Red Panda offers serious bitcrushing power with the Bitmap 2

NAMM 2021 isn't taking place in the physical realm this year, but you'll find all the hottest January gear launches in our guide to the biggest guitar, amp and pedal releases of 2021 so far.

Boutique pedal maker Red Panda has consistently trafficked in far-out circuits and designs, and now the company has announced the Bitmap 2, a pedalboard-friendly bitcrusher.

The Bitmap 2 offers fractional bit reduction (essentially creating distortion by reducing audio signal resolution) and sample rate modulation. The new pedal also adds in waveshaping, wavefolding and a window comparator for extreme digital distortion.

The pedal boasts bit reduction from 24 bits down to one bit and sampling rate reduction from 48 kHz down to 110 Hz. There’s also sample-rate modulation with triangle, square and random waveforms.

A drive control handles everything from single coil guitars to synthesizers, with +8 dBu maximum signal level and enough gain to sound like an overdriven mixer channel. Modulation and envelope control create dynamic, responsive distortion and digital artifacts.

Other features include a mix control for dialing in the amount of effect in the signal, a four-pole low-pass filter, an aux footswitch assignable to tap tempo or preset selection and more. 

Users can save four presets on the pedal itself, or up to 127 via MIDI. Additionally, there’s a web-based editor for editing presets and accessing “hidden parameters.”

The Bitmap 2 works with guitar, bass, synthesizers, drum machines, and other instruments or line level sources, and is available for $299.

For more information, head to Red Panda Lab.