Delay/loop pedals w "old" style time adjust

[Scott Hansen <evanpeewee@gmail.com>]

Thanks for the info Scott-

The DL8 looks cool- can you tell me if the time adjust- argh- I need a better way to discuss this- like what can we call it when you grab the time knob and it adjusts the pitch smoothly?  Anyway- does the DL8 do it smoothly only in analog mode or does it work in loop mode too?

C

 

oh, no problem-i'm just trying to help my looper peeps out.

yea, it is frustrating what to call it. i just plain and simple wish every loop pedal had a "TIME ADJUST" on it. i guess the problem is that most of the sample based loop pedals seemed to do the "if you adjust the time-fast or slow-it keeps the pitch the same(ok, this is the digitech pedals)...and honestly it confuses me. now i've not played one, but from what folks say on this list is that it doesn't work well, or they didn't like it. (do they do this b/c the modern day li'l EVH can't slow down the cream licks to figure out how to play great blazing guitar since it would be an octave low & they think they're listening to a bass instead of a guitar? i mean EVH did it w/ his old record player, just put the speed to 16 from 33 1/3 & away he went.....)

i guess i'm coming from "old skool"-most delay pedals have a "time adjust" function.

to answer your question-in the short mode of the analog setting (i think it's a second)-the time adjust is PRETTY GOOD (as is the time adjust/manipulating in ibanez de7 and guyatone md3 delays-both of those have max delay time of 2.6 sec)...the 2 sec digital mode works pretty good w/ time mangling-and by this i mean you slow it down and it goes REAL LOW in sound. or speed it up, and it goes high (up in pitch)...but the drawback is you're stuck doing short loops (which is fine for me) for this to work.(i should add the boss dd7 is fine in this mode to, the 3.2 sec works fine--i think their "pitch of 6.4 sec of delay" is a misnomer-b/c you have to use stereo to get the 6.4, i go mono....but i digress...it's there, but i didn't think the 6.4 sec of time manipulation was very good, my opinon at least)

 

in long delay mode (8 sec) the dl8 "sort of works"-or works ok, it sort of has a warping/glitching thing, doesn't really hold the notes per se, but i've sort of gotten use to this and am fine w/ it. now from my memory of owning the boss dd20 (23 sec of delay) it sort of does the same thing w/ trying to manipulate the time-it just sort of warps, but doesn't truly hold the notes when going from long to short, short to long...i wish i was an engineer and could understand this, but it seems that most of the modern long delay pedals the notes aren't truly kept when manipulating them..i don't know if this is a limitation of the memory chip that they use or what...what i'm comparing this to is from seeing david torn use his lexicon pcm42 (19.5 sec of very manipulatable delay) and my dod d12 (12 sec of delay-i called it the budget pcm42) or the old digitech rack 8 sec delays that i've heard in action (is this the rds model?-i can't remember all these letter name gear at my age)...but  basically these older delays, you loop something for 2 sec play w/ the time knob and it will stretch the info and get F***ING COOL SOUNDING. or go w/ long delay and shorten it, and it gets all scrunched up in munchkin land sound...it was most fun...the new long delays don't do it as well, they just sort of warp the sound w/ this gargle kind of sound...that's why i hated the dd20...i thought it sucked compared to my dod d12 (yes, i shouldn't have sold it!)...so i continued to search...settled on the dl8...i think i've just adjusted and use it for what it can do...small footprint 8 sec delay....

now as charles z and jeff duke have said...the EH 16 DDL (ri) that i got---it has a got a great ability to record loop and then slow down or speed up (IT IS F***ING GREAT!!! I LOVE THIS THING). my complaint, this is based on a piece of gear that's pushing 25 yrs old...why can't people take this technological ball of fun  and expand it????

i guess in essence if the boss rc20 had the ability to slow down or speed up the loops, i would have kept that bad boy,  but the loops were just static to me. sure you could over dub & reverse (which i loved) but it just became an uninspiring thing to me, hence i never used it. altough i did get around it i would usually manipulate/mangle short 2.6 sec delays on my ibanez de7 and dump them to the rc20...but in the end i thought the 60$ de7 was doing all the work...but honestly i think the rc20 is close, JUST PUT A BIG F***ING KNOB THAT ALLOWS TIME MANGLING & not the stupid digitech slow down time but pitch stays the same--wtf is that? i mean isn't this supposed to model original tape loops-you slow down the loop of tape and it will go lower in pitch (or speed it up)--model that PLEASE....i guess the new pedal samplers are for the singer/songwriters who lay down chords and sing and add little bits, i'm sure that's who buys these....but give it some more controls PLEASE!!!!!!!!!!

i should say that yes, the EH 2880 & the electrix repeater do the time manipulation (from what i hear-i don't own them)...ok, i'm not sure if i answered your question...i think i went off on my mad angry tangent on the current loop gear makers....sorry to offend...i just like control....btw...when the new stereo jamman was announced (months back) on the gear page david torn mentioned that digitech (or harmon the parent co owners) owns the rights to the electrix repeater, he said he was disappointed that the new jamman stereo doesn't offer the time stretch option...or hell...since they ALSO OWN LEXICON why don't they put out a double pedal thing of the pcm42 (PLEASE!!!!!!!!!!) and keep it affordable so i can get one!!! just a bummer that this stuff is out there, the lexicon unit is over 20 yrs old, the repeater is a 10 yr old piece of equipment....MODEL THAT & put in a cheap pedal!!!!!!!! ok, i'll end my angry old man rant....i should go work on my guitar....i hope i answered your question, somewhere in this angry mess....ha!

happy looping....s----