The new Time Bandit from Visual Sound controls your tap tempo delay pedal with a click track: dial it in with a BPM generator, and will work with just about any delay pedal that has an “external tap tempo” jack. Whether you have the Visual Sound Dual Tap Delay, a Boss DD-5, or one of many other delay pedals with that feature, the Time Bandit will allow you to be in sync with a click track without tapping! If you prefer to dial in the Beats Per Minute, the Time Bandit has a large knob that will allow you to do that by hand or foot and see the BPM on the LED display.
This is super exciting for those of us that incorporate a click into our live shows and need our delay lines and tremolos to be locked tight. Even if you are going for an offset sound, being locked to a drummer who is listening to a click allows you the freedom of setting your offset on the pedal rather than compensating with your playing. This is also great if you are syncing with backing tracks that have a predefined tempo, but you don’t have a click. You can visually dial in the tempo as needed and be in the same tempo as the backing tracks.
Other pedals that have a tap tempo jack include some loopers, delays and tremolos as well as a slew of digital multi-effects units. A pedal accessory of sorts, but a useful and inventive one at that. – Gus Green
