Harley Benton MiniStomp Alien Signal

Needed a samplerate reducer and tried this since it's the cheapest I was able to find. Labels don't make sense to me and I'd rather have the Crush control work in opposite direction; the sample rate drops now when it's turned clockwise. Also almost first half of Crush pot doesn't alter the sound much -my guess is that there is a linear potentiometer where it should be logarithmic (or vice versa).

Being aware of these shortcomings in my personal preferences, I really love the sound of Alien Signal. I mostly use it with Behringer Pro VS mini with slow sweeps on Crush, Mix set to full wet and with no Bit reduction. Also slight Crush with some Bit reduction does bring a good punch to sampled drums.
If you have too high output volume on whatever device you plug in it, you will get hiss and noise: just lower the signal and you should be fine.

If I were to lose or break this pedal, I would get another one. I've been longing for a bit-crusher for a very long time and I can honestly say I don't feel the need to search for a better one. Might just buy another unit and try to change the Crush-pot to my liking.

I wanted a bit crusher to try out some experimental new tones and this one definitely meets my expectations, with solid build quality at a very reasonable price.

The main Crush setting has a pretty cool range and you can get some ridiculous "digital" sounds out of it. The mix dial is very usable and lets you blend in your preferred amount of crush.

It also does a nice job with boost, overdrive or fuzz pedals in front of it, and this pedal has potential for some crazy spacerock/cybermetal tones. And if you want to play old school Nintendo game theme songs, it will do that too.

My only gripe is the Bit setting is really only useable at 0-1 or the pedal creates a lot of noise and static - although a noise gate might allow for some interesting crushed out tones.

Overall, it's a great little pedal and a cool addition to my collection. If you're thinking about trying out a bit crusher, it's a no brainer.

Well, I struggled a lot trying to get more or less consistent sound on a guitar/bass. Plus, it's very noisy, I tried different power supplies but to no avail. Probably, it would sound better with a synthesizer instead. So, as a toy for sound design experimentations where noise and inconsistencies could be appreciated, it's OK. As a part of your guitar/bass FX chain - no, I don't think so.

im old enough to remember the first voice synthesis in video games. blood money, final fight, that star wars death star arcade thingy. this makes my careful setup turn into a fourtrack tape recorder i had when i was sixteen. its like an enshitifier but a cool one. the enshitifier you need to have, lol

only bad side is it gets noisy. you really need to gate it in order to use it. but for 30 bucks its a no brainer, or a brainless no brainer. or just a something you need to have to prove you have no brain. just a something you should probably have to play double dragon on your guitar. just buy the damn thing dammit :)