Yeah AH seems great for that application. Last time I played shows I gave the engineer a Deco to run the live drums mix through. Sounded huge out front and gave the overall band sound some extra crunch/mojo. Seems like AH has that same kind of potential +more (tho missing the ‘deco’ warble function which would be cool for electronic music master bus options… Maybe addable in OS?).
No, the Heat is not a delay…
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It’s a pitch thing, not delay 
Can hear it pretty well in this demo from 3.28.
Often I have the Deco set to zero delay and the ‘wobble’ setting fully up. So no ‘feelable’ latency and does the boards of Canada vhs/cassette Master bus warble thing then…
The Deco most certainly implements it using a delay. You are going to have some latency with a digital effect regardless of setting, so they most likely can use that window for pitch modulation - it’s a pretty common practice. In any case, the Heat is analog - the things you mention are not going to happen.
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Pretty sure its not delay related… It’s the ‘wobble’ control. Which works even when only using one of the Deco’s 2 theoretical tape machines. Can give a similar pitch ramp/bump to certain settings on zvex lofi junky pedal. If there is any delay then it’s 100% unnoticeable. I don’t understand why you say it would definitely be delay related? Not saying you’re wrong. Genuinely just unsure why it has to be? No different from the vinyl sim on an Sp404 which can do real-time on audio passed through it too. That 404 fx has zero to do with ‘delay’? Obviously there’ll be TINY latency to process an fx like this but in real world it’s totally fine.
I get that AH is ‘analog’ for its distortions but no reason not to nail it as a master bus vibe box by adding DSP stuff to pin down certain master bus characteristics that people might dig. Tape saturation without wow and flutter settings etc is kind of half-hearted… Adding that stuff digitally would be no different from having digital effects on my Analog Keys?
Err, no. A digital implementation doesn’t mean you can’t effectively get zero latency. It’s impossible on a computer that’s running a non-realtime multi-purpose OS like Windows or macOS, but it most certainly is possible when you fully control the hardware like Strymon does.
The Deco has pitch modulation (the “Wobble” knob) because it emulates both a tape saturation effect and a two tape-deck double-tracking effect setup.
Regardless of how you do it, you will always have at least 1 sample of latency. Not sure how many samples Strymon have. I don’t mean to bash anything, I’m just explaining why Olle wrote that there was no delay [in Heat], and how this tied into it.
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1 sample of latency? That’s not really a reason ‘not to’ in real world though… If you can’t feel it when you’re playing then who cares?
The Analog Heat will not have DSP effects.
It has nothing to do with how many samples of latency it would introduce.
It’s an Analog distortion and filter unit, not a hybrid multi FX box.
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For this, you have to wait for the Analog Space
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OK fair enough. IMHO missed a trick by not fully nailing Tape on it tho when you’re half way there already…
I think it is important to point out that it does saturation, not tape emulation.
It does come close to the tone of tape saturation, but it does not set out to emulate a tape recorder.
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Sure, the main point here is that the Deco is essentially a tape delay effect with tape saturation as an added bonus because it simulates… tape while the Heat is primarily a distortion effect and not a delay.
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All cool 
You guys obviously have a firm idea of what you want Heat to be/not be.
A nice summary might be that the Heat tries to emulate the sound of tape saturation with analogue circuitry, but that it doesn’t attempt to simulate a tape recorder beyond that.
This reminds me of the SansAmp which does an excellent job of modeling various types of guitar and bass amp setups with fully analogue circuitry. There’s a great interview with the designer at ANDREW BARTA: Tech 21's Solid-state Superhero
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Would just like to ask, i am looking for something to “warble” up my stuff, i was thinking about the either the deco or getting an og sp404 and running through its vinyl sim, what would you say sounds better?
I was also hoping the AH would be able to simulate a similar effect too, would have been great if it did.
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Hard to say which I definitely prefer for tape type of warble/vibe without straight comparisons which I’ve never done. Deco is normally on my guitar pedal board and OG 404 I run synths etc through. I have a chase bliss Warped Vinyl mkii too which is incredible for warble and character. But its mono so you probably wouldn’t want to run mixes through, also pretty lo-fi/noisey depending on settings (I like it but some users would maybe complain…).
I’d probably go for Deco if had to choose between 404 and Deco strictly for warble/character. Sounds more authentic overall and the rhythm/feel to the Warp… From memory vinyl sim can get more ‘extreme’ tho and it has its own sound. And obvs you wanna weigh up what else you get in each box. Deco does a great job at nailing Tape in various ways that you can use for different fx etc. 404 you get a bunch of other decent fx + a fun/fast sampler…
If I get time next few days I’ll run a loop through the 404/deco/warped vinyl here and record it for you to check out. Kind of curious myself now that you asked…
Thanks for the in depth reply! Its really difficult to find examples of single synths run through the deco or og 404 just to demonstrate just the warbly effect. On the 404, can you use it like an effects pedal/box or do you need to record into to have the effects work?
@JustJuice cool thing with the Deco is that you can really send the sound in the stereo field.
Cool thing with SP404 og is that you can dispose of many different stereo FX, and you can definitely use it on the incoming signal, I did it on scratched vinyles and it was awesome. Only one FX at a time though.
This little box may be limited, but it’s well worth investigating further.
Now this is a bit out of the subject…
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