  is sampled and  frozen  based on your playing dynamics. When  you play your instrument loudly, the previously  frozen  audio  in the reverb loop  will be erased and  the newer sounds will be sustained infinitely. The threshold of this envelope-based effect  is controlled by the Decay knob.  The higher the Decay knob,  the harder it will be to clear the frozen  sound, and  at fully CW the frozen  sound will never  be overwritten by any incoming audio.

DECAY  (RAMP)

When  you don’t have  any dip switches assigned for ramping, this control is known as the Decay knob  for the Dark channel. This knob  changes its function depending on what program is active.  In Mod mode, Decay controls the reverb amount / time of decay. In Shim mode, the Decay knob  controls the LFO time switching between the two reverb paths described above in the toggle section. Clockwise  increases the LFO time. In Black mode, this knob  controls the sensitivity  for incoming audio  to be frozen  – at the max clockwise  position no new audio  is allowed in. If a dip switch is engaged for ramping, you can set  this knob  to control any of the five parameters individually or simultaneously (Mix, Dwell, Modify, Tone, Pre-Delay),  and  have  it either modulate (Bounce) or ramp- and-hold (rise or fall) via dip switches in the back of the pedal. In this case,  this knob  controls the ramp  time in which this takes  place.

MODIFY

This knob  changes its function depending on which Dark channel program is active.   In Mod mode, Modify controls the warble  / hiss / broken-down-nature of a failing video cassette tape, turning clockwise  increases all of these neat things. In Shim mode, Modify controls an octave that is mixed  in to the reverb. Turn clockwise  to introduce +1 octave and  turn counterclockwise to introduce a -1 octave; noon  has no pitch  shifting  mixed  in.  In Black mode, Modify controls the volume  of the frozen  audio.

HALL  | PLATE  | SPRING TOGGLE

This toggle selects the reverb program that you’d like for the World channel. These  algorithms are inspired by their beautiful, real-life reverb namesakes.

DWELL

Sets the intensity of the World channel’s reverb, and  the amount of time it takes  to decay.

PRE-DELAY

This controls the amount of space between the initial note attack, and  when  you start  hearing world channel reverb reflections. Counterclockwise is 0ms and  clockwise has a time of 200ms.

MIX

Sets the wet/dry mix on the device. Counterclockwise is full analog dry-through while turning the knob  clockwise introduces an increasing amount of wet signal. Dry path is 100% analog. Dry is unity until the last bit of the sweep where it drops off entirely.  The gain for both wet and  dry paths can be set  to taste via internal trimmers.

TONE

This single  knob  is a global  control for the completely separate tone algorithms on each  channel. The Dark channel features a slightly resonant low pass  filter on all three programs. The World channel employs a gentler, more  traditional low pass  filter with the Spring  program having a slighter darker top  end  than Hall and  Plate.

PARA | D > W | W > D TOGGLE

This toggle is used only when  both channels are active. “PARA” sets  the channels in parallel, while the other two position set  the channels in series. “D > W” means the Dark channel is cascaded in series  into the World channel. “W > D” means the World channel is cascaded in series into the Dark channel.

D &  W BYPASS STOMPS

Activates or bypasses each  channel. These  can be changed to a momentary bypass or momentary active via a dip switch in the back of the pedal if it is desired. This pedal allows for “True Bypass”  via a relay, Buffered Bypass, or Buffered Bypass with Trails selectable via a dip switch in the back of the pedal.

LOWER  TOGGLE

This switch recalls presets. The right position recalls preset #1, the left position recalls preset #2. The middle position will always reflect  wherever the knob  positions, toggle positions, and  dip switch positions are currently  at. In order to save to the right preset slot, you hold down the right stomp (bypass)  for 3 seconds, and  then hold down  both stomp switches simultaneously for another 3 seconds. The LED blinks and  your setting is saved. For the left slot, you do the same  thing, but  hold the left stomp first. If you recall a preset, and  move  a knob,  you will notice that the LED above the toggle goes dim. This is to signify that something has changed on the preset. If you want to save this change in the preset, you will have to save it again.

