Each of these devices has 5 distinct Delay Modes – as follows :
Boss DD-200
- 4 : Drum – Binson Echorec style Delay
- 6 : Tera Echo – Spacious animated ambience effect – a very unique sounding cascading ambient Delay + Reverb effect
- 7 : Pad Echo – Drifting smeared delay trails
- 10 : Dual – Two different simultaneous delay lines with the Param knob controlling the Time of the second path
- 11 : Ducking – Classic ducking effect delay
Nemesis
- 13 : Slapback – Short single repeat echo
- 14 : Diffuse – Very soft attack / smeared delays which produce super smooth repeats
- 15 : Noise Tape – Darker more degraded sounding Tape Delay
- 16 : Helix – Reverse Delay with Octaver – a slightly different type of Shifter / Shimmer
- 17 : Sweeper – Resonant Low Pass Filter – Synth-Like Effect
Of course – via Nemesis’ Neuro App you can access 12/14 further Delay Algorithms – which you can switch out the defaults for – these include Tremolo, Dub, Chorus, Flanger and Oil Can along with other variations.
On the basis of defaults though I feel that DD-200’s Tera Echo and Pad Echo are almost worth the price of admission alone, and I would say Drum, Dual and Ducking are typically more useful than the alternative defaults of the Nemesis.
For the Nemesis’ distinct flavours – Slapback you can easily achieve on the DD-200 with most of its modes (just adjust Time and Feedback appropriately), Noise Tape is to a degree covered by the ‘Distortion’ element that you can bring into play on the DD-200’s Tape via the Param control – you can also Darken the Tape Mode via DD-200’s Tone control. And the Helix and Sweeper aren’t sufficiently interesting for me – particularly if you try to weigh them up against DD-200’s Tera and Pad Echos. In fact the only one of the Nemesis’ distinct default algorithms that has high validity is the rather cool Diffuse variety. Had I been Source Audio I would have changed out some of its defaults for say Dub, Oil Can and Tremolo – which are far more interesting textures for me.
Generally though and overall I think the Boss DD-200 wins it on its specific selection and mix of 12 Modes / Algorithms – each of those is a strong choice and valid on its own merits – and the Tera and Pad Echos are really stellar – so even with Nemesis’ 24/26 overall algorithms – I would still come down in favour of the Boss. In fact I would argue that a large number of Nemesis users have never and have no wish to start changing out their default Mode algorithms – so it’s what’s on top that counts!
I’ve noted before how important the choice and mix of algorithms is for the validity of a particular device – and how Brian Wampler got it pretty much spot on for his Teraform vs Boss’s MD-200 – where Boss chose to leave out the Dimension C/D and Harmonic Tremolo. For the DD-200 Boss has included its essential Tera Echo algorithm – which is one of the flavours I was actively seeking – and it’s thrown down another ace courtesy of that superb new Pad Echo flavour.