Roland Space Echo

[nathanscribe]

I owned an RE-20, it was pretty good but had a frequency peak around 1-2k that I always pulled out with EQ. Maybe that works on guitars but on synths I'd prefer something flatter. As soon as I tried a Timefactor I sold the RE-20, the Timefactor sounds much, much better. I've heard the El Capistan is great too, but haven't used one myself.

I sold my RE-20 after a while as I felt it lacked something, and replaced it with an El Cap. The Strymon is a great pedal, much better than the Boss at what it does - though it's almost twice the price and harder to get hold of, which might matter.

[pflosi]

Did some hands on testing last night and came to the basic agreement that, yes it's quite good and would be very useful but because I have a Korg SDD 4000 and Korg Kaos pad 2, these will do for now. The KAOS had some 'close' moments in side by sides comparisons with the RE 20. Therefore , decided, way before my 30 days are up on this demo, to take it back.

you're always fast with these decisions and yet you still have the M5

the RE20 sounds good, I like the verb and the feedback is actually nice. the tap button is very useful for live situations. but, as others have stated, it does not sound like the original.

I used my bandmate's RE20 for livegigs a few times, now using a memory boy deluxe (also has the tap feature). in the studio I'd never use it, you just can't beat the original if you have the time to adjust it right

[Phollop Willing PA]

I thought it sounded good too, but I was able to emulate a lot of what I wanted to do with the other delay devices. If I didn't have those, I would get it. In the end I just didn't feel it justified the the extra $360 for yet another delay. It wasn't special enough or something. I liked everything you brought up about it.

I'm glad I was able to try it and have fun with it and I might buy one later, depending on my surplus gear (which some of I'm letting go) or if I find one ridiculously cheap.

Did some hands on testing last night and came to the basic agreement that, yes it's quite good and would be very useful but because I have a Korg SDD 4000 and Korg Kaos pad 2, these will do for now. The KAOS had some 'close' moments in side by sides comparisons with the RE 20. Therefore , decided, way before my 30 days are up on this demo, to take it back.

you're always fast with these decisions and yet you still have the M5

the RE20 sounds good, I like the verb and the feedback is actually nice. the tap button is very useful for live situations. but, as others have stated, it does not sound like the original.

I used my bandmate's RE20 for livegigs a few times, now using a memory boy deluxe (also has the tap feature). in the studio I'd never use it, you just can't beat the original if you have the time to adjust it right

The M5 grew on me big time, once I was able to find the space for it and a mahogany table from a surplus hotel sale and it's now a 'keeper'. What can I say? I'm human.

[space6oy]

who let you have one for a 30 day demo? did they charge you for that?

[Phollop Willing PA]

who let you have one for a 30 day demo? did they charge you for that?

In Canada there's a chain of Music Gear suppliers called Long & McQuade and they offer a 30 day return policy. Basically, you purchase and then try and if you like it, you keep it or if you don't like it, you can return it for a refund. It's like a 30 day demo.

Sometimes, you can outright rent it (something like this would be about $10 a day at most or about $40 for the month) and if it's not purchased, the rented price is deducted for the next person if they chose to purchase and so on to a certain point. What that point is, is unknown to me. This time, it was not a rental but a returned purchase.

Since they know I don't really abuse this system, they are more than happy to let me try it. Many times, I don't even have to pay a rental or purchase it.

I must've bought almost 50 grand worth of stuff from them over the last 25 years before they were L&M and after. Mind you, a lot of that gear is recycled and resold 2nd hand and vice versa.

2nd hand has it's price advantage and new from the store has it's return advantage.

Yes, I've demoed something from the store, returned it and bought the same second hand. But not often.

[space6oy]

ah ok. pretty sure purchasing & returning at any major chain is no big deal, long as they don't find any damage. guessing that shop's an independent though?

[Phollop Willing PA]

ah ok. pretty sure purchasing & returning at any major chain is no big deal, long as they don't find any damage. guessing that shop's an independent though?

Well I didn't use it a stomp box.

The return policy is nation wide. L&M is part of a chain. Not sure it's an independent, but more of a franchise.

[monoman]

I played a RE-20 and it sounded alright but still very sterile. My big box Deluxe Memory Man is analog and to my ears a lot better. I'm a guitar player and not a synth player though.

Hoping that a COSM pedal is going to sound like a real tape echo is wishful thinking IMO.

[Stab Frenzy]

You think a Memory Man sounds more like a tape echo than the RE-20?

Have you ever heard a tape echo?

[Scories]

I keep hearing the UAD-2 plugin is more accurate. The character you get from worn out tapes, heads out of calibration, wow and flutter, and self-oscillating feedback, are generally the places to compare the emulation to the real thing.

Sounds great.. but personally I would never pay 250$ for a plugin.

If I had to buy a tape echo, I might try this first : Strymon El Capistan

[monoman]

You think a Memory Man sounds more like a tape echo than the RE-20?

Have you ever heard a tape echo?

Did I say that? NO. The Deluxe Memory Man sounds like a Deluxe Memory Man. To my ears it sounds great and a lot better .

You think the RE-20 sounds like real tape echo or the real thing? BTW

[Stab Frenzy]

Sorry, my mistake. This is a thread about tape echo emulations so I assumed when you mentioned the DMM that's what you were referring to. In future to avoid confusion mentioning random things could be avoided.

I used my friend's RE-20 head to head against his RE-301 before I bought my RE-20, and the sound character is pretty close, the RE-20 actually sounded better on some things. However, like I already mentioned the Eventide Timefactor (and Eclipse, which I also own) do a much better tape echo than the RE-20, and to my ears the RE-201. Yes that's right, for studio use I'd prefer an emulation to the real thing. With the Eventides you can tweak the amount of wow and flutter, saturation etc, and run in stereo, all of which you can't do with an RE-201.

[nathanscribe]

The El Cap has those features too - there are three tape head modes, bias, filter, wow, flutter, tape crinkle, tape speed, delay time, number of repeats, and a simple but functional spring reverb mix. My only gripe with the El Cap is that because the knobs have two functions each, the marking does not necessarily correspond to what you have set. Easy enough to take paper notes though.

[redchapterjubilee]

My guitar player has one and we've used it on occasion for things other than guitar, but I didn't really like it any better on synth than I do my Echo Park. For guitar though...it is certainly my guitarist's sound and he really knows how to work it live. That said, we play shows with a friend who uses a real Space Echo for vocals live and the RE-20 is squeaky clean in comparison. The real thing is dirtier and murkier and sounds like a Space Echo should.