Delay pedal

Hey I'm trying to decide what delay I want, I have a DD7 which is great but the tap tempo annoys me because I can't adjust it fast enough. I've narrowed it down to the Walrus Audio ARP-87 and the Free the tone Flight Time. Obviously the flight time is significantly more expensive but is it worth it? What do you guys think?

are they even related? the free the tone is based heavily on an older TC rack unit that's a favorite of us recording engieners and also the edge from U2... the walrus? I'm not sure what its supposed to do. I was at my friend's studio yesterday mixing this band's album and one of the guys who works there left a bunch of his gear including a Strymon Cpaistan, Walrus ARP-87 and a Panda Particle.... love the Particle, the Walrus does nothing for me.

On to the Capistan. My buddy has a Chorus Echo like I used to use back when we were ina band together (he's keeping his serviced better, every time I go there its working LOL) and I had my FLashback X4 with me. For tape sounds its really hard to tell the difference between the strymon and the TC... and the actual Roland tape unit only jumps out at you because its noisey and the simualtions aren't. A well dialed patch on either the Capistan or X4 is a lvoely thing and while the Strymon might sound a hair mroe real, once its in a mix or band setting you can't tell the difference. YMMV...

The X4 still owns them all for versatility with the toneprint software, its like a super-DL4. But you better be patient to get everything out of it you can. The strymon is more plug and play and soudns ebtter without a lot of fiddling. the one place the TC falls down to me is in full on digital ode. No matter what i do in the toneprint software it never quite soudns like a 2290 to me in any of its digital modes... not a deal beeaker for me ebcause I have a Korg unit for old school digital delays. The X4 also has hidden modulation tricks that go beyond using a pitch vibrato delay on a short time to create chorus and flange effects.

I still have yet to try a Flight Time and I'm suspicious of demos, but it sounds right to me based on the youtube demos. Assuming those demos to be honest, it does a great 2290 sound and has front panel control of the fitlering and modualtion parameters that appears to have even mroe range then the old TC unit. It'll probably do a decent digital SPX90 type chorus and flange effect when set right too. But ALL it does is vintage digital delay. If you ened your delay to model analog devices then look elsewhere, this pedal is just a studio digital delay in a pedal. You at wish to try out a carbon copy deluxe n this price range... the DOD rubberneck is getting rave reviews too, but I haven't tried one out yet. As a huge fan of what Jorge did on the original carbon copy I can tell ya, the deluxe doubles the delay time, is digitally controlled for tap, has fully adjustable modulation, a bright mode AND it sounds GREAT. I have old delays, the carbon copy deluxe soudsn better than a lot of them and is way more useful on stage.

I agree with the above; the ARP-87 never felt quite as impressive in person to me. I recommend going the TC Flashback route; the first version has what it calls an 'audio tapping' feature, where you hold down the footswitch and strum the tempo on your guitar. I found it pretty intuitive and easy to get to grips with, but a lot players don't seems to get on with it. Version 2 lets you plug in an external tap but doing that sacrifices stereo operation.

The Flight Time IS worth it, but if you're just looking for something with more functional tap, and don't see much of a use for it's additional features, you can save quite a bit by going a different route (it sounds incredible, but so does a lot of other stuff). However, as you are willing to get kind of pricey for it, the Carbon Copy deluxe, Strymon El Capistan, Walrus Bellwether and EHX Memory Boy Deluxe are all fab sounding delays with tap tempo that are easy to use.

If I recall Iobtained my flashback X4 from an online retailer on blowout (supposedly a blemmished one, but it wasn't scratch n dent at all) and tit was under $200 shipped. Its a very inexpensive pedal and I see no reason to get the smaller version when you need tap. Why plug in an extra device or deal with TC's strumming tempo thing? The savings isn't that considerable if you buy a used X4 or find a scratch n dent or catch a sale. The only reason to have a small one is that its small LOL. I have the alter ego in the mini size. I got it VERY cheap just for its one trick, the broken echorec. its brilliant at that but the strumming in the tempo thing is very hit or miss. As a result I NEVER use the AE for anything but slapback type stuff or I'll just play around a stock echorec time that I punch in with the toneprint software.... its pretty much just for Floyd impressions with those d-timed locked in. I've owned many small pedals that accept a tap switch and these guys are only as good as your momentary switch's response. I would advise everyone to avoid delays without built in tap if they want precise, on the fly delay timing. In the case of the X4? The tap button is excellent. My only gripe with the timing is the lack of subdivision options as well as the lack of additional options in true stereo other than ping pong. But what do you want for about $200?

Funnily enough, I find the X4's tap button to be far more tempremental than the strum tempo on the older Flashback and Flashback mini. It is also a pretty big unit, which isn't necessarily worth the real estate if all you're after is a tap function.

I'm just throwing ideas out there, man. Personally, The Flashback X4 isn't worth the huge amount of real estate it takes up on my pedalboard, and while the sound is great, I'm only using it for one sound (I have other delay pedals for other sounds, at least, I have them on the way), so a mini or standard flashback being smaller is actually a huge plus.

Not that real estate is an issue for the guy asking, mind you, if he's considering a Flight Time. But personally, if all I was after was a tap delay, I'd be good with either a Flashback mini or Flashback 2 with an external tap plugged into it, but if a Flight Time can be afforded, that's where I think I'd put my money too

really? you have trouble with the tap on the X4? I've never had a problem. Takes 2 maybe 3 good taps, not even 4 of them... never failed me yet. For me the size is no big thing, I don't have a lot of pedals hooked up, so that's my all in 1 delay solution for live, I have 3 presets that are my soudns and that's that. My needs are pretty simple though. But I've delat with a lot of tap buttons thata re way worse. Iw as impressed with the X4's when I got it, although for the longest time Iw as controlling all my effects from a MIDI floorboard that also was my master tap and the pedals were in the rack that contains the head switcher. But I'm simplifying even further, putting together an itty bitty pedaltrain and losing all the bells and whistles. I don't think I can go abck to just 1 amplifier, but other than that my needs are incredibly modest. I'm even ditching modualtion... the ac30 vibrato and trem are so cool that i don't need anything else. i don't know why I ever thought I did.

Yeah, every now and then mine will be waaaaay off, i'll tap a modest 120-ish bpm and it'll either somehow be at twice what I tap or go to an almost slapback speed. It's super frustrating, but as I'm in down time at the moment, mostly just recording demos of material and keeping my chops up before I start playing more gigs once Uni starts back up, it's not enough to make me lose the pedal, it just won't be coming with me come September. Even on the DD-500 I used to have, the tempo would always be that little bit off, I ended up just always assigning that switch to something more fun.

The music that I write is very ambient and washy with huge soundscapes, so my sound kind of necessitates a fairly robost set of effects, but by the standards of the genre I'm still aiming for relatively tame. My modulation, delay and reverb sections are pretty large (2-3 pedals each), but there's usually only 3-4 on at any given time. Covers a variety of sounds rather than combining to make one crazy sound.