►► Get your Strymon Volante here → sweetwater.sjv.io/jrGBoa ►► Get your Strymon El Capistan here → sweetwater.sjv.io/4PxqY9 (these Sweetwater affiliate links support my work at no extra cost to you. Thank you! 😊)
The simplest way to make a decision on these 2 pedals is this : The El Cap is darker, more low fi and has more ability to really destroy the tape for more really warped sounds. It’s “warmer” when playing by itself so perceived nicer on the ear on its own. Volante is more hifi sounding and clearer and will sit in a mix better, has more options and has its own sonic magic in that upper midrange and top end. Really they are different. One is not a replacement for the other. Really if you have El Cap and Dig, Volante fills the everything else category with some cross over. If you can only justify one -I would say Volante is the best choice due to versatility and it’s ability to come close to El Cap and Dig with its own sounds…. But if you are really into delay -get all 3 of those and you’ll never need another delay. Unless you gotta have that bucket brigade thing then you may need to add a Brig or MM. But with a good warm tape like squeezing compressor in front and overdrive -you’ll be happy in delay land forever with those 3.
One thing I miss in the comments that speaks for the volante: volante has stereo inputs! in the el capistan it requires changing jumpers, which sucks if you want to use it with both synths and guitars.
If I was to get one of these, I think it would be the Volante simply for the length of the loop time. But the El Capistan is a great unit by all accounts. Both sound nice doing what they do. It is a difficult choice based on other metrics. Well... unless we're talking in terms of real estate.
El Capistan for me. Volante is great, more built in effects, stability... but the deterioration on el Cap is awesome, plus I´m a guy who loves to stack the EQD Afterneath and Transmisser with some modulation, El Cap, DD20, Boss RV6 and finally a BigSky always on Cloud mode... so of course that grey box is my partner in that almost impredictable chain. Cheers Antoine, great job as always. Greetings from Chile!
The Volante has some cool features, especially the separate panning of delay heads … but the sound is too bright/digital … 😕 And I don’t care about a bright digital reverb sound or bright digital looper in my delay pedal … I have separate reverbs and loopers for that. It would be better if the Volante could actually sound like an Echorec and an Echoplex or Space Echo … but it’s too bright/digital !!!!
Excellent comparison Antoine! I agree--all the Volante needs is that Tape Age knob! Or better yet: longer looping time on the El Capistan (maybe in a future v3? We can only pray)!
Hi Antoine, with the Volante, can you stop overdubbing and have the repeats to continue to deteriorate just like the El Capistan (use of the trail, spillover function)? ...great videos as usual!
Fantastic video Antoine, well done! This was something I was looking for, and you made a perfect comparison. In my case, where I already have the NU-X stereo looper (3 hours of recording time!) it will be the Strymon El Capistan because of the price difference and the tape age knob. That will have to wait though, as I'm currently saving for a Blue Sky (summer coming up).
@@tobisteffenSince I'll never use tremolo i'm not interested in the flint. Meanwhile I have the Blue Sky for about half a year and it is awesome. Didn't regret it at all. I even prefer it over the Big Sky, for the moment, since that one is too complex for me.
hi! Awesome video man :) I just have one question. Is it possible to activate the delay after having recorded the loop without delay on the strymon volante?
Hey Antoine, thanks for this comparison ! Very useful:) I really liked your video about the El capistan and obtaining Reverb Only. I was wondering if, to your knowledge, it's possible to obtain this kind of chorus / lofi sound of the El Capistan in your Reverb Only video (with Time at lowest setting) on the Volante using the Mechanism and Wear knobs ?
Hi Antoine, congratulations on all your videos and the enthusiasm you convey. I would appreciate it if you would tell me just one thing, if you go directly to the sound card from the Volante, or use an amplifier, or preamplifier before doing so.
@@AntoineMichaudGuitar Thanks Antoine and congratulations because the sound you get is very good, I can be wrong but I would even say that you use a class A amplifier.
I am pretty sure that I saw a Volante review where the guy used the wear knob to get that warm treble cut effect exactly like you did with the El capistan. Did you tried it with the drum type of delay?
Antoine Michaud. I Just watched a demo vid by a Strymon sound engineer who described the Volante as “El Capistan on steroids”. From what I understand, the Volante Wear knob rolls off high frequencies and is the equivalent of the Tape Age knob found on the El Cap.
