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Strymon Magneto Four Head dTape Echo & Looper eurorack delay module logo

$599.00

Availability: In stock.
Ships same day, or next business day.

-

Magneto

$599.00

Availability: In stock.
Ships same day, or next business day.

Interstellar Space Machine.

Create expansive soundscapes and evolving, otherworldly tones. Add layers upon layers of harmonic and rhythmic complexity within an enveloping stereo field. Infuse your rack with vintage warmth and retrofuturistic soul.

Tape Delay, Looper, And More.

Packed with powerful features while maintaining intuitive playability, Magneto is a stereo multi-head tape delay that also functions as a looper, phrase sampler, vintage spring reverb unit, phase-aligned clock multiplier, chaotic oscillator, zero latency sub-oscillator and more, with extensive CV I/O.

Transform Your Modular.

Turn simple monophonic signals into complex orchestrations. Create new oscillator tones using self-oscillation. Add rich stereo dimension to your sound, and enjoy the inherent warmth and sweet, subtle distortion characteristics of magnetic tape. Magneto transforms even the smallest rack into a fully expressive, immersive instrument.

Strymon Magneto Four Head dTape Echo & Looper eurorack delay module

Vintage Vibe.

To capture the full experience and complexity of a vintage tape echo machine, every last tape system attribute was relentlessly studied and faithfully recreated. From the sought-after natural saturation and soft clipping of magnetic tape when driven hard, to hands-on real-time controls for tape age, tape crinkle, and mechanical wow and flutter, Magneto delivers a rich multi-head delay experience that adds life and vibe to your sound.

Play It Like An Instrument.

Every function, control, gain stage, and signal path component in Magneto works together to respond musically and smoothly, even during the wildest live modular improvisations. All this is combined with a luxurious spring reverb to take the sound of your modular setup to a new level, and your sonic explorations into far-out territories.

Features

Video Demos

Tone and Mechanics Control.

The effect of the Low Cut and Tape Age knobs are explored, followed by the mechanical ‘deterioration’ of the machine with the Crinkle and Wow and Flutter controls. The Speed knob is put to use for sonic enhancement.

Shift Head Pitch and Rhythm Manipulations.

The Shift Heads mode creates a synchronous, rhythmic musical production that results from the playback heads running at different speeds.

Record Level Saturation Effects.

The tape drips with saturation when the Record Level is turned up. This example shows how things can get good when you push the limits. The Low Cut and Tape Age get in on the action for good measure.

Multi-part Orchestration from Mono Input.

A slow sequence is transformed with the Shift Heads while the Infinite transport CV is toggled using one of Magneto’s own clock outputs.

Magneto as Sub-Oscillator.

Using Magneto as a zero-latency sub-oscillator is as easy as sending a Gate signal to the Restart CV. Adding feedback creates sub-octaves of the sub-octave.

Video Game Sampler.

Minor Pentatonics ruled the day in the arcades. Here the Phrase Sample mode is used to fire some lasers and score some points.

Funky Rhythms, Gated Reverbs, and Transport Manipulations.

Magneto provides the clock to a lively sequence and fills out the rhythm with delays and gated Reverb using the Spring CV input. The transport controls let you manipulate the machine in a variety of ways. When the deck is stopped, the Speed knob becomes an audio scrubber.

Speed Changes While Following Clock Input.

Magneto gracefully re-syncs to the Clock CV input after Speed knob manipulations temporarily change the delay time and pitch of the audio that has already been recorded. An LFO connected to the Speed CV provides a gentle vibrato.

Magneto as a Chaotic Oscillator.

Magneto self-oscillates in ever-evolving ways as the Speed knob is manipulated to change the pitch of oscillation. Combining this with Magneto’s Pitch Quantize mode, or controlling the Pitch with an external 1V/oct CV results in a unique sound generator in its own right.

Creating Harmonies with Quantized Pitch.

A monotonic static input tone is morphed into a chordal tone generator by varying the SPEED knob while recording the incoming tone. The 1v/oct SPEED CV adds more possibilities.

Sound On Sound Looper.

Sounds are recorded at varying tape speeds in looper mode to create a full spectrum of slowly evolving sound-on-sound textures.

Adding Ambience.

A little free-form improvisation with Magneto providing a multitude of ambience.

Vari-Speed Phrase Sampler.

