Bucket Brigade Devices: How Analog Delay Pedals Work | Too Afraid To Ask [Xvive Echoman V21]

Devoid of any method to 'record', how do Analog Delay pedals capture an audio signal long enough to play it back as an echo?
In this Too Afraid To Ask video we look at BBDs, the chip containing thousands of capacitors that holds the secret to delay in analog circuits.
Xvive Echoman V21 Delay:
www.thomann.de/gb/xvive_v21_e...
www.xviveaudio.com/echoman-p00...
Thanks to Xvive for sponsoring this video.
MN3005 BBD Datasheet:
bit.ly/2JqFBBJ
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[@foramejora]

No one in the comments seems to care about the pedal, but this is exactly what I've dreamed of for going on four years now. A true bucket brigade all analog MM clone in a mini form factor, and designed by Howard Davis (!!!) the man himself. Perfect Christmas present for my wife. Big ups, Xvive.

[@skin_e_guy]

This is one of the best music gear related series on the entirety of KZbin.

[@TtotheG]

I really enjoy these in depth videos explaining how the electronics actually work. For most musicians, myself included, the box is just some electric magic so I really enjoy how you dissect the physics of it.

[@StuntcatTV]

"Plethora." "Thank you, that means a lot."

[@SuperAssasinSteve]

When I look at the animations, the sounds effects and the explanations that this video contains, all of which are awesome, I can only imagine how much time it takes you to make a video like this. Really well done! It's fun learning how certain pedals work, even If there is no real use in knowing (for me personally)

[@sparkyguitar0058]

But you and I understand what happens so when we look at certain pedals. A friend is asking me for a good analog delay and my only recommendation is a Carbon Copy cause that's all I know. And he said What about the mini. Now I had no idea about if the mini is even analog. But with this explanation maybe I understand a little more of how a mini can be analog. Now the 1 I actually recommend is that Donner Echo Square cause it's digital but has digital analog circuit in it. So to me for the price you get a sorta copy of most types of delay. I have this pedal on my board but also have the Carbon copy also. I always felt I needed 2 delays on my board and know I officially know why.

[@redielg]

Damn so I have anti-aliasing in my video games AND my pedals?

[@mx_nana_banana]

sometimes i forget that this guy is an electrician.

[@ccandrew111]

grease monkey electronics to be more precise, much more nuanced field than electrical

[@dougleydorite]

ccandrew111 licensed electricians often work with electronics whereas people who work on “electronics” cannot work as an electrician (in most areas) In other words, if you are a licensed electrician, the two are not mutually exclusive

[@ccandrew111]

Dougley Dorite my background is electrical/electronics engineering so I’m more well versed in industrial work than domestic/commercial; wouldn’t be surprised if me move away from 240V at some point because most things can work off 24V or less these days in a typical household and it is much safer

[@dougleydorite]

@@ccandrew111 I disagree. My vacuum pulls 8 amps with 120 volts. easily facilitated by a 15 amp circuit and 14 gauge wire. If it were 24 volts using resistance as the constant, it'd be able to run 1.6 amps through the vacuum. If we compare wattage as the constant, it'd be pulling 40 amps. Imagine needing 50 amp circuits through your house with 6 gauge wire. It just wouldn't work. all the appliances: washer/dryer heating/AC stovetop/oven Toasters... you wouldn't be able to do anything in your house...

[@Mcsteveberry]

hes a master!

[@jbowdridge11]

Man this is a ridiculously informative channel. You make your videos so accessible while still including the technical, interesting details. Thank you!

[@DerekPaulGuitar]

The quality and information in your videos is exceptional! cheers for the entertaining content

[@ayelmao1224]

I love how these videos answer questions I never knew I had about guitars

[@ManCalledMif]

10:26 self oscillation 🧘🏽‍♀️❤️👏🏻 awesome explanation

[@wesleyayres7017]

Yeeees I've been looking for a video on this for ages! Thank you so much!

[@vessaliusnrml5378]

As someone who has a passion for science AND guitar, I really REALLY appreciate your scientific breakdowns, it's super amusing, keep it up!

[@trollystudios243]

TATA: Why does tube distortion sound so good?

[@ccandrew111]

Trolly Studios tldr version: even harmonics vs odd ones produced by solid state

[@nc-ix6si]

Your guitar heroes probably used it, so you probably like it

[@howardsix9708]

odd harmonic amplification....solid state uses even harmonics.....

