Delays with programmable settings

Si_

I'm on the lookout for a programmable delay pedal.. I recently bought a NUX Time force from China which works OK for my spare board, but I need something higher quality for my main board.. So what's out there and what's good?

I need variable analogue and digital delay patches, and a reverse delay patch.

octatonic

Main ones are:

Eventide Timefactor

Strymon Timeline

TC Electronic X4

TC is the cheapest, although Eventides can be picked up cheap sometimes.

Si_

I forgot about the TC X4. although there HUGE!!

I guess there is the Nova delay as well (which I think the NUX is a copy of)..

Anyone any experience of any of the above?

octatonic

I have an Eventide- if I had my time again I'd go for the Timeline, it sounds better and the Eventide is very noisy if used on the front end of an amp, it is fine in the loop.

ICBM

Boss DD-20.

Line6 DL-4 if you don't mind vast and with possibly questionable reliability.

Drew_TNBD

Yeah, avoid the Eventide I'd say. Very noisy pedals.

DL-4 is a classic. Fix the footswitches and you're golden.

TC Flashback X4 is supposed to be good, but doesn't have global tap tempo. Don't know if that is a requirement for you or not.

Nova Delay is noisy in front of an amp too. Okay in the loop.

ddlooping

Digitech JamMan Delay Looper?

EricTheWeary

I wouldn't call the x4 huge - got 3 delay pedals/ switches and a looper ( or blooper according to predictive text).
In the interests of impartiality there is also the Vox ( delay lab is it?).

midiglitch

I thought the x4 was huge when I opened the box. They made the knobs really big so in photos you think they are normal sized and proportion the pedal accordingly.  However, it hasn't been a problem on the board in reality.

I think it's good. My requirements are two different delays with at least one being tap tempo. The x4 does that and is probably smaller than any two units which would satisfy the above. In honest I don't think there is much in it between this and the dl4 or the vox, though I have not owned the others.

spacecadet

Got the Timefactor myself and haven't had any noise issues. There's a wee preset change lag which is annoying but apart from that its great. Timeline is better for ambient stuff but for straight up clean delay sounds it's rubbish.
There is of course the Eventide H9. Not out yet but should be here in a couple of weeks. I have my eye on that one.

Cirrus

I really like the DD-20. Though it's got fewer options and is an older design I preferred mine to the Timefactor I had after it (eventually I went back to the DD-20 via an ill advised foray into racks). It's solid, you don't feel the need to baby it, the power requirements are very reasonable, and while the analogue voicing is much less bombastic than some digital analogue emulations I think it's less cartoonish - repeats melt away nicely given time. Plus, analogue dry through if that's important to you.

It also has the joint-best modulation I've heard on a delay pedal and controls that make sense live.

stickyfiddle

I had an Eventide and loved it- no problems with noise in frot or in loop.

I plan on buying another when I have more spare cash and the delay itch starts again

ICBM

Drew_fx said:

DL-4 is a classic. Fix the footswitches and you're golden.

That's not the only fault with them. Mine did something much more entertaining in its software . Luckily not right in the middle of a song or it would have been a real head ****. (Tape echo joke .)

Basically I was using it as a looper, and when I tried to record a new loop with the intro of a song, it started playing the loop from the previous song and no amount of button pressing or knob twiddling would stop it until I pulled the power plug out. If I'd had batteries in it it would have been even funnier, like some sort of possessed toy that won't shut up. The band - who were waiting patiently for me to sort it out - didn't think it was so funny though...

It worked perfectly well after that but I never trusted it again. I sold it shortly afterwards and replaced it with three Boss delays.

Cirrus

I had an issue with my Modfactor - later found out is was a loose ribbon cable, but for months it'd generally act fine then suddenly become possessed - careening wildly through setting changes, patches, menus, outputting mental stuttering noises... So I kinda went off the whole factor series.

It's true of any pedal. It's fine until that one time you stomp on it and something goes awry.

ICBM

Cirrus said:

I had an issue with my Modfactor - later found out is was a loose ribbon cable, but for months it'd generally act fine then suddenly become possessed - careening wildly through setting changes, patches, menus, outputting mental stuttering noises... 

Fantastic!

Cirrus said:

It's true of any pedal. It's fine until that one time you stomp on it and something goes awry.

True. I've just generally found that sort of unpredictability happens less with Boss pedals. Dull, but dependable.

ChrisMusic

Does anyone know if any or the pedals here have the ability to separate the wet / dry signals?

I'm really looking for one where I can choose to get the wet / delay signal only if I want.

Cirrus said:  ...(eventually I went back to the DD-20 via an ill advised foray into racks)...

Why was rack mount gear a problem?  Not sure I understand the rack vs pedals issue.

stickyfiddle

Timefactor definitely can- you can send all wet or all dry to each output, or blend however you want.

It's pretty much a rack delay in a pedal

dogload

Racks for me are just that much more that I have to carry and then connect. A pedal board is just one entity with an in and out (or two!).

My old Arion DDS1 has a dry/ wet out and I'm pretty sure the Electro Harmonix (Big Box) Delay has a wet and dry (my Electric Mistress Deluxe does). But That's old technology. Don't know about new stuff.

digitalscream

spacecadet said:

There is of course the Eventide H9. Not out yet but should be here in a couple of weeks. I have my eye on that one.

I was looking at that myself a while back, and I thought it looked pretty interesting. Now that I've seen the eye-watering price, I'm officially changing my mind...nearly £500 for a single stomp is definitely outside the bounds of reasonable expenditure for me

If it could run multiple algorithms in a chain, then it might be worth it. However, it doesn't - and I can't find a list of downloadable algorithms anywhere (which you have to pay for on top of the painful purchase price).

Jalapeno

I'd like something like a TC Nova with settings recall - rather than need umpteen pedals at different settings.

For a covers band, 2 or 3 U2 tunes and you're jiggered !

(don't want a MultiFX, or M5/M9/M13)

Flanging_Fred

An alternative to the DD20 is the Digitech Timebender. Some pretty unusual features on that one. Dunno if its any good or not though.