Magneto

Packed with powerful features while maintaining intuitive playability, Magneto is a stereo multi-head tape delay that also functions as a looper, phrase sampler, vintage spring reverb unit, phase-aligned clock multiplier, chaotic oscillator, zero latency sub-oscillator and more, with extensive CV I/O.

Magneto is an Interstellar Space Machine.

Create expansive soundscapes and evolving, otherworldly tones. Add layers upon layers of harmonic and rhythmic complexity within an enveloping stereo field. Infuse your rack with vintage warmth and retrofuturistic soul.

Transform Your Modular.

Turn simple monophonic signals into complex orchestrations. Create new oscillator tones using self-oscillation. Add rich stereo dimension to your sound, and enjoy the inherent warmth and sweet, subtle distortion characteristics of magnetic tape. Magneto transforms even the smallest rack into a fully expressive, immersive instrument.

Vintage Vibe.

To capture the full experience and complexity of a vintage tape echo machine, every last tape system attribute was relentlessly studied and faithfully recreated. From the sought-after natural saturation and soft clipping of magnetic tape when driven hard, to hands-on real-time controls for tape age, tape crinkle, and mechanical wow and flutter, Magneto delivers a rich multi-head delay experience that adds life and vibe to your sound.

Insanely Powerful DSP.

Magneto is outfitted with the incredibly powerful Analog Devices SHARC ADSP-21369 processor, which provides a 366 MHz core instruction rate, and an incredible 2.4 Gigaflops of peak performance. Thanks to this high-powered technology platform within Magneto, Strymon had the freedom to craft their processor-intense tape echo algorithms without compromise.

Play It Like An Instrument.

Every function, control, gain stage, and signal path component in Magneto works together to respond musically and smoothly, even during the wildest live modular improvisations. All this is combined with a luxurious spring reverb to take the sound of your modular setup to a new level, and your sonic explorations into far-out territories.

Stereo Operation

Double your dimension. Even if everything else in your rack is mono, plug into Magneto's left input and enjoy instant stereo gratification. Each of Magneto's four playheads can have their outputs panned hard left or right (or center). There are three pan modes: LRLR, LRRL, and (customizable) Center. With all heads centered, a psycho-acoustic stereo image is produced. Adding Wow and Flutter or the built-in Spring Reverb enhances the stereo field even further.

Sound on Sound

Just like one of our favorite moving head tape echo machines, Magneto gives you a Sound on Sound mode (LOOP Mode). When you enter LOOP Mode, the machine is already recording, just like a traditional tape echo machine. Tape head 4 is the looper playback head while tape heads 1-3 provide delay repeats for the incoming signal. To set the length of your tape, press Tap once to set your splice "in" point, and press Tap again to set your splice "out" point. All of the tone shaping knobs are active and affect your loop as it plays back and re-records. Press Tap a third time to completely erase the tape. The REPEATS knob controls regeneration strength. Set lower REPEATS level for loops that evolve over time. The maximum loop length is 15 seconds at max SPEED, or two minutes at minimum SPEED.

Features:

• Tape Saturation.
• Self-Oscillator.
• Pitch Shifted Delays.
• Spring Reverb.
• Looper.
• Phrase Sampler.
• Infinite Echo.
• Reverse.
• Clock Multiplier/Divider.
• Tape Stop/Start.
• Audio Scrubber.
• Stereo Operation.
• Warm Up Your Rack.

Not only does Magneto deliver the warm, luscious delay signals that tape delays are known for, it is also capable of a high degree of saturation. Turn up the Record Level knob to send a hot signal to the record head for any amount of tape saturation you desire. Turn up the Tape Age control for warmer repeats. Add some truly beautiful Spring Reverb. Magneto adds organic heart and soul to the sound of your modular:

• Video Demos.
• Tone / Mechanics.
• Shift Head Pitch.
• Record Level Saturation.
• Multi-Part Orchestration.
• Sub-Oscillator.
• Video Game Sampler.
• Rhythms, Reverbs, Manipulations.
• Speed Changes.
• Chaotic Oscillator.
• Quantized Pitch.
• Sound On Sound Looper.
• Adding Ambience.
• Vari-Speed Phrase Sampler.
• Guitar Sequence.
• Sci Fi Lo Fi.
• Fun With Transport.
• Tone and Mechanics Control.

POWER:

• +12V rail: 210mA.
• -12V rail: 210mA.
• +5V rail: 0mA.

DIP SWITCH 1 – FEEDBACK CV MODE:

• ON: Allows for advanced CV trigger control of the FEEDBACK ON/OFF buttons (see user manual for complete detail).
• OFF (DEFAULT): Standard CV control of transport whenever transport CV jacks are plugged in.

DIP SWITCH 2 – DUAL SPLIT MODE:

• ON: Selects Dual Split mode where LEFT audio IN/OUT is a mono four head tape delay, and RIGHT audio IN/OUT is mono spring reverb.
• OFF (DEFAULT): Standard stereo IN/OUT with the delay signal feeding into the Spring reverb.

Completely Analog Dry Path.

In a typical digital effect the dry signal gets converted to digital, causing conversion noise and latency. Signals are often attenuated before combining digital dry and wet, with makeup gain amplifying the conversion noise. To avoid this terrifying scenario, Strymon has equipped Magneto with a completely analog dry path. Why go to all this trouble? Because the improvements in dynamic range and reduction in noise are so dramatic.

{See video at top of page}

https://youtu.be/UQN2_uMa2CM