[@samantoniak1657]

@@nc-ix6si *except Dimebag.

[@driesvanoosten4417]

@@ccandrew111 this is an argument I hear all the time and it is actually bollocks. A FET has the same distortion characteristic as a valve.

[@AnyDrug]

Premium content here. I don't use delay pedals, so I never thought about their processing. I cannot believe you taught me something - how dare you..! xD

[@LightningHexagon]

This is great and your explanations are very easy to understand. I'm looking forward to more videos like these.

[@Diy-fever]

Clever mix of informative programme and product advertisement :)

[@mypal1990]

Analog delays are so fun to play. I use volume swells a lot and adding a plate reverb makes any swell sound ominous. And playing this delay in rhythm is so murky. I love it!

[@User-jk8wq]

Damn, I’m learning so much from your channel! These TATA videos are some of the best guitar related content I’ve ever seen on KZbin. Also, was that a sneaky Dead Kennedys reference in there? East Bay Ray got some amazing sounds from his echoplex.

[@bpabustan]

I have been a professional musician for 25 years but darn it! Teacher Colin, consider me your loyal student! Another winner!

[@SZebS]

Man those little subtle sound effects add SOO much

[@polimana]

you explained this so comprehensibly!! thank you, next i want to learn about analog reverb pedals!!

[@DragonofLimerick]

Super job explaining, love the sounds!!

[@Fedethedangerous95]

wonderful explanation! I love the physics and maths you put into it

[@tonedriverss8629]

Colin .... awesome work as usual . Amazing channel . Every video is high value intelligence .

[@JavaoftheLava]

I love people that understand this well enough to make fun stuff for the rest of us!

[@degarcia_c96]

This kind of data make me love the chanel. The internal signal chain on the pedal processing by transistors is the key of the output resoult. Is very important check the specifications of the pedal and make shure that his components have efficient transistors, range of frecuencies and sensibility to replicate the input.

[@sazarod]

Man, thank you so much for this explanation.

[@BudgetPedalChap]

Another great vid, cheers Colin

[@sneezyIce]

Awesome! Thanks for the answer mate! :D Even learned as to why an analog delay has more darker tones!

[@bsmith8166]

This is a great video. Wish more channels would talk circuits

[@rudiger1337]

I always learn from your videos Colin. Can't say that about very many utube channels

[@marshalsea000]

Damn, this is a fine explanation of many things. Thanks for the physics lesson!

[@BPDave23]

Man, you're succinct! So good. Thanks for this.

[@andydunn5673]

Great explanation Just what I needed

[@mikewayne9110]

Absolutely stunning Science content! Goodly done!!

[@benzization]

Thanks, Dude great video.

[@adanuriplata8443]

Wow nice video and channel. thx from México

[@woosix7735]

Pretty good explanation

[@pedalscapes]

Cool Science and sounds... cheers :)

[@marmaladebrah]

thanks man!

[@andersvincent]

This is gold.

[@hoover728]

Fantastic explanation and great channel! However, one note: these days there are a handful of BBD pedals that can get up to 11-1200ms of relatively clean delay time, such as the Chase Bliss RKM and Thermae, Bondi Art Van Delay, and DMM-1100TT. They do so by having 4 chips instead of the usual 2 (and actually the Thermae can go up to 40s but everything above 2.5s is an aliased mess). Finally, I heard myself typing this in a Scottish accent, so cheers for that. ;)

[@TheYaeBb]

I think the term "Fourier Coefficients" is not appropriate for describing the sampling process or signal discretization. Those values of voltages obtained every sampling period are simply called... samples. Fourier coefficients are related with the Fourier Series Expansion of a periodical signal. And more precisely, the amplitude of the nth term of the orthogonal basis (sines, cosines).

