ROLAND SPACE ECHO vs UAD & Native Instruments Plugins - £2K for TAPE DELAY - Is it worth the money? 

Wow that's some of the best playing I've heard on ANY gear demo 🙌

Damn, the real thing sounds incredible!

Hardware is amazing. Noise and all. In love taking the deficiency of things and using them as a feature. I learned that from Tom Morello he said he takes whatever he has, imperfections and all, and makes that the sound and gets creative with it. There's just an edgy feel like you can hear the physical circuitry and when it was getting pitchy, I loved that. but the UAD did an amazing Job emulating it.

I just picked up the UAD plugin on sale (including coupon, it was $74). I thought it did admirably in your comparison. Thanks!

Came for the plug in stayed for your playing! jaja Also, nice demo and comparisons!

That noise sounds like a transport sound (but could also be capacitor staring to spill its guts!). My 201 doesn't do it (thankfully). The NI one sounds a bit weak. UAD more of the target. Arturia have a nice one as do AudioThing and so do Cherry Audio that's very cheap too ($19!). Great video, thanks.

UAD is more clear and better top end, hardware is warmer and noisier, for recording purposes I would choose the UAD, nice playing by the way and demo.

Got one few days ago from Japan listed as junk for 600 euros. Works great, just had to clean the pots and free the VU meter needle as it was stuck. It was well worth it.

Thanks for the video, Man. Fuljoyed your skillfull playing also.

One thing to consider is using the hardware and the plugin as a stereo pair. Much better then buying a second Roland unit.

UAD sounds amazing! Very impressed! The thing with the plugin though is that it's band limited to 30Khz. Maybe that's the reason why it sounds a bit less open than the real unit.

What a great comparison, UAD got so much closer, maybe I’d add more treble and top end to match the hardware

Hi Tom, nice playing mate don't sell the Roland Space Echo it sounds so much warmer and the tonal quality is superb compared to the pedal it kind of reminds of my analogue vintage Electro Harmonix Deluxe Memory Man that I bought back in 1980 for £127.00 and sold it for double the price on Ebay about 15yrs ago! Again that was prone to strange noises too but I used to get that nice Bill Frisell sound and I also had digital effects that gave me similar effects but not sure if I regret selling it or not now I think you will regret selling yours.. 🤔

It's so beautiful

I know that noise you got there. And I HATED that noise for years. Got rid of it using something like the Behringer MicroHD HD400 or the Palmer PLI-02. i have no idea why this kind of thing (Trennübertrager, I‘m german) isn‘t built into every cable or is at least an option. A simple, simple circuit but it works wonders.

Hey! Great vid! Quick question. How did you set up your amp? Is that a sim or a miced cab? If so how did you run the signal from the UAD Echo to the cab? Reamp box from the interface? Thanks!

Hi, Tom. I'm Geoff, Ray's neighbour. We've met at a Steyning gig some time ago. Re: Roland Tape echo, the unwanted noise sounds to me like a problem with the actual tape loop. Maybe someone has replaced it and the "new" tape has traces of some old music track which isn't being wiped by the Roland's erase head and it's bleeding over. Suggest switching off the tape motor to see if the noise stops. If it does, either get a new loop of tape or get the old one bulk erased. If you'd like to chat about the problem, Ray has got my number. Best regards, Geoff in Steyning

i like the splice option on the uad which is not in most...

UAD. Not bad at all. thx ✌🏼

When you have that noise like that, it might be that your input level is too high.

my god, the native instrument emulation sounds awful compared to the real thing and UAD's

To me the noise sounds like something mechanical, maybe it has to do with the motor(?)

plugins still have a long way to go, noise as distorsion is impossible to get right by now

anyone plays like that needs tape delay, wow, cook up a pot of beans on that thang.. loogout now!

NI sounds least favorite. Too much resonance I don’t like at all.