@@GregoryLassale They are different algorithms I think. The Volante is meant to emulate drum echo machines like the Binson Echorec, the El Cap is probably the best tape emulator on the market. Why not both? 😈
All El Cap vids show a casing with one side bent less than 90 degrees on one side so it sits just outside the top casing. Mine is the same. Drives me nuts.... why they don't get on their fab supplier to fix that....there is really no excuse for bends that are not at 90 degrees. Mine was even worse than the one is this vid.
Hi Antoine! May i ask if it's possible on the Volante to set up the Tape Bias sec. function as it's possible on the El Cap? How about the loop level volume (sound on sound?, do you think it's good after a first take and easy to manipulate? Thank you! Your channel is great!
The volume of the looper is much easier to manage on the Volante than the El Capistan! But you do not have control over the Tape Bias specifically, it's only the Mechanics and Wear knob which control much more parameters at the same time (wow and flutter, crinkle, bias, etc).
@@AntoineMichaudGuitar Great answer, that's what i was looking for. By the way, how do you interact on the wet level without a mix knob compared to the El Cap? Getting crazy, there's no answer for that on the web
Weird, when I press the bypass button to stop overdubbing like he does at 10:00, my El Cap just stops altogether, so I can't play over it like he's doing. I think my looper doesn't work :(
Try this: remove the power supply from the pedal. Then, hold down the bypass button as you insert the power supply back in, and the pedal will now be in Trails mode instead of True Bypass. This will solve your problem!
@@AntoineMichaudGuitar Wow, thanks for the quick response. That sort of worked, it allows me to play over it, but doesn't have the delay effects anymore. Either way, how do you know all this info that doesn't seem to be in the user manual. I didn't know anything about Trails or True Bypass mode.
Funny :-) but this time I really read all I could in the instruction manual and watched all Strymon demos. There is no mention of it. I would gladly make another apology video in exchange for a hidden Tape Age knob somewhere, haha!
I prefer the El Cap and I bought it. The shape of Volante is not appealing to me at all. Actually I find it quite ugly. The Bigsky, Timeline shape is amazing tough, oh and the Volante doesn't have that tape sound as the El Cap. Too digital sounding imo.
@@savanaviolenta Loopers that degrade the loop or fade it out slowly are rare. These two and the Ditto X4 from TC Electronic are the only ones I'm aware of. I wish my Timeline would fade out loops.
The half speed double speed effect seems horrible and useless on both models. The el cap is a good pedal for live ambience but it’s looping is nearly as useless as the one on the TC Electronics Alter Ego. The Volante is more like the TCE Ditto Plus which has a long record time and zero deterioration (I have one on in my studio that has been looping for a month lol). For the price difference there’s no question the Volante is the best overall choice. I grew up when tape would wear out and yeah, not missing it in the slightest. Thank you.
It’s definitely not the pedal that’s causing your problems and I guarantee you’re the one single person on the planet that thinks this. and it’s hilarious. I think we all disagree with you my guy. 😂😂😂😂😂
I said the El Cap is best for live performances especially with a guitar. I use it for my acoustic where the tape deterioration is great. But I don’t bother with it as a looper for the reasons I stated. The TCE ditto is far superior for that function. I don’t think anyone would disagree with that. The Volante is a better choice for stereo studio effects but I have a lot of other boxes for that, so I bought the El Cap in the end for the live effect. I do like the tape age effect, so I have changed my mind about that. You’re right about that!
Side cultural notes: You might not care to please all audiences which is fair, but just to point out that in some Asian communities, using a foot to point at things is considered disrespectful and might make you look unprofessional. Again - no offense, just a random thought.
Maybe if your culture is offended by such things don’t watch videos of guitar pedals that are designed to be used with the users feet to press the FOOTSWITCHES lol...
Guys, give him a break. He didn't say he was offended and he didn't file a complaint. He shared a random thought with the video creator about something that could be considered culturally offensive with some audiences so that the creator could at least be aware and take this into consideration if he were to pursue those audiences. Cultural differences to the side, he was only trying to share information that could be helpful to the content producer for expanding his audience that he otherwise would not have taken into account. And he said it very respectfully. You can say you're not interested in selling to such a culture all you want but if you don't know you can't even make that decision. Plus who doesn't like more money. Let's all just appreciate these great pedals, this great demo, and have mutual respect for one another in our appreciation of good music. Good Vibes!
