Devin Townsend’s signature Ocean Machine Ambience Workstation first materialised back in 2017. It was packed with features even then - with much the same format and layout as the new one - while the black knobs onto royal blue enclosure made it look a little congested and complicated and somewhat dark and confusing in appearance. The updated look has improved the pedal 100% - helping you to separate out and easily navigate the different sections of the device. The new look and feel really looks fantastic - and it looks to be in a much higher quality of class, while the price tag of around $300 is incredibly reasonable for 2 independent multi-mode delays, plus a killer multi-mode reverb too. You can now instantly pick up what this device is about - and you can’t argue that it provides killer functionality at a fantastic price point!
Controls - REVERB } Pre-Delay, Decay, Tone, Reverb Mix, Reverb Types : Room / Hall / Plate / Dist-Verb / FL-Verb / Filter / Reverse / Spring / Mod, Reverb Footswitch / Tap / Bypass; DELAY A } Feedback, Time, Sweep, Delay Mix, Delay Types : Digital / Analog / Tape / Echo / Liquid / Rainbow / Crystal / Low-Bit / Fuzzy, Delay A Footswitch / Tap / Bank Down; DELAY B } Feedback, Time, Sweep, Delay Mix, Delay Type : Digital / Analog / Tape / Real / Dyna / Galaxy / Mod / Tri-Mod / Mod-Inv, Delay B Footswitch / Tap / Bank Up; LOOPER } Rec/Play/Stop, Half Speed, Reverse, Looper On Button; UNIVERSAL } Menu / Mix, Home, Setting, Store.
Rear Ports - Exp, Left/Mono In, Right In, Left/Mono Out, Right Out, MIDI Thru, MIDI In, USB-C, 9V DC [-] 500mA.
A lot of these bigger workstations can be a little opaque in their operation while the use of colour-coded knobs / areas here hugely enhances the user experience. It seems that this release is mostly about the cosmetic update - you have a longer loop record time, and slightly better fidelity DSP - and that’s about it for key differences to the original 2017 blue model!
The Ocean Machine has some interesting routing / effects order and parallel options for sure - but I can’t see that those are much changed from the original device. It’s a better user experience for sure - and a prettier device all-round - but really not that much has changed overall!
WHAT"s NEW in the OCEAN MACHINE II?