Strymon Volante Magnetic Echo Machine

The Strymon Volante Magnetic Echo Machine is a powerful digital delay pedal that meticulously emulates three distinct types of vintage magnetic echo devices: Tape Echo, Drum Echo, and Studio Reel-to-Reel.

It is a multi-head delay that offers an extensive array of sound-sculpting controls, an independent spring reverb, and a unique Sound on Sound looper mode.

Three Magnetic Echo Types

The TYPE switch allows you to select between three different vintage echo platforms:

1. Drum Echo: Based on magnetic drum delay units (like the Binson Echorec). This mode is known for its warm, atmospheric echoes with a focus on low-mid frequencies, and it easily saturates with a hot signal.

2. Tape Echo: Recreates the sound of classic tape machines (like the Roland Space Echo or Maestro Echoplex). This provides a warm, moderately clean, and airy signal path with the characteristic imperfections of magnetic tape.

3. Studio Echo: Emulates the sound of professional reel-to-reel studio tape machines. This mode is the cleanest and highest-fidelity of the three, able to sustain repeats with minimal degradation.

Key Controls for Sonic Sculpting

• Multi-Head Control: The most distinctive feature is the central grid of eight buttons, which represent four individual delay playback heads. For each head, you can individually control:

  • Playback Level: Set to full volume (Green LED), half volume (Amber LED), or Off.

  • Feedback: Engage or disengage the head from the feedback loop, allowing for complex, evolving rhythmic patterns.

• Tone Shaping:

  • Rec Level: Controls the gain of the analog JFET input preamp, allowing you to dial in everything from pristine clean repeats to warm, fat saturation and soft clipping.

  • Mechanics: Adds mechanically related speed fluctuations and media irregularities like friction, flutter, crinkles, and splices.

  • Wear: Controls the fidelity of the repeats, specifically affecting the high-frequency degradation of the tape/media.

  • Low Cut: Adjusts the low-frequency filtering of the echo repeats for lighter or thicker echoes.

• Rhythm and Timing:

  • Time & Speed: Time sets the base delay time, while the Speed switch sets the overall speed of the recording media to Half, Normal, or Double. Lower speeds result in warmer repeats and more pronounced mechanical effects.

  • Spacing: Allows you to change the rhythmic relationship between the four heads, with settings for Even, Triplet, Golden Ratio, and Silver Ratio, enabling complex polyrhythms.

Additional Features

• Spring Reverb: An independent, dedicated vintage spring reverb algorithm to add dimension and atmosphere to your signal.

• Sound on Sound (Looper): A unique, dedicated looper mode that emulates a vintage magnetic echo looping in real-time. Loops degrade with each pass, but you can engage Infinite Repeats to prevent further degradation. It also features Reverse and a mechanical Pause/Tape Stop effect.

• I/O and Connectivity:

  • Stereo I/O: High-impedance stereo input and stereo output.

  • Line/Instrument Level Switch: Allows for use with guitar/instrument-level signals or hotter line-level signals (synths, effects loops).

  • MIDI: Full MIDI control via 5-pin DIN, USB, and the Expression jack (TRS).

  • Presets: Eight onboard presets are accessible without MIDI, and 300 via MIDI.

  • Expression Pedal: Connect an expression pedal to continuously morph between any combination of knob settings.