Review: ECHOFIX EF-X3 // Here's what real tape echoes sound like in stereo (and it can do quad too!)

[@steveschu]

What’s more impressive is that the tape snake doesn’t bind up in all the chaos and just works. Awesome stuff

[@SpeldosaMusik]

I just love the aesthetics of this device; it could almost be considered as a piece of art just as much as a musical device.

[@jianhuang0124]

Agreed, but that's about it. Practically, it's not a good device.

[@FLH3official]

@@jianhuang0124 Practically a broom is a good device but a cello or a tuba are not good devices... 😁

[@W4TSKY]

​@@jianhuang0124 lol okay 😂

[@chesneytube1]

@@jianhuang0124 why not?

[@AaronFerenc]

I'm so happy that you used the quad stereo effect and played such a moody, beautiful piece with this. Magic.

[@JorbLovesGear]

Great stuff, love seeing modern versions of old tech like this, truly the best of both worlds. For anyone really interested in head panning with hardware, the Strymon Volante can do individual stereo panning with each of its 4 heads.

[@glitterballz101]

the volante is ace. very flexible and midi friendly, with tap tempo too :-) great as an insert with an audio interface

[@poulwinther]

Having used a real Space Echo the Volante just doesn't cut it for me. I find it too sterile. And while the UA Galaxy comes closer, those clowns omitted ping pong 🧐

[@whisperthiefmusic]

I bagged one of these on an ex demo deal in the UK and I'm totally in love with it. I bought it to use when mixing but have ended up using it in my guitar rig and am falling down a ridiculous rabbit hole of how to get it safely to and from gigs... it's amazing. If you want one, just get one, you wont regret it (and beans taste kinda nice anyway!)

[@Mad4400]

Got a laugh from the beans comment. It is definitely an "investment".

[@whisperthiefmusic]

@@Mad4400 Feck aye but totally worth it! I buy one “piece” a year and pay it off. This is this years and its going to be used more than anything else Ive bought in a long time. Which kind of makes it value for money….. (spoken like a true guitar geek)

[@dmomcilovic9185]

good lord !! My eyes are still watering from seeing the price online !!

[@SwingingCreeper]

Tape machines are not cheap

[@evadermusic]

I love the simplicity of the intro, mono synth and tape delay, sometimes that's all you need.

[@tensemushrooms4774]

Not enough Loopop in my life!

[@chrisolley2762]

Too much loopop and others like him, in life.

[@tensemushrooms4774]

@@chrisolley2762 Ok.

[@strangemobius]

Oh my LORD, the combined tape head stuff made me cry a little happy tear. Also - your outro jam sounds just like a riff I was jamming on today on my modular! What a world!

[@johncaccioppo1142]

The fidelity on that feedback is stunning... delish!

[@palindromial]

You're doing a "throw-away demo track" and I could listen to it for hours on end. Thank you!

[@loopop]

Thanks! Not exactly throw away, I ultimately collect some of these that I like and put them into albums - I'll include it in the next one :)

[@krill7499]

@@loopopI'm so happy you say you will it's legitimately masterful. I could listen to that until the day I'm returned to the earth.

[@VladTheSour]

@@krill7499 try nils frahm

[@samthursfield3165]

I love the idea that delay is here so that we can play more notes. I never thought of it that way .

[@InVacuo]

The Edge certainly did. 😉

[@MakeSomething]

It's so beautiful! If didn't already have a perfect working Roland RE-501 Chorus Echo.

[@andreasoberg2021]

I.... did not know that I needed this beautiful piece of machinery. Yet I do now.

[@hovermotion]

My dad has one of the orignal units from decads ago , it still works great and I think its quite collectable now.. superb machine , great vid as always, take care...Jim

[@morrower1067]

This is absolutely brilliant sounding.

[@fablesofsilence]

Been eying these for a while. Absolutely lovely, especially the fact that it can be used in quad will make it a must buy, if ever I go down that route again. For now, I am happy with my Binson Echorec which works flawlessly.

[@sunilsolanki]

This sounds absolutely lush. And bravo Roland on that Se02!

[@tmwonastick]

I could just watch the tape through the top pannel for a hour

[@graysonpeddie]

I know right? That is amazing.

[@GizzyDillespee]

Oddly satisfying

[@dat_chip]

Oh gosh that's lovely. And judging by your demo, it's actually not that noisy - considering that it's tape, and you're doing feedback. Thanks for the demo!

