USER MANUAL Four Head dTape Echo & Looper USER MANUAL
MAGNETO - Four Head dTape Echo & Looper ® Table of Contents INTRODUCTION & FEATURES MODES & TAP BUTTON 3 4-5 SPEED/PITCH & DELAY TIME 6 AUDIO I/O 7 PLAYBACK LEVEL & FEEDBACK ON/OFF 8 PLAYBACK HEAD MECHANICS 9 PLAYBACK HEAD SPACING IN ECHO MODE 10 EFFECT LEVEL 11 PRESET PANNING OPTIONS 12 CUSTOM PANNING 13 TRANSPORT CONTROLS 14 PITCH QUANTIZE 15 SELF-OSCILLATION 16 CONTROL VOLTAGE INPUTS 17 CONTROL VOLTAGE CLOCK OUTPUTS 18 DIP SWITCHES 19 BLOCK DIAGRAM 20 SPECIFICATIONS 21
MAGNETO - Four Head dTape Echo & Looper ® Introduction Create expansive soundscapes and evolving, otherworldly tones. Add layers upon layers of harmonic and rhythmic complexity within an enveloping stereo field. Infuse your rack with vintage warmth and retrofuturistic soul.
MAGNETO - Four Head dTape Echo & Looper ® MODES & TAP Button MODE TAP The MODES button toggles between ECHO, LOOP and SAMPLE. The TAP button changes the head spacing to achieve the desired delay time at the current machine speed. ECHO mode: (GREEN LED) Four head tape delay, with four playback heads and one record head. Tap a delay time with two successive presses. + = Delay Time at Head 4 NOTE: The delay TAP range is 50ms-15s, regardless of tape speed setting.
MAGNETO - Four Head dTape Echo & Looper ® MODES & TAP Button (cont.) MODE TAP SAMPLE mode: (RED LED) Phrase sampler records an audio phrase between two taps of the TAP button. Transport RESTART ( ) triggers phrase playback. Press the TAP button once to start sample recording, again to stop recording, and a third time to clear the sample memory. Tap to start sample record Tap again to stop recording Trigger sample playback with the RESTART transport button or RESTART CV input.
MAGNETO - Four Head dTape Echo & Looper ® SPEED/PITCH & Delay Time Setting Delay Time with TAP & SPEED/PITCH The delay time for any analog tape delay is determined by a combination of two factors – the distance between the heads and the speed of the tape. On Magneto, both of these can be adjusted independently. Magneto’s TAP button adjusts the delay time by changing the distance between the heads and does not affect the pitch or fidelity of the delay signal.
MAGNETO - Four Head dTape Echo & Looper ® Audio I/O INS AND OUTS LEFT/RIGHT IN: Left and Right audio inputs. Use LEFT IN for mono input. FEEDBACK LOOP SEND: Delay repeats generated by Magneto are sent out to be processed by other devices. RETURN: Processed delay repeats are returned back to be mixed in with the dry input signal. LEFT/RIGHT OUT: Left and Right audio outputs. If only one output is connected, Delay output sums to mono.
MAGNETO - Four Head dTape Echo & Looper ® PLAYBACK LEVEL & FEEDBACK ON/OFF PLAYBACK LEVEL FEEDBACK ON/OFF Knobs 1-4: Controls the individual level of the delay repeats for each of the four tape heads. Enables or disables FEEDBACK of the corresponding tape head signal to the record head. Buttons are GREEN during this operation. WET: Sets the overall delay signal level sent to the output after the Playback Level knobs.
MAGNETO - Four Head dTape Echo & Looper ® Playback Head Mechanics The following diagrams illustrate the difference between how Head 4 functions in ECHO mode and in LOOP and SAMPLE modes. NOTE: The LOOP or SAMPLE time is determined by the TAP IN/TAP OUT interval, while the Delay time of the HEADS 1, 2, and 3 is determined by the Delay Time when entering LOOP or SAMPLE mode, or by the CLOCK IN CV.
MAGNETO - Four Head dTape Echo & Looper ® Playback Head Spacing In ECHO Mode HEADS: Selects between three different modes for the tape heads. Even spacing, triplet spacing, and rhythmic shifted pitches. EVEN: Sets the Playback heads with even spacing between each other. Head 1: 1/16th note delay Head 2: 1/8th note delay Head 3: dotted 8th note delay Head 4: quarter note delay TRIPLET: Sets the Playback heads with triplet spacing between each other.
MAGNETO - Four Head dTape Echo & Looper ® Effect Level DRY: Sets the level of DRY (input) signal sent to the output. Controls the output level of the incoming unprocessed signal from the LEFT and RIGHT INPUTS to the LEFT and RIGHT OUTPUTS. With a mono input connected to LEFT INPUT, the dry signal will appear simultaneously at both the LEFT and RIGHT OUTPUTS. REC LVL: Controls the level of the incoming unprocessed signal fed into the Delay Line Record head.