Magneto becomes a classic keyboard vari-speed sample playback machine by utilizing the 1v/oct Speed CV and the Restart CV inputs.

Guitar Sounds Through Magneto.

Why should synth players have all the fun? Here Magneto processes a guitar signal to create a new world of sonic possibilities.

Sci Fi Lo Fi.

Travel back in time when the sound of the future was ominous and unforgettable. Magneto completes the journey with vintage spring reverb and oscillating lo-fi delay tones.

Pause Speed and Fun with Transport Controls.

Magneto’s Pause speed can be varied from snappy quick to super slow. The transport controls invite spontaneous creativity, and smoothly transition back to reality when you decide it’s time.

Control & Routing

Press (+) for more info.

Front Panel

Strymon Magneto Four Head dTape Echo & Looper eurorack delay module
  • LEFT IN: Left audio input. Use for mono input.
  • DRY: Sets the level of DRY (input) signal sent to the output.
  • ECHO: Four head tape delay with four playback heads and one record head.
    • LOOP: Sound on Sound looper. Tape head 4 is looper playback, heads 1-3 provide delay repeats for incoming signal.
    • SAMPLE: Phrase sampler records an audio phrase between two taps of the TAP button.
  • SPEED / PITCH: Sets the speed of the tape machine. The tape speed also affects the fidelity of the delay repeats. Set high for cleaner delay repeats or low for a warmer tape sound. Any changes to the SPEED knob will result in a proportional change to the delay time of all the heads. Any audio in the delay line will shift in pitch proportional to the change in speed. When Magneto is Paused, acts as an audio scrub tool.
  • TAP function depends on MODE selection.
    • ECHO: Tap a delay time with two presses.
    • LOOP: Tap to splice in, tap again to splice out and begin loop playback, tap a third time to clear loop.
    • SAMPLE: Tap to start sample record, tap again to stop recording, tap a third time to clear the sample memory.
  • WET: Sets the level of delay signal sent to the output.
  • SPEED: Controls the tape speed. (-3V to +3V, calibrated for 1V/octave).
  • RIGHT IN: Right audio input.
  • REC LVL: Controls the level of the incoming unprocessed signal fed to the Delay Line Record head. When turned up, the delay signal becomes fatter and more saturated. Turn knob down to get cleaner delay signals.
  • REPEATS: Controls the feedback level of the delay repeats for the tape heads that have their FEEDBACK toggle set to ON.
  • WET: Modifies the WET level. (-5V to +5V)
  • LEFT OUT: Left audio output. If only one output is connected, Delay output sums to mono.
  • PLAYBACK LEVEL 1: Sets the playback level for tape head 1.
  • PLAYBACK LEVEL 2: Sets the playback level for tape head 2.
  • PLAYBACK LEVEL 3: Sets the playback level for tape head 3.
  • PLAYBACK LEVEL 4: Sets the playback level for tape head 4.
  • REPEATS: Modifies the REPEATS level. (-5V to +5V)
  • RIGHT OUT: Right audio output. If only one output is connected, Delay output sums to mono.
  • HEADS: Selects between three different modes for the tape heads. Even spacing, triplet spacing, and rhythmic shifted pitches.
  • FEEDBACK ON/OFF: Enables or disables feedback of tape head 1.
    • If TRANSPORT is engaged:
    • INFINITE: Disables the Record head and continuously plays the most recent delay cycle or loop length audio.
  • FEEDBACK ON/OFF: Enables or disables feedback of tape head 2.
    • If TRANSPORT is engaged:
    • FORWARD/REVERSE: Reverses the playback direction of the tape from the moment the function is engaged.
  • FEEDBACK ON/OFF: Enables or disables feedback of tape head 3.
    • If TRANSPORT is engaged:
    • RESTART: Restarts the playback of the loop or sample from the starting point in LOOP or SAMPLE mode. Aligns shifted head audio in ECHO operation.
  • FEEDBACK ON/OFF: Enables or disables feedback of tape head 4.
    • If TRANSPORT is engaged:
    • PAUSE: Stops/Starts the playback of the tape with mechanical slowdown/startup effect.
  • PAN: Selects between three different stereo panning modes for the tape heads. Custom panning is available.
  • CLK 1 OUT: Send clock output of Playback head 1. Dependent on MODES setting and HEADS switch.
  • SEND: Delay repeats generated by Magneto are sent out to be processed by other devices.
  • LOW CUT: Controls the low frequency shaping of the echo repeats. Set to minimum for extended low frequency bandwidth. Set to maximum for extremely high-passed, magnetic drum style repeats.
  • TAPE AGE: Controls the bandwidth of the tape. Set to minimum for a fresh, full bandwidth tape. Turn clockwise for warmer repeats.
  • TRANSPORT: Press to toggle functionality of the four buttons above it.
  • CRINKLE: Controls the amount and severity of tape irregularities including friction, creases, splices, and contaminants. Set to minimum for a fresh, clean tape. Set to maximum for a tape that has been mangled and chewed.
  • WOW & FLUTTER: Controls the amount of mechanically related tape speed fluctuations. Turn the knob fully counterclockwise for a perfectly tuned tape machine or fully clockwise for a tape machine in need of service.
  • SPRING: Controls the output mix of the integrated spring reverb tank. The DRY and WET knobs control the signals feeding into the spring reverb effect.
  • CLK 2 OUT: Send clock output of Playback head 2. Dependent on MODES setting and HEADS switch.
  • RETURN: Processed delay repeats are returned back to be mixed in with the dry input signal.
  • CLK 3 OUT: Send clock output of Playback head 3. Dependent on MODES setting and HEADS switch.
  • CLK IN: Sets the delay time in quarter notes. (0 to 5V rising edge trigger) Clock period range – 50ms to 15s.
  • CLK 4 OUT: Send clock output of Playback head 4. Dependent on MODES setting and HEADS switch.
  • REC GATE: Toggles the record head ON and OFF, REC LVL LED lit BLUE when input signal to the delay line is muted. (0 to 5V rising edge trigger)
  • SHIFT: Toggles the SHIFT effect for the Playback heads on and off. (0 to 5V rising edge trigger)
  • INFINITE: Toggles INFINITE transport control on and off. (0 to 5V rising edge trigger)
  • FORWARD/REVERSE: Toggles the FORWARD/REVERSE transport function. (0 to 5V rising edge trigger)
  • RESTART: Engages the RESTART transport function. (0 to 5V rising edge trigger)
  • PAUSE: Toggles the PAUSE transport function. (0 to 5V rising edge trigger)
  • TAP: Sets delay time in ECHO mode. Sets splice in/out/clear in LOOP mode. Sets sample record start/stop/clear in SAMPLE mode. (0 to 5V rising edge trigger)
  • SPRING: Modifies the SPRING reverb level. (-5V to +5V)

