Rant incoming.
... Sigh. It has everything I want. Filtered echoes, overdrive, midi sync, direct interactivity, multiple delay modes... why does it kind of suck?
It's the sound. I got this a week ago and it's been one disappointment after another. First thing that hit me was how AWFUL the vintage mode sounds. Vintage? For real? What's so vintage about it? The only thing any of the reviews mentioned about it was Stimming flipping to it and saying, rather emphatically, "DIRT." I'd do one better and say "PURE SHIT." Is this what old delays used to sound like? It's so bad, you can barely hear the signal coming through, despite the mix. I thought I got a broken unit. I still wonder.
I anticipated flaws, to be clear. Some reviews pointed to the digital delay, when the feedback is longer there starts to be a bit of a high-pitched tone. Yup, it's there, self-oscillating away. I didnt think it would he much of a problem, but it bugged me the more I used the unit. I'm trying to distill my setup into a more minimal, pure kind of monophonic analog thing with just a couple of oscillators and the effects creating outside rhythms. Having 2/5 of the modes adding this gross sound definitely ruins it, in addition to that vintage mode?
Half of the unit seems devoted to the Polivoks filter, which I've heard such great things about. It's ok I guess, until you switch it to either band pass or high pass and opening it all the way. That crappy little tone from the digital delay? There it is again, just louder, more immediate and cutting right though. It doesn't show up in low pass mode, but... come on. This thing is supposed to be all about the filter, isn't it?
The tape delays are great, but they still go through that garbage polivoks.
I'm sending it back. 60% of the modes are not to my liking, the filter is so hissy and noisy... this is such a specific piece of gear, why do the few things it's good for seem to do them so poorly?!
I'm coming from experience with another filter, the Vermona Spring Reverb. Not the same thing, no, but a comparably priced effects box that has a filter that actually sounds great, gorgeous character, and about a hundred different utilizations. It has flaws but stacked next to its positives, the Zen Delay can't begin to compare. Not even close. The Zen feels so, so cheap next to it.
I'd love to hear other people's experiences. Considering I've only had this a week I'm a little shock at how fast the weak spots became apparent.
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