The simplest way to make a decision on these 2 pedals is this : The El Cap is darker, more low fi and has more ability to really destroy the tape for more really warped sounds. It’s “warmer” when playing by itself so perceived nicer on the ear on its own. Volante is more hifi sounding and clearer and will sit in a mix better, has more options and has its own sonic magic in that upper midrange and top end. Really they are different. One is not a replacement for the other. Really if you have El Cap and Dig, Volante fills the everything else category with some cross over. If you can only justify one -I would say Volante is the best choice due to versatility and it’s ability to come close to El Cap and Dig with its own sounds…. But if you are really into delay -get all 3 of those and you’ll never need another delay. Unless you gotta have that bucket brigade thing then you may need to add a Brig or MM. But with a good warm tape like squeezing compressor in front and overdrive -you’ll be happy in delay land forever with those 3.
►► Get your Strymon Volante here → sweetwater.sjv.io/jrGBoa
►► Get your Strymon El Capistan here → sweetwater.sjv.io/4PxqY9
(these Sweetwater affiliate links support my work at no extra cost to you. Thank you! 😊)
I just got a Volante and it's wonderful!
Great video. I just got the volante. It is so badass. This pedal pretty much instantly became my favorite.
The simplest way to make a decision on these 2 pedals is this :
The El Cap is darker, more low fi and has more ability to really destroy the tape for more really warped sounds.
It’s “warmer” when playing by itself so perceived nicer on the ear on its own.
Volante is more hifi sounding and clearer and will sit in a mix better, has more options and has its own sonic magic in that upper midrange and top end.
Really they are different. One is not a replacement for the other. Really if you have El Cap and Dig, Volante fills the everything else category with some cross over.
If you can only justify one -I would say Volante is the best choice due to versatility and it’s ability to come close to El Cap and Dig with its own sounds….
But if you are really into delay -get all 3 of those and you’ll never need another delay. Unless you gotta have that bucket brigade thing then you may need to add a Brig or MM.
But with a good warm tape like squeezing compressor in front and overdrive -you’ll be happy in delay land forever with those 3.
One thing I miss in the comments that speaks for the volante: volante has stereo inputs! in the el capistan it requires changing jumpers, which sucks if you want to use it with both synths and guitars.
That’s exactly why I went with the V. I hate it when I love mono pedals.
As an update, the V2 model now has the toggle between mono/stereo inputs at the back instead of as a jumper.
The best comparison on the yt, great job man!
If I was to get one of these, I think it would be the Volante simply for the length of the loop time. But the El Capistan is a great unit by all accounts. Both sound nice doing what they do. It is a difficult choice based on other metrics. Well... unless we're talking in terms of real estate.
couldn‘t you just put a looper behind it? So you don‘t habe to worry about them dying out?
Tape age knob is the trump card of the El Capistan!
Wear is the same as tape age, both just remove high frequencies.
El Capistan for me. Volante is great, more built in effects, stability... but the deterioration on el Cap is awesome, plus I´m a guy who loves to stack the EQD Afterneath and Transmisser with some modulation, El Cap, DD20, Boss RV6 and finally a BigSky always on Cloud mode... so of course that grey box is my partner in that almost impredictable chain. Cheers Antoine, great job as always. Greetings from Chile!
I would never part with my El Cap either. It's a long time relationship now. Thanks, Edmundo :-)
The Volante has some cool features, especially the separate panning of delay heads … but the sound is too bright/digital … 😕
And I don’t care about a bright digital reverb sound or bright digital looper in my delay pedal … I have separate reverbs and loopers for that.
It would be better if the Volante could actually sound like an Echorec and an Echoplex or Space Echo … but it’s too bright/digital !!!!
Excellent comparison Antoine! I agree--all the Volante needs is that Tape Age knob! Or better yet: longer looping time on the El Capistan (maybe in a future v3? We can only pray)!
Hi Antoine, with the Volante, can you stop overdubbing and have the repeats to continue to deteriorate just like the El Capistan (use of the trail, spillover function)? ...great videos as usual!
Fantastic video Antoine, well done!
This was something I was looking for, and you made a perfect comparison. In my case, where I already have the NU-X stereo looper (3 hours of recording time!) it will be the Strymon El Capistan because of the price difference and the tape age knob. That will have to wait though, as I'm currently saving for a Blue Sky (summer coming up).
Don't buy Blue Sky, It's just the Flint but with slightly less good sound and without tremolo. I have both and the Blue Sky is completely redundant.