[@loopop]

Thanks! I think that during most of the video I have treble around the middle, so maybe that cuts off the highs, but in the part where I demo stereo and the outro the taps don't pass through the EQ and aren't filtered. I guess what I'm saying is, there's some noise but yeah it's not too bad

[@thesrabbit]

That thing sounds beautiful and so did your outro. Exquisite. I want this thing. Capistan, Volante, RE-202 all do great tape echo emulations but kind of halfass it in terms of stereo features, which is why I’ve sold them all. 1 output per play head is killer. Would probably need to part ways with some nice stuff in order to get it though.

[@foodstampz]

Darnit ..musicians in the 80's made us recreate so much to make new..love it.

[@karozion]

Such an interesting devise. Thank you for review, Loopop.

[@digitaldobbie]

I used to tape loop and echo back in the early days so this is a very nostalgic piece of kit for which I am very interested

[@sporn23]

Beautiful tribute to old tape echo delay

[@myshoeshurt7]

11:05 A blend knob to bring the reverb to the repeats or dry signal must be very involved because the idea to me seems like a no brainer. It’s hands down the best thing about the Korg se300 (preamp a close second). Even digital tape echo emulations with verb seem to leave this out.

[@dmomcilovic9185]

way more people will buy an SE-02 after this video than the FX unit itself.

[@NoffisNoff]

They already understand it with the Kebu demo. he used it with RV500 boss reverb. For my side i connected my SE02 with a TC helicon hall af fame 2, with the Toneprint software there is tons of possibility

[@dmomcilovic9185]

@@NoffisNoff hep great synth for beer money

[@bombjelly5795]

Real synth heads are scared of digital synths ha

[@AngMoKio8]

@bombjelly5795 to my knowledge the se-02 is analog

[@ChaiBaba]

Great review. Beautiful machine. The build quality and sound is absolutely gorgeous. Top notch work coming from Australia ^^ BUT this is going for 3000 € @ Thomann !!! Thats so insane ...you could get 2 proper Roland RE 201 and get into stereo if you wish. And the special extra hefty and gritty self oscillating resonant Roland RE 201 sound is something I didnt hear here very pronounced. Which makes the Roland sound unique for me and is a key feature.

[@poulwinther]

You can find 201's for €1.500 but considering most for 2-3K I doubt you will get two good ones for 3K. Next you have the constant trouble of maintaining not one, but two pieces of 70's mechanical junk. As much as I love the unit, I think I will pass on that idea 😄

[@Screaming-Trees]

Roland Chorus Echo is one of my favourites. I know lots of people love the 201 but we have the Chorus Echo in our studio and I like that thing more. It's a bit of a tone machine even if not as popular or well known as the 201. Cool review thanks. Good to see Echoplex bring these back (sort of).

[@vincewizz8534]

By chorus echo you mean the RE-301? 🙌

[@poulwinther]

For all my complaints of the sea of digital replications, I really should get this glorious unit.

[@masterofreality230]

I would argue that the Volante is the leading digital recreation, and you can pan the outputs to 2 different channels.

[@cesarsjogren]

Beautiful. Love the jam at the end

[@MDRNMDCN]

Love ours at the studio. Got one of the first VK rack editions and no problems at all!

[@Rollur1234]

You are winning Loopop :Þ

[@PawelKaminski-cq1fr]

That was a nice outro performance indeed, thanks!

[@CarbonBasedPerson]

It's such a beautiful thing 🤩

[@ManCalledMif]

Beautiful piece of engineering. ❤

[@alexgrunde6682]

There’s some serious potential in the quad outputs for those no-input mixer/pedal feedback loop setups

[@bojangprodoktschns5428]

Definitely! BTW. The Akai Headrush also has this feature (without tape) if you dont want to spend 3K.

[@Thestaggertom]

This is funkin awsome !

[@SPAZZOID100]

Sounds great & much cheaper than i expected.

[@pworminkle]

lovely to see the company utilize their knowledge and talents, and it does show, but i can't help but feel there are a few missed chances that'd make this a really cool unprecedented piece of gear. looks and sounds beautiful though

[@boratezel]

What would you add or change to it?

