DIY Tape Delay? The Echo-Matic

[Otter]

Here's something I've been working on lately.

The Echomatic is an old Stompboxology circuit which utilizes a quad opamp as two splitters and two mixers, allowing you to take advantage of a three-head tape deck for delay effects. In simpler terms, you can plug this into a three-head cassette player (or reel to reel) to make a tape echo.

It sounds pretty cool. It's not going to replace anybody's El Capistan, but it's useful for some warm slapback or lofi, modulated ambience. Because the tape heads are fixed, the only way to adjust the delay time is by changing the motor speed. At low speeds (for longer delays) the motor is a lot less stable so it adds quite a bit of chorusy warble, and of course you lose a lot of recording fidelity by running the motor that slowly.

Anyways, here's my little demo. Pardon the um's and ah's and the awful compression from my phone. I'll record some better demos later.



Here is the original article if you'd like to learn more, or build one yourself:

http://imgur.com/a/NHRjW

All credit for this one goes to Nicholas Boscorelli, who wrote the article

 

[FenderLover]

Now, that's cool!

 

[cboutilier]

I'm interested!

 

[Otter]

I recorded some better quality demos tonight. Hopefully these demonstrate some of the breadth of this effect. All were recorded with my Gretsch 6120 into my Silvertone 1484, no other effects. I recommend listening with headphones



Edit: looks like the embedded link isn't working. Here, go to my profile and find the playlist called "Echomatic". It should be at the top.

 

[xafinity]

I like that. Is it a complicated build?
Probably the hardest part is find a good old tape box!

 

[Otter]

The tape decks are out there, but they're not cheap, especially if you want any promise that is in working order.

The mixer circuit itself isn't bad, but with two inputs, two outputs, three pots, and the switches, there's a lot off board wiring. The parts count is probably equivalent to your average PT2399 delay.

 

[Otter]

If you guys want to hear any specific sounds or anything, please let me know. I actually don't have much experience with delay, so I don't know all that many ways to use it.

 

[NotAnotherHobby]

Now, that's cool!

My sentiments ^ exactly.

 

[stinkey]

I like that!!!

 

[MatchlessMan]

Good job! You have built the guerilla version of this:

 

[nasdak]

here's mine

 

[nasdak]

What i did :
Echomatic board on veroboard
Power taken from the superscope (struggling to understand how PS works in this mess i found a nice 7v dc regulated line)
Tape out taken internaly from "line out"
Tape in from "aux in"
Pot added to allow drastic speed change
Battery compartement used to stuff the veroboard

 

[PaulF]

What i did :
Echomatic board on veroboard
Power taken from the superscope (struggling to understand how PS works in this mess i found a nice 7v dc regulated line)
Tape out taken internaly from "line out"
Tape in from "aux in"
Pot added to allow drastic speed change
Battery compartement used to stuff the veroboard

Hey nasdak!

Would you be willing to share your veroboard? I built one from this layout:
image removed

And I can't get it to work. I'm getting clicking noises and sometimes weird oscillations, but can't find out my error. That layout is unverified, and I have looked over it for a long time against the schematic and it seems to be fine (besides missing the 1n4001 protection diode).

 

[nasdak]

Hello Paul,
Yes i used this veroboard and it works.
Be carreful to notice all the cuts (for example under the 100k resistor - i forgot it and it took me some time to figure it out).
Microchip connection to socket can be fidly too...
I did not use the protection diode.

I also think the input impédance has to be tweaked to match a guitar pikup - sound is not good with guitar pluged directly, and very good with a buffered pedal in the chain.

 

[deaftone]

Hi guys! Is anyone still got that Vero board to share? The original image seems to be vanished and google doesn't help me Thanks!