LVX vs Meraki: Ambient Delay Bliss in Analog or Digital?? Can Digital Even Compare to Analog?!?!

Guitarists, get ready for some lush stereo delay tones! 🎸💯 Today we're looking at two stellar delay pedals - the ‪@MerisUs‬ LVX Stereo Modular Delay and the ‪@walrusaudioeffects‬ Meraki Stereo Analog Delay. Both of these pedals can create immersive, three-dimensional delay effects. But how do they stack up against each other? 🤔
The Meris LVX is a digital delay, but it gets extremely close to replicating the warmth and character of analog delays. Its algorithms are so advanced that you'd be hard pressed to hear the difference between the LVX and a real analog circuit.
The Walrus Audio Meraki is a true analog delay, powered by eight MN3005 bucket brigade chips. It has an inherently warm, vibrant character. The Meraki's ping-pong mode shines as well, with the ability to modulate the delays for dramatic pitch-warped effects. The repeats have a touch of grit and darkness that adds complexity.
So which pedal reigns supreme for ping-pong delay ambience? It's a close call, but the Meris LVX gets so dangerously close to the Meraki's analog mojo that most guitarists would have a hard time telling them apart. The LVX offers more flexibility with its presets and deep editing parameters too.
In the end, you can't go wrong with either pedal. Both the Meris LVX and Walrus Audio Meraki will take your delay game to interstellar levels! Let your imagination run wild with ping-ponged echoes. 🚀🌌
What do you think? Have you compared these two delay pedals? Share your thoughts in the comments! #Meris #WalrusAudio #Delay #guitarpedals
Jump to 11:04 to walkthrough the settings I'm using on the LVX!
Other gear used in this demo:
‪@GandLGuitars‬ 40th Anniversary S-500
‪@29Pedals‬ EUNA
Montreal Assembly Too Positive
‪@Audientworld‬ Sono
‪@BensonAmps‬ Chimera Collection VST by ‪@MixWaveOfficial‬
‪@avid‬ Pro Tools
‪@ernieballinc‬ Flat Ribbon Cables
‪@fender‬ Engine Room LVL 12
Support this channel by getting your gear at Reverb!: www.awin1.com/cread.php?awinm...
#MerisLVX #WalrusAudioMeraki #StereoDelay #ModulatedDelay #AnalogTones #DigitalDelay #AmbientDelays #3DDelay #ImmersiveEffects #LushDelays #CascadingEchoes #PitchWarping #DelayPedals #GuitarEffects #Guitarist #AmbientGuitar #StereoPedals #GuitarGear #EffectsPedals #Stompboxes #Pedalboard #Pedaljunkie #ToneJunkie #DelayJunkie #AmbientMusic #StereoRig #Modulation #Chorus #Flanger #PingPongDelay #AnalogTone #DigitalDelay #ModulatedEchoes #LushStereo #ImmersivePingPong #CascadingRepeats #AmbientSoundscapes #SoundDesign #Pedalnerd #Pedalfanatic #Pedalboardgoals #BeautifulNoise #SonicTexture #ToneEnvy #DelayAddict #RepeatAfterMe #EchoEcho #ModulationStation #ChorusWorld #FlangerTones #JetPlaneSounds #Swoosh #PhaseShifter
#DreamyDelays #SonicBliss #EndlessEchoes #DelayGasms #SonicEargasm #EtherealSound #Atmospheric #Soundscape #AudioImmersion #EnvelopingEffects #SurroundSound #CrystallineRepeats #ComplexTones #DimensionalDelays #SpacedOutSounds #LushLyricalRepeats #SonicEpicness #IntergalacticAmbience #DelaysAreForLovers

[@empathysgone96]

Always great videos.

[@thepedalcollaborative]

Thank you very much! Always great having you join along :)

[@sandrews7760]

Had the LVX along with Mercury X, sold LVX to get Meraki, all amazing , having both Meris pedals was a bit overwhelming, using the Meraki with a quality reverb like mercury X for me was the solution. Really musical. And not overwhelmed by options quite so much. Very happy with this pairing now. Thanks for the video.

[@thepedalcollaborative]

So happy you found a pair that works for you! I haven’t plugged the Meraki into the a MercuryX yet…I know it’s going to sound amazing!

