Real tape echo tip (HOW DID I NOT THINK OF THIS BEFORE)

damagedgoods · Post by **damagedgoods** » Wed Apr 07, 2010 2:51 am

Totally didn't register to me that you could do this. Maybe I'm being dumb and it's common knowledge, but for anyone who didn't already know....

You can make tape echo happen without an actual tape loop, by routing an FX to your reel-to-reel, monitoring the Tape rather than Input signal (this is possible on a B77 but I'm not sure if it is in general), feeding back into your interface, adding plain delay to suit, and feeding back into the FX send. Apart from the A/D and D/A conversion this is exactly equivalent to a tape loop setup, with the added bonus that you can very easily put more effects in the feedback path (reverb works nicely and swapping the channels creates interesting results).

I AM GOING TO HAVE SO MUCH FUN WITH THIS

ps. In theory this is possible with any tape recording device that allows you to monitor the tape signal, rather than just what's coming in (otherwise you may as well just plug the soundcard back into itself, give or take some noise). A very quick Google search suggests that there are even cassette recorders that allow tape monitoring. Budget tape delay anyone?

damagedgoods · Post by **damagedgoods** » Wed Apr 07, 2010 3:01 am

Er, just to clarify.... you still need a tape machine. You just avoid having to make a tape loop and hang a pulley off the ceiling, or however it was they used to do it.

Further bonus - you no longer need a varispeed machine in order to control the delay time, as you can just do it by varying the delay in the feedback path. I guess the minimum delay time is the write head -> read head latency plus audio card latency, but that's a lot less than you can achieve with a really short tape loop...

livecollective · Post by **livecollective** » Wed Apr 07, 2010 6:51 am

so i could technically route of ableton --> something like a cheap 4 track --> tape > back into ableton

then add delay...

this is sick, i get to mess with the old Tascam 414, using all the shitty eqs, and all the dirtyness could make for some nasty dubbyness.

i am going to try this tonight! I got a couple old tape machines to fck with!

Rookas · Post by **Rookas** » Wed Apr 07, 2010 7:09 am

alot of hassle , as im not using compuer , thats alot of ins and outs

damagedgoods · Post by **damagedgoods** » Wed Apr 07, 2010 11:16 am

Rookas wrote:alot of hassle , as im not using compuer , thats alot of ins and outs

Not really, it's just a send and a return. Worth the hassle IMHO...

Rookas · Post by **Rookas** » Wed Apr 07, 2010 5:28 pm

well if youre only doing it with vsts:) but if you go from mixer to tapes from tape to pc from pc to mixer again i might try this someday tho.. just needs a decent interface

damagedgoods · Post by **damagedgoods** » Wed Apr 07, 2010 5:39 pm

Rookas wrote:well if youre only doing it with vsts:) but if you go from mixer to tapes from tape to pc from pc to mixer again i might try this someday tho.. just needs a decent interface

Oh right, I see. Well, you could use a guitar pedal or something, or just live without the adjustable delay (I guess the built-in delay is something like 30 to 100 ms). But yeah, it'd be a bit of a mission if you're not using any software at all.

Then again if you're not using any software at all then I'd have guessed you might already have a tape echo...