Cusack Music Delay TME

The Cusack Music Delay TME is a compact delay pedal with tap tempo, built as a scaled-back version of the company's Tap-A-Delay. "TME" stands for Time Modulation Emulator, and the pedal pairs its delay with a modulation section that Cusack describes as tape-like, especially at longer delay times, courtesy of the PT-2399 chip at the heart of the circuit¹². The original Delay TME and the Delay TME with Tap Tempo are both discontinued; the design lives on in the Delay TME 2.0, which adds brake mode and tap divide³².

What the Delay TME does

The pedal is a digital delay that mixes your original analog signal with the delayed signal, an approach Cusack also uses on the Tap-A-Delay, a 750mS digital delay the TME is based on⁶⁵. The original Delay TME's delay range runs from 50 to 750 mS⁵, while the 2.0 covers 120 to 750 mS, which Cusack calls "a very useable range of delay time"².

The 2.0 is built on the PT-2399 chip, which Cusack describes as follows²:

The modulation section is what gives the pedal its name. A three-position toggle selects between modulation off and two modulation settings, which the manual labels No Modulation, Soft Modulation and Deep Modulation⁴. The 2.0 ships in a tropical turquoise two-stage metallic powdercoat with a non-scratch textured black backplate².

The controls

The control set is deliberately simple. The 2.0's manual describes four knobs: Mix, Feedback, Time and Level², and the earlier Tap Tempo model matches that layout⁷.

An earlier manual describes the feedback behavior in more detail: around 3 o'clock gives infinite repeats, and past that the delay oscillates¹. The 2.0's clear Time knob is LED illuminated and flashes the delay time selected².

There are two footswitches, TAP and BYPASS. Pressing both at the same time switches between Brake Up and Brake Down⁴.

Tap divisions and brake modes

Tap in a tempo, then hold the Bypass switch and move the mod switch to change your tap divisions⁴. The divisions available are 1/4 note, 1/8 note and dotted 1/8 note⁴. On the 2.0, the three-way toggle serves triple duty: on its own it selects modulation, held with the Tap footswitch it selects brake release behavior, and held with the Bypass footswitch it sets the tap divide².

Brake mode ramps the delay time while you hold the Tap switch, and the mod selector chooses how the brake disengages⁴:

• Mod 1 (Stay): the rate stays where the ramp ended
• Mod 2 (Snapback): the rate quickly snaps back to the original tempo
• Mod 3 (Driftback): the rate slowly drifts back to the original tempo⁴²

Brake direction, up or down, is changed by tapping both footswitches at once⁴².

Power

The pedal runs on a standard 9V DC center-negative power supply, and the original also accepts a 9V battery, with neither included⁴³. Current draw is listed as about 22mA in the 2024 manual⁴ and about 32mA in the 2021 manual¹, so plan your power supply for the higher figure. Either way, the draw is low enough that the pedal shares comfortably with other effects on a typical isolated supply.

Versions: Delay TME, Tap Tempo model and 2.0

The line went through three stages:

The original's RCA TAP IN jack is a recessed RCA jack on the left of the pedal used to tap in a tempo: connect a momentary, normally open switch and tap it twice to change the tempo⁵. The 2.0 replaces this with an EXPression/Tap jack that controls the delay time or the tap tempo remotely, so an expression pedal works for time control².

Cusack describes the Tap Tempo model as "our one of a kind delay effect in a scaled down version that is packed with versatile settings in a user friendly configuration"⁷. The company's later delay work continued with the Prototype Delay and the Rebound.

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