[@Fedethedangerous95]

I had trouble connecting the concept of fourier coefficients to this matter but thanks to your comment I think I get both what you said and what he meant... in layman's terms, fourier coefficients are used to expand "any" particular wavefunction into a sum of "basic" regular functions (which constitutes the orthogonal basis) , while in this case the coefficients relate not to functions but to the finite value of those functions in a specific point

[@TheYaeBb]

@@Fedethedangerous95 Yep, that's it!! That's why I don't agree with this 'Fourier Coefficient' term in this context. :) But we agree that all his videos are for technology-diggers, don't we? :D

[@Fedethedangerous95]

@@TheYaeBb Yes, definitely! I began following him for the guitar content when I was a high school student and now that I'm in university I also enjoy his lessons as a physics graduate hahah

[@RussCottier]

Yes, I would argue that this is in fact a very flawed explanation video...a shame as it’s just tiny mistakes that make the message just wrong. For instance the talk about reconstruction and aliasing, no samples are not incorrectly reconstructed into a wave they are just played back. The analog output is band limited and yes there are aliasing artefacts but the “waveform” output is not planned in any way, it IS in itself the sample outputs. There’s no reconstruction per se.

[@LeMans512]

Always a very informative video. I love the Lithuanian accent.

[@dip_doop]

lmao he’s scottish

[@harrisfrankou2368]

Great Channel mate from OZ

[@HauntedGuitarMan]

I immediately thought of a red bull can on seeing your cover photo.

[@rockedoutstone]

Damn I was half way through the first one when you must of taken it down! Glad I can watch the rest. Thanks dude

[@ScienceofLoud]

Sorry about that, I made a glaring error that I didn't spot until it went live. Sometimes I have a blind spot for obvious mistakes when there is a deadline approaching.

[@khronscave]

@@ScienceofLoud And that error was..? (If i may ask)

[@mondragon9282]

@@khronscave guess not. Lol

[@stevewinwood3674]

he was making an echo video effect

[@rockedoutstone]

@@stevewinwood3674 yeah thanks for that!

[@armax00]

The legends narrates that the echo at the end of this video is still bouncing in Colin's studio in a perpetual motion :D

[@maninthecrowd5076]

So fast that I burnt a track right there. You could see my *DELAYED* afterimages right there.

[@Dolle_Man]

Such a great video! I was wondering the difference from the new MN3005 chip vs the old vintage chips?

[@ashtonbrown81]

For all those people going nuts over these videos having paid promotions. These videos better have a paid promotion for the damn good quality they have!

[@TheChadPad]

Could you cover self-oscillating tricks with a flanger and how they happen? I'd like to know more about that

[@PooNinja]

So Video alising is what used to make wearing tight black and white stripes made the pattern go crazy on a CRT display 🤘🏽 I like pointing a camera into its monitor (at a slight angle) to ride the wave of video feedback 🤪📹🌪

[@curtpozzi5527]

The very first effects pedal I got(and still have) is my DOD 680 analog delay. It's big and has a 3 prong plug to power it. No battery option. How does your new pedal compare to the Echoplex?

[@utkarshsrivastava4451]

You explained Nyquist theorem better than my professors.

[@famitory]

are there any popular BBD pedals out there which forego the anti aliasing filter in favour of a purposefully aliased "bitcrushed" sound? i'm personally a big proponent of not anti-aliasing the input, nor placing a an interpolation filter on the output, as i find the crunchy, sandy sound quite pleasant given the right sampling frequency. an Fs of 11.5kHz is a particularly nice sounding one.

[@ScienceofLoud]

There's absolutely an application for getting a proper filthy lofi echo this way. Purposefully going beyond the chip's tolerances and having the filters disengaged will get some wild sounds.

[@jorgepeterbarton]

I dunno about the circuit, by i am selling my teisco delay as it sounds way to bitrushed. Its kind of cool its just not for me, i like rhe clean DMM sound!

[@geeksuperstar8564]

Nice video. What is that woody pedal "Element"?

[@napalmninja]

Thoughts on multi effects boards? I have a zoom g9.2tt that i love. Its not perfect but i really enjoy using it.

[@OGSontar]

I use a Zoom™ G5n. Any thoughts on that device?

[@mondragon9282]

I always wondered how Joe Satriani did that crazy delay thing when hes down messing with his pedal board during songs. Now it makes so much sense!!!

[@chrisdaviesguitar]

Would like to hear your opinion on the Ogre Chronomaster Analogue Delay pedal

[@ccandrew111]

TATA: how do nutube’s work? I’ve read up on the technology myself lately and I think it would make a super interesting video for everyone Btw, awesome explanation of the Nyquist theorem in this video

[@ScienceofLoud]

I was speaking to Vox about this a few months back. They are doing interesting things with the tech, maybe I should nudge them again.

