Do you prefer you delay Analog or Digital? And why?

[Les Paul Lover]

It all starts with a NPD:

Just got my Tremolo pedal, it's really really good! All analog, built by an amateur a la Neiloler, developped from the well known Electronics Australia Tremolo design. The chap who made it mounted an extra speed control, so I can footswtich between 2 speeds....

And...... so I'm pedal smitten.


Converted. My previously dust gathering Wha, Sustainer and coolcat transparent overdrive have all been cleaned up, sctracthy pots cleaned......... and I'm looking at my next effect - a Delay.


So many delays on the market though!

From the dead simple 2 control dealy to thos with hundreds of settings.... analog or digital.....

What rocks your boat? What do you find useful? What caveats have you encountered?

[misterMagoo]

I have enjoyed a Boss DD6, a big box deluxe memory man, and I currently have a Deluxe memory boy.

The DD6 didn't have much charicter, but it did have lots of clarity.
The DMM sounded amazing, although it was a bit noisey. The repeats were pretty clear though, it didn't really start to degrade until after quite a few. It was too big tho.
The DMB loses top end pretty quickly in it's repeats, but it's pretty quiet. The loss of top end is not entirely suited for high gain delay, but it works in a pinch. It does a lot though, and it sounds really good.

I think if you are using a lot of gain, a digital delay might be better. If you are using it for clean or breakup sounds, an analog delay can sound really organic and give you shivers in your scrotal sector.

Ideally I would have the DMM XO, and something digital like a nova repeater. The issue is mainly with money and board real estate. Until I can justify the upgrade, I'll keep the DMB, it's a pretty great sounding delay.

[Thinline_slim]

I really liked the Carbon Copy as it had a darker ("warm") analog sound. Now I have a Strymon El Capistan so I have to say, in this day and age, digital has caught up.

[Jondog]

I've been through a number of delays and settled on the Timeline. Hands down best value out there I think. Maybe more than you'll need, but at the price your looking at the same price as buying two excellent quality delay pedals and you've always got two right there ready to be switched on then the banks of two. Aside from that, one pedal I really liked was the Vox Time machine. Did an analog sound or digital both very good.
When it comes to which I prefer, I think Analog for the most part, I just like how the sound decays letting the original notes stand out a little more and kind of creates an echo type feel.

[jason41224]

You are going to get a strymon. The first stage is acceptance. The second is to decide whether you want an el capistan, a brigadier, or a timeline. Sorry to be the bearer of such terrible news

[terminate_user]

You are going to get a strymon. The first stage is acceptance. The second is to decide whether you want an el capistan, a brigadier, or a timeline. Sorry to be the bearer of such terrible news

^ this.

[Jondog]

You are going to get a strymon. The first stage is acceptance. The second is to decide whether you want an el capistan, a brigadier, or a timeline. Sorry to be the bearer of such terrible news

I wanted the El Capistan, then I wanted the Brigadier as well. So I got the Timeline. It the best of everything. If you don't like the Strymons, you don't like delay.

[peanuts]

..

[bclaire]

Refresh my memory - why are any of these considered analog? Aren't they all digital delays? Maybe they emulate analog, but in my book, it's only analog if it's tape....

[Jondog]

Refresh my memory - why are any of these considered analog? Aren't they all digital delays? Maybe they emulate analog, but in my book, it's only analog if it's tape....

Yes, they are digital. I'm thinking sound wise, not circuitry. The Strymon sounds every bit as good to a real analog delay.

[jontheid]

Aren't they all digital delays? Maybe they emulate analog, but in my book, it's only analog if it's tape....

You can have analogue delay without tape, using bucket brigade line devices :
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bucket-brigade_device" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Yes, they have a discrete time interval between each analogue 'sample' but there is no quantisation of the actual signal level at any point.

In 2009 Visual Sound recommissioned the making of Panasonic IC bucket brigade chips, the Visual Sound Axle Grease Delay is 100% analogue.

Cheers
Jon

[Les Paul Lover]

Refresh my memory - why are any of these considered analog? Aren't they all digital delays? Maybe they emulate analog, but in my book, it's only analog if it's tape....

Doesnt analog refer to a circuitry that is totally solid state, transistor, caps and such? As in no chip?

The carbon copy or way huge aqua puss are refered to as analog, aren't they?


Goes to look up strymon options....

[Les Paul Lover]

You are going to get a strymon. The first stage is acceptance. The second is to decide whether you want an el capistan, a brigadier, or a timeline. Sorry to be the bearer of such terrible news

Wouldn't the 1st stage be denial?

What do you think these pedals do better than others then? Say compared to a nova delay? In that price range they look pretty darn good too? Never heard either, mind you!

[Jondog]

You are going to get a strymon. The first stage is acceptance. The second is to decide whether you want an el capistan, a brigadier, or a timeline. Sorry to be the bearer of such terrible news

Wouldn't the 1st stage be denial?

What do you think these pedals do better than others then? Say compared to a nova delay? In that price range they look pretty darn good too? Never heard either, mind you!

One thing is the guitar signal remains un-processed and there is NO tone colorization. Also, there is pretty much ZERO hum, hiss or anything when the pedal is engaged. Doesn't even sound like a pedal has been switched on except for the effect itself. Plus the tweakability of them is outstanding. For every parameter you see, theres a whole other set you can get into to, yet the pedals are remarkably simple to use. You don't have to be a computer geek to figure out all the settings. The standalone pedals have what they call the favorite switch where you add an external footswitch that recalls a preset, and you have the setting on the pedals footswitch as well. The Timeline has two presets available at anytime, and easily selectable banks of two presets, up to 100 banks. All accesible on the fly, midi capability, buffered bypass or true bypass, tap tempo....I could go on. Haven't even got into stereo options yet. Oh, and they're built to high standard, metal, real mechanical switches, knobs, jacks.

[jason41224]

You are going to get a strymon. The first stage is acceptance. The second is to decide whether you want an el capistan, a brigadier, or a timeline. Sorry to be the bearer of such terrible news

Wouldn't the 1st stage be denial?

What do you think these pedals do better than others then? Say compared to a nova delay? In that price range they look pretty darn good too? Never heard either, mind you!

nah. denial never appears in about 99% of cases.

to answer your questions, let me give you my story. my first delay was a Nova Repeater. brilliant pedal, liked it a lot especially for the price, but i realized i only used the tape setting on it...i really liked that setting. so out of curiosity, i looked up pedals that emulate tape echos really well and found the El Capistan. great from everything dark, ambient and warbly, and bright and chirpy (though not as chirpy as a digital delay). sounded good in front of a dirty amp as well as a clean one too. when my delay needs expanded and i needed presets, that's when i upgraded to the timeline.

in a general sense, strymons excel at warmer delay sounds (analogue and tape). they won't do Boss DD7 like digital chirp, but i don't care for that sort of thing almost ever...and i can get close enough to that on the tape mode with the hi-cut all the way off. they're extremely realistic feeling and they sound really, really close to the units they emulate. take a listen to a few of these demos:

Timeline: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9QtGYGRdqms
El Capistan: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9S6k_NFrHhE
Brigadier: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Se5O40eFVMA