OTO Machines has introduced BAM – a stereo reverb processor inspired by vintage 70’s & 80’s digital reverberator units.
“The musicality of the early digital reverb processors was partly due to the algorithms (the way the processor synthesized a natural reverberation), but also due to their hardware limitations,” they note. “The technology used in BAM is very close to the one used in these early digital reverberator units: 16 bits converters, 20 bits fixed-point processing, analog filtering and even an input transformer transient simulator.”
Here’s their official video intro:
Features:
- 7 algorithms: Room, Hall, Plate, Ambient, Chorus, Non-Linear and Primitive\
- Input gain up to +15 dB with analog clipping
- Pre Delay up to 500 ms (with the PRE DELAY pot) or 1500 ms (with the TAP switch)
- Continuous control of the reverb Size parameter for fine tuning
- Low-Cut Filter: 20 Hz, 80 Hz, 150 Hz, 250 Hz, 450 Hz
- Hi-Cut Filter: 1,8 kHz, 4,5 kHz, 7 kHz, 9 kHz, 15 kHz
- Chorus parameter can add modulation to the reverberator signal
- Tap Tempo assignable to Pre Delay or Reverb Time
- Freeze switch
- 36 user presets
- MIDI input: BAM responds to CCs and Pgm Change
- 3 bypass modes: Relay, Spillover and Aux
- Nice and simple user interface via 16 white LEDs
- Rugged steel enclosure
- Neutrik jack connectors
- Power supply included
The OTO Machines BAM is priced at 460 € (excl.VAT). It’s expected to be available ‘soon’.
really nice but waaaaay pricey
Really and how much you expect for a device of such amazing sonic quality?
This guy is making this boxes as one-man company and I think all of them are stunning and what is most important really musical. I have Biscuit an Delay unit, they are both pure joy.
Not with the hardware they’re using, and the scale of production.
You’re certainly free to buy anything else 🙂
Don’t be like that, it’s clearly a pricey item.. Way beyond the budget of many people!
That does not necessarily imply that they are over-charging for it, it’s just a fact!
Agree here. It’s pricey and it’s hase less options/algos than competitors in price range i.e. Strymon and Eventide.
or buy a quadraverb for sixty quid
I was thinking an Alesis Midiverb 3…
or even better a wedge …
What? You think $500 for a little digital reverb is expensive? How much do you think a circuit board, DSP, knobs and a case costs?…Oh wait, you’re right.
And the countless hours of programming, prototyping, constructing, the cost of the custom cliche for the screen printing, figuring out the marketing, shipping and handling, designing the pcbs and getting them produced, buying the components, soldering everything, quality checks, all that for 25-250 units. How can one not get rich quickly by selling a few of them? (Sarcasm)
I’m really digging everything this guy does.
This reverb sounds great… like high-end Lexicon great. Better than most reverb plugins great.
$500 for a reverb? I can see how that would be expensive for some, but it truly is a unique sounding product with unique code and a unique interface. This guy put a lot of his time and vision into a product. Same with the erbverb or big sky reverbs. I think the price of admission is worth it.
I’ll probably buy one and use it as a send effect on my MOTU interface.
Seriously, it’s not Eventide pricey., if someone wants to buy a cheapie Zoom or Behringer multifx box, great! If you think you can get the same with your own homebrew DSP, great!
But $500 isn’t much for something this quirky.
Unsurprisingly, I own and am in love with the Strymon Bigsky/Timeline, and OTO Biscuit.
You’re devaluing thousands of hours of industrial design, circuit board layout, firmware development and testing to zero. I won’t even get into the costs of short-run electronics assembly and parts acquisition (hint: many factories require a minimum order of 5000 or 10000 pieces before significant discounts kick in).
Not to mention the fact that the people involved deserve to earn a living wage in a first world country.
Well correct me if i’m wrong, But is it Strymon Big Sky also digital reverb for more than 500$ (in my place), yet most people still buy it hehehe
Yep, just throw those items in a bag and shake for instant reverb.