[@pworminkle]

​@@boratezeltempo sync, the ability to combine effects, more spring reverb parameters, maybe a dip in the feedback pot at the point of self-oscillation without distortion to make looping easy... all in all it seems difficult to justify splurging on this when you have digital recreations that are cheaper, more comprehensive, and easier to use

[@waveshape]

Great outro, as always, Alessandro Cortini vibe

[@mrotaveria]

Exquisite! Love it.

[@gixerags750]

Quality review of a Quality delay from the land down under.. PeaceFromOZ😊😊

[@danielmuscat3431]

Beautiful

[@orphic-trench]

That outro song is beautiful.

[@paradiddle16]

Outro jam is in Alessandro Cortini mode! Simple and sounds great!

[@TilliKommunikation]

Great stuff!

[@MakerFarmNL]

I know - I am making myself very impopulair by asking this here (whereas I normally am a likable guy :-) , but... WHY would we be needing this in 2023? Yes... despite having played with two tapedecks in 1978 with 2 meters distance in between, to create "walls / oceans of repeating sounds" ... I seriously do not understand why we would not use digital delays units (or software) for this purpose (with all the inserted FX (saturators, harmonizers etc) you can think of in the audio chain), that do not suffer form wear and all other limitations. @Loopop: Many compliments on your high quality content! Thank you very much for your outstanding video reviews!! They set the (very high) standard for gear reviews on KZbin IMO!

[@loopop]

Thanks for the kind words - Sorry to disappoint, not an unpopular opinion at all - I specifically mention digital software and hardware are legit alterternatives in the pros and cons section. You're using the "wrong" word - absolutely no one *needs* this to make music, some people may want or prefer it though, just like some people still listen to music on vinyl

[@NickHchaos]

Sounds way F*cking better-I owned an EF-X2 and various digital reverb and delay tools in plugins, modular, boxes, and the difference in sound quality is not remotely close, just has this juicy organic quality to it, it’s a complete instrument and a work of art by the fine folks at echofix, don’t know how else to say it. It’s the difference between playing a guitar made by a luthier and carved from wood by hand vs something plastic from a mass produced factory in Asia.

[@NoffisNoff]

ok thank you i just reaalilize i need too a chorus effect on my SE02. I ve this synth since january and i'm in love with this little thing

[@loopop]

Indeed - try the free TAL one and prepare to be blown away :)

[@KattKirsch]

Gorgeous box.The mono chorus and reverb is a little disappointing, but I love love love a real tape, and the individual outs for the heads is so fun.

[@JoeJohnston-taskboy]

wowzers. so happy I never have to deal with tape again. you youngin’s are crazy.

[@NickHchaos]

Actually, the amazing thing about the echofix is it sounds pristine and I never experienced a single issue with it in probably 100-200 hours of play on mine. So the only thing I “dealt” with was pure joy and amazing sound, it’s a beautifully engineered instrument.

[@phaedruslykos3249]

such a cool way to bring movement into something super dry

[@MFKitten]

You know what tape delays need? An LFO section that changes the power going to the motor. Very slightly modulating the speed of the motor. Bonus points if you can select both sine and randomized LFO's.

[@loopop]

This accepts CV, so it's quite easy to do with a simple LFO module/source

[@MFKitten]

@@loopop oh good god that's hot

[@vvcv__00]

Great, I knew that I should not have listened... gonna have a difficult time enjoying, or getting into the work via, my LVX or Nightsky. Such great sonics filled with varietal, and gorgeous, sound characters.

[@caesarsheadache]

Happy with my Boss Re-202 at a fraktion of the cost but good Lord this thing is tasty and especially in your great version looking at the tape 😍Perfect demo as always Cheers 👏🔥🤘

[@loopop]

RE-202 is awesome! I hope they add stereo taps in a firmware update

[@caesarsheadache]

Would be great indeed 👋@@loopop

[@sven_scarobu9291]

Thank you again.. again. Warmest regards. Believe my favorite point is the immersive experience this unit calls up. Alternative format build with some eurorack modules live second thought? mmm...

[@chazotron600]

Strymon Volante has Panning per head function, tap tempo, midi , user presets and a looper with tape stop and reverse at $429.00 usd price.

[@Station2Station-du2gh]

The only thing I was wondering, is if the repeats carried on when you change the (large knob) Echo Mode. It looks like they do not on this, but do on the Roland Space Echo IIRC. Another great review. Thank you.

