Tap tempo

Placidcasual79

I apologise if I've asked similar questions before - but I don't understand tap tempo. I have a DD-7 and ideally would like to set the delay repeats in time with the speed the band is playing at. 

You know - were playing, it comes to a breakdown and I can put delays in so the echo's are in time. 

Is this possible with a tap tempo footswitch?
Can you sent the tempo before engaging the effect?
Can tap the tempo in 'real time'?

HELP!!!! Sorry for being stupid. 

UnclePsychosis

1. Yes
2. On most tap tempo pedals, yes. You'd need to check the DD7 manual to be sure. 
3. On most pedals, yes

The thing I would say about the DD7 is that it's a great pedal but if you intend to use tap tempo a lot it really benefits from using an external tap tempo switch. They're not expensive (about a £10 when they come up used) and they make tapping the tempo *much* easier. Without the external switch you have to hold down the main switch to enter tap mode and its a bit faffy. 

Placidcasual79

UnclePsychosis said:

1. Yes
2. On most tap tempo pedals, yes. You'd need to check the DD7 manual to be sure. 
3. On most pedals, yes

The thing I would say about the DD7 is that it's a great pedal but if you intend to use tap tempo a lot it really benefits from using an external tap tempo switch. They're not expensive (about a £10 when they come up used) and they make tapping the tempo *much* easier. Without the external switch you have to hold down the main switch to enter tap mode and its a bit faffy. 

Thanks @UnclePsychosis - the reason I am asking the question is because I am trying to decided whether I need a footswitch or a new pedal with built in tap tempo (such as the RE 20)

UnclePsychosis

The re20 and the DD7 are both great pedals but they sound very different---I sold my DD7 to get an re20 but that was about the sound, not tap setup. 

Personally I think DD7 plus footswitch is a great delay and very easy to use.

You may also want to consider the DD20 which also has a second footswitch built in.  

Placidcasual79

UnclePsychosis said:

The re20 and the DD7 are both great pedals but they sound very different---I sold my DD7 to get an re20 but that was about the sound, not tap setup. 

Personally I think DD7 plus footswitch is a great delay and very easy to use.

You may also want to consider the DD20 which also has a second footswitch built in.  

I am in a Ska band - at some of our breakdowns we venture into reggae/dub territory so the purchase of an RE 20 wouldn't purely be for the tap feature......

@unclepsychosis - I appreciate you taking the time to answer my question - thank you. 

So with the RE 20 its possible to tap in a tempo whilst playing without the delay effect engaged, then active the delay at the tempo I've tapped in? 
Or that I could tap in the delays as they are actually happening?

UnclePsychosis

The right hand RE-20 switch is dedicated to tap tempo - and yes, you can tap the tempo when it's not engaged. 

Your second question I'm not quite sure what you mean - but you can still change the tap tempo whilst the thing is engaged. However the RE-20 is a bit odd in that if you do change the tempo whilst it's on you get that warbly warpy sound whilst the "tape" catches up to the new speed. This is entirely deliberate and may be what you want but some people will hate it. 

There's also the option with the re-20 of attaching a separate expression pedal that will let you control delay time / intensity / repeat level--- this might help you do that real dubby breakdown thing. Worth noting you can only  control one of those at a time with it and switching between them isn't the kind of thing you could do easily mid-gig. Personally I never managed to find a really useful way (for me) to employ the expression pedal with it. 

The other thing that the right hand footswitch does which might be cool for breakdowns between songs is the "warp" mode. If you hold the switch down it ramps up the delay parameters so that you get that "self oscillation" thing going on. When you release the switch they ramp down back to normal. It would be easy to overuse, but it sounds pretty damn cool. I sometimes use it just to add a hint of madness over a riff or something before feeding it out again. 

I really love my RE-20 (it's the first delay I've really "bonded" with musically). Its definitely got those reggae tones in it. Its not without downsides though - it's bloody huge, has no presets, the "input volume" control can't be bypassed so is always on (I don't care and actually like what it does to the bypass tone- but tone snobs may not approve), and it basically only has one type of sound in it. But it's a glorious sound. And warp mode is cool. 

Basically, it's quirky but sounds great. 

EricTheWeary

I don't do anything smart enough with delay to see tap as a necessity and my attempts with it in a band setting weren't very successful. For reggae type stuff if you are looking at a new pedal with tap it might be worth considering something that does subdivisions as you don't necessarily want a straight delay, this explains it:



although the RE20 certainly gets used for reggae type stuff and tape delay is the sound of early dub. 

UnclePsychosis

That's the other downside to the re-20, no subdivisions. 

Still love it though. :-D

english_bob

UnclePsychosis said:

You may also want to consider the DD20 which also has a second footswitch built in.  

It does, but when I had one I found it much more useful to have the two footswitches on the pedal assigned to on/off (can't be changed anyway) and to scrolling through presets, then have an external footswitch set up for tap tempo.

IMO, having a dedicated tap tempo footswitch is preferable to having tap tempo hidden somewhere in the inner workings of the pedal (BOSS usually have it as a "press and hold for 2 seconds" alternate mode on their compact pedals), particularly if it's something you think you'll get a lot of use out of. 

Subdivisions of the tap tempo are really cool to have as well- very basic tap tempo just gives you repeats at the same rate you tapped the footswitch, but a pedal that allows subdivisions will convert a simple quarter-note tapped input to other rhythmic intervals- probably most common is the dotted eighth note rhythm, where the repeat will sound three sixteenth notes after the note- one-e-and-A-two-e... When you hear it you'll recognise it. It's only the tip of the rhythmic funtimes iceberg of course- many of the slightly more upmarket delays have a whole range of subdivisions, from sixteenth note triplets right up to whole notes (occasionally even more than that), plus all sorts in between.  

Legionreturns

May be a bit of an aside, but the GA FC foot controller for my Katana does tap and can set many different types of delay using tone studio then just tap to adjust. I suppose that's the benefit of a modern ss amp but I've found it very easy to get on with. 

Placidcasual79

Thank you for taking the time to answer @UnclePsychosis - really helpful stuff. I have to say the RE-20 sounds right up my street, both in terms of the sounds it generates and also the functionality. The other pedal I looked at which seems to have similar features is the Earth quaker devices avalanche run. 

Thank you too @EricTheWeary - the video is helpful for a simpleton like me - as you say I'd love an actual tape delay for that true dub sound. I've used also sorts of plugins in the studio - but nothing is quite the same as that sound. What happened when you tried to use tap delay with your band?

Thank you too @english_bob there is a tap tempo hidden in my DD7 - but its not practical to access it live which is why I am considering a change. 

EricTheWeary

Placidcasual79 said:

Thank you for taking the time to answer @UnclePsychosis - really helpful stuff. I have to say the RE-20 sounds right up my street, both in terms of the sounds it generates and also the functionality. The other pedal I looked at which seems to have similar features is the Earth quaker devices avalanche run. 

Thank you too @EricTheWeary - the video is helpful for a simpleton like me - as you say I'd love an actual tape delay for that true dub sound. I've used also sorts of plugins in the studio - but nothing is quite the same as that sound. What happened when you tried to use tap delay with your band?

Thank you too @english_bob there is a tap tempo hidden in my DD7 - but its not practical to access it live which is why I am considering a change. 

I'm not sure I've ever done anything that really required tap delay so trying to do it in a band context was a bit of an indulgence and then you have to tap it in and get it right and not have the singer announce a different song,etc,etc.
I'd still quite like a delay I could do more creative stuff with like the Avalanche Run and those kind of top end delays although it certainly isn't really required by the band.