I need to make some more tests with the panning… When looking at the diagram in the manual, I think I might have it wrong and the feedback should be stereo, or unless feedback is summed to mono? Not sure. I’ll try some stuff and report back later…
The Schematics (posted further up) did indicate a summed Feedback path didn’t it?
Could that have been the added Spring Reverb causing it?
Coming back to explain the panning behavior further. I have trouble explaining the behavior and what I’m hearing.
If for example I set playhead 2 completely panned to the left, and that it is the only playhead ON, and that I activate its feedback (feedback 2) (or any other feedback), then the delay and feedback will be completely on the left channel.
If I set the 2nd playhead panned completely to the left, the 4th playhead completely to the right, and switch both to ON, with no feedback on, then I’ll have that nice ping pong delay effect with only one repeat to the left and one to the right.
But, and this is where it gets weird, if I have the exact same setup of both playheads 2 (panned left) and 4 (panned right), both ON, and then activate feedback 2, then there will be that first ping pong delay, but the feedback will not be panned left, even though that’s the feedback of playhead 2 which is hard panned left. The feedback seems more kind of rightish. Maybe that’s the psychoacoustic effects they are referring to the website…
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Sounds Like a Bug. Open a Support Ticket. Strymon should be able to fix it, or give you at least an explanation.
Thank you for sharing your experience with it.
I still want one. 
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Oh and just had a real “ha HA!” moment, with the Volante synchronized to MIDI clock from a drum machine and delaying that drum machine, just playing with the playback switches, speed switch and spacing. It’s quite insane, and definitely went places not possible with the El Capistan…
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Lots of good info here on relationships between head and feedback buttons and spacing. If you haven’t seen it, it might be worth a look.
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Since it looks like it will be at least a month until these hit the market here in Japan, I’m wondering if anyone with one can answer a couple of questions:
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how dirty does the “record in” get? Can you get a bit of growl out of it? I’m guessing this differs by machine (drum, tape, studio)
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does the reverb get pretty deep if you have the hidden setting, set all the way up? Is there a fair bit of difference between the lowest and highest depths?
Can someone clarify. Is this pedal a looper as well. It seems it is as its 32 seconds at normal speed according to link… Can this loop be overdubbed?
Just played with the record in, and it can add lots of saturation to the signal, and can go into distortion territory on the drum echo type. As for the reverb’s decay, you can go from quite short to about 5-6 second decay (this is an approximation).
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Fantastic! Thanks for confirming.
That’s exactly what I was hoping for. I think that the Record In on the Volante while stack nicely with the saturation on the Deco for a bit of gain staging.
The reverb on the Volante also seems a lot nicer than the one on the El Cap, it should make for a nice extra spring alternative to the Flint or let me run a spring into say the hall on the Flint.
I’m really looking forward to this thing.
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Deco in stereo wide mode is L/R - dry/wet
Edit: Yeah but that’s not what I’m after. I usually have it on my AR and would like the entire stereo image affected.
I just started using my Volante and its really good. Overdriving the input just a bit adds some smooth bite to the delays. I made a real tape delay with varispeed control using an old reel-to-reel, and this Volante really does have that tape sound down. I dont really care for the spring yet, but I havent really messed with it much.
One really great feature I like is the ability to pan each play head differently and then select unused playheads as feedback to feed into the used playheads. It gets really deep.
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So I sent the panning behavior I described earlier to support and here’s what they had to say about it:
The playback feedback scenario you described is normal behavior with the specific settings you noted.
If playback 2 (eight note) and playback 4 (quarter note) are both ON, and you have feedback 2 ON (eighth note repeats), after the initial repeat from playback 2 (panned hard left) you will then hear a repeat from both playback 2 again (eighth note panned left) and playback 4 (quarter note panned right) at the same time. This is because there are 2 eighth notes per quarter note, so for the second repeat you are hearing both playback 2 (LEFT) and playback 4 (RIGHT) at the same time since an eight and quarter note will land on top of each other. And since they are panned hard left and hard right, they will sound centered when played back together.
That makes sense!
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Nice! I have to wait seven weeks…
can’t see El Cap going anywhere… this seems like another boutique pedal in a long line of expensive pedals–for the same price as a used synth / 2-3 eurorack modules, etc.
kind of amazing how quickly people are ready (and able) to cop the latest ‘big & shiny’, w/the endless stream of ‘big & shiny’ products … I don’t see how it could be a priority unless you’re lacking a good pedal / gear (with $ to spend) - then it’s probably worthwhile
I have no tape Delay. Always wanted one. Those Vintage ones are too old and needs too much repair. This one new and shiny with its direct Control over the Heads and Feedback is closing an Open gap in the market. Of course there is magneto from Strymon as Eurorack…but you would need a Case for that, plus Midi CV Module to get Midi sync Feature and all adds up to much more costs than a Volante. And Show me a Synth that can do a good Tape Delay Emulation Like this, please for half the price which is 199.
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It’s a shame the OTO gear has reasonably cryptic LEDs (dot position indicator, or more likely left in VU mode)
I have a Marantz coming that I’m going to turn into a DIY delay until the Volante is available for general sale. Magneto is really fun but not directly competing with the Volante. get both 