[@loopop]

Thanks! If I understand the question correctly, yes, the old repeats keep "looping", and the new echo mode adds the new repeats on top of them

[@MartinStuertzer]

Woooooow 😮! Do they tell after how many hours of service you should replace the tape? It is certainly a cost factor that needs to be taken into account here.

[@loopop]

Yes, Echofix says tape lasts between 50 to 300 hours. I saw soundgas say the Roland manual states 300 hours. You should also clean it "regularly" - not sure what that means... I suggest asking them to make sure

[@NickHchaos]

@@loopopit means you use the included cleaning kit to spend a few minutes cleaning the tape heads every so often, it’s dead easy.

[@iosifkalpaktsoglou2045]

Amazing. Thank you.

[@symbiat0]

We like Tape Loop Pop 😂

[@ReasonedWhistle]

ECHOFIX makes SE-02 sound so so good 🤤🤤🤤

[@s.r.b.4582]

you don't have to get the echofix to make the SE-02 sounds good hehe

[@TheNimasan]

i listen to this with good headphones, but to be honest i like the magneto more. despie its fully digital, but it sounds better....at least to my ears. but its a beautiful device and sounds very nice.

[@danlindy9670]

fyi It’s also possible to rig up two 1/4” reel-to-reel tape recorders with a single-spliced loop. If these are 4-track, you can also bounce the delay taps between different tape heads to get multiple taps. You can also put your hand on one of the reels (the reel’s flange) to get different effects (e.g. chorus, flange or wobble). Not very portable, but cheep if you can find a couple of old tape decks at a flee-market.

[@federicotangari9310]

very nice video congratulations..I ask, I have an obx with left and right stereo output, can it be connected to the Echofix or does it accept the Echofix only in mono input...thanks

[@loopop]

Thanks, and only mono sources unfortunately

[@risbaw]

It would be nice to have individual mixing knobs or sliders for each tape head instead of the big mode knob like my old Evans Tape Echo

[@e-conrecords4665]

Sounds lovely. The loose tape on top makes me nervous though.

[@BachelorMachinesTV]

Wayne Campbell looking at the white fender strat and going IT WILL BE MINE. OH YES. IT WILL BE MINE is me looking at this thing.

[@StatsGod]

More than the Boss pedal, I'd say the Volante is the best digital option.

[@heartshearts4388]

yes! there you can also pan individual heads

[@StatsGod]

@@heartshearts4388 Right, so you can get all sorts of complex ping-pong-y stuff if you want.

[@ncapone87]

Oh man, I really want one of these. I can afford it but something in me can't spend that much on an effect

[@CaidicusProductions]

"Man, this is cool, I'll just click the link to see how much it..." "HOLY @#$%, IT'S $3000!!!!"

[@colinstu]

3:50 this sounded familiar… Regular Show intro sound.

[@patrickmckinney8610]

Did you find the outputs coming fro the back ofd the unit to be a bit noisy? Like a lot of tape hiss? I wrote the folks at Echofix and they explained I should just turn down those outputs in the amp or DAW, but they still seem a little noisy on my EF-X3.

[@Arthur60]

Very interesting video, thanks for this! May I ask about the tape length? I still don't get it. Why so long? AFAIK, it is erased before it meets the first head (recording one). So, IMHO, tape could be far shorter, without need to have about one meter long stored on top like a snake ;) Maybe it's just a matter of showing moving guts or avoiding rapid wear & tear?

[@loopop]

Thanks! Yes, I believe the long tape is to reduce wear, indeed it seems like the "action" happens on the right side, a very small portion of the tape length

[@Dolores5000]

Magnificent

[@thirstyCactus]

When the motor stops automatically, does the pinch roller disengage from the capstan as well?

[@mfg3838]

Thanks, Ziv, for another fine review. Was wondering if you (or others) had any thoughts about this relative to the Strymon Magneto.

[@loopop]

Thanks! I've never tried Magneto, I'm sure many have so happy to hear other comments

[@caseyschultheis]

thank you!

[@colourbasscolourbassweapon2135]

i would use this for more of my Dub Reggae And Dubstep stuff

[@DankePlace]

You should bring out your own version Ziv. The loopop Loop Pop machine!!

[@loopop]

I've thought about it but no products from me any time soon... I sent them my feature requests so hopefully we'll see them in the X4!