[@Poparad]

I bought one of these when they first came out, and I'm assuming I might have an older revision, hence the "V21" in your title. The only thing I couldn't get over was that it darkens the dry tone noticeably when in bypass mode. Is this fixed with this newer version?

[@OspreyEye]

I like BBC more than BBD

[@bernarddoherty2303]

Fuck you too :( (sry I thought i came up as Bernard Bernie Doherty. Get it bbd) im fn hilarious

[@NobodyWhatsoever]

This man likes his British television.

[@sirforcer]

@@NobodyWhatsoever or large dark skinned men

[@ericportillo8277]

Whats that little bar on the guitar behind the nut?

[@waynejones3428]

WOWOWOWOW !!! 😱

[@fuzzy1dk]

a CCD image sensor work in the same way, photons are captured as electrons in an array of capacitors and is then shifted out row by row column by column

[@RogerWarszawa]

I'm curious about this here pedal. Has anyone been using it long term? How's it going? It definitely seems to tick all the boxes for me (although I'd probably prefer a slightly bigger size to it). Ta for any comments.

[@dreadful_name2924]

If one was interest to start working on guitar/amp electronics. Where would you say they should look to get started? Working on certain equipment can be dangerous if you’re not careful, so what would you suggest to make sure you learn before you make silly (fatal) mistakes?

[@khronscave]

You might wanna start with pedals before you "graduate" to tube gear, imho. That being said, Rod Elliott's site has been a literal goldmine of information, projects and tutorials since "even" i started dabbling, a bit over 15 years ago. sound-au.com/articles.htm

[@kaylenewance1099]

maybe this should be a comment on a "ta-ta" video but could you discuss the fact that as soon as i put a wireless unit in my signal chain it don't matter if any other pedal is true bypass or not?

[@ReiCow]

Hey Colin, Reicow here. I have a TATA for you: Where precisely (by ear) is the "edge of distortion" on an amp? Why is this inflection point near where compressions starts so magical, and how far into compression does this point lie? Please feel free to go into as much of the physics details as you please. :) Moo!

[@DanielGarcia-uq7vu]

Don't mind me. Just trying to get my PhD in circuits

[@ThatBaritoneGuitarGuy]

I love mini pedals. Some day, I need to build a mini board for exactly that purpose.

[@T-Hawkeyes]

The Echoman finally came out?

[@StewartBrand85]

Good video and explanation of BBD. Re: the advertised product; I don't get the point of trying to make a BBD "better" - the only reason anyone would use one is to get the quirks that arise from the limits. If someone wants a better sound quality they'd surely just use a digital delay?

[@jameswayland2339]

That final five bomb in “eruption” is done using the knob on the delay.

[@Ottavisrepairs]

When I activate my delay pedal, it cuts my sound in half. What could my problem be?

[@andrepizani]

The signal is divided, right? How come the original and the delayed signal don't lose volume?

[@zachwebb8527]

Off topic from the vid, hope that's ok. What exactly are mids? Why do some amps inherently have more or less? How do the different valve types change amp EQ? #TATA

[@ScienceofLoud]

I'm going to be doing a video about EQ pedals very soon. It should cover much of this, oraat least give transferable knowledge that you can then apply to amps

[@legoharry100]

MIDS are bad! NO MIDS ALL THE GAIN

[@fissionary3201]

Please be joking

[@stevemaass3074]

I’m not a complete dummy, but this ended up seeming way complicated. And yet somehow understandable.

[@DanielGarcia-uq7vu]

I wish I had a delay pedal for my life.

[@ScienceofLoud]

Me too buddy.

[@TheEchelon]

The agonies of life would be repeated over and over and over again though.

[@ScienceofLoud]

You mean more than they already are? Sounds like you are describing a dead end office job.

[@DanielGarcia-uq7vu]

@@ScienceofLoud Imagine if people actually loved their jobs. I know like 1 person who actually likes their job. Thankfully it looks like you enjoy what you do and from what it seems you've been buffing up on electromagnetism based phyiscs

[@ScienceofLoud]

I love the creating part of the job. The marketing and dealing with the fickle nature of the platform on the other hand...

[@cooksoni.a]

i dont quite understand how the bbd chip samples the incoming voltage signal if its analog. is it like a sample and hold circuit and the held voltage is transferred to the next capacitor, and so on down the line as the transistors switch them at the rate of the clock?

