Boss DM-101 Analog Delay: Synth & Groovebox Test Drive! 

Thanks David, our pleasure!

you got it, right? :D

Same chassis, totally different internals being a real analog delay. But yes agreed, it would have nice not have that hurdle

Cheers Robert, it's a gorgeous thing!

it's soooo nice on darker sounds, have fun!

@@StoreDJ_online imo it's more expensive than I'd like but they have 48 month 0% financing so I said screw it and ordered lol

Use an inline pad or an impedance transformer

The microcube is incredible! I love the flanger in it, I have the original with the AAA batteries

Our pleasure!

Thanks! Unfortunately the Model 1.4 and 1.6 are anomalies in the world of mixers and strictly only cater to stereo signals on the inputs and aux sends, so you'd need an extra device, a mini line mixer maybe, to sum the aux send signal to mono before it goes into the DM-101. Stereo aux sends are very unusual and a big selling point of the mixer for many people - but unfortunately make life a little difficult in this scenario.

At this point Boss have said the USB port is just for firmware updates, since there's no AD/DA conversion happening within the pedal, it seems unlikely that they'll be able to add a pad to the signal. But who knows what they've got up their sleeves. Very curious about what this affordable vintage rack gear is that can eat the DM-101 for lunch is, MIDI sync-able stereo analog delay is pretty unique!

@@StoreDJ_online There's plenty. Either boxes like the Alexis Q20 or Korg's A3 fit there, with the Q20 having the ability to use up to eight internal algorithms in a single stereo effect. No BBDs in there, but it fits all of the other criteria. Or just build up a rack of different effects and implement a parallel mixing setup... your limits there are basically how many stereo splits can you find on a decent distro amp and how many sources do you feel like juggling on the return mixer. The only fail of sorts is the absence of the lower-fi BBD chips. But it's super simple to just add a bit of rolloff above 6 kHz and then to saturate that just a touch, maybe with a passive transformer DI so that you can hit those a touch harder and get the saturation and hysteresis effects to hit right. Also, inserts often pop up on these older rack processors, such as the Yamaha SPX50D. This lets you drop things into the signal path to make the initial processor get way weirder and more versatile. That's another way. And lastly...but 100% NOT cheaper than the DM101...would be to build up an effects system in Eurorack. At that point, you have total empirical control over what you want done, right down to tiny details that stompboxes don't usually get to. And with Eurorack, you can have BBDs...Doepfer, in fact, has this utterly mental analog delay module which brings pretty much all of the delay's parameters up to patch points, which definitely dunks on the Boss. It's also possible to interface a Eurorack system with footswitches and control pedals, with the results making typical fx boards sound dull and dated. And you get MIDI sync...and a literal f**kton more! So, yeah... options exist and also abound. It's just a matter of stepping off of the usual present new devices and their hype and exploring some VERY different ideas. F'rinstance, until discovering the velcro-ripping joy of the Cuvave FUZZ, my fave psych guitar sound came from a Princeton Applied Research instrumentation preamp I got as industrial surplus. Awesome tone, especially from its onboard LP/HP filters and preamp impedance/topology settings, and it lives to overdrive! Cherry on the cake there, though, is that whatever was slightly hot about it seems to have finally decayed down to around background radiation levels.

Unfortunately the Model 1.4 and 1.6 are anomalies in the world of mixers and strictly only cater to stereo signals on the inputs and aux sends, so you'd need an extra device, a mini line mixer maybe, to sum the aux send signal to mono before it goes into the DM-101. Stereo aux sends are very unusual and a big selling point of the mixer for many people - but unfortunately make life a little difficult in this scenario.

As demo'd, you can manage without one, but yeah you could definitely use a reamp box to reduce your signal down to instrument level. Some audio interfaces like the Mbox Studio and Audiofuse Studio even have reamping outputs built into them

metal body, brushed aluminum control panel, all metal jacks, screen printed graphics, metal pots with plastic knob covers. Seems real sturdy

@@StoreDJ_online thank you for that info :) I’m doing eBay stuff this weekend and hopefully make enough money to pre-order a Dm-101 :)

Fully stereo analog BBD delays are insanely rare. I think the dynacord srs 56 is one of the only ones and they are impossible to fine and a fortune. You would need twice the amount of BBD chips to make it work, raising costs 2x

and mono input...

haha, had to do it 😎

all depends on your priorities! If you want the genuine BBD sound and experience, MIDI-sync, presets and new never-before-seen delay modes, then the DM-101 might be worth the premium price tag. If not, then as you've pointed out, there's a huge range of beautiful delays out there 😁

I believe that's what he meant when he said "you've gotta do the effects loop thing"

Enlighten us, so a synth into a passive DI's output will pass the proper impedance out of the DI's input into the pedal? Sounds like a great experiment.

no one is mentioning it isn’t a dual delay … it has limitation no matter how big corporation throw money at channels to sell it

There was no need in this setup, worked fine without one - only thing it would change is how high the aux send level is. But yeah you could definitely use a reamp box to reduce line level down to instrument level if you wanted that peace of mind. Some audio interfaces like the Mbox Studio and Audiofuse Studio even have reamping outputs built into them

@@StoreDJ_online It actually also changes the impedance. That does matter. The fact that you have distortion is meant to tell you there's something wrong. And not properly unbalancing the signal introduces noise. I'm not trying to be a jerk here. I'm an audio tech - this is what I do for a living. I'm just trying to help.

cheers Patrick, we appreciate that using mismatched impendences isn't technically correct, but we'd never present this as an option if it didnt work. There was no undesirable noise or distortion, and the pedal has plenty of amplitude on the outputs allowing us to mix in the effect without any extra gain required. In retrospect, perhaps we should have taken the opportunity to demonstrate a reamping box or DI solution as well for a more complete rundown on using guitar gear in line-level environments, live and learn!

I've been using pedals and synths for over 20 years and have never used a re-amp box. I don't doubt that it would be helpful in some situations, however I think most synth users (the people watching this video) wouldn't buy an additional piece of gear to use with this pedal, so demo-ing it without one makes sense.