Master List of 52 Delay Effects with MIDI Ports

For those who follow Guitar Chalk, you might have noticed we've written some content focusing on MIDI foot controllers, delay pedals and how they can improve our guitar rigs.

As we've been writing about and researching these topics, we thought, "Wouldn't it be handy to have a list of all the delay pedals that support a MIDI connection in one place?" In most cases you have to find them by reading each product's spec sheet, as there's usually no option on retail websites to sort by MIDI ports.

In response, this list is simply meant to be that sorting mechanism.

It's not a review, recommendation or ranking.

Rather, it's a place where you can find all the delay pedals with MIDI ports in one place, for browsing and comparison.

Know of one we missed? Drop it in the comments section below.

What this list assumes

This list assumes that you already know the purpose of (or perhaps own already) a MIDI foot controller.

It also assumes you're aware of how they work and interface with your pedals or effects processors.

For more information on how to set up a MIDI foot controller, I'll refer you to the following articles:

• Using a MIDI Connection to Control your Strymon Pedals
• Reverb Pedals with MIDI Compatibility
• Pairing a MIDI Foot Controller with your Stompboxes

Digital Delay Pedals with MIDI Ports

Most pedals that support delay with MIDI connections are built with a digital circuit. This helps manufacturers cut down on costs as well as incorporate more advanced tweaking and manipulation options into the pedal. As a consequence, digital delay pedals have more customization options but lack the "genuine" feel and warmth of an analog tone.

However, technology has gotten good enough that digital circuits can do a great job of emulating an analog circuit, even if the technology is entirely digital.

A good example is the T-REX Replica, which is built to mimic the warmth of an analog circuit.

Thus, if the distinction between analog and digital delay pedals is important to you, be careful when you're reading product descriptions, because some delay pedals will have an "analog" option or mode, that is just an emulation, with no actual analog circuitry. In fact, a delay pedal could be any of the following:

1. Entirely digital
   
2. Digital with analog models
   
3. Digital with phyiscal analog components
   
4. Analog with digital control (usually a MIDI option)
   

It gets a little confusing, but we've simply broken all our delay pedals with MIDI ports up into two categories, digital and analog.

We'll cover digital options first, some of which might have a digitally-modeled analog sound.

Analog Delay Pedals with MIDI Ports

To the best of our knowledge, the following pedals with MIDI ports are digitally controlled analog circuits, which means you're getting physical analog circuitry and not a digital imitation. For example, the Decibel Eleven delay with digital control uses an actual bucket brigade circuit.

As a result, some of them are a bit on the pricey side, but if you're a purist when it comes to analog delay and you want the flexibility offered by a MIDI connection, the extra cost might be worth it to you.

Offerings by Moog and Chase Bliss are two of the more popular options from this relatively short list.

Anything to add?

There are plenty of boutique pedal makers and manufacturers who make MIDI compatible delay pedals that we just haven't heard of.

There may even be some mainline offerings we've missed.

However, this is a running list that we intend to update as time goes on.

In that regard, we could use some help. So, if you know of a MIDI-controllable delay pedal, drop us a line in the comments along with a link to the pedal's manufacturer or sales page and we'll include it in the write-up.  We've looked around pretty extensively, but there are always a few that slip through the cracks.