Pulsar Audio releases Echorec (Binson Echorec emulation)

[plexuss]

IK does a good echplex. Audio Thing for Roland tape echo.

[metalifuxx]

Sean/Valhalla teased an image of Echoplex(s) hours after i made my previous post. Suspect he will add a real modeled echoplex mode to Valhalla Delay in the future.

[Funkybot's Evil Twin]

Im waiting for the boom of Echoplex plugins to happen next, followed by the Telray oil drum echo units. Then maybe that will evolve into Memory Men and DM-2 plugins, then come full circle back to modeling full on digital delays

Valhalla Delay has modes based on the DM-2 (BBD Past) and Memory Man Deluxe (BBD Present), and there was a photo of an EchoPlex and Fulltone Tube Tape Echo posted to the Valhalla Instagram with the words: R&D. So your wish may already be coming true.

[plexuss]

Im waiting for the boom of Echoplex plugins to happen next, followed by the Telray oil drum echo units. Then maybe that will evolve into Memory Men and DM-2 plugins, then come full circle back to modeling full on digital delays

Valhalla Delay has modes based on the DM-2 (BBD Past) and Memory Man Deluxe (BBD Present), and there was a photo of an EchoPlex and Fulltone Tube Tape Echo posted to the Valhalla Instagram with the words: R&D. So your wish may already be coming true.

Thing is, an echoplex has a distinctive sound based on all the aspects of it: noise, wow, flutter, drop outs, mechanical issues, etc. A proper emulation requires more than just a "tape sound" and generic wow and flutter. I wouldn't took to ValhallaDelay for an accurate echoplex emulation. I've owned many echoplexes and it doesn't sound like it to me. The IK Tape Echo is the closest I've heard to a real echoplex.

[Funkybot's Evil Twin]

Im waiting for the boom of Echoplex plugins to happen next, followed by the Telray oil drum echo units. Then maybe that will evolve into Memory Men and DM-2 plugins, then come full circle back to modeling full on digital delays

Valhalla Delay has modes based on the DM-2 (BBD Past) and Memory Man Deluxe (BBD Present), and there was a photo of an EchoPlex and Fulltone Tube Tape Echo posted to the Valhalla Instagram with the words: R&D. So your wish may already be coming true.

Thing is, an echoplex has a distinctive sound based on all the aspects of it: noise, wow, flutter, drop outs, mechanical issues, etc. A proper emulation requires more than just a "tape sound" and generic wow and flutter. I wouldn't took to ValhallaDelay for an accurate echoplex emulation. I've owned many echoplexes and it doesn't sound like it to me. The IK Tape Echo is the closest I've heard to a real echoplex.

Maybe I wasn't being clear: I agree, the current tape modes in ValhallaDelay are not in any way Echoplex emulations. They're based off two different RE-201's and the Hifi mode is more of a "turning a reel to reel" into a tape delay. What I was trying to say is that it's looking like he's [potentially] going to add brand new modes to Valhalla that are modeled on some of the new tape delays he acquired, which are an Echoplex and a Fulltone Tube Tape Echo. This is based on the recent Instagram post I linked to below and the fact that he's added new algorithms to almost all of his plugins post-release. So based on that, I'm assuming a new Echoplex mode is a real possibility for a future update of Valhalla Delay. I also don't think we'd be talking about a generic tape sound with some generic wow and flutter. ValhallaDelay is the best sounding plugin delay I've heard by far.

One of these days I'll do a shoot-out between my Boss DM-2w and the BBD mode in ValhallaDelay to see how the two stack up. The vibe feels spot on, but I haven't done a direct A/B compare yet, which I totally want to. ValhallaDelay totally gets that "pinched echo" sound right, which ColourCopy didn't quite do (still love it, just more hifi sounding), and Bucket 500 got close to with the filter set to darken. Will be interesting to see how close the two are.

Oh and that Instagram post I'm referencing:

https://www.instagram.com/p/BwzwazIBw1l/

[plexuss]

Here's a lead I played through a real Fulltone Tube Tape Echo (Echoplex suped-up remake)...


https://soundcloud.com/plexus-productio ... -tape-echo

[Funkybot's Evil Twin]

Here's a lead I played through a real Fulltone Tube Tape Echo (Echoplex suped-up remake)...


https://soundcloud.com/plexus-productio ... -tape-echo

I was seriously contemplating ordering one a few weeks back, but almost 2k is too much for me to rationalize spending on a tape echo. Great sound. If Valhalla could pull that off with their added Width parameter, I'd be happy. It's way more hifi than the RE-201 modes, but more dirty than the Hifi mode.

