80s "digital delay" rack units by MXR, Digitech, Lexicon

Sonics. A>D - D>A. Analog electronics surrounding the I/o. How they balanced the signals. There is a reason the Lex is a classic. But yeah - they essentially did all the same thing. But there were some that had some tricks built in as well.

Well, I was hoping the answer would be that I didn’t HAVE to get a PCM41 but so much for that!

Besides the great ones mentioned . . .

Ibanez put out a delay/harmonizer that was fantastic for guitar solos.
The ping pong delay setting (71?) in the Alesis Midiverb 2 was the tits for guitar and sax solos.

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If we are going to dive into old Alesis For around $150 used the Alesis Q2 is a really powerful box, it could run a single Lexicon 480 algorithm, pre sets aren’t bad but if you take the time to dive in pretty damn powerful and fun for $150!

big fan of the 80's rack fx and delays here
still rolling with Digitech time machine RDS 7.6 and 8000
ADA 1280 and 2.56i and the Ibanez DM1100 all excellent rack delays
and the Alesis Microverbs 1 2 and 4 still using one of these in the guitar rig to this day
been interested in the Alesis desktop wedge in the past but just don't need another reverb unit especially with plugins being what they are these days

not an expert on what is inside of these things but I really prefer the old sounds and especially the way the delay times work compared to a lot of newer stuff
pet peeve modern delay emulations that "flutter" and don't pitch shift when you twist the time knob wtf

I have some older Sony R7 and D7 units, they are nice, but they need repairs. Anyone have any idea where I can get them serviced? Not to hijack the thread, carry on please…

I forgot about that one! Great delay

The 42 is really playable and, even hands-off, capable of extreme manipulation with the rate multiplier and modulation. The x2 (halving sample rate) button is fun too.

There's a limiter at the input stage and another IIRC in the conversion within the feedback path, so you can hit it at varying levels for different sounds, or get controllable infinite feedback.

It does great standard delays and flanging too, but the high used price probably comes down to studio/guitar rig infamy.

The Delta labs, MXR, Digitech etc are nice if you can get them cheap. Not sure if they're worth more than a few hundred unless you love their specific sounds.

I got a Symmetrix 606 for about $200 and really like it. The encoders are a bit sketchy but it's MIDI controllable. Definitely an underrated gem.

The thing with so many of these is if you want that sound or a particular trick in driving the Limiters in a 42 nobody has nailed it in plugin form, so if your chasing that tone your going hardware.
The problem with going hardware is you’re not the only one chasing that tone and almost every classic digital box has loads of unobtainium inside. So what you could have picked up for less than $100 5 years ago is now $400 and has seen even more use.

The sad part is that a lot of these boxes were designed by true geniuses, the audio biz doesn’t attract guys like that anymore, sure we have some pretty smart guys programming plugins and a few designing analog gear but we don’t have many of those guys who could do it all.

The Symetrix is a sleeper, many think of it as a poor man’s PCM 42, but it wasn’t intended to be used like 42, it was supposed to be an alignment delay for large scale installations. The designers just happened to sneak in a lot of Lexicon inspired features.

All good points! ITB I'm pleasantly surprised by the PSP 42 v2, worth a try if you haven't done so. Much better than the older version.

The Symetrix 606 f/x has LFO and ENV mod sources that can be routed to various destinations, a primitive raytracing style reverb algorithm, as well as a diffusion block.

Plus you can use it as two mono units or a stereo setup with cross-feedback, stereo phasing with the modulatable notch filter, etc. Super deep box and wacky factory presets too. Mine came with a laminated print out of delay compensation times for various speaker distances, hah!

Oh wow I guess all I had to do was watch the video haha. The 42 is a huge leap from the 41!

So I got a 41 despite the absurd price haha…but the LFO doesn’t work aggghh! Returning. It did sound absolutely sweet though. Back to the hunt…