Will we ever see tap tempo on the MF104z?

Jazzpunk · January 12, 2009, 8:12pm

It seems almost everybody would like to see tap tempo added to the MF104z so I am wondering why it has not been implemented. Is it simply that it goes against the ‘concept’ of the Moogerfooger aesthetic or is there some reason that adding this feature would diminish the sound in some way? Is it an expensive feature to add?

Tap tempo just seems like a no brainer to cement the MF104z as the be all, end all in analog delay pedals!

latigid_on · January 12, 2009, 9:06pm

Tap tempo is, in most part, a digital process. It’s there on the MuRFs probably because they run off a digital processor. The analog delay, however runs off a “real” clock in the megaHertz range. To convert a tap into a voltage to change the clock frequency, you would first need a circuit to measure the tap time and then a processor to produce a voltage that the clock circuit understands.

My guess is that if the clock was produced digitally in the MF104x, tap tempo would be easy to implement.

Bryan_T · January 12, 2009, 9:58pm

Moog should take a look at the Diamond Memory Lane for some ideas on implementation:http://www.diamondpedals.com/products/memorylane.html

Personally, I want that functionality in the MP-201 controlling the 104. It would work great for live use, plus it would let me tempo-lock my delay to a Pro Tools session.

Jazzpunk · January 12, 2009, 11:43pm

Yeah the Memory Lane vs. MF 104z is the source of my current frustrations! I really need tap tempo for live use but the Moog just sounds so much better to my ears. Maybe because it doesn’t have tap tempo intruding on the circuitry?!

EricK · January 13, 2009, 12:17am

lol you guys

Amos said they are looking at the possibillity so be patient lolol.

Eric

Jazzpunk · January 13, 2009, 1:04am

Cool, I didn’t know that. Sorry to come off as impatient but it’s actually been on my mind for months. I’d buy one tomorrow if it had tap tempo (Amos pm me if you’re taking pre-orders ) though I may buy one anyway for studio use and just settle on something digital for live use.

EricK · January 13, 2009, 1:27am

lol you are fine man. Amos said something along the lines of Were looking at the possibillity, but I think the problem would have something to do with the circuitry of each delay pedal being unique that it might not take to a standard tap tempo rate.

Eric

EricK · January 13, 2009, 1:31am

Amos:

Bryan T:

Amos:

Here’s my thinking: I tap the tap tempo at 120 bpm. That gets converted to some fixed voltage that I’d expect to yield a repeat every half second. However, with my delay that voltage results in repeats at 130 bpm. So, I tweak the parameter to adjust the voltage to get there. Now, I’m not sure if the relationship between the fudge factor and the delay time is linear, exponential, or something else, but it seems like it could be figured out.

Bryan, this is along the lines of something I’ve been thinking myself. Doing it exactly as you describe is pretty labor-intensive, and also raises the question of how the actual delay tempo is to be measured… by ear against a metronome? This could get you pretty close but any human error will throw off the calculation, and this error has the opportunity to multiply since of course you’ll need multiple data points in order to calculate a fudge factor / transfer function from tap-tempo into voltage into delay tempo. So, while a method like this might be workable, it’s not the “killer app” yet. However, it’s definitely a part of the puzzle.

Rest assured, there are multiple ways to get where we want to go with this, and I am keeping it all in mind for future development. I predict we’ll have a tap-tempo delay option one way or another, before too terribly long. Thanks for the good ideas!

-Amos

Jazzpunk · January 13, 2009, 3:28am

Interesting. I would think the tap feature would control the tempo rate just like you were turning the knob with your hand but I don’t know squat about this kind of thing lol.

In any event, Daimond’s got it figured out so for now I’ll probably just go that route.

Thanks for the info.

CTRLSHFT · January 13, 2009, 7:22pm

while it’s not really a tap tempo solution, you could print this out as a quick reference:

http://remixmag.com/resources/RMX_Delay_Resources.pdf