@@tobisteffenSince I'll never use tremolo i'm not interested in the flint. Meanwhile I have the Blue Sky for about half a year and it is awesome. Didn't regret it at all. I even prefer it over the Big Sky, for the moment, since that one is too complex for me.
Love this pedal! Thanks for sharing
hi!
Awesome video man :)
I just have one question.
Is it possible to activate the delay after having recorded the loop without delay on the strymon volante?
Hey Antoine, thanks for this comparison ! Very useful:) I really liked your video about the El capistan and obtaining Reverb Only. I was wondering if, to your knowledge, it's possible to obtain this kind of chorus / lofi sound of the El Capistan in your Reverb Only video (with Time at lowest setting) on the Volante using the Mechanism and Wear knobs ?
Thank you Antoine! Perfect video, and at the perfect time too!
Very nice playing dude !
Hi Antoine, congratulations on all your videos and the enthusiasm you convey.
I would appreciate it if you would tell me just one thing, if you go directly to the sound card from the Volante, or use an amplifier, or preamplifier before doing so.
I record my real amps with Shure SM57 microphones!
@@AntoineMichaudGuitar Thanks Antoine and congratulations because the sound you get is very good, I can be wrong but I would even say that you use a class A amplifier.
Great video, fantastic delay units.
I am pretty sure that I saw a Volante review where the guy used the wear knob to get that warm treble cut effect exactly like you did with the El capistan. Did you tried it with the drum type of delay?
Will try it out, thanks!
Antoine Michaud Did you ever try the suggestion above or figure out a way to achieve a similar high frequency roll off on the Volante?
Antoine Michaud. I Just watched a demo vid by a Strymon sound engineer who described the Volante as “El Capistan on steroids”. From what I understand, the Volante Wear knob rolls off high frequencies and is the equivalent of the Tape Age knob found on the El Cap.
@@GregoryLassale They are different algorithms I think. The Volante is meant to emulate drum echo machines like the Binson Echorec, the El Cap is probably the best tape emulator on the market. Why not both? 😈
All El Cap vids show a casing with one side bent less than 90 degrees on one side so it sits just outside the top casing. Mine is the same. Drives me nuts.... why they don't get on their fab supplier to fix that....there is really no excuse for bends that are not at 90 degrees. Mine was even worse than the one is this vid.
Hi there, can you please make a video explaining how to connect the volante stereo in front the amp and stereo on fx loop.Thanks
Yeah the lack of tape age is a shame. El cap for me :)
I think that’s what the wear knob controls
Yeah the inability to change pitch manually and deletion of the tape age makes the volante much less fun.
U just earn another subscribe. Love all yur videos and yur playing man..!! Keep up the gd work..Greetings from Singapore.
Hi Antoine! May i ask if it's possible on the Volante to set up the Tape Bias sec. function as it's possible on the El Cap? How about the loop level volume (sound on sound?, do you think it's good after a first take and easy to manipulate? Thank you! Your channel is great!
The volume of the looper is much easier to manage on the Volante than the El Capistan! But you do not have control over the Tape Bias specifically, it's only the Mechanics and Wear knob which control much more parameters at the same time (wow and flutter, crinkle, bias, etc).
@@AntoineMichaudGuitar Great answer, that's what i was looking for. By the way, how do you interact on the wet level without a mix knob compared to the El Cap? Getting crazy, there's no answer for that on the web
The ''Echo Level'' knob is pretty much the same as the ''Mix'' knob :-)
@@AntoineMichaudGuitar Thanks for your courtesy
Weird, when I press the bypass button to stop overdubbing like he does at 10:00, my El Cap just stops altogether, so I can't play over it like he's doing. I think my looper doesn't work :(
Try this: remove the power supply from the pedal. Then, hold down the bypass button as you insert the power supply back in, and the pedal will now be in Trails mode instead of True Bypass. This will solve your problem!
@@AntoineMichaudGuitar Wow, thanks for the quick response. That sort of worked, it allows me to play over it, but doesn't have the delay effects anymore. Either way, how do you know all this info that doesn't seem to be in the user manual. I didn't know anything about Trails or True Bypass mode.
Been using it for almost 10 years. I don't know where I found all that, but it's certainly somewhere on Strymon's website!
Nice playing on the long loop.
Didn't realise people bought these to use as a looper
yup
too much nonsense corks sniffer
Elcap is king!!
You're right for the Tape Age.
Basically digital versions of the Binson Echorec and Dunlop Echoplex, respectively.
