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Origin Stories – Rubberneck Delay

Origin Stories - Rubberneck Delay

DOD Rubberneck Analog Delay pedal

 

The Rubberneck started out as a name and a drawing on a 3×5 card. After working on the Obscura Altered Delay and adding what I called “performance features” I wanted to do something analog that could be what I called a “performance delay.” The idea was a full featured analog delay that embraced the quirks and warts of BBD’s, but also encouraged tweaking during live performance.

Right from the first drawing I had 90% of the feature set and UI nailed-down. Including using the LED potentiometers. I wanted the UI to be clean and simple looking but with hidden complexity. In the beginning I was focusing more on the quasi-looping aspects and the ability to go into oscillation at will. I thought of this as stretching out delays, and this was the source of the Rubberneck name. However, during development Parker Coons had the brilliant idea to shift the delays in real-time and shift the pitch of the delays as a performance feature. This fit the Rubberneck name and theme even better than just oscillation, and we directly named this effect Rubbernecking.

Taking on a digitally-controlled analog delay turned out to be a bigger project than we anticipated, and the development took engineers from multiple divisions years of on-and-off development. I believed that even before we got the first prototypes working that the Rubberneck would be something special. It was really a labor of love and born from a desire to make a pedal that would re-define what analog delays can do.

That initial drawing on a 3×5 card remained pinned to my cubicle wall for the entire development time of the Rubberneck. I was very proud that the final design and the card remained fundamentally unchanged. First thought, best thought.

— Tom Cram