I am REALLY surprised by Digitech's latest delay offering.

[Firebrand]

Mind blown.
The Obscura is full-on digital delay recreating analog styled delays. And I can't believe how good it really is.
I replaced a Nemesis which sounded sterile comparably. In many ways for me it is a simplified Empress VMSD (which I have owned twice, and the "normal" model once). No programming. Mono or stereo. The footswitch is also the Tap Tempo.

And it is quiet. Adds virtually no noise to my signal chain. No tape hiss like others do. When "trails" option is on it is just as quiet.
Less is more. I have found a couple settings that I like to use, but mainly leave it on one of them. I don't play the toggle tap dance like I did with all my previous programmable delays. And they designed it so when you mess with the time knob when a delay is running that is sounds like a tap speeding up or slowing down. I haven't enjoyed a delay this much since owning a Pigtronix Echolution Pi for all of one day (that's a whole different story).

Anyhow, thanks for looking. Give one of these a try. You might be as surprised as I was. Especially since they didn't try slapping another boutique sounding brand name on them.

 

[Little Pigbacon]

Re: I am REALLY surprised by Digitech's latest delay offering.

So it doesn't have tape hiss on the emulated tape delay setting? Now that you mention it, I think I might actually want that as an option.

 

[TimmyPage]

Re: I am REALLY surprised by Digitech's latest delay offering.

It's funny, I went the other way. I replaced the Obscura with a Nemesis. The obscura sounded really good but for some reason I could just never get it working for me in my band, it never quite meshed with what I wanted to do. That being said, I thought the Lo-Fi mode on it sounded absolutely brilliant, just a nice warm digital sound with a touch of drive and degradation. It was a really beautiful sound!

 

[mantis]

Re: I am REALLY surprised by Digitech's latest delay offering.

I always skip over the Digitech line as in history I never liked any of their pedals. Glad your digging yours, sounds interesting.

 

[Mincer]

Re: I am REALLY surprised by Digitech's latest delay offering.

Digitech has had some gems over the years: their Space Station, Bad Monkey, and Chorus Factory are especially cool.

 

[Blille]

Re: I am REALLY surprised by Digitech's latest delay offering.

Digitech has had some gems over the years: their Space Station, Bad Monkey, and Chorus Factory are especially cool.

The Supernatural Reverb is really solid too, if you like ambient sounds in particular.

 

[Aceman]

Re: I am REALLY surprised by Digitech's latest delay offering.

No Deth Metal love?????

Digitech has their hits and misses like anyone else. Maybe a few more misses. These days I have a Mosaic (12 String sim) a Jamman Express looper, and my trusty CF-7.

The Hardwire series overall was pretty tasty.

 

[Mincer]

Re: I am REALLY surprised by Digitech's latest delay offering.

The Supernatural Reverb is really solid too, if you like ambient sounds in particular.

Never tried it, but I will be sure to, now. Thanks!

 

[baritone]

Re: I am REALLY surprised by Digitech's latest delay offering.

I think I'll look into this. DigiTech looks like they've come up with some cool pedals these days. The old DigiVerb is the awesomest reverb I have used.

 

[DinoTrousers]

Re: I am REALLY surprised by Digitech's latest delay offering.

Digitech's new(ish) Polara reverb is super killer as well! The Halo setting is fantastic.

 

[Lampy H]

Re: I am REALLY surprised by Digitech's latest delay offering.

Their new stereo pedals all look fantastic.

 

[Ascension]

Re: I am REALLY surprised by Digitech's latest delay offering.

Digitech's new(ish) Polara reverb is super killer as well! The Halo setting is fantastic.

Agreed on the Polara! Picked one up a while back and made both my Supernatural and holy grail sound dead in comparison. Best sub $300 verb out there IMO!
Been wondering if the Halo was a good as the Polara is now need to try one!

 

[BloodRose]

Re: I am REALLY surprised by Digitech's latest delay offering.

Firebrand, have you owned any others you can compare it to? Also, does this cover regular delay needs ? Sorry if thats a dumb question, but something I read (plus the name Obscura) made me think it may be more experimental types of sounds

 

[Ascension]

Re: I am REALLY surprised by Digitech's latest delay offering.

The Supernatural Reverb is really solid too, if you like ambient sounds in particular.

Own a Supernatural and the new Polara from the same series as the Obscura. Trust me here that the new Polara absolutely nukes the Supernatural and is less$$!

 

[Blille]

Re: I am REALLY surprised by Digitech's latest delay offering.

Own a Supernatural and the new Polara from the same series as the Obscura. Trust me here that the new Polara absolutely nukes the Supernatural and is less$$!

I'll give it a try

 

[Vasshu the humanoid typhoon]

Re: I am REALLY surprised by Digitech's latest delay offering.

Well I guess it depends on who you are....
Neither like the Polara nor the Obscura....
On the other hand I love the DL-8 and the old RV-7 plus the Supernatural.
The new ones are oddly distached to play...

Then again it is all a matter of taste.

Also too quiet is boring in my world, if the decaying notes do not give a sensation of space, then it is just another dry sounding ding ding dealy/echo.

 

[BloodRose]

Re: I am REALLY surprised by Digitech's latest delay offering.

I tweaked my dl 8 abit more yest and like it more.. pretty sick when I run it and the CC together. Was just hoping to find one that sounds as thick as the two of them combined..

 

[Firebrand]

Re: I am REALLY surprised by Digitech's latest delay offering.

Firebrand, have you owned any others you can compare it to? Also, does this cover regular delay needs ? Sorry if thats a dumb question, but something I read (plus the name Obscura) made me think it may be more experimental types of sounds

It can do experimental and trippy. It adds some life to the delay that I miss in a straight digital reproduction unit.

I liked the Empress VMSD a lot. Owned one twice. The regular edition (owned once) had a sterile quality and the VMSD each time would get too much distortion in the trails.

The Nova Delay worked well but had some glitches that were bothersome to me. I also have a DejaVu delay and it is nice but again the noise floor drives me a little bonkers when using at home.


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[Firebrand]

Re: I am REALLY surprised by Digitech's latest delay offering.

Well I guess it depends on who you are....
Neither like the Polara nor the Obscura....
On the other hand I love the DL-8 and the old RV-7 plus the Supernatural.
The new ones are oddly distached to play...

Then again it is all a matter of taste.

Also too quiet is boring in my world, if the decaying notes do not give a sensation of space, then it is just another dry sounding ding ding dealy/echo.

It is the noise floor of the pedal itself that is pleasing. The artifact delays render are not quiet in the way you describe, and have a quality that is rather exciting to myself.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[Hank-]

Re: I am REALLY surprised by Digitech's latest delay offering.

They have started using cooler graphics, the hardwire look was closer to boss style but these are looking nice.

I liked the polara, haven't tried the obscura. Didn't like the digiverb or hardwire verb all that much. Dl8 was nice though.