Now, is there gonna be another apology video once you figure out where they hid the "Tape Age" knob on the Volante? ;)
Funny :-) but this time I really read all I could in the instruction manual and watched all Strymon demos. There is no mention of it. I would gladly make another apology video in exchange for a hidden Tape Age knob somewhere, haha!
Does the low cut not do the same thing?
No all that does is filter out the low end frequencies of the delay repeats, nothing like the tape age control ;)
Almost!
I have the Bigsky. Have you used it with the volante? Thoughts
is it possible to add delay AFTER recording a loop on the volante?
Yes
Yes
I prefer the El Cap and I bought it. The shape of Volante is not appealing to me at all. Actually I find it quite ugly. The Bigsky, Timeline shape is amazing tough, oh and the Volante doesn't have that tape sound as the El Cap. Too digital sounding imo.
El Capistan. Loopers don’t have my interest.
Exactly. Anyway, almost everyone has a looper pedal.
@@savanaviolenta Loopers that degrade the loop or fade it out slowly are rare. These two and the Ditto X4 from TC Electronic are the only ones I'm aware of. I wish my Timeline would fade out loops.
I will save you all same time from Nonsense YOU WANT TO BUY A LOOPER THAN BUY A LOOPER .
The half speed double speed effect seems horrible and useless on both models. The el cap is a good pedal for live ambience but it’s looping is nearly as useless as the one on the TC Electronics Alter Ego. The Volante is more like the TCE Ditto Plus which has a long record time and zero deterioration (I have one on in my studio that has been looping for a month lol). For the price difference there’s no question the Volante is the best overall choice. I grew up when tape would wear out and yeah, not missing it in the slightest. Thank you.
It’s definitely not the pedal that’s causing your problems and I guarantee you’re the one single person on the planet that thinks this. and it’s hilarious. I think we all disagree with you my guy. 😂😂😂😂😂
Also, you just left one of those comments that should’ve just stayed in your head
I said the El Cap is best for live performances especially with a guitar. I use it for my acoustic where the tape deterioration is great. But I don’t bother with it as a looper for the reasons I stated. The TCE ditto is far superior for that function. I don’t think anyone would disagree with that. The Volante is a better choice for stereo studio effects but I have a lot of other boxes for that, so I bought the El Cap in the end for the live effect. I do like the tape age effect, so I have changed my mind about that. You’re right about that!
Side cultural notes: You might not care to please all audiences which is fair, but just to point out that in some Asian communities, using a foot to point at things is considered disrespectful and might make you look unprofessional. Again - no offense, just a random thought.
I didn't even know it. Thanks for letting me know!
@@AntoineMichaudGuitar Cheers! Decided to go after Volante after your great vid reviews. Thanks btw!
Using a foot to point at a foot pedal is disrespectful? Get outta here...
Maybe if your culture is offended by such things don’t watch videos of guitar pedals that are designed to be used with the users feet to press the FOOTSWITCHES lol...
Guys, give him a break. He didn't say he was offended and he didn't file a complaint. He shared a random thought with the video creator about something that could be considered culturally offensive with some audiences so that the creator could at least be aware and take this into consideration if he were to pursue those audiences. Cultural differences to the side, he was only trying to share information that could be helpful to the content producer for expanding his audience that he otherwise would not have taken into account. And he said it very respectfully. You can say you're not interested in selling to such a culture all you want but if you don't know you can't even make that decision. Plus who doesn't like more money. Let's all just appreciate these great pedals, this great demo, and have mutual respect for one another in our appreciation of good music. Good Vibes!
The simplest way to make a decision on these 2 pedals is this :
The El Cap is darker, more low fi and has more ability to really destroy the tape for more really warped sounds.
It’s “warmer” when playing by itself so perceived nicer on the ear on its own.
Volante is more hifi sounding and clearer and will sit in a mix better, has more options and has its own sonic magic in that upper midrange and top end.
Really they are different. One is not a replacement for the other. Really if you have El Cap and Dig, Volante fills the everything else category with some cross over.
If you can only justify one -I would say Volante is the best choice due to versatility and it’s ability to come close to El Cap and Dig with its own sounds….
But if you are really into delay -get all 3 of those and you’ll never need another delay. Unless you gotta have that bucket brigade thing then you may need to add a Brig or MM.
But with a good warm tape like squeezing compressor in front and overdrive -you’ll be happy in delay land forever with those 3.