Alter Ego Delay - Toneprints

TonePrintTransferring TonePrints toyour pedal – step by stepEditing TonePrints withTonePrint Editor– Launch the TonePrint app on your smartphone.– Find the TonePrint you want to use. You canbrowse TonePrints by Artist or Product (i.e.,pedal type). You will also find Featured TonePrints.– Plug your guitar or bass into your TonePrintpedal.– Turn your TonePrint pedal on.– Turn up the volume on your instrument and setthe pickup selector to one pickup.– Hold the speaker of your smartphone next tothe chosen pickup and touch “Beam to pedal”.The TonePrint app allows you to use TonePrintscreated by your favorite guitar and bass players.But this is only the start. Using TC’s TonePrintEditor, you can create your very own signaturepedal sounds.TonePrint Editor features– Use TonePrint Editor to build your own customsounds.– Enjoy complete control over all effect parameters and effect behavior – it’s your vision,your sound.– Customize knob function and knob range tosuit your needs and sounds.– Audition your sonic creations in real-time live– make changes on the fly and listen to resultsimmediately.– Works with both PC and Mac.Last but not least – TonePrint Editor is absolutely free!Obtaining TonePrint EditorIf you want to use TonePrint Editor for your Windows or OS X computer, download it fromtcelectronic.com/toneprint-editor/If you want to use TonePrint Editor on your AppleiPad, download it from Apple’s App Store.Please note that version 2.0 or higher of theTonePrint Editor is required for working with TCElectronic Mini pedals. Version 2.0 has a Libraryfunction that allows you to access and use TonePrints even without an Internet connection.Obtaining the TonePrint Editor manualDownload the TonePrint Editor manual fromtcelectronic.com/toneprint-editor/support/If you open the manual for TonePrint Editor inAdobe Reader, you can click on interface sections to jump directly to the sections of the manual you are interested in.Alter Ego Delay – Manual (2014-05-26) 13

SetupSetupAlter Ego Delay – Manual (2014-05-26) 14

SetupReady Set Your TC Electronic effect pedal box should contain the following items:– Connect a 9 V power supply with the following symbol to the DC input socket of your TCElectronic effect pedal.– Your TC Electronic effect pedal– 2 rubber feet for “non-velcro” pedalboardmounting– 1 TC Electronic sticker– 1 leaflet about TC’s guitar FX product rangeInspect all items for signs of transit damage. Inthe unlikely event of transit damage, inform thecarrier and supplier.Play!This product does not come with a powersupply.– Plug the power supply into a power outlet.– Connect your instrument to the in jack on theright side of the pedal using a ¼“ jack cable.– Connect the out jack on the left side of thepedal to your amplifier using a ¼“ jack cable.If damage has occurred, keep all packaging, asit can be used as evidence of excessive handlingforce.Alter Ego Delay – Manual (2014-05-26) 15

Inputs, outputs and controlsInputs, outputs and controlsAlter Ego Delay – Manual (2014-05-26) 16

Inputs, outputs and controlsPower / Switching theeffect on and offUsing the footswitch for tempo tappingPower inputOf course, the delay time can be set using theDELAY knob. However, for timing the delay repeats to the tempo of the song you are playing,you can also tap in a the tempo via audio.To power up your pedal, connect a power supplyto its power input socket.The power input socket of your TC Electroniceffect pedal is a standard 5.5 / 2.1 mm DC plug(centre negative).Your TC Electronic effect pedal requires a 9 Vpower supply providing 100 mA or more (notsupplied).Hold down the footswitch for tempo tapping.To set the tempo:– Hold down the footswitch.– With the footswitch held down, play steadyshort 1/4 notes on your instrument.Please note that the output is always mutedduring audio tapping.– Release the switch again.To minimize hum, use a power supply with isolated outputs.Footswitch– To turn the effect on, tap the footswitch.– To turn the effect off, tap the footswitch again.Alter Ego DelayAlter Ego Delay – Manual (2014-05-26) 17