Circuit Board

Strymon Magneto Four Head dTape Echo & Looper eurorack delay module
  • POWER: Power your Magneto here.
    • +12V rail: 210mA
    • -12V rail: 210mA
    • +5V rail: 0mA
  • DIP SWITCH 1 – FEEDBACK CV MODE:
    • ON: Allows for advanced CV trigger control of the FEEDBACK ON/OFF buttons (see user manual for complete detail).
    • OFF (DEFAULT): Standard CV control of transport whenever transport CV jacks are plugged in.
  • DIP SWITCH 2 – DUAL SPLIT MODE:
    • ON: Selects Dual Split mode where LEFT audio IN/OUT is a mono four head tape delay, and RIGHT audio IN/OUT is mono spring reverb.
    • OFF (DEFAULT): Standard stereo IN/OUT with the delay signal feeding into the Spring reverb.

Completely Analog Dry Path.

Strymon Magneto Four Head dTape Echo & Looper eurorack delay module

In a typical digital effect the dry signal gets converted to digital, causing conversion noise and latency. Signals are often attenuated before combining digital dry and wet, with makeup gain amplifying the conversion noise. To avoid this terrifying scenario, we’ve equipped Magneto with a completely analog dry path. Why go to all this trouble? Because the improvements in dynamic range and reduction in noise are so dramatic.

Insanely Powerful DSP.

We’ve outfitted Magneto with the incredibly powerful Analog Devices SHARC ADSP-21369 processor, which provides a 366 MHz core instruction rate, and an incredible 2.4 Gigaflops of peak performance. Thanks to this high-powered technology platform within Magneto, we had the freedom to craft our processor-intense tape echo algorithms without compromise.

Specs