| Author |
 Topic  |
|
|
gibsygoldtop
Copper Member
USA
21 Posts |
 Posted - 07/10/2006 : 20:01:44
|
i just scored a dm 2, but have not recieved it yet. i am coming from a dd 3. i just wanted to get other peoples opinion on this pedal. i will be running it into the front end of mesa singe rec combo. thanks in advance!
|
|
|
Big Boss Man
Gold Member
USA
564 Posts |
Posted - 07/11/2006 : 03:15:23
|
| DM-2 is the quintessential vintage analog delay. It is the standard by which all other analog delays are measured. It only has delay times up to about 300ms, compared to 800ms for the DD-3. It is warm sounding (less high frequency response on the repeats). It self oscillates so you can do some spaceship sound effects. One of my favorites. If you don't like it, you won't have any problems reselling it. |
 |
|
|
bossarea
Forum Admin
United Kingdom
3652 Posts |
Posted - 07/11/2006 : 11:15:05
|
Yep, you won't be sorry buying a DM-2.
It sounds horrible if you run vocals through it but it's excellent with guitar. |
|
|
|
lazzrath
Bronze Member
Canada
103 Posts |
Posted - 07/12/2006 : 09:23:27
|
| Two thumbs waaay up. Great delay - a little dark, but it grows on you. |
|
|
|
gibsygoldtop
Copper Member
USA
21 Posts |
Posted - 07/12/2006 : 14:13:19
|
thanks for the replies thus far!
what is meant by the term "dark" when referring to the dm 2? |
|
|
|
stahlhart
Platinum Member
1318 Posts |
Posted - 07/12/2006 : 16:16:42
|
quote:
Originally posted by gibsygoldtop
what is meant by the term "dark" when referring to the dm 2?
The "wet" signal has a different tonal quality than the original signal.
A delay pedal works by splitting the input signal into two paths -- one passes straight through, essentially unchanged (apart from input and output impedance differences), while the second (the "wet" path) is delayed. When the two paths are recombined before the output, the delay effect occurs -- this is just like echo in real life, where for example, you shout loudly outdoors, and the sound bounces off of a building or other accoustically reflective surface and returns to you; that difference in seconds or fractions of a second between the original sound and the reflected one is what creates the perceived delay.
A solid state analog delay typically uses an integrated circuit known as a bucket-brigade device, or BBD. It's a series of stages that sample the audio signal coming in, then pass it through the stages in serial fashion -- think of a line of firemen handing buckets full of water to one another, and then the guy at the front of the line dumps the water on the fire being put out, and then runs back to get another bucket full and goes to the end of the line, to repeat the process -- that's how the chip got its name. But the curcuit will have a certain number of stages; 512 or 1,024 are the most common, but some go as high as 4,096 or more, and the sample travels through the stages at a speed governed by a clock circuit, the speed of the clocking determining how much delay the BBD puts into the signal from input to output.
The limitation you run into is that in order to increase the delay time into the human audible range -- that is, where the ear can perceive delay and/or distinct echoes -- you have to decrease the clock frequency. And if the clock frequency drops low enough to reach the human audible range, it ends up becoming an audible part of the wet signal. So what typically occurs is that the clock will be in the uppermost range of the audio spectrum, and it will be filtered out after the delay by a low-pass filter. The downside to that is that the higher audio frequencies of the input signal are attenuated -- hence, you have "dark" audio, just like turning down the treble on your amp. So a compromise is usually reached where you still get both acceptable fidelity and usable delay time.
Rather than work on the actual analog audio signal, digital delays instead convert the audio to binary and then process it in the digital domain before restoring it to analog audio, so it's much easier to keep the clocking of the delay circuit separated from the audio -- so you don't have to process or alter the audio signal in any way afterward (at least not as much as with analog delay). You get much more faithful frequency response in the wet signal that way, which is why a digital delay won't be as "dark" as an analog one.
But whether or not you really want that is another question, because natural echoes are not "perfectly" reproduced things, and the conclusion that some will draw from that is that an analog delay will be more natural sounding and less "sterile" than a digital one. Indeed, we have a modification to the DD-2 where the wet signal has high-end attenuation added to the "wet" signal so that successive echoes will roll off the treble and get it sounding more analog.
|
Edited by - stahlhart on 07/12/2006 18:47:15 |
|
|
|
Basstyra
Gold Member
France
523 Posts |
Posted - 07/12/2006 : 16:50:21
|
I personnaly found that having 2 delays, a digital and an analog one, on a pedalboard, is SOOOO a great thing...
I got a DD-6 and a DM3, and both are just totally different. I won't use one for the other, they're a perfect pair. |
|
|
|
stahlhart
Platinum Member
1318 Posts |
|
|
Big Boss Man
Gold Member
USA
564 Posts |
Posted - 07/13/2006 : 01:50:03
|
| I also often keep an analog and digital delay in my signal chain: a DM-2 and DSD-2. |
|
|
|
Roger
Bronze Member
USA
81 Posts |
Posted - 07/14/2006 : 17:05:09
|
You're going to love it...the DM-2 is SO sweet. I have a DM-2 and a DD-2 and they're both really great at what they do.  |
|
|
| |
Topic |
|
DM 2