IN  / OUT

¼” mono input  jack.

EXP / CV

¼” TRS jack for expression pedal (parameter selectable via dip switch in the back of the pedal). Tip goes to wiper. Can also be used for 0-5V Control Voltage (CV) on tip – the ring should  be left floating  in this case.  There  are many expression pedals that work with Chase Bliss Audio products, contact us for more  info.
 
MIDI

¼” TRS jack. This can be used to interface the pedal with a Chase Bliss Midibox.  There  is much more  information on this in the MIDI manual. In addition, this can be used as a secondary switch to activate / bypass channel D with a momentary normally open (NO) switch.

POWER & OTHER   INFO

This pedal consumes ~150mA and  should  be operated with a standard 2.1mm  9V DC center negative adapter with current supply  capabilities of 200mA or more.If you use a “standard” outlet of 100mA,  the pedal will not function properly. Input impedance of this device is 1M, and  output impedance is less than 1k.

EXPRESSION  / CV CONTROL &  DIP  SWITCHES

The Mix, Dwell, Modify, Tone,  and  Pre-Delay dip switches in the left bank  allow you to control parameters via Expression Pedal  / CV. If you have something plugged into the EXP / CV jack but  do not have  any parameters selected via dip switch, you can control the Decay knob via expression or CV. It behaves like it has “rise”  and “bottom” sweep dip switches engaged.  Additionally, maxing  out the Decay control in “Shim”  mode acts as a freeze in this case.

SETTING EXPRESSION  / CV RANGE

The range of the expression / CV is controlled by the parameter knob  position and  the “Sweep” dip switch. For example, if you wanted an expression pedal to control the Mix parameter from 100% dry to a 50/50  mix, you would  make  sure  the “Sweep” dip switch is in the bottom position and  set  the Mix knob  around noon. If you need more  wet signal, you simply turn the Mix knob  clockwise. This will increase the maximum  range of the expression pedal. This allows you to control multiple parameters with an expression pedal, but  you can fine tune  the range that you want for each  parameter.

UNDERSTANDING  THE  DIP  SWITCHES

When you save a preset, all of this information gets saved. The parameters in Blue below correspond to the ramp function *or* an expression pedal (if one  is plugged in).
A very important thing to remember is that ramping always gets reset  when  bypassing. The parameters’ current  knob position control  where the parameters ultimately will either start or stop ramping.

The Mix, Dwell,  Modify,  Tone, and PD
dip switches on the left side simply turn that parameter on or off for ramping or expression / CV capability.

The Mix, Dwell,  Modify,  Tone, and PD
dip switches on the right side control whether or not the parameters will rise (go clockwise  in ramp  mode) or fall (go counterclockwise in ramp  mode). It also controls how the parameters will behave with an expression pedal plugged in.

Bounce:  When  on (and no expression pedal), parameters will go back and  forth (i.e. modulate), if it’s off, parameters will ramp  and  hold.

MoTB D: Momentary engage or bypass for channel D. It changes from “momentary engage” or momentary “bypass” dependent on what state (i.e. active  or bypass)  the pedal was in when  this dip switch was changed. If the channel was engaged, then it acts as a momentary bypass. If the channel was in bypass, then it acts as a momentary engage.

MoTB W: Momentary engage or bypass for channel W. It changes from “momentary engage” or momentary “bypass” dependent on what state (i.e. active  or bypass)  the pedal was in when  this dip switch was changed. If the channel was engaged, then it acts as a momentary bypass. If the channel was in bypass, then it acts as a momentary engage.

Buffer: This enables optional noise-less / click-less high- quality buffered bypass.

Trails: This enables optional buffered bypass with “trails.” Trails mean that the existing  reverb continues to bleed into the dry signal even  while bypassed.

Sweep: This controls where ramp  sweeps. In “T” (top), the expression control will occur  between the current knob position and  the max position (fully clockwise).  In “B” (bottom) the expression control will occur  between the current knob  position and  the minimum  position (fully counterclockwise).