[@sandrews7760]

@@thepedalcollaborative I don’t think I’m bright enough to handle both the Meris pedals … it was a bit like knitting spaghetti . Cheers for the reply. 👍👍👍

[@thepedalcollaborative]

@sandrews7760 while the LVX and MercX do work really well together. It can be a bit of a mind bend working out which pedal is doing what. Can totally understand the combination being overwhelming!

[@BlackMan614]

I dunno... I have the Polymoon and w/ the software editor - it has opened things up SO much. That said.... Meraki is simple to operate. Bonus.

[@thepedalcollaborative]

@BlackMan614 I didn’t even realize the Polymoon has an editor 🤦🏻‍♂️

[@chrislink73]

I found the Meraki's delay trails to be warmer and more musical to my ear, the stereo field separation was also more drastic on the Meraki, which can be good depending on the context. I do think if someone wants true ping-pong delays and a warm delay, then the Meraki is the way; if someone wants many different kinds of delay sounds, modulation, etc., then the LVX is the way.

[@thepedalcollaborative]

Spot on! Couldn’t have said it better myself :)

[@orryfishburne5326]

I want to try an American made S-500. I have the Tribute version and it's great. Love the MFD pickups. The Meraki is definitely on my list of pedals i want to get. It's either the Meraki or the Flower Pedals Dahlia to satisfy my stereo analog delay craving.

[@thepedalcollaborative]

American made G&L’s rival the quality of Fender Custom Shops. Definitely great value for what you’re getting! Haven’t tried the Dahlia but Sunflower Pedals look awesome!

[@HardyNahtal]

Personally, I love the Dahlia!! It’s has a much more vast range of options, plus independent gain control. And I am a lover of small companies. I was worried about complaints of some clock noise from the Dahlia. It took me a while to hear it, and it’s faint in IMO, but it really disappears in the mix and actually act as a glue.

[@thepedalcollaborative]

I’m intrigued by all the Flower stuff. Definitely on my short list!

[@jimmyrigs]

Pretty the crossfeed control is what’s causing the extra delays in the repeats down the center. All of my ping pongs use that sparingly if I don’t want it to be smeared as much. Great video!

[@thepedalcollaborative]

Thanks for the tip! I think I used the crossfeed at the time to mimic the interplay I was hearing from both sides of the Meraki. I’ve received several tips on here and FB on other ways I could have approached this sound on the LVX. I’m excited to give them a try!

[@Telorchid]

Yep, crossfeed needs to be entirely off for 'true' ping pong, which is more or less hard-panning by definition.

[@thepedalcollaborative]

@Telorchid yes I’ll try that! In this particular setting on the Meraki, the delays go on so long that they slowly wash into each other giving me the illusion of a crossfeed.

[@christopherecatalano]

I loved not hearing the attack on the Meraki full wet, and still have that deliciously perfect warble. Seems to decay for longer. I have a Walrus Audio Bellwether. I have always loved it, but it has a few annoying quirks (goofy hard click on off switch, glaring LED always on, and prone to some bad interference hum at long delay times) seems that the Meraki is now the New Holy Grail Analog Delay pedal. If you can find and afford one! These are both beautiful sounding pedals overall.

[@thepedalcollaborative]

Well said! The Meraki is amazingly good!

[@13aphomet]

Great vid! Closer than I thought it would be. I think if you turn up the Damping in analog mode, it will entirely get rid of that noise. In fact, I think that's the purpose of that control in analog mode. In tape mode it does something slightly different. Give it a shot! Thanks for another great vid man, appreciate it. The Meraki sounds sooooo good.

[@thepedalcollaborative]

Hey thanks for the tip! I’ll give it a shot 😎

[@Telorchid]

Yep, my first question as I was watching was where damping was set. It darkens and dials out clock noise (the presence of which is dependent on the delay time) as you turn it up. This isn't quite the same thing as gaining down the delay line, but it's definitely something to try with the BBD structure.

[@thepedalcollaborative]

@Telorchid thanks! I’m not using the BBD structure here because of that clock noise. Not sure why I didn’t mess with the damping on it, but it has sparked some great conversation so really I’m ok with it :)

[@cheffredheurtin3456]

I have the LVX and love it. I have a boss Dm101 and thought about the Meraki but lack of midi presets was a deal breaker

[@thepedalcollaborative]

How do you like the DM101?? It looks really awesome!

[@patrickr6505]

Beautifull..Akso Dreadbox Raindrops has a beautiful warm stereo delay ..And you can get lovely tones on the Raster 2 if needs be..