At one point towards the end (2:24), something really dirty and interesting happens with the delays. What's going on there? Sounds like the quickly distort into oblivion.

[plexuss]

You can hear where there are tape drop outs. I have yet to hear a tape echo emu that does tape drops outs. It's all part of the sound, if you want to emulate it accurately. That sound you hear around 2:24 is a combination of the tube(s) overloading and the tape saturating. Real tape echos are surprisigly sonically complex.

[Audiority]

Trying to talk as Luca as much as I can: old machines are beautiful because each unit of the same model can be different from another. Assuming that all of us developers are using a real hardware machine as a reference for our models, you can actually see how much different they can be! A fully restored EchoRec sounds incredibly clean: new tubes, new caps, even a new magnetic drum, will change the sound of an over 50 years old unit. Personally, I preferred to leave my EchoRec as is.. with its character. The six tubes are so old that their mu (and other parameters) has changed.. so replacing them will change the sound.

And I'm experiencing the same with the Maestro Echoplex EP-3, that I got in a very good shape with the original cartridge. The sound is very dark, compared to what I hear on some videos.. but a lot of its character comes from its preamp and, then, from the amplification circuits for both the record and the playback/SoS heads. Those amp circuits reminds me a lot the structure of a Fuzz Face! In fact, the service manual tells you to calibrate the machine to -20dB for undistorted signal and the voltages at the collector of the output transistor will be just a bit less than 15V. In fact, even if that's a solid state machine, it saturates pretty quickly.

@plexuss I guess that tape dropout comes about every 2 minutes, am I right?

Cheers,
Luca

[plexuss]

@plexuss I guess that tape dropout comes about every 2 minutes, am I right?

Cheers,
Luca

I manually wound the tape with an arbitrary amount of 456 so I am not sure what the loop length is. also remember that the tape type and wear make a difference in the sound too.

Your point is well taken that every tape echo is different sounding - true. there are so many variables! echoplexes are one of the most inconsistent because of the mechanical adjustment nature of the head.

Speaking of which, if the head adjuster is loose it can cause azimuth changes in the head which will also change the sound, every time you move it!

Emulate that!

[metalifuxx]

[/quote] Funkybot's Evil Twin:

Valhalla Delay has modes based on the DM-2 (BBD Past) and Memory Man Deluxe (BBD Present), and there was a photo of an EchoPlex and Fulltone Tube Tape Echo posted to the Valhalla Instagram with the words: R&D. So your wish may already be coming true.
[/quote]

I tried your preset pack. Your DM-2W preset sounds pretty close, at least to my DM-3. The DM-2w is actually the chips/circuit from the DM-3 as they couldnt source the original BBD chips from the DM-2. The original DM-3 is a little more gritty and has louder ring modish sounding clock noise that is quite apparent if heard in isloation and has very washy diffuse reverb like repeats, almost like the repeats turn into washy reverb halfway through the feedback path before they trail off completely. I also have the DOD Rubberneck and the Seymour Duncan Vapor Trail. The Vapor Trail uses the modern variant of cheap bbd chips and super clean noise filtering, which lends to a very smooth modern sound, but still has the BBD behavoir. The DOD Rubberneck is a beast, tons of variations and BBD sculpting delay tones from clean to dirty, and can even do Echoplex-like tape delay sounds with the drive and tone controls turned up with slight or extreme modulation. I wanted to post examples of the different BBD pedals i have along side the Valhalla BBD model as well.

[metalifuxx]

It was more a prediction than wish, as i think the echoplex will be the new bandwagon "me too" modeled delay coming this year from developers.

[niccolo]

Hi everyone,

We’re happy to announce a quick maintenance update for the Pulsar Echorec !

In this 1.1 version, we:

• Added various time divisions in Sync mode, as requested by many users

• Added the possibility of customizing the default settings

• Fixed a random crash happening in Numerology and some old Ableton Live versions

• Fixed a few minor bugs

Musically yours

[veloheinz]

Thanks a lot,
state of the art.

[sqigls]

i'll bump this one too, it deserves a shout out, especially with the current sale on at JRR.

nice dimension to it, I like the way it sits well in the mix, with minimal controls, but minimal messing around.
Has oversampling, but a great sound even without oversampling. and the CPU hit is acceptable
Pulsar Audio has a new follower. Keen to see what else they come up with.