Strymon Volante Magnetic Echo Machine

Drum, Tape and Studio

The basic sound modes of the Volante are based on the classic construction of the analog echo effect. In Drum Mode, the Volante produces traditional Echorec sounds whose rich and powerful bass character accurately recreates the tube-loaded signal path and the magnetized metal disc. In tape mode, on the other hand, the classic characteristics of the tape echo, including juicy tape saturation and mechanical wear and tear of the read and write heads, are reproduced. For clear and defined delays the Studio Delay Mode is available, which simulates a professional reel-to-reel setup of the fifties and sixties.

Full control over all heads

In addition to the three basic sound modes, the Volante offers an enormous variety of possibilities to adjust your own echo sound down to the smallest detail. First, the Low Cut control offers a variable high-pass filter that filters unwanted bass from the repeats, especially in Drum Mode. Mechanics creates characteristic inaccuracies in the playback device, including band eggs, cracks, and splices, while the Wear knob simulates the decreasing bandwidth of a well-used tape. A Tap Tempo switch is provided to control the timing of the effect. This determines the playback delay of read head 4, while the spacing control defines the time intervals of the separately switchable heads 1-3. From straight eighths to triplet patterns to time division by golden or silver cut for rich delay carpets, the Strymon Volante sets no limits to creativity.

The Strymon Volante at a glance:

• Digital Multi-Head Magnet Delay Effect
• SHARC DSP, 32-bit floating point processor
• Three Modes Drum, Tape and Studio
• JFET preamp with variable input level
• Controllers for Mechanics and Wear to simulate classic component wear and tear
• Speed switch half, normal and double
• Four simulated read heads, separately switchable for playback and feedback
• Controller for Repeats
• Spacing controller for determining the time intervals between the read heads
• Spring control adds a spring reverb to the signal
• Sound on Sound Mode for recording loops
• Inputs and outputs in stereo format
• Connection for Expression Pedal
• USB port
• MIDI In/Out
• True Bypass