How do Volante’s playback/feedback buttons work?

playback and feedback buttons

The playback buttons determine which of the 4 heads are heard with every pass of the delay cycle.  The feedback buttons determine which of the 4 head positions will be sending the repeats back to the record head to be heard after the initial pass/delay cycle.

Each of the 4 head positions has its own tap division relative to the quarter note delay time of head 4.  The tap division changes depending on the setting of the SPACING knob:

  • Even Spacing
    • Head 1 – 16th note
    • Head 2 – 8th note
    • Head 3 – dotted 8th note
    • Head 4 – quarter note
  • Triplet Spacing
    • Head 1 – 16th note triplet
    • Head 2 – 8th note triplet
    • Head 3 – quarter note triplet
    • Head 4 – quarter note
  • For golden, silver, and the spaces between even and triplet, there is no designated note to associate with heads 1-3, but head 4 is always a quarter note.

Here are some examples to help you (with the SPACING knob set to even):

  • If you have no playback buttons on, you will not hear any repeats, even if you have all the feedback buttons on.
  • If you have only playback 4 on and all feedback buttons are off, you will get a single quarter note repeat.
  • If you turn on feedback 4 only with playback 4 on, you will get quarter note repeats and the REPEATS knob will control the amount of feedback for the number of repeats.
  • If you turn on all 4 playback heads, but only turn on feedback 4, you will hear 4 delay repeats per quarter note for every delay cycle.
  • If you turn on all 4 playback heads, but only turn on feedback 3, you will hear 4 delay repeats, but they will cycle every dotted 8th note since that is the tap division that playback 3 corresponds to.

Panning the Heads

Each of the 4 heads can be panned anywhere from hard left to hard right in the stereo field when using Volante’s outputs in stereo.

  • Press and hold the feedback button for the desired head you would like to pan.
  • While holding down the feedback button, turn the TIME knob left or right of the 12 o’clock noon position to set the panning for that head.
    • For centered panning, turn the TIME knob to the 12 o’clock noon position and the corresponding playback button for that head will light up RED.
  • Release the feedback button.

Additional Info on Panning

  • When the playback heads are panned, they will always be heard with the panning that it was set to for each of the feedback buttons that are engaged.  For example, if you have 2 heads panned to opposite sides, you will always hear each head with the respective panning that you have set them to. At times it may sound like the repeats from these 2 panned heads sound centered, but that is only because you are hearing both of the playback heads play back at the same time as their respective tap divisions can land on top of each other after a few repeats (dependent on the SPACING setting).
  • The feedback buttons provide repeat for all heads, not just the playback head associated with the selected feedback head.  This way, if you want 4 delay repeats per quarter note, you engage all 4 playback heads, but just feedback 4 to hear all 4 heads play back for every quarter note repeat that passes.