[@thepedalcollaborative]

Thanks! The Raindrops and Raster I’ve never tried. They both look awesome though! I just got the Kinematic and Disorder in a trade. Excited to play with some Dreadbox stuff!

[@gabrieladdenbrooke1964]

How does the lvx compare to the Keely halo? Can it do that dual echo style too?

[@thepedalcollaborative]

hey there! yes, the LVX can absolutely do the Halo dual echo sound. I made a video a few months back comparing the two: kzbin.info/www/bejne/bH-0hmCFfLx0Y8k There are a few comments on that video with recommendations on how to make it better. Adding to that I just picked up the Halo Core, so I'm going to work on a new version of the Halo sound on the LVX in the coming days

[@BillMais]

Great Video. I appreciate the content and the spirit in which it’s given. I have both delays. There are times I need the LVX for certain applications. Great tool. If pressed to have one of them, I’d go would sacrifice variety for personality. Natural beauty will always have a greater impact than makeup and surgery. Anolog for me, inspires and leaves an impression beyond the moment.

[@thepedalcollaborative]

So well said! They are both amazing and fantastic creative tools!

[@Telorchid]

Appreciate the explorations!! I have plenty of analog delays and do appreciate what they do, and though it sounds fantastic, I did not hear anything here that made me want to get a Meraki (already having an LVX...and Mercury X). I saw a rather complicated means of achieving ping pong in the comments below, which may well work great, and you use Standard here, but AFAIK, the easiest way is to use the Poly structure and use 2 taps. That is straight up hard pan ping pong (also the way the Polymoon works). As for stereo separation and spread, I'm not sure that I've seen you try Micropitch...just putting +/-7 cents in the pre position would have enhanced the stereo image nicely, and it's something the Meraki just can't do. Using BBD (with a fair bit of damping) and Pitch blend between 50-60% would be an interesting combo IMO.

[@thepedalcollaborative]

Oh this sounds wonderful!!! I’m definitely trying this setting. Thanks so much!

[@andreievkalupniek5717]

Cool, I thought of trying to emulate the Meraki on my LVX and this will certainly help. I have two suggestions for future videos- 1. I know you did compare the Mercury X and the CMX 1978 but I was not sure if on that video you matched the Bass decay exactly when on the same algorithm- this makes a huge difference- I would like to see what the clock settings do on the CMX that the Mercury X does not have… my impression is that the Mercury X is brighter in general and I was wondering if using also a bit of high cut on the Mercury X would bring it closer. 2. It would be cool to have a link to some of the unprocessed audio files from your video to run them on the viewers existing pedals and compare…

[@thepedalcollaborative]

Hey there! This video will certainly get the LVX into a similar ballpark as the Meraki. I have another one coming where I've implemented several suggestions given by our community here. Be on the lookout for that one in the coming days! As for the MercuryX vs CXM. I did a deeper dive video showing how to get the clock settings on the MercuryX. You can find that video here: kzbin.info/www/bejne/a168gntndpJrlbs When you say unprocessed audio files, you mean me taking my uneffected guitar signal before I reamp and recording that on a separate track for you to download and play through your own effects? You're not just looking for unedited audio from these videos, correct?

[@Justin-bm7zn]

Thank you

[@thepedalcollaborative]

You are quite welcome!

[@paulversey6589]

Thermae into lvx is perfect combo.

[@thepedalcollaborative]

Oh I bet! I’ve never had the Thermae but always keep an eye out for it!

[@ThePedalboardOrchestra]

very good demo 👍👍👏👏 both sound awesome, but since I have an LVX, I will not be tempted to buy this fantastic analog Meraki 😅

[@thepedalcollaborative]

😂…until the temptation becomes too much and you have no choice!!! Both are awesome for sure!

[@RipIPDime]

Does the LVX let you put functions into the feedback of the delay? I feel like a low pass filter in the regeneration loop of the BBD algorithm would tame that noise and get closer to the warmth you hear in the Meraki.

[@thepedalcollaborative]

Yes! The LVX allows you to place the modules in different places along the signal chain, “feedback loop” being one of them. I’ll try and put a filter there and see how it sounds! Thanks for the tip :)

[@johncruz9357]

Try the tube preamp!

[@thepedalcollaborative]

That definitely adds warmth!

