Digital Delay

Digital delays are, in a sense, just special-purpose loopers. They record a small chunk of audio then play it back, resulting in perfectly clean repeats of the dry signal. However, this isn’t all they can do. This ‘buffer’, once recorded, can be manipulated in endless ways. It can be played back faster or slower, pitch-shifted, even reversed. It’s no wonder that as soon as boutique builders became able to build their own digital delays, the options available exploded.

TG Recommends

BOSS DD-500 DIGITAL DELAY

The Boss DD-500 stock is a compelling unit. It has good emulations of classic Roland Space Echo, SDE-3000 and DM series. However, with newer firmware, it’s even more powerful. You can run two delays in series or parallel, or have three different delays cued up at once in a bank. This is great for live use if you don’t need the tap tempo switch.

Bestfor Dual delays, a la Hank Marvin or The Edge

STRYMON TIMELINE

There’s not much to tell apart the most expensive delay motherships, but the Strymon Timeline is an intuitive unit, for all its complexity. It’s got 12 delay modes, plus a looper. Included are all the modes that make Strymon pedals like the El Capistan and DIG so compelling, as well as full MIDI control. It’s no surprise that many players end their delay journey here.

Bestfor Clear, intuitive layout

Also Try

Catalinbread Csidman

A delay and random skipping generator, the Csidman was inspired by the anti-jog protection on the 90s Sony Discman.

BOSS DD-8 Digital Delay

The modern incarnation of the DD series, as used by everybody from Radiohead to At The Drive-in, to Tool.

Chase Bliss Audio MOOD

A bizarre loop/reverb/delay idea-generation machine, created by a supergroup of boutique builders - Drolo, Old Blood Noise Endeavors, and Chase Bliss Audio.