LINE 6 STUNNED the music technology world with its incredibly canny approach to guitar tone modeling, both in its guitar amps and the wildly successful POD. It seems only natural that, having conquered the voodoo science of distorted guitar tone, the company would set its sights on other effects, such as modulation and delay.
The Echo Pro is the enhanced rackmount version of the DL4, Line 6's stompbox delay modeler that emulated classic units such as the Maestro Echoplex, Electro-Harmonix Memoryman, and Roland Space Echo. In addition to putting its stompbox in a single-rackspace configuration (as it has done with the other two effects in the series that started life as stompboxes, the Filter Pro and the Mod Pro), Line 6 has beefed up the I/O, added new algorithms and performance features, and extended the reach of user control on the front panel. This machine is a triple threat, offering vintage tone emulation; a versatile tempo-based, note-repeating DDL; and a loop recorder. And of course, you can still work it like a standard delay, while enjoying its pro-level I/O options, great sound, and outstanding user interface.
FRONT MATTER
The Echo Pro's gleaming front panel is where you glimpse a hint of the unit's powerful feature set. There are digital rotary encoders (which are programmable) controlling Program Select (99 presets, all user rewriteable), model select (16, including Loop Recording), Time (in milliseconds or beats per minute), Repeats (aka feedback), and Mix (wet/dry ratio). Two other knobs, Tweak and Tweez, are also programmable, and adjust different parameters depending on the chosen program or model.
There are switches for Save, MIDI/System, and Bypass modes (of which there are four, including a buffered analog path from input to output, for putting the Echo Pro in front of a guitar amp). The unit has other switches for the tempo-based functions (Tap, toggling between milliseconds and beats per minute, and selecting rhythmic subdivisions), for a loop-recording mode, and for an expression-pedal setup.
The Echo Pro allows you to save your own customized programs, and you can also store default settings for each model. This means that when you dial up a model, its parameters are set to your liking. The front panel also sports a blinking Tap tempo button that indicates the current beat. The Note button (which reflects the chosen subdivision) blinks in sync with the Tap button, showing the selected delay time in milliseconds. Slick.
On the back of the unit (see Fig. 1) are jacks for MIDI I/O, an expression pedal, four XLR and four ¼"; balanced jacks for stereo I/O. The audioI/O uses an intelligent switching scheme, allowing you plug in a variety of mono and stereo inputs and output combinations for direct and effects-loop operation. Unfortunately, there's no digital I/O. The Echo Pro has an internal power supply — no wall wart.
VINTAGE ECHO INSIDE
Of course, the featured performers of the Echo Pro show are the modeled sounds of some classic machines in vintage settings (see the table “Echo Pro Models” for a complete list). Line 6 does an excellent job of giving you the best of both worlds: the character of those vintage boxes without a lot of their electronically idiosyncratic (and wholly nonmusical) behavior. The manual, already excellent in its breezy approach and thoroughness, is especially helpful and instructive in conveying the ethos and appeal of the selected vintage models. It even includes photos.
As good as the emulations are (the EchoPlex and Roland Space Echo are particularly convincing), Line 6's own algorithms are just as impressive and musically useful. The programs' adjustable controls Tweak and Tweez are set up to modify the typical parameters of the unit being modeled. For example, in the Tube Echo algorithm, based on the Maestro EP-1, Tweak varies the amount of wow-and-flutter effect, and Tweez adjusts the tubelike overdrive — just the controls you want to twiddle for the emulation of this tube-driven, tape-based machine.
MIDI CONTROL AND PEDAL POWER
Special mention must be made of the MIDI implementation, which turns the Echo Pro into a performance production powerhouse. Program change, mapping, and real-time parameter adjustments through continuous-controller commands can all be made using an external MIDI source, such as a sequencer or MIDI footpedal. You can vary the delay time; the number of repeats; the Tweak, Tweez, Mix, Tap, and Bypass controls; and more, in any combination, all through MIDI. MIDI Clock is supported for external sync of your Echo Pro in tempo-based applications.
