Chase Bliss Habit

The Chase Bliss Habit is a delay pedal with a memory. Chase Bliss describes it as "a delay with a memory," built around what the maker calls a digital tape reel that records every sound entering the pedal¹. Where a normal delay echoes only what you just played, the Habit keeps a rolling recording of your session and lets you call back moments from it, so the maker pitches it as a compositional tool: "an effect that can be turned into an instrument on a whim, an evolving paint-splatter of everything you do"¹. Delicious Audio summed it up as "Musical sketchpad. Compositional delay"².

The Habit was launched in March 2022³ and is now discontinued: Chase Bliss states plainly that "Habit has been discontinued and is no longer for sale"¹. Guitar Pedal X reported the retirement in April 2026 after four years, noting that a 500-unit Limited Shareware Edition was offered alongside it and sold out immediately to newsletter subscribers³. Pedal of the Day placed the pedal as the third in a Chase Bliss trilogy, after the loop-focused blooper and the ambience-focused MOOD, with Habit as the delay-focused entry⁴.

What the Habit does

The pedal's core idea is the always-active memory. Delicious Audio explains: "What's different about the Habit is that it has an always active 3-minute memory" that records everything played into it². Guitar.com's launch coverage put the length differently, saying the pedal "remembers everything you played in the last two minutes"⁵. On top of that memory sits a conventional delay engine, with level, repeats and size knobs building traditional delays⁶.

The delay side works like a familiar delay at first. Guitar World notes that "Habit can build traditional delays with the top three control knobs (level, repeats and size)"⁶. From there it departs from a standard pedal: the Spread control brings in a second echo that can be used at the same time, which Chase Bliss calls "the key to Habit's multi-tap abilities"¹⁶. The Scan knob, with the Manual dipswitch on, tells the Habit to echo something pulled from the memory rather than the live input⁷.

Because the pedal lets you pile up sounds indefinitely, Chase Bliss's own support pages warn that "you will eventually reach a volume where things start to clip"⁷. The same pages note that dry signal can be mixed with the memory's modifiers depending on the Memory Dry setting⁷.

Controls and switches

Guitar.com's review lists the full control set⁸, and Guitar World explains what the toggles do⁶:

The pedal carries the classic Chase Bliss compact-series layout: 6 knobs, 4 toggle switches, two footswitches and 12 DIP switches on the back panel². Holding down the Tap/Hold footswitch engages the Scan function for quickly browsing memory segments⁶, and holding both footswitches together clears the memory⁹.

Modes: Collect and Feed

The Habit's two modes define how material gets into the memory.

• Collect mode: you play normally and the pedal records it all for later listening and song building. Joel Korte, Chase Bliss's owner and effect designer, describes the workflow: "You just play your normal nonsense for 10 minutes in collect mode, record it all, then listen back for things that inspire"¹⁰.
• Feed mode: the output audio is routed back into the input, so live effects processing and knob movements themselves get recorded into the memory¹².

Feed mode is what separates the Habit most sharply from a conventional delay or looper: the sound of you twisting knobs becomes part of the recorded material, and the memory can then echo those changes back later¹².

MIDI, CV and expression

The Habit follows Chase Bliss's pattern of deep external control. The maker lists MIDI (program change, control change and clock), expression control and two presets¹. Delicious Audio describes the full set: "Habit features advanced connectivity and customization options including MIDI, CV and Expression control, sync, presets, and internal modulation of any or all its knobs"². Guitar.com's launch coverage confirms CV and expression control inputs⁵, and Delicious Audio identifies the jacks as a Tap Tempo/MIDI out and an expression/CV in on a mono pedal².

One limitation worth knowing: the USB jack is only for firmware updates and bug fixes. Chase Bliss states there are no plans to add features or user customization through it⁷.

What reviewers said

Premier Guitar's reviewer found the pedal's possibilities open-ended: "Tone and function combinations in the Habit often feel infinite." The reviewer's favorite way of working was bouncing between auto and manual scan modes to lay out an ambient, auto-generated minimalist sound journey, and the review rated the pedal highly for overall usability and inspiration⁹.

Guitar.com's review credits the design to Joel Korte, Chase Bliss's owner and effect designer², with Scott Harper, Chase Bliss's full-time director of product development and the creator of the Knobs YouTube channel, also involved⁸.

Where it sits among Chase Bliss delays

Videos

Click to load

Click to load

Click to load

Questions