Tape Echo — FIG.003 :: Making Sound

FIG.003 — ROLAND RE-201 SPACE ECHO

The effect that plays sound back
to you, a moment later.

A tape echo records your sound onto a loop of tape, then reads it back as the loop passes a row of playback heads. Each head sits a little further along, so each gives a later echo — and feeding the output back in makes the repeats regenerate and slowly decay.

DRAWN IN TRUE ISOMETRIC · ONE ACCENT FILL MARKS THE TAPE LOOP · MAKE IT AUDIBLE TO HEAR THE ECHO YOU SEE

hover a head for its job · click it (or press 1–4) to read how it's examined · make it audible, then feed a guitar stab

Select the record head or any playback head — or press 1–4 — and this card explains what it does and how the exam asks about it. E expands · R runs the loop · A makes it audible · F feeds a stab.

IN THE EXAM

The mechanism is the answer

The record head writes your signal onto the tape loop
The loop carries it past three playback heads — each further along, so each reads a later echo (head spacing = delay time)
Intensity feeds the output back to the record head — repeats regenerate and decay; push it far enough and it self-oscillates

It is FIG.001's record→playback gap, put to musical work. Motor speed sets the repeat rate: slower tape = longer delays.

Asked in real papers

"Describe the delay settings used on the muted guitar part." The mark scheme pays for: short delay time with a value ("120–200 ms / close to a 16th note"), "repeats get duller / less high-frequency content", "vintage / tape sound", "two to five repeats / low feedback / intensity", and the dry/wet balance. AS 2019, Q4e — the RE-201's fingerprint, in the examiner's own words
Tempo-matched delay is a recurring practical ask: 60,000 ÷ BPM = one beat in ms, then scale for the note division. Component 4 practical scenarios — show the working
Slapback — one repeat, no regeneration — is the Era 1 vocal sound (Elvis, Sun Studio): a C3 listening tell as well as a C4 setting. Bridge to Component 3 §3.2 — same machine, different exam

Say it like the mark scheme

delay time (ms) feedback / intensity repeats get duller vintage / tape sound multi-tap self-oscillation wow & flutter dry/wet mix

The trapTape repeats are not clones. Every pass around the loop loses high frequencies and gains wobble — that darkening IS the "vintage/tape sound" the mark scheme names. A digital delay's repeats stay identical unless you deliberately filter them. Say which you're describing.

The effect that plays sound backto you, a moment later.

IN THE EXAM

The mechanism is the answer

Asked in real papers

Say it like the mark scheme

The effect that plays sound back
to you, a moment later.