Pamparo in Toronto

Finally got the chance to play around with Timeline’s MIDI capability tonight. Program Changes works great as well as some parameter changes via CC. But the couple of settings I really wanted to try before I spend another penny towards this unit is whether the Bank UP/DOWN settings work and how convenient looping will be. Unfortunately, I could not test the BANK UP/DOWN because my FCB1010 (original chip) can only send one CC at a time (or 2 in succession) while the bank changes requires 4. This is not even on the manual (yet) …

for Bank Down, send:
CC# 80, value 0 //A Switch DOWN
CC# 82, value 0 //B Switch DOWN
CC# 80, value 127 //A Switch UP
CC# 82, value 127 //B Switch UP

for Bank UP, send:
CC# 82, value 0 //B Switch DOWN
CC# 81, value 0 //Tap Switch DOWN
CC# 82, value 127 //B Switch UP
CC# 81, value 127 //Tap Switch UP

So instead, I tried the settings for turning A/B on and off with 2 CCs. This works great! Again, this is not in the manual (yet) …

for switch A, send:
CC# 80, value 0 //A Switch DOWN
CC# 80, value 127 //A Switch UP

for switch B, send:
CC# 82, value 0 //A Switch DOWN
CC# 82, value 127 //A Switch UP

I spent most of the time testing out the looper functionality. It works great and seamless! And finally, the settings are in the manual but was only included after the first revision. Hey Strymon, why are you hiding these settings from your users! DOH!!!

Anyway, I got lost in playing with the looper and here’s a couple that I managed to record. Not live looping, just recorded directly from the unit by pressing “Play” after all the overdubs. I’m still getting used to cutting in and out so there’s a bit of glitch in the loop.

These are played thru a standard Tele straight into Timeline then directly to Tascam DR2D.

Strymon TL Loop1

and

Strymon TL Loop2

There you go!

I sold my Brigadier, El Capistan and Fav Switch as soon as I heard the news about this delay. Although, I wasn’t sure that I really wanted to get it since it took forever from the time it was publicized to the time it actually got released. But there I was, sitting in front of my computer, waiting for exactly 7:05 PM on July 5th … as soon as it became available on their online store, I bought it. Amazingly, it sold out online in a matter of 1/2 hour (not sure of the actual number of units sold)

Strymon Timeline

So now, after a few hours at home and a few songs live, I can say that it is a very good delay pedal. But is worth the $450 for what I need?

The GOOD

• Sounds very very good … amazingly good!
• Lots of delay options. 12 modes in total to choose from
• MIDI-enabled program changes and other cool controls
• Looper works great, gets a little getting used to cutting in out of the loop
• Soft switch on the tap-tempo … FINALLY!
• Firmware can be updated via MIDI SYSEX. I hope this will come in handy in the future (see below)

The BAD (of course, IMHO)

• No global tempo option. It makes it difficult to switch between presets during the song while playing live. Some people think this is not necessary, but I am not them
• Delay range is not the same on the different delay modes. I just don’t get this and why it’s not possible to make them all the same
• Soft switches on the A or B presets. I can’t see the light while pressing these switches so I don’t know if the unit engaged or not. But maybe this is related to the next one …
• User interface is not user-friendly for live use. Changing banks using 2 footswithces? Really?!
• Some looper functions like reverse & half-speed are only accessible via MIDI

The VERDICT
Like I said, it sounds great. But after using it, I can see myself using 4 or 5 different modes and maybe only a handful of presets to give what I need. The looper is great for practicing or just doing some fun with ambient looping … what a pleasant addition to the unit. It did, however, reminded me why I gotten rid of the Brig & El Cap. So much options and sounds great but the user-interface is lacking.

So is it worth it? For me, time will tell. It really all depends on when Strymon releases a firmware update and what would be included in the update. I will keep it for now until some of these quirks become so annoying

Please take this quick review with a grain of salt, in fact, make it lots of salt. Your needs might be different than mine …

or maybe you think that $450 is ok to overlook some of the unit’s faults