Delay/reverb unit I once used...

elmegil

I'm not so much trying to find a specific unit, as I am trying to identify the class it was in so I could find something equivalent.

I was doing some side work with a friend, and one of my then bandmates (who i can no longer find, we fell out of touch) loaned me this 1U rack unit, kind of beige colored, for us to play with.

it was awesome. Huge range of basic delay effects, but what makes me want to seek it out again was the weird (feedback?) effects we were able to get out of it. There was one setting where Dave was singing a chorus and it sounded like a choir of demons even though it was a single take.

I've always believed it was some sort of analog delay, but I'm not 100% positive.

I've been futzing around in various percussion module research this evening so reverb and related things are top of mind, and so I wanted to go back and try and dredge this up (it comes to mind every now and then).

Anyone have any idea at all, was this simply a garden variety delay doing something they all can do, or...? If so my apologies for such a noobish question... Smile

DES · Posted: Wed Jun 20, 2012 3:55 pm Post subject:

Hmm I believe Ibanez had some beige or tan rack mount delays. DM series I believe. Here is one model - DM 1100 - on Ebay:

http://www.ebay.com/itm/Ibanez-DM-1100-Digital-Delay-Vintage-80s-Rack-/170653376595?_trksid=p4340.m185&_trkparms=algo%3DSIC.NPJS%26its%3DI%26itu%3DUA%26otn%3D5%26pmod%3D170637653561%26ps%3D63%26clkid%3D54452176958707820

Maybe a DM-500?

They had several different models and series.

elmegil · Posted: Wed Jun 20, 2012 6:51 pm Post subject:

Actually, the 1100 looks an awful lot like what I think I remember. I don't remember a block diagram on top, but that could have been peeled off, and I do know we could go from flange and chorus through long slow echos. Thank you Smile

DES · Posted: Wed Jun 20, 2012 10:58 pm Post subject:

Ibanez had quite a few different rack mounted delays that were really pretty good for the price. A few are getting a bit pricey but most I've seen are around $50 +/-

Patchmouse · Joined: Sep 27, 2006 Posts: 136 Location: London

I think this was an early digital unit, with about 500ms delay time ? any similar unit with the same basic functions should give you that "choir" effect, that multi-voice type of sound. I had a Bel BD80s that had 13 seconds delay time, and I could get some huge multi-layered sound-scapes out of that thing, you could set it up and go away and have a cup of tea and you would have a whole album in the can ! There are some great software emulations though, and I can recommend the Ellotronix VST

http://free-loops.com/vst-plugin-28.html

It reacts just like an analogue delay, and has a great decay quality, very atmospheric, it degrades nicely. Analogue and early digital delays are cheap enough, but anything with a decent long delay time is always going to be fairly expensive, a Bel will set you back around £300 UK GBP, and the classic TC 2290 can be anything from £700-800 GBP and a lot more, depending on delay time.

This effect is still one of my all-time favorite tricks for making soundscapes, you never know where it's going to take you.
Patchmouse.

paugui · Posted: Wed Jun 27, 2012 5:38 pm Post subject:

I have an Ibanez DM2000 and an HD1500 and they are both pretty cool.
The analog delays from them seem really nice too (I have an AD202).

None of them was more than 70 euros and I think for around that price they are definitely worth it.

I used all those three Ibanez delays in one of my performances here (together with a reverb effect from my Korg Zero 8 and a Symetrix 606 on the send/return bus of the Korg) in electro-music.com and the result seemed really nice to me.
Chaining some of these delays can result in really nice soundscapes Smile