The pedals we’ve seen coming out of the Strymon camp for years now have been nothing short of impressive, game-changing and true masterpieces where the future direction of the effects industry is concerned. Their latest arrived with the usual hype and was met with, as far as we can tell, an immediate thumb’s up type of response, which is now to be expected. We finally got our hands on one, and are excited to delve into the Volante Magnetic Echo Machine with you and see what all the fuss is about….
As you can clearly see, there’s a lot going on here, control-wise. Rec Level controls the analog gain of the signal fed into the record head, Mechanics sets the amount of mechanically related speed fluctuations and media irregularities including friction, creases, splices, and contaminants and Wear controls the wear of the media and playback heads which affects the fidelity of the high frequencies. Use Type to selects between three available magnetic media types: Drum (steel wire spinning platter; produces atmospheric echoes that emphasize the low-mid frequencies), Tape (magnetic tape used in vintage echo machines; a warm tape response with moderately clean and airy signal path) or Studio (clean studio grade tape used in reel-to-reel units). The Time knob sets the delay time at Head 4, while Heads 1-3 subdivide proportionally according to the SPACING parameter. Delay time ranges vary by selected SPEED setting: Half (400ms – 4s), Normal (200ms – 2s) or Double (100ms – 1s).
The Repeats knob controls the feedback amount for the heads that have their feedback enabled, while Echo Level sets the overall delay signal level sent to the output. The Volante even features an integrated spring reverb tank, controlled by the Spring knob (the reverb is applied after the echo). The Playback buttons select which of the individual playback heads are engaged. You can press and hold for one second to toggle between half and full volume (GREEN LED ON = full volume, AMBER LED ON = half volume). You can press and hold the On switch for infinite repeats, and in Sound on Sound mode, this switch will reverse the playback. Tap sets quarter note delay time for playback head 4, and will activate the S.O.S. (Sound on Sound) function when held down. The Favorite switch recalls the active favorite preset, and in Sound on Sound mode is pauses the loop. You can press and hold to stop and start loop playback with added ramp up and ramp down effect as well.
As for the back panel, Stereo ins and outs allow you to easily run the Volante in a mono or stereo setup, and the Expression jack lets you connect an expression pedal, external TAP switch, 1/4″ to MIDI cable, or MultiSwitch Plus for additional external control. The Input Mode switch lets you run an Instrument or Line signal, full featured MIDI input and output jacks support MIDI CCs, program changes, and more, and you can connect to your favorite computer via the USB port for even more MIDI control. Be sure to use the included power supply or any adapter with a 9VDC center negative plug and 300mA minimum power.
WHEW! Well, there’s a lot more to this green monster than we could cover in a reasonable amount of time, but to get a glimpse into its world, do yourself a favor and check out the demo below. Filled with lush, sometimes warbled and always adventurous delay and echo tones, the Volante takes the tape delays you’ve come to know and love from Strymon and bumps them up a notch…well, maybe several, actually. One for the experimenters this is, although you can get some nice sounds right out of the box, too. Whatever your tape delay needs happen to be, they’ll be covered here, for sure. More info on the Strymon website as well – get ready for a trippy journey!
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