Lem Echo Music

Name: Lem Echo Music
Price: 49 USD
Author: Martinic

by Martinic · Delay · Vintage Italian tape delay

Not rated yet

Lem Echo Music emulates the vintage Italian Lem tape delay, with three playheads on one strip of tape.

It includes wow and flutter, tape age, a two-channel mixer with bass and treble, a VU meter and a built-in reverb, for $49.

Best for: Guitars, Vocals, Keys & Synths. Genres: Rock & Indie, Pop, Lo-Fi.

Keywords: tape, vintage, tape echo, metering, electric guitar, flutter, keys, lo-fi, vocals, wobble, samples & loops, hardware emulation, mixing, piano, retro, slapback.

What it does

Lem Echo Music is Martinic's model of a vintage Italian tape echo from Lem. It is the same tape delay found in Martinic's Elka Panther plugin, offered as its own effect.

Three playheads: one tape with three heads at fixed times of about 80, 210 and 330 ms, giving 7 tap combinations.
Tape loop: the echo is built around a 9.5-second tape loop.
Tape character: wow and flutter, tape saturation and a tape age control for a more worn sound.
Echo controls: wet mix and feedback for anything from a single slap to long, building repeats.
Mixer: a two-channel mixer with bass and treble controls on each channel, stereo panning and a vintage VU meter.
Reverb: a built-in reverb, the same one used in the Elka Panther plugin.

The current version is 1.4.4.

Source: Martinic product page

When to use it

Lem Echo Music is the pick for a rarer, Italian flavour of multi-head tape echo with a built-in reverb and a vintage mixer section. Compared with Galaxy Tape Echo and Arturia Delay TAPE-201, which model the Roland Space Echo, it gives a different, less common tape sound at a lower price. Unlike EchoBoy, it models one unit and has no groove, rhythm or style options, and its head times are fixed rather than set freely or synced to tempo. Next to ValhallaDelay or Timeless 3 it is far less flexible, but it is quick to dial in and full of character.

Best for: vintage guitar echoes, retro organ and electric piano parts, and slapback or tape-washed vocals.
Genres: rock and indie, surf, psych, pop and lo-fi.
Look elsewhere if: you need clean, modern or tempo-synced delays; EchoBoy or ValhallaDelay cover far more styles.
Tip: the Cigilovic review found it works best as a send effect rather than an insert.

What producers say

The few reviews are very positive about the sound, with the vintage-only character and fixed head times as the main limits.

Cigilovic rated it 4.8 out of 5, calling it an "excellent digital reproduction of this forgotten tape echo" and great fun on guitar; it noted it is "not suitable for modern delay needs."
KVR users rate it 5 out of 5 from 2 reviews (2019 and 2020), calling it a "nice alternative to the more common Space Echo plugs" and praising its quirky controls.
Criticisms: one KVR user wanted adjustable delay times for each head; Cigilovic noted it is sold only on Martinic's own site.

Where to buy

Best Service: $49
Martinic: $49 (Price from the KVR Audio product listing)
PluginFox: $49
AudioDeluxe: $49

Tutorials and reviews

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