Audio in and outAudio inputs (stereo)The audio inputs on the right side of this pedalare standard ¼” jacks (mono/TS).– If your signal source is mono, connect it to theMONO in jack of the pedal.– If your signal source is stereo, connect the cable carrying the left signal component to theMONO IN jack and the cable carrying the rightsignal component to the STEREO IN jack.Audio outputs (stereo)The audio outputs on the left side of this pedalare standard ¼” jacks (mono/TS).– If the next device in the signal chain hasa mono input (e.g. your amp), connect theMONO OUT jack of TC Electronic effect pedalto the other device’s input.– If the next device in the signal chain has stereo inputs (e.g. another stereo effect pedal),connect the MONO OUT jack of your TC Electronic effect pedal to the left input and theSTEREO OUT jack to the right input of theother device.Inputs, outputs and controlsUSB portEffect controlsUse the standard Mini-B USB port on your TCElectronic effect pedal to connect your pedal toa computer. This will allow you to load TonePrintsinto the pedal or create your own TonePrint using TC’s TonePrint Editor. For more information,see “TonePrint”.Please note that the knob assignments on yourTC Electronic effect pedal are the default assignments. Using the TonePrint Editor, you canrewire all knobs so they control one or severalparameters of your choice. For more information,see the TonePrint Editor manual.If there should be firmware updates for this pedal, they can also be installed using the USB port– see “Updating the firmware”.DELAY knob – Delay time controlUse the DELAY knob to control the delay time.Almost all delay types have a delay range of20 ms to 7000 ms (that’s seven seconds). Slapback (“SLP”) has a range from 20 ms to 300 ms.REGEN knob – Feedback controlUse the REGEN knob to set the desired numbersof delay repeats. Turning the REGEN knob to theright will give you more delay repeats.MIX knob – Effect level controlUse the MIX knob to control the level of the delay repeats.The direct, unprocessed signal is always passedat the original level (unity gain). Only the level ofdelay repeats is changed when turning the MIXknob.Alter Ego Delay – Manual (2014-05-26) 18

Delay type selectorTP – Tape delayUse the Delay type selector to choose the typeof delay you want to work with.Who doesn’t love the smooth sound of an oldtape echo machine?The delay types are described in the section“Delay types”.The “Tape” delay makes for an overall greatstarting point with its mellow and “warbling”sound.Subdivision selectorUse this switch to choose the note intervals thatthe delay repetitions are based on.ER – Echorec*– Top position: quarter notes– Middle position: dotted eighths– Bottom position: quarter notes and dottedeighths.“In the mid 80’s, I was a teenager in high school,and I had just discovered Pink Floyd. I remembercoming home from school every day for weeksand sitting in my room and listening to ‘Dark Sideof the Moon’ on my gigantic Sony Walkman. Ibarely knew how to play guitar back then, butlater on in life, when I was gigging in Portland, Ihad the opportunity to pick up a Binson Echorec*. I couldn’t resist the chance to have one ofthose rare units that Gilmour had made famous.Delay types2290Once upon a time (i.e., back in 1985) TC Electronic released the 2290 Dynamic Digital Delay.It set the bar for professional delays for years tocome and is still held in high regard among delayenthusiasts.Use the “2290” delay for the crispest and cleandelay you can imagine. This is the standard.AN – Analog delayThis is as close as you can get to the charmingnature of an old analog transistor bucket-brigadedelay without buying the real thing! With everyrepeat, you get more of that old-school “fade togrey” vibe.Tweaked by ProGuitarShopAfter I had the Echorec for a few years, it beganto develop a very unique modulation that I fell inlove with. Typically, when you think of delay andmodulation, you think of a chorusing effect. Myunit developed more of a vibrato than a chorus.On lower settings, it just added a very subtle 3Deffect, but if you would crank the volume (mix), itwould give you a nice warble, a slight Leslie typeeffect. This is what we modeled the ER setting ofAlter Ego Delay after. You will notice this warbleInputs, outputs and controlsat around 300 ms repeat times. It morphs intosome great swirling upper harmonics at higherdelay time settings.”Aaron Miller, Founder of PGSDMM – Deluxe Memory Man*Tweaked by ProGuitarShop“The other delay that fits into my all-time favorites category is the Electro Harmonix DeluxeMemory Man*. I have had one of the early models for years and it is a delay that I continue tocome back to. The DMM is a classic delay thateveryone is very familiar with. We aren’t the firstto model it, but I think we did a pretty darn goodjob of capturing the original sound. We really focused on capturing the nuances of the echo andmimicking the unique decay heard in its repeats.The DMM setting is based upon my MemoryMan pedal.”Aaron Miller, Founder of PGSMOD – 2290 delay with modulationTake the 2290’s pristine sound, send it throughthree (!) chorus pedals et voilà. If you’re intothe sound of The Edge, you don’t want to missthis setting.Oh, and while you’re at it, try playing around withthe SUBDIVISION SELECTOR Switch.Alter Ego Delay – Manual (2014-05-26) 19

