Darkglass Anagram - NAM profile player & multieffects unit

[Lysander]

I wonder if they have a deal with NDSP that legally prevents them from selling any products intended for guitar.

Nah, they're just a bass-oriented company.

I found it kinda funny how many guitar players were suddenly obsessed with the Anagram solely because it has native NAM support.

 

[LP59]

Nah, they're just a bass-oriented company.

I would expect that a condition of the sale was that they wouldn't put out products that compete with NDSP. That kind of agreement is pretty common. Anagram would be a much bigger seller if it was targeted to guitarists, and that would explain why it isn't. But I don't know for certain.

 

[Lysander]

I would expect that a condition of the sale was that they wouldn't put out products that compete with NDSP.

Condition to who? Other than sharing the same founder, NDSP and Darkglass were (and still are!) separate entities.

 

[LP59]

Condition to who? Other than sharing the same founder, NDSP and Darkglass were (and still are!) separate entities.

Doug's a smart guy and I wouldn't be surprised if he put a clause in the sale contract that limited Darkglass to selling bass products so they don't use his own technology to compete against his remaining company. It's pretty common in transactions like this to limit what kinds of products can be produced. Again, I'm just guessing, but that would explain why they've constrained their Anagram sales in this odd way.

 

[Lysander]

I just don't get why the company which spent the last 16 years building bass gear would suddenly want to release a guitar multifx...

 

[[Nathan]]

 

[[Nathan]]

Watching the Anagram marketplace videos and grabbing my tinfoil hat roll....

Does Doug or NDSP have current ties officially or unofficially? I can't help but think the Anagram marketplace is a way to test the concept without the backlash of doing it on the QC ecosystem. If its successful then I can see it magically appearing on other platforms etc.

 

[2dor]

Watching the Anagram marketplace videos and grabbing my tinfoil hat roll....

Does Doug or NDSP have current ties officially or unofficially? I can't help but think the Anagram marketplace is a way to test the concept without the backlash of doing it on the QC ecosystem. If its successful then I can see it magically appearing on other platforms etc.

I have a hunch he still has ties or a part to play there. After all, they share the same building IIRC in Finland.

 

[MirrorProfiles]

Pretty fucking cool that they have plugins running on the HW like this. Surprised there isn’t more interest here with it

 

[2dor]

Pretty fucking cool that they have plugins running on the HW like this. Surprised there isn’t more interest here with it

It is - tbh I didn't think they'd follow through with the concept. Sounded cool initially but I didn't think vendors would opt in nor would Darkglass deliver given their mother / sister company's track record.

I think price is the main reason it hasn't gathered a wider adoption - that aside, it's a pretty darn good unit.

 

[2dor]

I'll add that with the Anagram Marketplace being a thing now, up-and-coming plugin vendors could jump into the platform and make a more attractive argument (ie. you can load X plugin on the Anagram and gig with it) for selling their products.

 

[DrewJD82]

I saw it can load third-party plugins, is that any and all plugins??

 

[tgchan]

I saw it can load third-party plugins, is that any and all plugins??

Anagram Marketplace

marketplace.anagram.shop

Probably only those who have signed the deal with Anagram./

I came here from google to check the latency of the thing, knowing NAM Player was and probably still is the king of the best quality & latency at the same time.

'We have teamed up with Darkglass Electronics to bring Ampknob plugins into the Anagram Marketplace!' — so I assume without jailbreaking or something you cannot load any type of VST/ Of course understandable. They want to max their profit for their hard work/

A laptop and an interface = still the best bang for your buck if you can live with bigger latency and size of the rig. You can also do so much more for the same price though/

 

[Los-D]

Oh these are real plugins, not knockoffs.

(I was hoping for a Marketype Polly or similar)

 

[BrownNote71]

It is - tbh I didn't think they'd follow through with the concept. Sounded cool initially but I didn't think vendors would opt in nor would Darkglass deliver given their mother / sister company's track record.

I think price is the main reason it hasn't gathered a wider adoption - that aside, it's a pretty darn good unit.

Darkglass is owned by Korg; really nothing to do with Neural DSP anymore other than it was started by the same guy.

Darkglass has released updates for Anagram almost every month - adding features, substantial blocks/plugins, etc. Super impressive if you look at the 14 or so updates in the last year - a stark contrast from Neural DSP.

 

[BrownNote71]

I saw it can load third-party plugins, is that any and all plugins??

I know they call them plug-ins but at the end of the day, it's more that they've enabled other vendors to write pretty much any sort of block to be optionally added to the hardware.

 

[2dor]

Darkglass is owned by Korg; really nothing to do with Neural DSP anymore other than it was started by the same guy.

Darkglass has released updates for Anagram almost every month - adding features, substantial blocks/plugins, etc. Super impressive if you look at the 14 or so updates in the last year - a stark contrast from Neural DSP.

Of course it's owned by Korg but we don't know if Doug stayed on as an associate etc. That's also very possible & they share the same facilities with NDSP still in Helsinki.
The update cadence is admirable & so is the marketplace addition, I agree.

 

[Sascha Franck]

With those additional "plugins" this is getting more attractive for guitar players as well. Quite expensive for a unit with just 3 switches, though.
Anyhow, anyone knows whether patch switching is gapless?