MAGNETO - Four Head dTape Echo & Looper ® Preset Panning Options PAN: Selects between three different stereo panning modes for the tape heads. When only one output jack is connected, all head signals will appear at that output summed to mono. LRRL: Tape heads 1 and 4 are panned 100% to the LEFT, and tape heads 2 and 3 are panned 100% to the RIGHT.
MAGNETO - Four Head dTape Echo & Looper ® Custom Panning The panning for all four tape heads can be set manually when PAN switch is set to CENTER. To set the panning for each of the playback heads, turn the PLAYBACK LEVEL knob while pressing and holding down that head’s corresponding FEEDBACK button while in FEEDBACK (GREEN) mode. Turn left for left panning, right for right panning, or set to 12 o’clock noon for center panning. To adjust the panning for Playback Head 1: 1. Set PAN to CENTER 2.
MAGNETO - Four Head dTape Echo & Looper ® TRANSPORT CONTROLS Allows for control of the corresponding transport function. To activate transport controls press TRANSPORT button below. Buttons are RED during this operation. SCRUB AUDIO: When tape is paused, the SPEED/ PITCH knob scrubs audio. NOTE: The audio in the scrub buffer represents about 1 foot of tape, so the length of audio in the buffer depends on the SPEED knob position when PAUSE is engaged.
MAGNETO - Four Head dTape Echo & Looper ® Pitch Quantize Press and hold the TAP button at any time to enter PITCH QUANTIZE mode (AMBER TAP LED). SPEED CV voltages are quantized to ½ steps when in PITCH QUANTIZE mode. This mode restricts the SPEED/PITCH knob values to relative speeds corresponding to the pitch intervals of user selectable scales. SPEED CV responds to -3V to +3V, dependent on the position of the SPEED/PITCH knob. All scales have a two octave range, except for Chromatic which has a 1.
MAGNETO - Four Head dTape Echo & Looper ® Self-Oscillation Self-oscillation can create an infinite variety of inspiring sonic textures and can allow you to play Magneto like a musical instrument. To use selfoscillation, turn the SPEED/PITCH knob fully counter-clockwise, turn REPEATS up to 100%, and tap a very short delay. No input signal is necessary for Magneto to selfoscillate. However, the tonality of the sound can be impacted in interesting ways if an input signal is present.
MAGNETO - Four Head dTape Echo & Looper ® Control Voltage Inputs CONTINUOUS CV INPUTS (-5V TO +5V) CV INPUTS (0–5V RISING EDGE TRIGGER) SPEED: Controls the tape speed. (-3V to +3V, calibrated for 1V/octave). WET: Modifies the WET level. REPEATS: Modifies the REPEATS level. SPRING: Modifies the SPRING reverb level. CLK IN: Sets the delay time in quarter notes. (0 – 5v rising edge trigger) Clock period range – 50ms to 15s.
MAGNETO - Four Head dTape Echo & Looper ® Control Voltage Clock Outputs CLK 1- 4 OUTs send clock outputs of Playback heads 1-4. Dependent on the HEADS switch setting and the ECHO/LOOP/SAMPLE mode setting, output clocks are always at 50% duty cycle and are phase aligned with incoming Clock or Tap signals. Examples below are for a clocked or tapped delay time of 1000ms. ECHO MODE EVEN: CLK 1 OUT: 1/16 note clock output (ex. 250ms) CLK 2 OUT: 1/8 note clock output (ex.
MAGNETO - Four Head dTape Echo & Looper ® DIP Switches DIP switches are located on the back of the unit. Adjusting these switches will likely require Magneto to be removed from the rack. ON 1 S1 - FEEDBACK CV MODE: ON: Allows CV trigger control of the FEEDBACK ON/ OFF buttons when transport CV jack is plugged in while Transport LED is OFF. Also provides CV control of the Transport controls when a CV jack is plugged in when Transport LED is RED.
MAGNETO - Four Head dTape Echo & Looper ® Block Diagram TRANSPORT CONTROL AND MECHANICS SPEED WOW & FLUTTER TAPE DRY (LEVEL) PLAYBACK HEADS 1 2 3 CRINKLE 4 RECORD HEAD INPUT OUTPUT REVERB TAPE AGE REC LVL SPRING (LEVEL) LOW CUT P A N WET (LEVEL) MONO SIGNAL FEEDBACK SWITCHES 1 2 3 4 PLAYBACK LEVELS SEND STEREO SIGNAL RETURN REPEATS (LEVEL) pg 20
MAGNETO - Four Head dTape Echo & Looper ® Specifications • Power • +12V rail: 210mA • -12V rail: 210mA • +5V rail: 0mA • Rack Width: 28hp • Rack Depth: 41mm, 1.
MAGNETO - Four Head dTape Echo & Looper ® Questions? For additional help with setup, connections, power, and mounting, please visit strymon.net/support/magneto or email us at support@strymon.net. STRYMON NON-TRANSFERRABLE LIMITED WARRANTY Warranty Strymon warranties the product to be free from defects in material and workmanship for a period of two (2) years from the original date of purchase when bought new from an authorized dealer in the United States of America or Canada.