PP – Ping-pong delayLike the ball in the eponymous game, the delayrepeats jump from left to right (provided you’reusing both outputs for a stereo signal). The effect is really wide. Ping-pong is a lot of fun toplay around with in stereo – but it sounds greatin mono, too.SLP – Slap delayA delay type for all things country – but you canalso use this for many other genres.Use this setting to get your Rockabilly on. Payhomage to the rich staccato heritage of BrianSetzer, Chet Atkins and Scotty Moore, or usethis delay as an alternative to reverb.RVS – Reverse delayIf you’ve been around for some time, you knowthe drill: Record a guitar part on tape. Flip thetape over. Play it back. This is a classic effectmade famous by guitar legends such as JimiHendrix – and although it’s kind of “old school”,the reverse effect still seems to inspire people totry out new things.Try this: Turn the Mix knob all the way down tohear only the reversed signal.LP – Looper settingSet the Delay type selector to LP to use the builtin audio looper.Using the looper is explained in “Using the looper”.TONEPRINT – TonePrint settingSet the Delay type selector to TP to use theTonePrint setting.Using and editing TonePrints is explained in the“TonePrint” section.* All third party product names mentioned in thecontext of this manual are trademarks of theirrespective owners, which are in no way associated or affiliated with TC Electronic. Theseproduct names and descriptions are providedfor the sole purpose of identifying the products that were studied during product development.Inputs, outputs and controlsUsing the looperWith the looper built into your Alter Ego Delay,you can record and play back grooves and linesfor playing along. You can even overdub your recording an unlimited number of times.The first round of recording always sets thelength of the loop. The duration of a loop canbe up to 40 seconds in mono and 20 secondsin stereo, regardless of how many overdubs youmake.If an overdub exceeds the length of the loop,a third round of recording begins. This gives avery natural, logic and musical feel when recording loops.The DELAY and REGEN knobs are inactive inLoop mode.Recording and playing loops– Set the Delay type selector to LP.– Make sure the pedal is in bypass mode (i.e.,the LED should be off). Feel the groove andprepare for recording. Then tap the pedal’sfootswitch to start your recording and play.The pedal’s LED flashes red.– To stop recording, press the footswitch again.Alter Ego Delay immediately switches to playback mode and starts playing the loop. Inplayback mode, the LED is green.– To overdub your recording, press the switchonce more. The LED now blinks.– To delete all recordings, double-tap the footswitch.Alter Ego Delay – Manual (2014-05-26) 20

MaintenanceMaintenanceAlter Ego Delay – Manual (2014-05-26) 21

MaintenanceUpdating the firmwareApplying the firmware updateChanging the batteryTC may provide updates for the built-in softwareof your pedal, the firmware. Updating your TCpedal’s firmware requires – Quit all MIDI-related applications (e.g. yourDAW) on your computer and launch the firmware updater you have downloaded in step 1.– In the firmware updater app, select your TCpedal from the drop-down list under the“STEP 1” heading.– When the “Update” button under the “STEP 2”heading turns green, click it.If you need to change the battery of your TCElectronic effect pedal, proceed as follows:– Unscrew the thumb-screw on the back of thepedal and detach the back-plate.– Unmount the old battery and attach the newbattery to the battery clip making sure the polarity is correct.– Remount the back-plate.The updated firmware will now be transferred toyour TC pedal. Wait for the progress bar to reach100%. When the update procedure is complete,the pedal will automatically restart.Notes regarding batteries– a computer running Microsoft Windows orOS X with a standard USB interface– the specified DC power supply for your pedal.Preparing the firmware update– Download the newest firmware from the “Support” page for your TC pedal. There are updaters– for Microsoft Windows (these are ZIP archives containing the firmware installer) and– for OS X (these are disk image files containing the firmware installer).– Unplug all cables (including the power supply)from your TC pedal.– Connect the pedal to your computer using aUSB cable.– Press and hold the footswitch on your TCpedal. If your TC pedal has more than onefootswitch, press and hold the leftmost footswitch.– Insert the DC power supply plug.– The LED on your pedal should turn green. Ifyour TC pedal has more than one LED, theleftmost LED should turn green. This indicatesthat the pedal is ready to receive the softwareupdate.– Release the footswitch.– Your TC pedal will now be recognized as anupdatable device.– Batteries must never be heated, taken apart orthrown into fire or water.– Only rechargeable batteries can be recharged.– Remove the battery when the pedal is not being used for a longer period of time to savebattery life.– Always dispose batteries according to locallaws and regulations.Alter Ego Delay – Manual (2014-05-26) 22

