EarthQuaker Devices Bit Commander V2 – Octave Synth

Description

EarthQuaker Devices Bit Commander

The Earthquaker Devices Bit Commander Octave Synth (V2) is a monophonic analog guitar synthesizer with four octaves of vintage square wave synth tones.

Its no-nonsense interface makes it easy to add or subtract octaves to create a wide variety of sounds without having to dial in envelopes or oscillators.

Ripping sub-octave thump, pulsing octave down, a lightly squared base tone and a swelling transformer-based octave up all join together to make a single guitar sound like an army of olde tyme synths.

How do you get the best out of the Bit Commander?

Like all analog octave effects, there are some basic rules to follow that will get you the most enjoyment from your Bit Commander.

Use the neck pickup and play single notes. The best tracking occurs from the 7th fret up on all the strings. Below the 7th will still track but there will be occasional glitches and stutters.

The lower the note, the harder it is for the Bit Commander to register. The use of bass and lower registers on keyboards will yield unexpected, sometimes pleasing, sometimes disgusting results. These are not mistakes or flaws, it is the nature of analog octaves.

Videos here.

Features

• Four voice analog octave synthesizer   Filter control – goes from dark and thunderous to bright and screaming   Dark, dreamy, murky delay sounds reminiscent of vintage oil and tape units
• True bypass
• Silent soft-touch switching
• Analog dry-through
• Top-mounted jacks – for effortless pedalboard implementation
• The Bit Commander V2 has a fully analog dry signal path and new electronic relay-based true-bypass switching.

When you kick in the Bit Commander V2 the crowd will instantly know you mean business.

Controls:

Sub – Two octaves Down level
Down 1 – One octave down level
Up 1 – One octave up level
Base – Squared input level
Level – Master Volume
Filter – Tone Control, more highs clockwise, more warmth counterclockwise

Power

It is powered by a standard 9-volt DC power supply with a 2.1mm negative center barrel and has a current draw of 25ma.

Each Bit Commander V2 is built by hand in the republic of Akron, Ohio, USA.