What's the difference between an analog and a digital delay?

[tigger_ferret]

Originally posted by dot-dot-dot Actually, I AB'd a BYOC delay (digital) with a DMM (analogue?) and ignoring the modulation they sound pretty darned similar.

 

 

Really???

 

My BYOC delay sounds nothing like my Boss DM-2

 

but then again a DM-2 sounds pretty different to a DMM.

 

I guess that just reinforces that you should get a delay that you like the sound of rather than worrying about if it is analog or digital.

[evilbuttmuncher]

Originally posted by dot-dot-dot Yes. The digital one samples and quantises the incoming audio, creating a stream of numbers that represents the waveform. The analogue one samples the waveform and dumps charge into a chip depending on the waveform amplitude. Both sample, but the digital one then accurately measures the waveform and stores a representation of it. The analogue one just approximates it. Some people think this is more musical, but the truth is that there are good digital delays and bad digital delays and good analogue delays and bad analogue delays, and really it's not worth agonising over the insides of a pedal.

 

 

+1

[dot-dot-dot]

Originally posted by tigger_ferret Really??? My BYOC delay sounds nothing like my Boss DM-2 but then again a DM-2 sounds pretty different to a DMM. I guess that just reinforces that you should get a delay that you like the sound of rather than worrying about if it is analog or digital.

 

 

That's how it sounded like to me - others' impressions may vary. I'm sure with a bit more time the differences would become apparent, but they certainly sounded similar to me.

[papa taco]

Originally posted by GuyaGuy you two DO like playing dirty, don't you?

Haha. You sick bastard.

[stereotypy]

i ab'd once a Boss DD-20 with a Maxon AD-900.

The Maxon is analog, the boss digital.


to get a similiar result out of both i had to switch of course to the analog mode of the DD-20. the maxon doesn't have a tone control... so i had to back the tone on the boss to ~9:30 o'clock.

in the end that was the result:

with setting them identically they sound very much the same. first. but there were 2 big difference that made the ad-900 so worth for me ever since:
1) when you engage the boss it was just a simple replica of your sound and as you dialed it in they repeated. let's say the tone your are playing is 1 and the tone you are not playing is 0. so you have a 1-0-1-0-1-0-1-0-1-0.. as much as the feedback can give you without oscillating.

the maxon on the other hand is more like: 1-0-1-01-0-11010-01- ... something like that.. the repeats "flow" more into each other. it's more like a river..

2) when i engaged the boss i simply got back the same sound.. with the things i've dialed in.

when engaged the maxon - maybe due to the 12V - the sound immediately becomes bigger. it really increases. not the loudness.. but more of the width of the sound.


in the end.. i think both have their +/-. the maxon was double the price of a dd-20 and dd-20 even has next to a analog delay a modulated delay, reverse, digital, warp, twist, smooth, and maybe one or two i am forgetting right now. it has tap tempo and storage.

but there is no pedal that oscillates that nice as the ad-900 does and for solos this thing sound wicked.. also for rythm. for crazy delay repeats (not oscillation, but more like wall of delay kinda things) i prefer digital units.

if you play metal-like solos, get a digital. if you play smooth solos, get an analog.


my 2,51 cents

[math2014]

Mentioning the DMM, how that compares with an Ibanez AD9RI?

I was testing the other day the AD9 vs Echopark and i liked the AD9 more, it sounded much sweeter.