NPD: Bananana Effects Mandala Glitch Pedal

[X-Ray Spex]

My wonderful family got me this as a Christmas gift but I wanted to give myself enough time to make a fair go of using it for a couple of months to review it properly. It's the second updated version. I play mathy-rock type stuff in the vein of And So I Watch You From Afar, Foals, Idles, Battles, The Redneck Manifesto and Adebisi Shank for reference.

The good parts: Most of the modes are actually useful, I use the repeat function as a stutter switch and the reverse function for layering loops for ambient stuff or with an octave for Battles-esque looping. I'm a big fan of the size as it lets me designate more space for other pedals on my board. Really versatile in a studio setting too. I love the colour as well but that's just from a purely aesthetic POV.

The bad parts: The Up and Down modes are kind've pointless, they don't sound good in execution at all. The control knobs are a little cramped and have too little resistance when rotating so it's really easy to overshoot when trying to adjust your settings, definitely not something you'd want to be fiddling around with in a live setting. More of a set it and forget it pedal for sure.

Would I buy one again? Yes, but I wonder for the price point if there's better alternatives out there with less modes but better functionality as I only really use the repeat, reverse, and square trigger functions.

Here's the manufacturers demo for a bit of reference points, although the playing is a bit strange and not the way I'd use it necessarily. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VL08Ff1C7FA

[Whiny Minotaur]

There's the Mini Glitch by The King of Gear for $190, but they only make them in small batches and they temporarily stopped production due to the 'rona.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V31NyKE6cFI

[HH1978]

Not a type of effect I'm familiar with, but I would check Alexander pedals, sounds like something in their territory.