It’ll sound pretty boring from my side, but I’m happy to set up whatever you’d like. Message me with the details of what you want.
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I mean guys, the whining it’s defintely there if you listen carefully, but I don’t think anybody will notice in a live environment or while audio material is going through it.
I’t s been 3 years I play 5-10 gigs per year (Zen Delay always on), do you know how many people complained about a whining noise from my Zen Delay in my liveset? 0!
Do you know how many greeted it’s sound? Everybody who tried it in my studio.
For an expensive 600 euros delay is it acceptable to have this kind of “problem”? I don’t know. I’t s been four years I got mine and I’d never sell it.
Also, I have got a Sherman Filterbank which costs almost the same and screams the hell out of the filters all the time. Still, a lot of producers use it in their really polished techno tracks to give a vibe.
It’s all about the character, if you get fixated on the tiny noise at 2k Hz sell it and move on, there are a lot of other delay to try.
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Hey my man - tried to message you but it says you’re not accepting messages at the moment. Feel free to DM me directly. Thank you so much.
With all due respect my man, I don’t feel like your dismissal of the issue is very respectful to people like myself. If you are using any kind of compression of saturation after the delay, any kind of bus processing, it will amplify the 2k tone. Personally, for the way that I dub, I do not have a signal running hot through the delay all the time. Are there other delays like the Zen? I would say no. Anyway, no bad vibes here.
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Good reminder that we don’t all use things the same way.
I know of the whine and heard it in Stimming’s video, but still bought it because it wouldn’t be an issue for me.
I don’t even run into the whining noise as I use mine, but I’m sure it’s likely still there.
It doesn’t bother me that it’s a bit of a dealbreaker for others
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I really like my Zen Delay. But unfortunately every device from Erica Synths i tried had some annoying bugs that never got fixed. And it’s not just the “analog character” of the devices.
I wish they would spent more time on product developement and firmware updates.
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There’s a big difference between bugs and quirks, though. And anecdotally it feels like a lot of Erica’s quirks get branded as bugs. Which, you know, semantics. But bugs can get fixed and I hope quirks never do.
Like, “this should make an echo but doesn’t” is a bug. “This makes an echo differently than I expect” is a quirk. Bugs are universally reviled, but quirks can be sought after.
My Erica boxes all have loads of quirks (vintage tape on the Zen. Weak accents, strong FM, and goofy slides on the DB-01. Pretty much everything about the Acid’s filter). And to a person who wants standard, expected results quirks like these are, by definition, deal breakers.
But to me, they’re what keep me reaching for my Zen instead of “a standard delay”.
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No bad vibes and I don’t want to put it personally. But since you have posted more than 10 replies on this thread telling over and over again about the 2k sine problem and I think your behaviour is off-putting to a new casual user who could enter the conversation to understand if ZD suits his/her needs, I just wanted to give a different point of view (which other users are sharing aswell)
I wasn’t trying to be dismissive of your problem and I admire the lenghts you are going to try to solve this issue with the producer. I could maybe even profit from your request to Erica Synth if they get pressed to release an update. I just wanted to point out that we are lucky to live in an era of endless products creation and, in my opinion, there is no point on losing a substantial amount of time trying fix the unfixable.
If a device I bought doesn’t do what it stated or it does but in a way which is not compatible with my workflow I just sell it/return it and move to the next shiny object.
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Dreadbox Raindrops
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I mean, Isn’t the whole idolization of the 303 basically based on a quirk?
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Raindrops looks like a cool delay but I wouldn’t even know how to compare the two, given that Raindrops doesn’t have an analog drive circuit and doesn’t have a multiband analog filter after the delay. Both feautures are a pretty big part of the Zen Delay’s sound.
Also, Raindrops doesn’t have a 2kHz sinewave resonating through the filter (lol).
And Raindrops has pitch shifting and reverb, which ZD doesn’t have.
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They are definitely not entirely the same but raindrops did cure my gas for a zen. ;). It drives very nicely. Just as a suggestion for an alternative if one can’t get over the 2khz thing.
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The Jomox T-Resonator comes to mind as comparable.
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BTW does anybody have info on the status of the firmware update for Zen Delay?
its a shame really of those smalle imperfections, because I remember having a zen delay and really enjoying the sound of relatively high feedback, drive and then using the bandpass filter to create a live sweep. imo there are no other delay pedals that feature this…or are there?
Yeah, I think I had the idea that since a) I can’t currently afford a Zen and b) I generally really like Dreadbox devices for their sound and tweakability, the Raindrops would be worth getting; and as it turns out, I was right. It would be nice if it had a bandpass filter, for instance, but the LP is more than nice enough too.
But I’ll maybe get a Zen one day when that proverbial ship comes in.
I do like the T-Resonator II very much, while keeping control of the feedback can be a task in the middle of fiddling with the routing.
Unfortunately (or otherwise), neither of these have sync, analogue nor midi, which is one reason I’d like to get the T-Rackonizer Eurorack module version at some point. Another plus point for the Zen.
sync is essential for me. but i hear mixed/conflicting stories about the sync stability from the zen
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That should be the whole story, then. If it brought you joy, that’s what matters. If it sounds good, it is good. You don’t want to keep your head in the sand, of course; but while searching for information, don’t let others substitute their opinions for yours.
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I’ve have had numerous delay pedals, beside ZD I still have Timeline, El Cap and the small Moog pedal.
They’re all great for different tasks and various inputs like synth, drum machine, guitar, vocals…
I think that the ZD is very playable and fun to use.
I also sent my first ZD back due to its size/price and after seeing the Stimming video all I heard was that tone or whining sound.
But after sending it back I kept thinking about some of the other cool things that this pedal could do. So I bought it again a couple of years ago and it’s been a great tool ever since.
I like to play it as voice/lead instrument when using high Feedback settings and tweaking the Time and Filter to control the sound.
I definitely think that the whining tone is in there (documented in the Stimming video) but also think that I found a way to play it with that in mind.
It also works great as a simple Snare delay with Time settings and long enough Feedback so that you can make a different groove with the snare.
I really like the oscillation Feedback doesn’t get out of control as it does on the Timeline, when holding down the foot switch.
Though the Timeline feedback can be really useful in live situations, playing it like hold pedal on a piano or looping it.
On ZD you can kind of use longer Feedback as a looper if you find a good/synced setting on the Time knob, twisting the knob gets you some percussion noise as a soundscape loop.
I’m not having problems with the ZD sync. I think the midi clock works fine and even the tap Tempo also good, I’m not sure if any Clock improvements was incl in the last firmware but in on the latest FW.
Here’s an example of some ideas to use the ZD for to better understand what I mean and how I try to included ZD as an instrument.
(Sorry for the self promotion part)
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MIDI clocking works fine but syncing the ZD is the most boring way of using it, as it does not have 8. notes. So you will only have even repeats that are perfectly in sync with what you are playing…just awful! XD
If you start tap tempoing and then sloooowly move the time knob you will get way more interesting results and textures.
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