The expression-pedal input is another source for controlling the Echo Pro. (Line 6 recommends using its optional EX-1 pedal, but you can also use any standard voltage-control pedal.) You can not only vary multiple parameters with the sweep of your foot, but you can morph between two states of a program using the range of your particular footpedal. Put the pedal in the heel position and set up the parameters (model, time, repeats, Tweak, Tweez, mix, and so on), then depress it to its toe position and vary any and all parameters to a new value (except Model, which must remain fixed). Store the results to a program number or globally, and you're ready to morph smoothly between the two snapshots as quickly or slowly as your foot will carry you. That can either have a subtle or wacky effect, depending on how many parameters you've selected and how drastically you set up the two states.
NO MATH REQUIRED
Making the transition from real time (measured in seconds and milliseconds) to musical time (measured in tempo and rhythmic values) is quick and easy on the Echo Pro, and that feature is quite useful for setting up cascades, tremolo effects, and tempo-sensitive repeats. The Note button allows you to step through delay-time values based on musical rhythms, such as dotted eighth notes, 16th-note triplets, and so on. That relieves you from having to convert the values yourself and then dial them in.
The arrangement of the time-based controls and display works extremely well, and toggling between real time and musical time — and stepping through the rhythmic subdivisions — is fast and effortless. You can discover new accompaniment patterns and textures simply by eyeballing the Tap tempo light (which never varies), playing in time, and altering the rhythmic scheme of the repeats. Thirteen note values are offered, from whole note down to 16th-note triplet.
IN THE LOOP
The Echo Pro's Loop Recorder function offers some very cool features. In addition to supplying you with 60 seconds of loop time (at full bandwidth), you can overdub on each successive pass, almost indefinitely. (The sound quality of previous takes degrades slightly with each new overdub.) You also have available up to 800 ms of delay time within the Loop mode, meaning your sound won't be dry just because you want to use the Loop Recorder.
The different playback options allow you to record your loop and then have it play back once, continuously, or in Overdub mode while you record successive passes. You can turn the loop off and summon it at a later time. You can also reverse it or play it at half speed, which opens up even more creative options. (Reverse and Half Speed are also available in Record mode, the latter allowing users to record for two full seconds, albeit at a lower bandwidth.)
I used the Loop Sampler on a gig where I play jazz and standards on fingerstyle guitar. I laid down a walking bass (in quarter notes, which helped establish the beat), then overdubbed a set of offbeat chords on the next pass, and dropped in volume-swelled long tones on the third pass. Over those three parts I improvised solo passages. This worked fine for up-tempo tunes; however, one minute of loop time yields only 30 bars at q = 120 bpm (or 32 bars — an AABA form — at 132 bpm). Therefore, the loop sampler is not that useful for recording slower songs or, obviously, songs longer than one minute. But its loop trigger options made it a useful phrase recorder for my more ambient, new-age explorations.
REPEAT AS NECESSARY
The Echo Pro is a powerful, versatile, and well-designed digital delay. It can easily replace or augment any delay you might already have and, based on its MIDI control and expression pedal capabilities, will probably give you performance tools that your existing delay lacks. But ultimately, the unit's sound was what sold me.
In general, a vintage delay sound is warmer by design than a nonvintage one, because of the roll-offs, cancellations, and the lo-fi technology at work. These idiosyncrasies provide a welcome change from the colder, purer hi-fi repeats of a modern digital delay, no matter how gymnastic its performance. More than the static tone of any of the Echo Pro's vintage models, it was how the unit captured those vintage characteristics that really impressed me. The most fun I had — and the most creative and useful results I achieved in my delay-based excursions — occurred when I let the sounds of the Echo inspire me as I played. Inspire it did, and I've spent more time composing, arranging, and getting trippy with the Echo Pro than any delay before it.
