Strymon Deco User Manual

USER MANUAL

®

Deco - Tape Saturation & Doubletracker User Manual

Front Panel

®

SATURATION

Sets the amount of tape
drive by adjusting the
preamp gain. At low
levels, a subtle harmonic
enhancement occurs,
increasing the dynamic
compression and
distortion as the knob is
turned up.

VOLUME

Controls the output
volume of the Saturation.

BLEND TYPE

Achieve subtle differences
in tonality and low-end by
adjusting internal phase
and routing.

BLEND

Sets the relative mix level of the
two tape decks.Turn lower to
blend in more of the Reference
Deck, which can serve to tame
your doubletracking effect. Turn
higher to blend in more of the
delayed Lag Deck. At 12:00, both
decks are equally mixed to the
output.

LAG TIME

Sets the delay offset between
the Reference Deck and the
delayed Lag Deck, creating a full
range of doubletracking tape
effects. Transition from tape
flange on the first half of the
knob, to tape chorus, slapback,
and then tape echo with a
maximum 500mS delay.

Tape Chorus

Slapback

Tape Flange

Tape Echo

WOBBLE

Adds a random speed
modulation element to the
delayed Lag Deck. At lower
settings, the variations are
mild, covering the speed
changes that a recording
engineer might use to create
time-varying flange effects. At
higher settings the variations
become more extreme.

Sum - Decks are in phase.
Invert - The Lag Deck is

phase-inverted.
Bounce - Right channel
of the Lag Deck is phase­inverted and bounced
to the left channel input
creating a ping-pong-like
stereo effect, or a double­repeat effect when using a
mono output.

Engages and
bypasses Deco’s
Tape Saturation
effect.

Engages and
bypasses Deco’s
Doubletracker
effect. Press and
hold to engage the
instant Auto-Flange
feature.

See page 10 for in­depth explanation of the
Auto-Flange feature.

pg 2

Deco - Tape Saturation & Doubletracker User Manual

Secondary Functions

®

HIGH TRIM

Controls a shelving
filter for subtle high
frequency tailoring.
Full bandwidth at
minimum setting.

LOW TRIM

Controls a high pass
filter for subtle low
frequency tailoring.
Full bandwidth at
minimum setting.

DOUBLETRACKER

BOOST/CUT

Boosts or cuts the
Doubletracker effect by up to
3dB to allow for precise level
matching. Full boost at max,
unity gain at 12:00.

AUTO-FLANGE TIME

Sets the sweep time for the
press-and-hold Auto-Flange
feature. Low settings are faster,
and higher settings are slower.

See page 10 for in-depth explanation
of the Auto-Flange feature.

WIDE STEREO MODE

Generates a wide stereo
image. Turn past 12:00 to send
the Reference Deck to the Left
Out and the delayed Lag Deck
to the Right Out. Disable by
turning to left of 12:00. The
Blend control then acts as a
Pan control by adjusting the
relative levels of the decks.
Automatically disabled with
mono output. If the input is
stereo it is summed to mono.

Press and hold both footswitches

simultaneously while turning the desired knob

to access the secondary functions.

OFF ON

pg 3

Deco - Tape Saturation & Doubletracker User Manual

®

Lag Time Ranges

TAPE FLANGE

-.3 to 3 ms

Very short Lag times produce
a moving comb-filter/flange
effect that goes ‘through­zero’ when the lag time is
set less than zero. A static
filter effect is achieved when
the Wobble is turned to
minimum.

Tape Chorus

Slapback

Tape Flange

Tape Echo

LAG TIME

• Set the Blend to 50/50 (12:00) for the most pronounced flange effects.

• Through-zero effects are more intense when using distorted guitars or high-bandwith
input signals. Add some Saturation to enhance a clean guitar input. Experiment with the
difference between Sum and Invert modes in this area for very different experiences.

• For an inverted flange that doesn’t cancel completely, try setting the Blend lower than
12:00 to favor the Reference Deck, or turn the Lag Time to around 10:00 so the delayed
Lag Deck doesn’t cross through zero.

• Try minimum Lag Time and set Blend to maximum (no reference deck mixed in) for a
random vibrato when Wobble is at maximum.

TAPE CHORUS

3 to 50 ms

Longer Lag times result in a
thicker sound as if there are
two performers playing the
same part. Increasing the
Wobble control adds more
movement and separation
between the two decks.

SLAPBACK

50 to 150 ms

First heard in the rock ‘n roll
records of the ‘50s, slapback
echo produces the sound of a
performance in a large space
where the echo is reflecting
back from an opposing wall.

• For a more subtle effect, reduce the Blend knob to favor the Reference Deck.

• Changing from Sum to Invert mode will change the response of the low frequencies
for another tonal possibility.

• Increase Lag Time to get a wider chorus sound.

• With the Blend past 12:00, the slap can be louder than the input. Try this with shorter
slap times.

• Try slap echoes with the Blend Type in the Invert position. This represents a true
physical reflection where the sound waves invert as they bounce off a wall. It can add a
‘3D’ feel. Add some mild modulation to create subtle movement in the echo sound.

• Try Bounce mode for a thicker slap that has two distinct repeats.

TAPE ECHO

150 to 500 ms

Longer Lag times can create
delays suitable for soloing
or adding some ambience
or rhythmic effects to your
playing.

• Try lower Blend settings for a distant echo effect. Add some Wobble for a random
modulation-delay effect.

• Bounce mode will create two repeats to further fill out the soundfield.

pg 4