The Maneco Labs Sixteen seconds delay vintage Compact is a delay pedal with looping capability, inspired by the original looping delay from 1983, the Electro-Harmonix 16 Second Digital Delay1. It offers up to 16 seconds of delay time, a freeze function that holds the delay buffer for looping, reverse playback, and a modulation section for warping the repeats. Maneco Labs describes its delay and looping character as coming straight from the early days of digital technology, from slapbacks to drawn out echoes and cascading phrases2. The pedal is hand built in Uruguay1.
A 16-second looping delay with an all-analog signal path
The Sixteen Seconds Delay family is inspired by the original looping delay from 19831. Maneco Labs describes the device topology as the same as the first digital delays from that era, with an all-analog signal path, pre emphasis and de emphasis, compression and expansion, antialias and reconstruction filtering, and input output buffering and mixing1. On the reissue, digital processing is limited to analog to digital conversion, memory management and storage, and digital to analog conversion, in eight bits3.
What makes the design unusual is how the delay is stored. Maneco Labs says the device topology is the same as the first digital delays from that era, with an all-analog signal path, pre emphasis and de emphasis, compression and expansion, antialias and reconstruction filtering, and input and output buffering and mixing1. Digital processing is limited only to analog to digital conversion, memory management and storage, and digital to analog conversion, all in eight bits1. In practice this means the sound passing through the pedal stays in the analog domain except for the trip into and out of the eight-bit memory, which is where its early-digital character comes from.
There is also an analog triangle Low Frequency Oscillator for modulating delay time and pitch1. Because the LFO wobbles the clock that reads the memory, it produces pitch modulation on the repeats, the same principle behind chorus and vibrato in a delay line.
The controls and footswitches
The Compact puts its main settings on illuminated sliders, in the style of the original 1983 pedal1:
| Control | What it does |
|---|---|
| Delay time coarse | Coarse setting of the delay time1 |
| Delay time fine | Fine adjustment of the delay time1 |
| Sweep rate | Speed of the modulation LFO1 |
| Depth | Depth of the modulation LFO1 |
| Feedback | Number of repeats1 |
| Mix | Balance of dry and delayed signal1 |
Two toggle switches handle slow/fast speed and pitch, and reverse playback1. The Slow/Fast option drops the delay down to half speed, which halves the pitch as well, and the Forward/Reverse mode flips the playback direction so repeats come back backward2. The reissue version of the pedal adds one more slider, a clix volume control, alongside the same coarse, fine, sweep rate, depth, feedback and mix sliders3.
Two onboard footswitches control infinite/freeze from the delay buffer, and bypass for the whole unit1. The freeze switch is what turns the pedal into a looper: with 16 seconds of buffer available, engaging freeze holds whatever is stored so it keeps repeating while you play over it.
Versions and related products
The Sixteen Seconds Delay line comes in several forms, and this Compact pedal is one of them. Like the rest of the family, it is inspired by the original looping delay from 19831, and it lists at $295.001.
The Compact and the reissue differ mainly in the control set: the reissue adds a clix volume slider that the Compact does not have13. The Eurorack module is a separate format with double the delay time, 32 seconds4.
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Questions
How long is the delay time on the Maneco Labs Sixteen Seconds Delay?
Maximum delay time is 16 seconds, matching the original 1983 looping delay that inspired it. Delay time is set with Coarse and Fine sliders, and the Slow/Fast toggle drops the delay down to half speed, which also shifts pitch.
Is the Maneco Labs Sixteen Seconds Delay analog or digital?
It is a hybrid. The signal path is all analog, with pre emphasis and de emphasis, compression and expansion, antialias and reconstruction filtering, and input and output buffering and mixing. Digital processing is limited to analog to digital conversion, memory management and storage, and digital to analog conversion, all in eight bits.
What does the freeze footswitch do?
One of the two onboard footswitches controls infinite/freeze from the delay buffer. Engaging it holds the contents of the buffer, so whatever is stored keeps repeating, which turns the pedal into a looper. The other footswitch is bypass for the whole unit.
Where is the Maneco Labs Sixteen Seconds Delay made?
Maneco Labs hand builds the Sixteen Seconds Delay vintage Compact in Uruguay. The same is true of the reissue version and the Eurorack module in the same family.
Does it have reverse playback?
Yes. A toggle switch selects reverse playback, flipping the playback direction so repeats come back backward. A second toggle selects slow/fast speed and pitch.
Sources (4)
- Sixteen seconds delay vintage Compact, Maneco Labs (manecolabs.com)
- Maneco Labs Sixteen Seconds Delay, Maneco Labs
- Sixteen seconds delay reissue, Maneco Labs (manecolabs.com)
- Sixteen Seconds Delay Vintage Eurorack module, Manecolabs
