Timeline auto swell, Lose to DL4?

[Anthony Gring]

I'm hearing some disappoinment / frustration regarding the auto swell delay setting on the Timeline vs the DL4. I have an El Cap which I love but want the DL4 type auto swell delay. Whats your experience with Timeline vs DL4? Can an M5 do the auto swell delay ?

[tdk8709]

The M-series has an Auto Swell Delay, but it also falls a bit short of the DL4 according to Line 6 themselves. I find that with some tweaking, and in a live band setting it is close enough.

[shoe124]

That's interesting about That Line 6 even says it falls short.

I love the DL4 auto swell...I like the M9 but have never been able to get it to do anything close to the same thing as far as auto swell.....Drag...I just always thought it was me!

t.

[mmcm4]

What's different between the M series and the DL-4 auto swell? I've got an M9 and love the auto swell.

[rbrogan]

M5 can indeed do Auto Swell Delay, it's very close to the DL4, but I also agree it's not quite as spot on with triggering as the DL4 is. Another, much cheaper option that is often overlooked, is the Line6 Echo Park. That's what I used for the longest time, and it was sort of billed as the DL4 crammed into much smaller inclosure. There where differences with the algorithms from the DL4, but honestly after bouncing between the Echo Park and the DL4, I began to really like the way the Echo Park did the volume swell best.

The biggest knock against the Echo Park is usually that the older models actually had around a +3db boost to the signal, which was pretty noticeable live. Later versions of it have an internal trimpot I believe that lets you dial this back to unity. I actually came to love the boost to the signal, it worked really well for me live. Also, if you're powering this with a cheaper digital switching supply (like a 1-Spot) make sure that it's not sharing the line with any other digital pedals. That will help with the noise drastically.

An M5 or M9 will get you much more than just delay, including some great reverbs and modulation effects for a decent price. Honestly though, if you're just looking for the Auto-Swell, you can pick up the Echo Park used for $70-$80 easy. That's my rather long winded two-cents.

[rhoydotp]

Whats your experience with Timeline vs DL4? Can an M5 do the auto swell delay ?

you be the judge :)

UY45HV5IX5c

* not my video ... but I do agree that TL swell disappoints a bit

[Abandoned]

"Timeline auto swell, Lose to DL4?"... Yes.

[good soil digital]

I've never used a DL4 auto-swell, so take this at face value.

However, I was vastly underwhelmed by the timeline's auto swell feature until I figured out one key point. I usually play with my volume pot rolled down somewhere between 7-8 as I like to have some room to go up from there. Playing like this sucked for the timeline auto swell. But when I rolled by volume up to 10 the auto swell worked like a charm... actually quite usable as a replacement for a volume pedal in my situation.

[telepunk]

I have never had the DL4, but the TL auto swell work fine for me. The key is a strong attack, and then avoiding hitting strings after the attack.

However, at times it is cool to hit the strings strong for the auto swell, then lightly pick a few strings in the chord over top of the swell too so that they ring out.

[Footbutt]

I have never had the DL4, but the TL auto swell work fine for me. The key is a strong attack, and then avoiding hitting strings after the attack.

However, at times it is cool to hit the strings strong for the auto swell, then lightly pick a few strings in the chord over top of the swell too so that they ring out.

yes. the Timeline Auto-Swell is a different beast to tame.
my DL4 was great at controlling anything i threw at it, BUT it cut off the delays with the newly-strummed chord/note.
The Timeline needs a strong attack everytime, AND it can let those lush repeats fill the void.

both are awesome and useful and just... different.

[minjason]

I agree with the above posters that the M-series gets very close to the DL-4 when it comes to auto-swell. That said, I actually ordered the Malekko A.D. today because I was using the M5 primarily for its auto-swell feature and wanted something in a smaller enclosure.

[Anthony Gring]

Thanks for replies so far. I have an EB VP Jr. on my board and can kinda get close with that and my El Cap but my friends DL4 was simple and sounded good. I'm needing just that effect for the times I play worship. I thought the M9 sounded lots better than the TL in the vid. Let us know how th AD works out.

[minjason]

So I just received my Malekko A.D. in the mail today and had a chance to plug it in. Cool little box, but right off the bat, I can tell you that it won't do the DL4 or the M-series auto-swell. Even at its extreme settings, it can't really do any long swells. I compared it to my M5, and it's not even close. It can def do the quick violin-like swells, but it won't replace the DL4 or M-Series auto-swell...hope that helps a bit!

[sascha]

My comparison video was posted above already by rhoydotp ... I used to own the DL-4, then the M9, now the M5 plus a Timeline. To my ears, the Auto Volume Echo sounds 99,5% the same on the M5/M9 as on the DL4. I would agree that Timeline Swell is definately different and also has some qualities that the DL4 doesn't. However, for live use if you want to avoid accidentally trigger errors (hard attacks coming through), I would use Line6.

About the Malekko A.D.: You would of course have to combine it with a delay to get close to the Swell/Auto Volume delay algos, cause both Timeline and Line6 do that.

Timeline has the attack envelope thing sitting in the delay path, so the dry part of the signal is not being processed. Meaning, you will always have to turn mix fully clockwise if you don't want to hear any hard attack.

The Line6 "Auto Volume Echo" model sends the whole signal through the attack envelope thing. So even with mix on "full dry", guitar still passes through. What the Auto Volume Echo does on "full dry" is basically what the Malekko AD will do. Auto volume swell without the delay :-)

[minjason]

My comparison video was posted above already by rhoydotp ... I used to own the DL-4, then the M9, now the M5 plus a Timeline. To my ears, the Auto Volume Echo sounds 99,5% the same on the M5/M9 as on the DL4. I would agree that Timeline Swell is definately different and also has some qualities that the DL4 doesn't. However, for live use if you want to avoid accidentally trigger errors (hard attacks coming through), I would use Line6.

About the Malekko A.D.: You would of course have to combine it with a delay to get close to the Swell/Auto Volume delay algos, cause both Timeline and Line6 do that.

Timeline has the attack envelope thing sitting in the delay path, so the dry part of the signal is not being processed. Meaning, you will always have to turn mix fully clockwise if you don't want to hear any hard attack.

The Line6 "Auto Volume Echo" model sends the whole signal through the attack envelope thing. So even with mix on "full dry", guitar still passes through. What the Auto Volume Echo does on "full dry" is basically what the Malekko AD will do. Auto volume swell without the delay :-)

Even with the mix on "full dry" on the Line 6, it still seems as though the A.D. isn't giving me as long a swell as the M5 on its longest setting. A Timeline user myself, I really wish the Timeline swell was a bit more user-friendly. I totally agree though that the M5 should get you 95% of the way there in terms of mimicking the DL4 auto-swell (which is good enough for me).

[Stratobuc]

If you want an auto swell pedal in a small enclosure, the VFE Bumblebee is the best I've used.

[apitakos]

I never got the timeline to sound anywhere near where my old dl4 sounded as far as swell is concerned.

[Anthony Gring]

Thinking of just getting an M5 for the Auto Swell delay effect. Smaller footprint and can do other effects that I only use a couple times in three sets.

Swiss Army Pedal ?