Delay for Dub Siren

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RastaYah
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Joined: Wed Jun 25, 2008 12:07 pm

Delay for Dub Siren

Post by RastaYah » Wed Jun 25, 2008 12:14 pm

bless,
am going to buy one of Jah Tubbys dub sirens and wanted to ask what kind of delay would be the best for makin it sounds better.
had one of these korg sampler to fire some lickshots but want it to sound more original!
Am not into producing more I am Vintage Reggae selecta, and i would need it for live performence!
thought of buyin one of the reel delay units but i not sure if this is the right thing for my purpose.
maybe it also would be nice to have the possibility to live-dub the musc i play!
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interruptor
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Post by interruptor » Fri Jun 27, 2008 8:39 pm

Hi

Typically with a siren you would not use an echo setting with a lot of feedback (only few repetitions). Therefore the difference between an ordinary digital delay and a tape delay will hardly be noticable. Also as long as you use the delay only for the siren sound you can simply connect it in between the siren and your dj mixer. you could use any foot-stomp guitar effect delay that comes your way for cheap. (Just make sure you don't buy any of those slap-back delays. These have only very short delay times)

On the other hand if you plan to use the delay on the music you play as a DJ you need something more advanced than an ordinary dj mixer. You will want to apply the delay to the siren most of the time but only here and there to your music. In that case you should use the type of mixer that is used in music production which comes with effect send pots for each channel. In such an application you may actually use delay settings with lots of feedback (many echo repetitions). This means a tape delay unit (or tape delay emulation) will sound far better/dubbier than a basic digital delay.

Hope this helped

RastaYah
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Joined: Wed Jun 25, 2008 12:07 pm

Post by RastaYah » Sat Jun 28, 2008 3:07 pm

thanks for the reply!

do you think one if this vintage reel daly units would be the right choice?

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interruptor
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Post by interruptor » Mon Jun 30, 2008 8:45 pm

As I tried to explain above: It depends on what you want to do. For the siren alone the specific vintage sound will not be heard because you will not use a setting with many echo repetitions. So getting a vintage tape delay unit would be a waste of money. Apart from that you need to know the disadvantages of vintage tape delays:

- expensive (unless you are lucky)
- heavy
- maintenance is needed (changing tape loops, cleaning tape heads,..)
- not very reliable: As you will only get such a unit second hand with no guarantee it can die on you anytime.

When using the delay on the music as well you may actually make use of the vintage sound. But you will need a more complicated setup as explained above. Even in such a case a digital tape delay emulation may be better regarding price, weight and reliability.

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