Catalinbread unleashes fantastic Bitters 4-Mode Signal Mangler take on the Alesis Bitrman

Catalinbread has done an amazing job of transforming the quirky 2002 Alesis Bitrman into a compact stompbox pedal format. The Bitrman had 4 different Signal Mangler Flavours / Modes - which are combined with distortion and dual phaser effects for maximum impact, and where you can control the Dry > Wet Mix also.

There’s an excellent article on Catalinbread’s Kula’s Cabinet Blog which goes into further details about the Alesis Bitrman.

Catalinbread refers to this pedal as a Hyper-Deranged Multi-FX Processor - while I prefer to call it a 4 Mode Signal Mangler - as that is somewhat more specifically descriptive!

The 4 key ’Bitters’ Mangler Modes are - Decimator, Bitcrusher, Frequency Modulator, and Ring Modulator :

DECIMATOR : Sample Rate Reduction - samples your input signal and lowers that sample rate, which introduces Nyquist aliasing

BITCRUSHER : Bit Reduction - this reduces the fidelity of the input signal all the way down to one bit for some true digital destruction. Because this also introduces noise, Catalinbread have also applied a noise gate to keep it in check

FREQUENCY MODULATION : Pitch Vibrato - you can dial it down to a subtle warble (and use the mix control to get a killer chorus sound!) or let ’er rip and tear the signal up

RING MODULATOR : though it sounds like outer space noises, the humble ring modulator is a tremolo with an extremely fast modulation. This introduces additive and subtractive frequencies relative to the input signal and the carrier frequency

Controls - Distort, Dual (Phaser), Bitters (Intensity / Frequency), Dry > Wet Mix, Mangler Type / Order : >> Decimator / >> Bitcrusher / >> Frequency Modulator / >> Ring Modulator / Decimator >> / Bitcrusher >> / Frequency Modulator >> / Ring Modulator >>; [Bitters Mode comes Before >> / or >> After Distort and Dual Phaser effects.

There is some delicacy required in how you combine the different effects - in order to get fully usable musical output. It’s a matter of getting the right ’Mix’ of each those 4 Parameter controls. And will require some patience and due diligence to unearth all the interesting tones this pedal is capable of.

The only complexity is that the 4 Modes appear twice on the Mode dial - so each option defines whether the Bitters Mangling comes before pr after Distortion and Dual Phaser effects - the two arrows indicate the relative positions.

I think we’re definitely in the era of quirky effects now. Many players have become bored with the traditional more vanilla flavours - and are looking for something distinctly different and exotic. We’re seeing a lot more Lo-Fi / Destructive / Disintegrated / Signal Mangling type effects pedals these days - the more the merrier as far as I’m concerned.

I will definitely be getting one of these Bitters into my reference collection. My dance card is pretty much already filled for this month - so one for next month no doubt!

The Bitters Signal Mangler is already available from the Catalinbread Webstore, and imminently at International Dealers - where it goes for $199 / £199 and equivalent!