[@RipIPDime]

@@johncruz9357 Ooo, I like that to produce a little breakup. I bet the Bit Crusher followed by the Diffusion modules would also sound tremendous.

[@thepedalcollaborative]

I keep forgetting about the bitcrusher on the LVX! Now you’ve given me something to think about!

[@bodenschatz10]

Very much appreciate the work you're doing, especially with Chase Bliss and Meris products. I took at stab at creating ping pong on the LVX a couple days ago. Best I came up with was quarter note for the left subdivision and half on the right (or vise versa). Didn't notice significant doubling but I imagine that depending on how modifiers/effects are located that would become unfeasible.

[@thepedalcollaborative]

Happy to make these videos! I’m having fun :) I haven’t even tried the modifiers yet! 😱 I need to though. They scare me 😂

[@bodenschatz10]

@@thepedalcollaborative the LVX is really fun. I haven't dig into the modifiers, but was able to approximate golden ratio spacing using the multihead mode. It's been really rewarding to dig into, even for simple classic sounds

[@thepedalcollaborative]

I’d love to know your settings for the Golden ratio! The LVX (and MercuryX) really is a lot of fun! It can do so much!

[@SunTzuBean]

@@thepedalcollaborative ​ @bodenschatz10 I just figured out how to do true ping pong! I saw this and was curious if I could do it. You sacrifice the preamp module though: Crossfeed: 100% Preamp: Volume Pedal Location: Pre Balance: 100% or 0%, depending on which side you want it to go on first And there you have it! You can adjust the divisions of each side individually and it will play on the side you wanted it to play on first and ping pong to the other side according to the division. Another tip (that I should totally make a vid on even though I don't make vids all that often): If your feedback knob doesn't cause self-oscillation soon enough, you can always just grab a compressor, turn the ratio to 1:1, and adjust the gain to taste, and put it in the feedback loop. That way, the compressor isn't compressing and it's just a straight boost. Be careful though, I usually don't go above 3dB!! It all depends where you have the feedback set though. I like to put a preamp in post so that when it self-oscillates, it limits and becomes real crunchy. Alternatively, you can use that straight boost into one of the built-in preamps that isn't driving hard enough. There's lots of little cool things that I've discovered with the LVX and MercuryX, and I hope I can discover even more as I continue to experiment!!

[@thepedalcollaborative]

@SunTzuBean this is amazing! Yes please do make a video!! I’ve received several suggestions on getting the sound closer. Really loving all the feedback and recommendations!

[@Stboser]

Awesome video! That Meraki sounds like something special. I had the LVX for about 5 minutes before I realized it wasn’t for me. Shame.

[@thepedalcollaborative]

Not everything is for everyone! The beauty is you get to try different things and find what’s right for you! What are you using for your delay(s)?

[@Stboser]

Currently using 2, Dawner Prince Boonar and HX Stomp’s Crisscross delay with a Keeley Halo type setting. The Meraki might have to make it on my board though!

[@thepedalcollaborative]

@Stboser ooh I’ve heard great things about the Boonar and Halo! Sadly never tried either, and interestingly, the HX Stomp doesn’t vibe with me. Not sure why. Further evidence that we’re all different. You like the HX and me the LVX and we’re both right!!! I will say the physical size of the Meraki is bigger than I thought it would be. Has to be to fit both analog paths. Keep that in mind. It’s a great one to fit on the board if you have the space!!!

[@Stboser]

If you can get your hands on a Boonar I’d be curious to hear your thoughts. I’ve owned the strymon Volante and for as great as it sounds I vibe with the Boonar more. Might just be something to do with the minimal controls in comparison. It’s taken me years to vibe with the helix effects, I’m glad I’ve stuck with it though. I gave the eventide H90 a good shot but found it added a weird “sheen” to the sound.

[@thepedalcollaborative]

@Stboser I love the Volante! Never tried the H9 or H90. I have a potential trade involving a Boonar. If it goes through I’ll for sure do a comparison!

[@LoVeAmBiEnT]

I think the vongon dalay /looper would be my choice.

[@LoVeAmBiEnT]

And then I think the LVX and last would be the Meraki just because for the same price the LVX is so much more. Meraki sounds really good tho. Very nice

[@thepedalcollaborative]

The Polyphrase is amazing! I’ll put that head to head with the Meraki next

[@thepedalcollaborative]

Yeah the LVX does so many sounds for the price. The pure analog lovers will like the Meraki for sure. It’s striking in person :)