While crammed to the rim with functionality, the modes never feel superfluous or just put there to make up the numbers. Some people questioned the point of having 3 and 1 second versions of the Echo and Multi Tap modes, but the shorter modes make it a LOT easier to dial in more precise delay lengths for tempo-based effects.
My biggest bugbear is the Blend control- it acts a balance between 100% dry and 100% wet signals, and anywhere inbetween is a compromise (30% wet and 70% dry etc). It works on paper, but as soon as you want to make the effect quite prominent, your dry signal suffers. I'm a fan of slapbacks and generally short echos- with the Blend in the middle to get the delay as loud as the dry signal, your dry signal is now quieter than when the pedal is bypassed, so you basically get a little lost in the mix.
Another niggling factor is how easy it is to nudge the Hazarai mode dial when doing some clumsy footwork; putting the pedal into another mode, and generally messing up your sound. If only the notches were a little more stiff/clicky, this could be avoided.
On the positive side, the sounds are great. It does a great, huge shoegazey wash of reverb and delay all in the same patch, and even a bit more surfy by pushing up the Filter and keeping the delay time down.
I LOVE the multi-tap, I've always wanted to be able to set an amount of echoes and have it cut STRAIGHT out. By experimenting with the Decay dial, you can get some great bowed, stuttery or just plain pretty effects. The Tap tempo is a welcome addition, especially since you can tap in a tempo with the pedal bypassed, then kick it on when the time is right.
The 30 second looper is great and amply long for my needs, and is doubly useful since you can record a loop then switch into different modes of delay, and overdub with that sound. The controls allow you to duck the volume of the loop by amount X each time you record a new overdub, speed it up or slow it down with hilarious pitch change effects (an octave either way, allowing you to speed it up, record a guitar line, bring it back down and giving you a "fake" bass line).
You can even record a loop when you're in a delay mode by just holding down the Tap/Record mode. The loop begins at the start each time you bypass and switch it back on which is also dead nice. To delete a delay, it's just a case of bypassing the pedal and holding the Tap/Record footswitch down for a second.
I like the ability to save presets, although you're limited to one patch per delay mode. It might be nicer to just have 7 presets, with which you could save any type of mode, even 7 different presets of one mode if the mood took you. But it's cool all the same and I can appreciate that would complicate usability matters even further.
Definitely money well spent, but I feel it could be hugely improved for live use by addressing the Blend/volume issue. I'm actually considering holding onto the Boss DD-6 for live usage, maybe they could co-exist on a pedalboard in glorious harmony.
I'll knock up a video demo soon, now I know what I'm doing with the beast.
