Always consult the official Owners Manuals first
Megatap Delay block
Contents
Available on which products
- Axe-Fx III: 2 blocks
- FM3: 1 block
- FM9: 2 blocks
- Axe-Fx II: 1 block
- AX8: no
- FX8: 1 block
Channels or X/Y
- Axe-Fx III and FM9 and FM3: 2 channels
- Axe-Fx II: no
- FX8: no
About the Megatap Delay
The Megatap Delay is a 4 second, 128-tap delay line (64 taps on the FM3 and FM9), with parametric control of time, amplitude, and panning. It can be used to create interesting sonic patterns/textures or to increase density before other effects.
The block has been overhauled in firmware 17.01 and later for the Axe-Fx III, providing many pre-configured types. This has been implemented on the FM9 too, but not (yet) on the FM3.
"The changes to the Megatap block have not been ported to the FM3 at this time. They may or may not be ported at some future date." [1]
Megatap Delay types
Megatap Delay types on the Axe-Fx III and FM9:
- Bounce
- Bounce Reverb
- Brute Force Reverb
- Creaky
- Deceptions
- Diffusion Swirl
- Gated Reverb
- Late Bloomer
- Lazer Zaps
- Megaverb
- Motion Echoes
- Ping-Pong Echo Verb
- Reverb Pre-Swell
- Reverse Reverb Echo
- Serpentine Swells
- Staccato Spread
- Tank Taps
- Tap Verb Grit
- Tap Verb Plush
- Take Five
Factory presets
The Megatap Delay block is showcased in some factory presets. Search the Factory presets page for "megatap".
Parameters
Envelope Follower
The Multitap Delay has its own Envelope Follower, allowing volume swells.
The Owners Manuals recommend these settings: Threshold -70, Attack 400, Release 15.
Diffusion
Diffusion has its own LFO modulation parameters.
Time Shape
The EXP/LOG setting is the default and behaves as before allowing time shapes between exponential and logarithmic (including linear). The SIGMOID setting is a four-quadrant shape that allows time shapes between sigmoid and inverse sigmoid. The COSINE and SINE settings select sine wave shapes with the Time Alpha parameter controlling the number of periods from 1 to 8.
Tips and tricks
Reverb
The large number of taps allows the block to create reverb effects. The block provides some pre-configured types (FM3: n/a).
"Put a Megatap block in front of the Reverb block. Set the type to Reverb Pre-Swell. Run the two blocks in parallel to the main signal chain." [2]
"One of the popular methods for swelling (or blooming) reverbs is to feed the reverb with a multitapped delay with lots of taps. Reverb Pre-Swell is expressly designed for just this purpose. The many taps cause the envelope to grow over time due to the signal addition." [3]
Videos
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