[@SyntheticFuture]

Stellar unit. Shame there's no tempo sync on it. Seems like something that would be fairly easy to implement (especially if you are already going through the effort of adding CV control). At the same time there's no reason for me to complain about that because there's no way I'd ever buy this 😅

[@bojangprodoktschns5428]

Not to criticise your statement but out of genuine interest: How would you implement that?

[@SyntheticFuture]

@@bojangprodoktschns5428 the playheads are fixed so your delay time is effectively only influenced by the speed of the tape. Your tempo and division give you an amount of ms of delay. This corresponds to a certain speed of the tape in relation to the distance between the playheads. You can't quantize retroactively but you can match the delay to time divisions with some clever math =)

[@bojangprodoktschns5428]

@@SyntheticFuture Thanks for the explanation! Tempo synced Tape delay would definitely be rad!

[@PeterJnicol]

Ok. That does sound reeaaalllly nice.

[@Accatyyc]

@@bojangprodoktschns5428 T-Rex Replicator is a tape delay which does it. Well, tap tempo but so not midi-synced

[@klinkske]

I wonder how to motivate the extra cost over a old Roland RE. If i would buy one, first mod = different knobs and no led light.

[@markaprill6501]

Nice analog synth for his video.

[@paulcook395]

do you have an SE-02 review??

[@loopop]

No

[@alansim969]

Does it do Hank Marvin/Shadows Echoes...Cant find the answer anywhere.

[@claesvanoldenphatt9972]

Only $3000! I had a Fulltone Echoplex that was excellent, those are selling used for well over $1000 now. This Echo Fix will be popular in studios for sure.

[@trevorjenkins1976]

Hi just wondering if you will be reviewing Behringer Pro Vs mini.

[@loopop]

Thanks and sorry no

[@Rollur1234]

Thats as many Choruses I would buy today

[@tendingtropic7778]

beautiful. an inherent drawback is ofcourse the lack of sync (midi)

[@loopop]

true, or even tap tempo/analog sync would do for starters

[@tonepantsmusic]

I was sold @ 8:00

[@bhallmar]

Why is the 4th head activated with the 'S on S' switch? Why is it different from the other 3?

[@loopop]

You'd have to ask them, but my hunch is that it's to make things simpler. The fourth head doubles the number of possible combinations, 3 heads give you 7 options, but 4 heads gives you 15. They'd need a 15 step knob and as a user you'd need to remember by heart way more than just what combos 4 thru 7 represent.

[@bhallmar]

Good point. I wish they just made an on/off button for each head.@@loopop

[@mikede2464]

Surprised the Echofix did not advise on tape replacement or longevity. If they are re-feeding the tape back into the heads that tape should need replacement at some point.

[@loopop]

On their site it says tapes should be replaced after 50-300 hours

[@JustinHamel-v2m]

thanks :)

[@analitykapsychiatryczna]

what exacly did you do in ableton ?

[@loopop]

@@analitykapsychiatryczna sorry this video is from a while back, which point are you referencing? Generally, if I’m not mistaken, I took each of the four tape outputs from the back and routed them to separate tracks, and the main output as well

[@analitykapsychiatryczna]

@@loopop Ahhh so that's how it works! This tape delay has 4 outputs... now it all makes sense. I missed that in the video, didn’t catch that it had 4 outputs, sorry about that. btw, the melody is great, so immersive. Thanks for the response :))

[@loopop]

@@analitykapsychiatryczna thanks!

[@fjurden]

GAS-tastic.

[@SpeldosaMusik]

Haha :D

[@xpump876]

It's a groovy device, I'm sure these will quickly sellout. At its +2k price there's a lot of cheaper options out there that imho can emulate tape very well (allowing tweaking tape parameters like wow and flutter) and also do so much more.

[@hoover728]

Mostly an exhaustive demo but I don’t get showing what the tape head combinations sound like by using a sequence on the synth. Really hard to actually hear the repeats.

[@loopop]

I actually did record a version playing a single note and it felt boring so I cut it out, this felt more musical

[@hoover728]

@@loopop Fair enough but the point of a gear demo is primarily to display what it sounds like, and secondarily to show musical applications.

[@loopop]

@@hoover728 I think it’s a balance between the two

[@YOUrDEAlerwiThHell]

are the reverb and chorus also analog?

[@loopop]

Yes

[@YOUrDEAlerwiThHell]

nice!@@loopop

[@yvesbajulaz]

😛😛😛😛 man, just too cool... i'd love to have one... $$$ 😔