MaintenanceSwitching the pedal from truebypass to buffered bypass modeTrue Bypass and BufferedBypass explainedTrue Bypass mode is a hard-wire bypass thatgives absolutely no coloration of tone when thepedal is bypassed. This is the default mode foryour effect pedal.Using True Bypass on all pedals is a perfectchoice in setups with a few pedals and relativelyshort cables before and after the pedals.If – you use a long cable between your guitar andthe first pedal or– if you use many pedals on your board or– if you use a long cable from your board to theamp, then the best solution will most likely be to setthe first and the last pedal in the signal chain toBuffered Bypass mode.Can you hear the difference between a pedal inTrue Bypass or Buffered Bypass mode?Maybe, maybe not – many factors apply: active/passive pick-ups, single coil/humbucker, cablequality, amp impedance and more. We cannotgive a single ultimate answer. Use your ears andfind the best solution for your setup!To set the bypass mode, proceed as follows:True bypass– Disconnect the pedal and turn it on its back.– Unscrew the back plate of the pedal and lookfor the two small dip-switches in the upperleft corner.– The upper DIP switch (the one closer to thepower in jack), switches between True Bypassmode (default) and Buffered Bypass mode.– Set the DIP switch to the desired position.– Remount the back-plate.Buffered bypassKill-dry offKill-dry onKill-dry on/offWhen you activate Kill-dry, the direct signal isremoved from the pedal’s output. Use this modewhen you place your TC Electronic effect pedalin a parallel effects loop.To set Kill-dry mode, proceed as follows:– Disconnect the pedal and turn it on its back.– Unscrew the back plate of the pedal and lookfor the two small dip-switches in the upperleft corner.– The lower DIP switch (the one further awayfrom the power in jack), switches between Killdry on and Kill-dry off mode.You can only remove the dry signal from the signal path if you have selected Buffered Bypassmode using the upper DIP switch – see “Switching the pedal from true bypass to buffered bypass mode”. Kill-dry is not available in True Bypass mode.Alter Ego Delay – Manual (2014-05-26) 23

Frequently asked questionsFrequently asked questionsAlter Ego Delay – Manual (2014-05-26) 24

Frequently asked questionsFrequently asked questionsabout TonePrint pedals“Are TonePrint pedals analog or digital?”The dry signal of your guitar passes straightthrough this effect pedal and is in no way digitized. The “wet” signal is just added.“Do the TonePrint pedals have balancedor unbalanced inputs/outputs?”TonePrint pedals have unbalanced inputs andoutputs. Use cables with TS jacks (i.e., standardinstrument cables).“Is it possible to run this TonePrint pedalin the effects loop of a tube amp?”Yes. All TonePrint pedals have a very wide gainrange and are designed to run at both instrument and line level. There are a few amps whichare capable of running much hotter than regular 4 dBu line-level signals because of the waytheir effect loops are designed. With these amps,it might be possible to get the input to clip. Butfor 99 % of all amps, the TonePrint pedals willwork just fine.For additional information about your TC Electronic TonePrint effect pedal, please go to TCElectronic Support:tcelectronic.com/support/Alter Ego Delay – Manual (2014-05-26) 25

LinksLinksAlter Ego Delay – Manual (2014-05-26) 26

LinksTonePrint resourcesSupport resourcesTC Electronic on – TonePrint:tcelectronic.com/toneprint/– TC Electronic Support:tcelectronic.com/support/– the web:tcelectronic.com/– TonePrint ucts/– TC Electronic – product software:tcelectronic.com/support/software/– Facebook:facebook.com/tcelectronic– TC Electronic – all product manuals:tcelectronic.com/support/manuals/– Google Plus:plus.google.com/ tcelectronic/– TC Electronic user forum:forum.tcelectronic.com/– Twitter:twitter.com/tcelectronic– TonePrint app:tcelectronic.com/toneprint-app/– TonePrint Editor:tcelectronic.com/toneprint-editor/– TonePrint Editor �� YouTube:youtube.com/user/tcelectronicAlter Ego Delay – Manual (2014-05-26) 27

Technical specificationsTechnical specificationsAlter Ego Delay – Manual (2014-05-26) 28

Technical specificationsPlease note that due to continuous development, the following specifications are subject to change without further notice.Bypass modeSignal circuitryDimensions (width x depth x height)Input connectorOutput connectorPower inputBattery optionInput impedanceOutput impedanceUSB portTrue Bypass (Buffered Bypass optional)Analo

Alter Ego Delay – Manual (2014-05-26) 2 Table of contents Important safety instructions 3 Before you begin 6 About this manual 7 Getting support 7 About this pedal 8 Alter Ego Delay 9 True Bypass 10 TonePrint 11 What are TonePrints? 12 Transferring TonePrints to your pedal using the TonePrint app 12 Editing TonePrints with TonePrint Editor 13 .