Analogue delay

[humbuck]

I heard from a mate that they don't make the chips that run analogue delays anymore?   That true?

H.

[Peter Snowberg]

At least one company still does. Sorry, I don't have more info.

take care,
-Peter

[Paul Perry (Frostwave)]

Not all BBD (bucket brigade delay) chips are still in production, but some are. And you can buy a bunch of them here (see the delay section):
http://www.smallbearelec.com/Ordering/Stocklist.htm

[Mark Hammer]

Initially, a wide array of BBDs with different storage capacity were produced, and uses for those chips were subsequently identified.  The specs of those chips were then refined to suit those applications a little better.

Ultimately, many of the uses for BBDs were farmed out to digital technology where it could be done better and cheaper.  The two applications where BBDs still seem to do a decent job with the least fuss and cost are: short-delay karaoke echo (though this is declining in favour of digital reverb chips), chorus and flanging.  Accordingly, Beiling, a Chinese company, has continued production of the 2048-stage BL3208 and the 1024-stage BL3207.  Matsushita has discontinued production of all the others from what they've indicated, although it is always possible for any customer with the money to request a custom run of thousands of any chip.  These will not show up in retail catalogs though.
For now, the brunt of the BBD stock of the world is either the two chips noted above, or else new old stock of Matsushita, Reticon, and Philips chips sitting around in stockrooms.

[Lonestarjohnny]

Which chip do you like best Mark, ?
JD

[Yuan Han]

the chinese company makes BL3102 too, which is the low voltage clock chip (ala MN3102) for the BBDs.

[Mark Hammer]

I don't know that there is a reason to like ANY BBD chip best beyond the ones you are able to get.  I'd certainly love to get my hands on an MN3011 or MN3214 at a decent price just to tinker with the multitap possibilities, but other than that, they do what they do, and to my way of thinking variations in pedal "mojo" come from designing around each sort of chip rather than selecting any particular one, assuming the one/s selected are appropriate to the job.  For instance, selecting a 256 or 512-stage unit can make achieving some flanging sounds easier to do, just as selecting a 1024 stager can make some chorus sounds easier to achieve, and selecting a 4096-stager (as opposed to a quartet of 1024-stagers) makes achieving a medium-length delay easier to achieve.

[Mr.Huge]

I'd certainly love to get my hands on an MN3011 or MN3214 at a decent price just to tinker with the multitap possibilities.

Aloha Mark,
A may have an extra MN3011. PM me or email me from www.wayhuge.com.
Cheers,
-Mr. Huge