Prismatic Spray II - A Bytebeat Adventure in Stereo

Bytebeat is one of those corners of electronic music that feels almost like magic. You take a simple mathematical equation, feed it a counter, and suddenly you've got rhythms, melodies, and textures tumbling out of a speaker. The Prismatic Spray II from Distropolis Goods - designed by Arman Bohn - takes that concept and wraps it in a colourful, hands-on instrument that begs you to explore.

Two Engines, One Box

The original Prismatic Spray was a mono affair. This second version doubles down - literally - with two fully independent bytebeat engines running in stereo. Each engine can run its own equation, its own loop settings, and its own pitch. You can pan between them, detune one against the other, or let them do completely different things on the left and right channels. It's a bit like having two separate instruments that happen to share a case.

There are over 60 bytebeat equations built in - Distropolis calls them "incantations", which fits the slightly fantastical vibe of the whole project. The printed manual is written in a Dungeons Dragons style, complete with flavour text about mysterious voices and arcane knowledge. It's a nice touch that sets the mood for what is, at heart, an instrument built for discovery.

Colour-Coded Chaos

The control surface is immediately appealing. Ten knobs and seven buttons, each colour-coded so you can remember what does what without constantly checking the manual. The purple knob handles pitch across roughly six octaves. Light blue skips through bytebeat variations. Yellow, orange, and red knobs tweak the three main equation parameters. A pink knob controls the digitally controlled analogue filter - one of the features that sets this apart from purely digital bytebeat devices.

There's a grey button for switching between the left engine, the right engine, or both at once. It's a simple system, but it means you can shape each side of the stereo field independently before blending them together.

Loops and Textures

The looping system is where things get particularly interesting. You can set start and end points within any bytebeat region, then adjust them in real time. There's a ping-pong mode that bounces the loop back and forth, and a loop centre control for fine-tuning. At the tightest settings, you end up with something that sounds almost granular - stuttering, glitchy textures that bear little resemblance to the original equation.

The slow function provides a kind of time-stretch effect, drawing out the bytebeat patterns into longer, more atmospheric sounds. Combined with the glide control - which smooths pitch transitions between notes - you can coax surprisingly melodic passages out of what is fundamentally a mathematical noise generator.

The Little Screen

A 1.5-inch colour display sits behind a metal bezel on the front panel, showing real-time visualisations of the audio output. There are eight different styles available in both colour and greyscale. It's not just decorative - watching the patterns shift as you twist knobs gives you a visual sense of what the equations are doing. The refresh rate has been improved over the original model, so the visuals feel more responsive.

If you connect to a desktop browser via USB, you can also view the visualisations on a larger screen through Web Serial - a neat feature for live performance or just for the pleasure of watching bytebeat patterns dance across your monitor.

MIDI and Presets

The Prismatic Spray II is tuned to a standard Western 12-tone chromatic scale, which means you can actually play it melodically from a keyboard or sequencer. MIDI comes in via USB-C or TRS-A, with pitch bend support at plus or minus two semitones. The filter is also MIDI-controllable, so you can automate cutoff sweeps from an external source.

Sixty preset slots let you save and recall your favourite combinations of equations, loop points, and filter settings. Given how easy it is to stumble across something brilliant and then lose it with one wrong knob turn, having proper preset storage is essential.

Who Is This For?

The Prismatic Spray II isn't trying to be a conventional synthesizer. It's an exploration tool - something you sit down with when you want to find sounds you've never heard before. The bytebeat engine produces everything from harsh digital noise to unexpectedly tuneful patterns, and the dual-engine stereo setup means there's always something new happening when you start combining the two sides.

It comes in six colours - white, clear, blue, red, grey, and black - each in a 3D-printed case with rubber feet. The whole thing weighs just 283 grams, so it's genuinely portable. USB-C powers it, meaning a phone charger or power bank is all you need.

If you're curious about bytebeat synthesis but want something more immediate than coding equations on a computer, or if you just enjoy instruments that reward curiosity over technique, the Prismatic Spray II is worth a look. It's available directly from Distropolis Goods.