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Arion DDS-1/DDS-4

Article from One Two Testing, October 1986


Having always used digital delays extensively live, it's a source of great personal trauma to see all these young upstarts making similar sounds to me and to find out that these sounds emanate from little boxes which are stomped mercilessly by Doc Martens. But such is the march of technology that we now have a four second sample/delay (the DDS-4) for well under £200.

These two pedals differ only in the size of memory/maximum echo time: The DDS-1 gives 1 second of sampling time and you know about the DDS-4. Apart from this the pedals are identical and behave in the same manner, getting drunk and throwing up at parties and so on.

The pedals are square and look great in a chunky plastic but don't feel as tough as they might. There are knobs for level, tone, number of repeats, delay (fine adjustment of echo/sample time) and a six position rotary switch. The first four positions are coarse adjustments of echo time and are curiously labelled S, M, L, and XL. The next position lets you record a piece/sound and if you wish, overdub onto your original sample. The sixth position holds your sound and plays it back when activated.

The pedals are very straightforward to use, actual recording and playback was immediately successful. In record mode, the recording starts as soon as the pedal is pressed, and the sample time is set by the delay time knob. It is possible to trigger sound from an external source, but there are also two ways in which the sample can be internally played back. This is decided by the switch on the front panel marked 'Trig' and 'Remote', On 'Trig', push the pedal and sample is played through once, but on 'Remote' the sample plays for as long as the pedal is down. So if you hit the pedal with quick short bursts, 'N-N-N-Nineteen'-style repeats are dead easy.

The band width at all times and settings is 7khz, ample for guitars, especially for a live setting. The sound was clean and clear throughout and the results are very pleasing.

The only problem with the pedals is their practicality in a live setting. The knobs are small and fiddly to the point that you're not encouraged to adjust them, which means that you sound the same for the whole set, which is just a shade boring. The other problem is that you can only hold one sample and as soon as you unplug the pedal, you lose it, and I 'm not sure about the usefulness to a guitarist of a sampled sound live anyway. It makes more sense to me to use a rack-mounted DDL with a footswitch, which allows you more variation and additional modulation controls.

But still, pedals are smaller, cheaper, lighter and include a footswitch. The Arions do what they do very well and for a reasonable price. Live, they're not so hot, but for recording at home with a portastudio, with four seconds of sampling time you can have great fun.

ARION DDS-1 £129
ARION DDS-4 £175


Also featuring gear in this article



Previous Article in this issue

Carlsbro Cobra 90W Bass Amp

Next article in this issue

Mesa Boogie Studio 22


Publisher: One Two Testing - IPC Magazines Ltd, Northern & Shell Ltd.

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One Two Testing - Oct 1986

Mini Reviews

Review

Previous article in this issue:

> Carlsbro Cobra 90W Bass Amp

Next article in this issue:

> Mesa Boogie Studio 22


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