Delay
From Guide
4x4 is a multi-tap delay effect. This is not your dad's delay. It is something completely new and different. There are 4 different taps. A tap is a specific delay time that you want to mix back into your original signal. Most delay pedals only have 1 tap that you set the delay for. We have 4 with different delay times and levels. And these aren't just 4 taps, it is more like having 4 different delay pedals which feedback into themselves and the others. It can get crazy very quick with this kind of effect.
Feedback, Damping, and Mix: There are two knobs on the left which control FEEDBACK and DAMPING. FEEDBACK controls how much of the delayed signal gets added with the input and sent back into the delay. For example, if you just junt your strings, you will hear a repeating delayed junt which decays over time. How fast this decays is controlled by the FEEDBACK knob. Turn it down and you will only hear one delayed copy of the signal. Turn it up and it will take a really long time to decay. DAMPING controls the amount of high frequency reduction each time the signal goes back through the delay. You can hear the signal get darker with every fed back delay. Listen. There is also a MIX knob on the right which controls how much of the original signal you're hearing with respect to the crazy delayed signal. Turn it up for all delayed signal, turn it down to reduce the volume of the delays.
Delay Taps: The center section of the 4x4 panel has four different knob sections with different colors. Each one of those colors represents a different delay tap. Each tap has a LEVEL and DELAY TIME knob. The LEVEL knob controls the volume of this specific tap. If you want to turn off this tap, just turn the LEVEL all the way down and you won't hear it anymore. In fact, this is a good way to start. Add the taps one at a time until you get the desired sound you are looking for. The DELAY TIME knob controls the length of the delay for that tap. You can set it just like any delay stomp box, or you can select the TEMPO SYNC button to make the delay some fraction of the song tempo. Tempo synced delay is pretty cool since you can create rhythmic delays. Listen.
Different Taps, Different sound: Now we need to talk about the differences between the taps. 4x4 was designed as a stereo effect with different delay taps going to different channels (left and right). The left two taps (1 and 2) affect the Left channel and the right two (3 and 4) affect the right channel. This means that you can turn all the taps off except 1 and you will only hear the delay in the left channel. Turn on 4 and you will hear it in both channels, but you can set the delay in each channel to different times. So, if taps 1 and 4 are the Left and Right delay taps, respectively, what are 2 and 3? Taps 2 and 3 were designed to be ping-pong style delay taps. Whereas taps 1 and 4 feedback into themselves keeping each delay in its starting channel, taps 2 and 3 feedback into the opposite channel. Woah! Turn off all the taps for now by setting all the LEVELS to 0. Now, turn up the LEVEL of tap 3. You should hear the first delay come in the right channel and then the second delay come in the left channel and continue to ping back and forth between the right and left channels. Now try changing the DELAY TIME of tap 2 to be something different than tap 3 and notice that when the signal pings over to the left it is delayed by a different amount. Listen. Tap 2 behaves the same exact way but it starts with the left channel. These two taps are like having two delay pedals, one going out to each channel, that feedback into each other instead of themselves. This can get crazy very quick. Play with some of the factory presets to get the hang of this.
