I have the opportunity to purchase a mint re-201 … does anyone have any experience using the space echo with elektron gear? Recommended or too much (maintenance) trouble for what it’s worth? (I also have an el capistan which i love.)
I don’t have any firsthand experience, though I’d love to have one. I do know that the TM-404 (aka Outshape here on Elektronauts) uses them w/ Elektron gear to good effect. See Video: Live set with Elektrons and Rolands
I have had 3 of them and they are brilliant machines. In my opinion they bring more to the table with vocals and drums and stuff but synths sound really cool too.
I have also seen that their price has sky rocketed lately so I would say don’t spend an absolute fortune on one. I wouldn’t go near it if it’s over 500 eur as there are plenty of other tape echos out there that are just as good for less.
My take on it (as a previous owner of an RE 201, 301, 501, 555, Korg SE 500, Echoplex, and numerous other tape echoes) is that if you simply want the tape sound, they’re great for that. If you want to do some real recording without dropouts, splice glitches, erratic timing, synchronization, etc, then you’re better off with something like a Bel BD 80 or if you have the $$$ a Publison DM 89 B2 or AMS DMX 1580. or even a Lexicon PCM 80.
The point being, there is certainly some mojo associated with those machines, but if you need more than that, there’s other (better) options.
It’s not modelled on any particular vintage tape delay, but it sounds sweet.
Watching some of my favourite producers working in the studio, the Roland RE-201 emu by UAD is quite popular - but that requires an expensive UAD dongle
Probably not a direct replacement for the original hardware, but OTOH if you prefer a cleaner sound it’s ideal.
GS-201 is very well regarded as “the best” RE-201 emu by many people. It’s quite old (2007) but the company still seems to be active under a different name:
If you only want the sound buy the RE 20.
If you want the cult-factor, impress other gear junkies, pay a lot for repairing it and so on, buy the original one and pay + 400.-€.
Thanks for the kind words!
Yes, I’m a tape echo addict.
I have the RE-200 (japanese limited version), RE-201, RE-301, RE-501, Korg SE-300 and two Echoplex units.
I also have that RE-20, which is ok, but NOTHING like the original at all.
I think you’ll have to get the original to be satisfied. And that El Capistan of yours is probably doing a much better job than then RE-20.
I do use the RE-20 sometimes when I play live, but not so much since I purchased the Strymon Timeline.
RE-20 is ok, but not super fun…
If your using Ableton, there’s a Max for Live-plugin that is based on some of my tape echoes.
Read more about it here: http://createdigitalmusic.com/2014/05/inside-dub-machines-analog-modeling-delays-reverbs-twist-max-live/
Seeing as you have experience of so many if you could only have one, which would you choose? And which would be your second?
I’ve just come to the conclusion that I need to get real tape echo to be satisfied, so hoping to pick up a RE-501 later this month. I also quite like the sound of the EP-4. But only seen EP-3 for sale near me, and not sure how similar they sound. Which units do you have?
What i’m curious about is if anyone has ever used a Disc Echo unit with synths on here I think its something not quite like the tape echoes but special in its own way
Yep the Binson ones are the one and only disc echoes but are quite expensive… and a pain to service (reverb discs are just extremely rare stuff), I like their sound as it’s something uncommon and different from the tape echoes (which i do love).
A good reverb and delay just make the sound more exciting and unpredictable
If software is an option AND if you’re an Ableton Live (Suite) user, I can recommend “Dub Machines” by Surreal Machines as a Max for Live extension (https://www.ableton.com/de/packs/dub-machines/).
I used to have the Boss RE20 hardware and still I have a licence for the GS-201 VST (which is a little bit dated by now)…well, Dub machines sounds really authentic and it comes with another more sort of saturation/flanger type of plugin.
if you don’t already know about it, you might check out the catalinbread echorec. there’s a few youtube videos comparing it to the original. it’s not exact but it is extremely close. they continued on in the tradition of the original echorec in that it is a delay that is meant to be in the front of your signal chain. this is because both the original and pedal copy act as a preamp. you can get awesome delays and reverbs from it, as well as just general signal conditioning. i have ran my minibrute, as well as my guitars, through it, and it sounds amazing. it really colored the minibrute well.