OffsetGuitars.com

https://www.strymon.net/products/volante/

I thought this would be posted already, since it seems to be the only pedal creating buzz at NAMM 2019, but I really wish they had brought it out 3 years ago.

I rebuilt my board a couple of years ago and really wanted a pedal like this. There were other pedals doing Echoplex and Echorec and Space Echo sounds, but not all in one box.

The Volante does all 3 in 1, which is exactly what I wanted, plus a decent spring reverb and a saturated pre-amp tone and a few cool sound tweaks, plus note divisions. How cool is it to dial from a straight note tempo, to triplets, to Fibonacci ratios without breaking out a calculator?!?

Other than the size and only one memory slot, what are the drawbacks? Price? I would pay that! At least 2-3 years ago I would have. I may still, as I do like me some echo and delay.

I use a Strymon El Capistan and an Eventide Time Factor for my delays. Sure, one box could replace two, actually three since there is a pre-amp as well, but with only 2 presets I would have to spend an inordinate amount of time twisting knobs between songs. I have 8 presets on the Time Factor and 2 on the El Capistan that I can use separately or combine to achieve any of the Volante sounds that I would want. On its own it sounds great, and has an intuitive layout, but for me it doesn’t beat having easy access to 16-18 sounds.

Still a neat box, I might still get one, just not for my main board.

It actually has 8 presets! From Strymons website:

Even without using MIDI, Volante gives you instant access to eight presets. The playback/feedback buttons represent preset locations, and you can use the FAVORITE footswitch to recall from or save to any of those eight locations. Of course, if eight is not enough, MIDI gives you access to 300 preset locations!

But yeah, I'm still waiting for more clips. I'm especially curious about the sound-on-sound mode and how that flows with live playing. Also interested about Frippertronic applications...

8 presets! That changes my outlook a little, or a lot. Hmm. Somehow I missed that after looking at 3 reviews and 2 videos?

I really like the low cut dial. That is something integral to the sound of tape that gets left off almost all the emulators, everyone just wants to roll off the high end and make it “Warm.” That and random modulation which this unit has, or sounds like it does? The Wampler is the only tape delay emulator that did this previously that I know of and the Fairfield Circuitry analog delay does, but it isn’t trying to sound like tape. Multiple, selectable heads with independent feedback and being able to go from straight to triplets to golden ratio at the tap of a foot are all something I have wished for.

That’s pretty great. I can see that working nicely as a studio tool, too.

I've been thinking about switching my eventide for something else. I like it, but wondering about these

Get that dub album done finally.

Cool pedal.

This seems like something that would be perfect for my bass rig. The only thing that concerns me is that every time I hear something that's DSP, it sounds great in demos, but in person sounds completely lackluster. I love that it's a looper too. I wonder how easy it is to go from delay to looper. If the reverb had its own foot switch, it would be almost perfect for me.

Shadoweclipse13 wrote: ↑

Sat Jan 12, 2019 4:49 pm

This seems like something that would be perfect for my bass rig. The only thing that concerns me is that every time I hear something that's DSP, it sounds great in demos, but in person sounds completely lackluster. I love that it's a looper too. I wonder how easy it is to go from delay to looper. If the reverb had its own foot switch, it would be almost perfect for me.

Have you used Strymon pedals before? Nothing lackluster about them. They're the real deal.

I know what you mean though. I've tried a lot of terrible digital stuff in the past. Strymon is up there with Fractal and Kemper as the heralds of a new era of digital stuff that actually sounds - and feels - incredible.

I like rhythmic delays, and this thing looks like it's got some serious options in that department.
Hopefully some comparison videos will pop up on YouTube to show how it sounds relative to stuff we're familiar with.

Cheers
J

mbene085 wrote: ↑

Sun Jan 13, 2019 12:25 am

Have you used Strymon pedals before? Nothing lackluster about them. They're the real deal.

I know what you mean though. I've tried a lot of terrible digital stuff in the past. Strymon is up there with Fractal and Kemper as the heralds of a new era of digital stuff that actually sounds - and feels - incredible.

I had a Blue Sky a few years back. I had it for a good few months. I loved what I heard from the demos, but it didn't sound right to me.

It's like movie special effects: when they are practical effects, you know they're real because they look and feel real. But with CGI, even good CGI, you're not sure if it's real. That's how I felt with the Blue Sky. It's weird that I felt that way with reverb, as reverb is the one effect that sounding digital wouldn't be terrible thing compared to other effects for me.

It also didn't help that Strymon really packs things in with hidden features, which is also something I'm not a fan of with pedals.

I had a Blue Sky a few years back. I had it for a good few months. I loved what I heard from the demos, but it didn't sound right to me.

It's like movie special effects: when they are practical effects, you know they're real because they look and feel real. But with CGI, even good CGI, you're not sure if it's real. That's how I felt with the Blue Sky. It's weird that I felt that way with reverb, as reverb is the one effect that sounding digital wouldn't be terrible thing compared to other effects for me.

This! So much. I've always had this exact feeling with Strymon pedals too, but never heard anyone else express it before.

mordecainyc wrote: ↑

Mon Jan 14, 2019 12:06 pm

I had a Blue Sky a few years back. I had it for a good few months. I loved what I heard from the demos, but it didn't sound right to me.

It's like movie special effects: when they are practical effects, you know they're real because they look and feel real. But with CGI, even good CGI, you're not sure if it's real. That's how I felt with the Blue Sky. It's weird that I felt that way with reverb, as reverb is the one effect that sounding digital wouldn't be terrible thing compared to other effects for me.

This! So much. I've always had this exact feeling with Strymon pedals too, but never heard anyone else express it before.

Cool that I'm not the only one. I mean, sure, it sounded better than the Mooer stuff, but it just wasn't right for me. It does make me cautious about the Volante, but I have to admit, I'm still very interested in the Volante.

I dont think it looks nice. I can't afford it and have no need for it at this stage, but the look isn't nice for me anyway. Ugly colour.

SadFuzz wrote: ↑

Wed Jan 16, 2019 12:30 pm

I dont think it looks nice. I can't afford it and have no need for it at this stage, but the look isn't nice for me anyway. Ugly colour.

Agree on the ugly color. It looks like they decided to match the color of the old Echorec but I would have rather they went Echoplex or Watkins Copicat for the color palette or just went with grey like the El Capistan or black like the Magneto.

I like the color just because it's not the same common color that so many other pedals use. It's unique, and I like that. That said, my favorite pedal color is the brown that's on the Catalinbread Echorec.