Source Audio Nemesis Delay Effects Pedal

Source Audio Nemesis Delay Effects Pedal

One Pedal, a Million Delay Tones

by Chris Loeffler

Source Audio’s Nemesis Delay was designed to take the power of their advanced sound-shaping tools and  put it in a form factor familiar and comfortable to players. Featuring seven knobs, two switches, two push buttons, two footswitches, multiple I/O options, the Nemesis may seem intimidating at first, but a couple of minutes proves how intuitive it is to dial in nearly any delay tone without every cracking open a manual.  For those who love to tweak, the Source Audio Nemesis Delay offers deep editing and customization through the company’s free, downloadable Neuro app (more on that in a moment), but there’s enough control and variation on the pedal’s physical knobs that many players won’t even check it out.

What You Need to Know

Standard controls such as time, feedback, and mix controls all work like they would on any other delay and even the mod and rate knobs are familiar enough to most delay users, offering control of the modulation applied to the delayed signal. The unique control to the Nemesis is the intensity knob , which changes roles depending on the delay type and adding a wide range differentiation and character to each delay type—be it EQ filtering, bit-crushing degrade delay, or pitch-shifting. Tap tempo includes a division switch to select between quarter, dotted eighth, and triplet settings, and holding it down freezes the delay, creating a lush background to play over. For players looking beyond the standard stompbox experience, there are MIDI I/Os, stereo I/Os, USB connectivity, an assignable expression pedal input, and four presets. Whether integrated into a MIDI system or used to assign different wet/dry output combinations, you can do it.

The delay setting selector  offers a dozen distinct, well-crafted delay “types”, from warm and dirty with modulation to crystal clear, high fidelity clones of the input tone. Those familiar with different delay types will have a good idea what to expect from the various settings. Scrolling through the 12 delay types (an additional dozen are available in the app) reveals how specifically each control is tied to the nature of the basic delay effect. Delay time, feedback, and even modulation all have a slightly different sweep depending on which delay type is selected. In more subtle settings, the modulations blend very organically as an integral part of the delay tone. For instance, in the analog and digital settings, the modulation sounds like light chorus applied to the delayed signal. In the tape modes, light modulation moves slightly off-kilter and with the subtle randomness of a true tape delay that’s a little out of spec.

More out there delay types, like the Sweeper (filter swept delays), Degrade (bit crushing), and Shifter (pitch shifted delays) settings can get outright otherworldly. In sweeper mode, for example, the hold function adds synth-like pad. There are many sound samples available on the Source Audio site to hear exactly what each setting sounds like, so rather than trying to use words to describe sounds I’ll settle with stating that the expectation I had of what each setting should sound like, based on experience with many different delays, was met or exceeded in every case. There seems to be just a touch of reverb to the delays, as they sound a bit lusher in an A/B against similar delays, but subtle enough that I wouldn’t hear it if I didn’t have something to compare it to with a picky ear.

I mentioned early that the pedal is so well designed many players won’t even access the the Neuro app, which is true, but they’d be missing out on one of the Nemesis’ most intriguing features; sharing user presets. In addition to extra delay types like dub, lo-fi retro, oil can, and warped vinyl, there is already a vast library of tones sculpted by Nemesis owners that can be downloaded to the pedal.

Limitations

This isn’t a true limitation, and most players would never know this, but to achieve the routing versatility Source Audio felt integral to the flexibility of the Nemesis, the “dry” signal is digitally processed as well. Players with an aversion to analog-to-digital conversion, regardless of the quality of the convertors or fidelity of the signal, might be turned off.

The Verdict

The Source Audio Nemesis stands strong among competition like the Strymon Timeline, Eventide Timefactor, and Boss DD-500. The ability to choose whether to simply use the pedal’s controls or deep edit within the app makes both options feel fully fleshed and never compromised, and the truly impressive array of top-notch delay tones puts the Nemesis at the top of the delay consideration list.

Resources

Source Audio Nemesis Delay Pedal Product Page

Buy Source Audio Nemesis Delay @ Amazon ($299.00 Street)