[Lance]

Well - I've had it for a few weeks....probably time to do a little review eh?

First off - this is actually a dual delay...meaning you can have two different delays going at once and mix between the two. For example, a slap back plus a very short delay for thickening your tone.

The unit itself is very solid with a metal case...a little smaller than the Line 6 units. It's got a nice readout that immediately explains what you're doing when you turn a knob. (e.g., Feedback=24). Digital delays even read out in note values (e.g. 1/4 note). It'll go in front of the amp or in the effects loop. You could even run the delays individually with separate inputs/outputs.

There are digital delays, analog delays, tape delays, univibes, modulations, and a looper. There's a few other interesting toys like reverses, and gates, etc. but I can't ever see using those. I guess they had to put them in for marketing reasons (does anyone really use these sounds?)

Even though it initially seems pretty overwhelming, dialing in a tone is very easy. The top row of knobs is the main stuff (main mix, delay 1&2 time, delay 1&2 feedback, delay 1&2 balance). The second row are soft controls that change according to the type of delay you have running. For example, with a tape delay, one knob adds tape noise...there's one for wow...and then flutter. All of the delays have a filter to adjust the brightness of the delayed sounds (and gets that nice roll off that you want). The important point is that it's all knob driven....if you want to tweak, just grab a knob...there's no buttons or menus to mess with.

The unit can be true bypass or buffered. The buffered bypass sounds identical to the true bypass (yeah...it's that good!). I haven't decided which I'm going to use ....I'm a true bypass snob of sorts....but the TF actually has buffers that don't color your sound at all.

It's now up to 40 patches (the initial firmware release only had 20)...with each bank having two patches. There's a foot switch for each of the two patches in the bank. You can only sequentially move through the banks, so...there's an adjustment for how many banks you want to switch through with your foot. I set mine to 3 (meaning 6 different patches)...that's plenty. This "up only" bank selection is in my opinion, the biggest limitation. But, it you're realistic about how you use it and select a small number of active banks, it's not such a limiting factor.

Last...there's a looper built in. While it's only 20 seconds....it sounds perfect and there's even cool ways to punch over the sound and have it fade earlier recordings in the loop. You can extend the length of the loop but the signal quality isn't 24-bit.

OK...the important stuff. How's it sound? The sound is almost scary. It's studio quality 24 bit processing and it totally sounds it. It's like nothing I've ever heard from a stomp box. The delays are really glorious.

They've been updating the firmware regularly and really improving on the operation of the unit based on user's feedback in their forums and beta program. I did have one issue...I couldn't get my firmware to update (through the PC via USB port). It turned out to my laptop's fault. Regardless, Eventide took the unit back and took care of it over a fews days. When I got it back, I was surprised to find they double the number of patches with the new firmware.

I'm still designing my small group of standard delays. So far, I've got a nice "Edge" sound, a rockabilly slapback, a multi-tap pretty thing, univibe (Cold Shot!) and a good tape echo for soloing.

It's very new....and expensive. I'm hoping more folks pick these up and start publishing their patches to the web. While it comes with 20 very usable patches, what I'd really like is for Eventide to get some downloadable libraries of patches out to the owners....or at least publish more example settings.

Anyway, big thumbs up on this box. If you're looking for a simple , high quality analog delay...get an MXR Carbon Copy. However, I was looking for more versatile delay than my Visual Sound H2O (a nice pedal BTW).....but wanted something that could get a good tube driven tape delay sound (like a Fulltone tape unit). This does that and a lot more...and has the fun looper.