It’s roughly the same price as the Strymon Big Sky or the Eventide Space, and has similar features to both (MIDI control, stereo I/O, multiple algorithms, lots of tweak-ability, etc). I don’t see how it’s over priced. Being too much for you to afford is not the same thing as being overpriced.
At this price point, they’re competing with Strymon, and this is no Strymon pedal.
“they’re competing with Strymon, and this is no Strymon pedal.”
They’re not directly competing with Strymon, OTO’s stuff is much more hardware-centric, even if digital aspects are involved.
Happy with my strymon big sky. Probably will be for years to come.As a second decent reverb this could be good .
It sounds fantastic. Also amazed by the continuity and integrity of sound when knobs are turned (in the digital domain this is not always a given). Considering the originality of the sound and the way it looks like ti is built, the price is fair; the proposition is for a market niche that is willing to pay extra for something premium.
This is priced appropriately. Please know something before you get all indignant.
This is the internet, set expectations for comments appropriately :p
My goodness that sounds good…tickling the eardrums even through YouTube
I know some of ya’ll think this thing is expensive, but it also SOUNDS awesome! I’m honestly really impressed by this thing. As a mix engineer I am actually really considering it. I think its priced pretty fairly.
Even from a youtube video played on my phone : VERBGASM!
I have the delay, and it’s great, essentially an instrument in its own right. I think the 2 things OTO have got right are playability and sound quality. I’ve used the BIM live a few times and it’s great in the dark!
I was sold after a demo at Schneiders, I’d really recommend getting hands on. I also think the Boum is going to be real nice. Go hardware!
“I think the 2 things OTO have got right are playability and sound quality”
If you check back, how do you play yours live? Just tweaking knobs? Other controllers?
It’s on a pre fade aux, often with the drums at 100% send. Then I play the wet dry knob for instant variations, delay time, lfo and FREEEEEEZE. What’s also lovely is that freeze is still affected by delay time and lfo. I also use the 1st delay type mostly, as the pitch down degradation is really nice, you can get really weird rhythmic stuff going on without too much in the way of input.
I ran it with midi sync for a while, which is great as you can slide around the tempo with the time knob and it drifts back to tempo, but in the end I used it without sync as its madder!
Sorry for hijacking the Bam thread with Bim love!
yes – FREEEEEEEEZE indeed… extremely nice function
“hint: many factories require a minimum order of 5000 or 10000 pieces before significant discounts kick in”
… If this developers products are as good and inspiring as his customers claim, then he he should increase production to the quoted 5,000~10,1000, then they could be available at a ‘significant discount’, then the products would be available to a bigger market including budget / home producers, then more would be sold, then OTO would make more profit… everyone would be happy ^_^
Most people on a tight budget cannot afford boutique products like this because developers don’t push beyond the envelope to up-scale their production, so we have to get by with vanilla products from the ‘supermarket’ brands land recycled gear from eBay 🙁
If you’re on a tight budget, maybe you should try making money instead of making music. For a musician who takes his craft seriously, $500 is nothing. The OTO products are very fairly priced considering the effort involved and the quality that you get.
“… If this developers products are as good and inspiring as his customers claim, then he he should increase production to the quoted 5,000~10,1000, then they could be available at a ‘significant discount’, then the products would be available to a bigger market including budget / home producers, then more would be sold, then OTO would make more profit… everyone would be happy ^_^”
Not everybody can or wants to do this. There are benefits and drawbacks to scale, as OTO found with the Biscuit. They used GREAT parts, which they lost sourcing of. Larger runs would not necessarily fix this problem and could only compound their frustrations.
They may scale if they find the right project, but they’re not going to take on the potential economic failure just so you can have cheaper gear.
“Most people on a tight budget cannot afford boutique products like this because developers don’t push beyond the envelope to up-scale their production, so we have to get by with vanilla products from the ‘supermarket’ brands land recycled gear from eBay”
Welcome to boutique gear, enjoy your stay 🙂
And you can always get the OTO gear recycled from eBay, that’s how I was able to afford the Biscuit to begin with!
What? batteries not included?