[@ScienceofLoud]

The analogy of the capacitors being buckets that fill with charge until they reach the voltage level, then dump their contents into the next bucket in line as the transistors switch is about as simple as I can describe it. The first capacitors "samples" the signal level in the sense that it fills to the voltage amplitude of the signal at that moment in time.

[@cooksoni.a]

@@ScienceofLoud thats so interesting. i'm just used to the idea of aliasing and sample rate being in the digital domain, so its interesting that you can do that with capacitors and get alias tones that way lol

[@BrodoJBaggins]

Can you explain tape delay/echo and why it seems to be a coveted sound? TATA

[@youritake8618]

Can u tell us the difference between germanium and silicon pls?

[@lauscho]

That's it, you and ElectroBOOM need to do a collab video.

[@theknifesedge57]

Please for the love of God yes

[@thepostapocalyptictrio4762]

Looks like a nice little delay. I wish it had tap tempo, though. Price is definitely lower than I paid for my Carbon Copy Deluxe. Im still loving my Carbon Copy Deluxe, though.

[@Lynx33PL]

Dude. I know it's a 3 year old video (in my defence, I'm thinking about getting the Xvive delay) but around 4 minute mark I understood, for the first time in my life, what aliasing really is.

[@Shadow_Demon_X]

Could you explain how chorus works?!?

[@separablealt]

subscribed because of the accent

[@captainbeard3323]

Does your arm ever tire from holding gear up?

[@ScienceofLoud]

Only humans get tired.

[@captainbeard3323]

@@ScienceofLoud I love you and your content!

[@crackedmagnet]

Thanks for this, I've always wondered how they could do an analog delay with a solid state circuit. And now I know it's only really analog in the amplitude and is still sampled over the time axis (for lack of a better term).

[@johnbigelson7471]

What I took from it was - analog delay pedals aren't really 'analog' at all..... signal is based on discretely sampled points, the opposite of a continuous distribution.

[@priorsb11]

You should do a thing on how transistors can amplify a signal, I get that they do, but like, how?? Sincerely - A concerned electronics undergrad

[@ScienceofLoud]

Are we looking to go as far as hole flow and p-n junctions, or is it enough to say that a small signal is able to control a much larger one?

[@priorsb11]

@@ScienceofLoud The former for sure, I think the whole P-N junction thing (and holes and the likes) could also be used in a mini-series to explain in detail how semiconductors effect an audio signal, as its a great visualisation tool! Perhaps even leading to a tutorial on how to build a basic clipping circuit whilst simultaneously explaining exactly how this circuit works! I think that'd be smashing! But it may be a tad too detailed for most, so perhaps a simple explanation, followed by an in-depth appendix-style video?

[@priorsb11]

@@majortom5838 I agree, perhaps an appendix video on the atomic level stuff too to satisfy both those who want only the 'basics' and those who want to know the more in-depth workings

[@tachinman]

@@ScienceofLoud yes

[@kevinbarr7991]

Now I gotta go play with my MXR "Green Monster"

[@wallywutsizface6346]

6:52 I thought you were referring to how it looks like a can of Red Bull at first

[@rexterrocks]

A BBD chip is always wrongly called analogue. It's an analogue/digital hybrid. It uses analogue input and output voltage but it is discretely sampled in the time domain and is clocked from stage to stage by a digital clock.

[@markhammer643]

Here's another explanation. Not better, not worse, just different, and maybe a little more detailed. IN my years teaching, I often found that learners could benefit from having the same material explained, or at least described, in several ways. So here's another: www.premierguitar.com/articles/25035-behind-the-bucket-brigade

[@theknifesedge57]

"It wouldn't sound good to have high frequencies reconstructed as low frequencies" Octave down pedals: "Am I a joke to you?"

[@mal2ksc]

What he really means is ring modulation is bad -- that isn't harmonically related to the source like an octave is.

[@KRAZEEIZATION]

I guess I like analog, I own a Boss DM-3, MXR Carbon Copy and Carbon Copy Bright, Maxon AD9 Pro!

[@federicoruffini7513]

Guess who was searching for analog delay schemes just half an hour ago?

[@ScienceofLoud]

The algorithm doing its job.

[@briancherry8088]

A chip that contains hundreds of tiny firefighters? Amazing technology these days.