ADA STD-1 Analog Stereo Tapped Delay
Last Update 02-21-2012
The STD-1 has the misfortune to share its acronym with the family of
sexually transmitted diseases, which was not intentional as this device
was on the market well before the acronym was established in popular
culture. Negative connotations aside, the STD-1 not just any
analog delay unit. Released in 1980, it found a home in
professional studios but never found wide
acceptance as most musicians misunderstood its purpose. The STD-1
is a tapped delay, meaning
that it has multiple delay outputs at enharmonic taps in the MN3011
bucket brigade delay (BBD). This is not intended to be an echo
unit as the longest delay time is 55.5ms. Rather, it is designed
for multi-voiced modulated delays (chorus, flange), doubling, ambience
effects, and crude reverb.
Now you, dear surfer, are probably thinking "big deal, any delay can do
that". Ah, but herein lies the difference. A garden variety
analog delay is based around a BBD with a single output at the end of
the chain. The STD-1 uses the MN3011 which is a 3328 stage BBD
with six outputs, one at the
end of the chain and the other five at "taps" throughout the middle of
the BBD chain hence the name "tapped delay". These taps are
non-harmonically related at 1.3ms, 2.2ms, 4.6ms, 5.8ms, 8.3ms, 11.1ms
outputs whose delay times can be increased by a factor of five.
The purpose of non-harmonic taps was to emulate reverb as the multiple
reflections of natural reverb are not a fixed time displacement.
Tapped delays were the predecessor of affordable digital reverb and
some early 1980s guitar amps and devices did use the MN3011 for reverb.
This is not just a conventional delay unit. Each of the six taps
is assignable to the A/B (left/right) output field. Feedback is
interesting in that it can be tapped at tap 1, 3, or 6 and the behavior
is dependent on the delay time. At short delays it creates a
resonance which is useful for changing the timbre of the signal, while
longer delays it is designed to emulate reverb reflections. A
high cut control reduces the high frequency content to emulate natural
sounding echoes. The modulation section provices not one but two
modulation sources. This system produces complex chorus effects
such as ensembles, realistic doubling, random pitch shifts, and
sweeping ambience.
Subtle effects are amongst my favorite and this box excels at
them. The short
delay taps are excellent for stereo imaging effects. When you add
LFO modulation to produce chorus/flange effects, the STD-1 provides up
to six modulated delays all at different time delays. This
multi-voiced modulated delay
configuration can sound a lot thicker and more complex than a
conventional delay unit. This is one of the best flanging units
due to the resonant flanging made possible with the feedback
architecture. The regeneration system does nice work of making a
tinny instrument into a fat resonant honker. The ambience effects
do a good job of lifting an instrument out of a dense mix. Of the
multiple delay units in my arsenal, none of them can pull off effects
like this. I have yet to find a digital unit that can duplicate
the BBD effects of this thing.
Probably the sole celebrity attachment to the STD-1 is Allen Holdsworth
- he used two of them in his guitar system. Kirk Hammett of
Metallica later used them. This isn't a conventional delay unit
and it didn't start to earn appreciation until ten years after it was
discontinued. Today they are in demand but they do not turn up
for sale often. They have held a decent value for over twenty
years. Guitar players and synthesists like them for their
modulated effects, and the latter are attracted to the CV inputs for
delay time and sweep speed. The knobs on the unit pictured are
not original. There were two versions of the STD-1, one for
instrument and one with balanced I/O for studio. ADA put
different knobs on the studio model which I preferred but the studio
model is rare. I landed the instrument version and replaced the
knobs with a set I found at a ham radio festival that resembled the
studio version, which actually looks a lot classier now.
This is a nice box for unique sounding modulated effects and ambience,
just don't expect echoes or realistic reverbs.
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