Anyone using a 3 head deck for pre-delay?

[FALKEN]

before their spring reverb? this occured to me the other day. I know I should just try it... was wondering if anyone is doing it.

[The Ghost of FM]

I think that would create a post delay, not a pre delay?

But to answer your question; no, I never bothered with it as you get only one delay setting based on the tape speed.

I used to have a Dokorder 7140 that had that feature with a variable feedback control on board the machine which would create a pretty cheesy effect and once I rented a Roland echo-plex to play around with the effect delays but liked my Boss stomp box pedal better which did the delay and flanging effects in a solid state box.

Slightly more modern stuff like the Alesis midi and micro verb units also offer up mediocre delay effects for those that need/use them.

Cheers!

[FALKEN]

well, if you went aux-->tape deck on repro-->reverb (0% dry 100% wet) then that would be a 'predelay'. I don't know why they call it that. I have a boss analog delay stomp box as well that I love in my guitar rig but I don't exactly know how to incorporate it into the recording rig...

[The Ghost of FM]

Originally Posted by FALKEN

well, if you went aux-->tape deck on repro-->reverb (0% dry 100% wet) then that would be a 'predelay'. I don't know why they call it that. I have a boss analog delay stomp box as well that I love in my guitar rig but I don't exactly know how to incorporate it into the recording rig...

I've used stomp box pedals in the insert point point of my mixers with decent results. They will over load a bit quicker then most rack gear so you have to watch your levels a bit more but otherwise, that can work for tracking or mix-down.

Cheers!

[Beck]

It's a nice effect for that Elvis or John Lennon sound. You can use a mixer to feed the delay back in for repeating echoes, but the hiss will build up real fast. I used to have a little box made by TEAC, Model AX-10 that allowed you to do some ping-pong between two channels and create repeating echoes.

I have so many analog and digital delays I ended up selling it on eBay. If you want to do some tape echo with an open-reel it’s a nice thing to have around.

[Dr ZEE]

I've used 3-head tape decks for delay/echo effect, especially because of all the nastiness and hard to control build-ups and "cheesiness" of it. That's what I was after.
Never used tape specifically for delaying the input signal for another effect. Sounds like worthy idea for experimenting.

Originally Posted by FALKEN

well, if you went aux-->tape deck on repro-->reverb (0% dry 100% wet) then that would be a 'predelay'....

I would say, yes, I suppose.

Originally Posted by FALKEN

I don't know why they call it that...

Me neither.
They are THE developers - they can choose to call it what ever they want. Us? - we get no choice but to repete what they have chosen. So predelay it IS.
Is it a time difference between the moment YOU hear the direct sound and the moment when the "wall" does "hear" it in the imaginary and thus non-existing pre-selected "spot" on the imaginary and thus non-existing wall. Between that "spot" and YOU there must be some distance too and thus there must be another delay before YOU hear what the wall has to say. Another delay needs a different name? Let's call it something ? No? - OK, then let's let them to pick a name, as we always prefer, after all them are the ones who do all the imaginary work.