Welcome to the twenty-first century: you break it, you buy it
There is no cultural practice truer or more prolific than karaoke.
(Give us a second.)
Would it be too much of a stretch to connect the myths of prehistoric tribes, the dramas of the ancient Greeks, or the theatrics of Shakespeare's companies to today's karaoke? What fundamentally separates the archetypical sharing of story and song of ancient civilizations from our modern moment other than time and place? We won't belabor this point, but it's something to chew on or at least laugh about. What's the real difference between the recital of the labors of Odysseus and the chronicle of a city boy born and raised in south Detroit? You know the words, we all know the words.
If not for its truth in storytelling, karaoke has in fact impacted one world in a pretty prolific way – the world of consumer audio electronics (I know, crazy, right?). Today we're talking about such an impact and the ways that gift keeps on giving. Let's not beat around the bush any longer.
This is the Caroline Guitar Company Kilobyte 2000 Lo-Fi Tap Delay.
Shop the Caroline Kilobyte 2000 Delay
A Bit of a Byte
Introducing the Caroline Kilobyte 2000 Lo-Fi Tap Delay
Caroline Guitar Company is among today's most celebrated effect pedal brands. Their American-made pieces have since been described as many people's "gateway to boutique" with their unique effect experiences and charming aesthetics. Among these pedals, Caroline has put out true blue classics like the Megabyte Lo-Fi Delay Computer, Parabola Solid-State Tremolo, Somersault Lo-Fi Modulator, and – you guessed it – the Kilobyte Lo-Fi Digital Delay. The Kilobyte, a pedal that truly put Caroline on the map for many, still stands as one of Caroline's greatest hits and is among the most celebrated Caroline effects. Is it any wonder then that Caroline would introduce something like the Kilobyte 2000, a veritably upgraded version of one of their standby effects? No, we don't think so.
The Caroline Kilobyte 2000 is the company's attempt at moving the digital delay chip effect design into the proverbial twenty-first century. The chip in question, a PT2399 chip, gained prominence among electronic audio tinkerers for its distinctly "lo-fi" character, a quality imparted due to the chip being designed for mass consumption, creating rudimentary echo effects that didn't necessarily need to have the greatest fidelity. Where were these kinds of basic echo effects commonly seen, you might wonder? Try karaoke machines and other lower-grade consumer audio electronics. One man's "good enough" is another man's "charming low-fidelity," it seems to prove once again.
Today's Caroline Kilobyte 2000 works on many fronts, preserving the classic lo-fi sound of the PT2399 while expanding the functionality and playability of the effect. If you're a fan of the Kilobyte and are excited to see what Caroline's cooked up for this latest version, you're in for a treat.
A Delay Odyssey
Caroline Kilobyte 2000 Lo-Fi Tap Delay Tones and Controls
The basis of the Kilobyte 2000 will appear largely familiar to Kilobyte fans. At its core, the Caroline Kilobyte 2000's setup is similar to its predecessor with two footswitches, four dials, and a selection of front-facing miniature knobs. The Kilobyte 2000 fundamentally expands on the effect's playability, connectivity, and tonality, but for now, let's talk about the basics.
The heart of the Kilobyte 2000 is based around Kilobyte's configuration of basic delay effect controls – Level, Repeats, and Time – along with a control for customizing delay repeat gain. Let's talk about these basic controls for a quick second.
- Level – No surprises here. You'll find the Kilobyte 2000's delay volume control at its top-left spot. Roll this control upward for louder delay repeats, send it backward for quieter trails, easy as pie.
- Repeats – At the bottom-left spot, we have our delay repeat control. This harnesses the number of repeats present in the delay trail, effectively controlling how long your repeats will repeat. Notably, the Repeats control borders on self-oscillation pretty easily past 2 o'clock on the dial, so have some fun getting acquainted with the effect's noisier side when you're feeling it.
- Time – Again, no surprises. Time (at the bottom-right position) will lengthen or shorten the time intervals between delay repeats – clockwise for longer, counterclockwise for shorter. The Kilobyte 2000 affords players up to one second of delay time, allowing for some true runaway repeat trails that are begging for oscillation and further tinkering, but let's talk about that more in a minute.
- Drive – At this juncture, we have a returning star from the original Kilobyte, the repeats drive control. At the top-right position, players have control over the drive tone of their repeats, which can result in some subtle distortion or outright noisiness when reeled in or pushed, respectively.
- Modulation – The third miniature dial on the Kilobyte 2000's face, denoted by a wave graphic harnesses the effect's ability to modulate the delay trails. This key function, as previously seen on the prior Kilobyte, does quite a bit to introduce wavering, wobbling movement to the Kilobyte 2000 to expand the effect into a new dimension.
Through the Kilobyte 2000, the classic lo-fi delay tones of PT2399 chips are all yours in familiar Kilobyte fashion. At the center of the Kilobyte 2000's basic delay configuration, however, is the conversation between the delay Level and Gain controls. These two controls allow players to bounce back and forth, making the tiniest adjustments for the distortion of their delay trails. Utilizing these controls, players can slide back on volume while bumping up on drive to create small, static undercurrents of repeats that are distorted and lo-fi without overtaking the whole of the signal. The Kilobyte 2000's lo-fi character is strikingly adjustable, fluid, and colorful through these four basic controls and only steps into further technicolor with its new controls and functions.
The New Millennium
Caroline Kilobyte 2000 Lo-Fi Tap Delay New Features
Gain Range
Caroline sought to bring their lo-fi digital delay effect into the future with a number of improvements, and that is exactly what they did. Let's talk the biggest addition for tone control onboard this effect first. Among the three front-facing miniature dials on the Kilobyte 2000, we have our Gain Range control. This control, landing in the topmost spot in the triangle of dials, gives us control over the range of gain present in the delay trail. What this ultimately adds up to is deeper control over the character of the gain in the delay trails, resulting in gain-laden trails that can be made bright or dark, sharp or dull.
This "sharpness" gain range control empowers players to truly get interactive and personalized with their delay trails as the focus over gain structure has never been finer. Use this miniature dial in tandem with the Drive control and come to your own distorted conclusions, either cleaning up the delays for subtle, modest repeats or going overboard with drive and let the distortion pour out into the streets in glorious waterfalls of self-oscillation. The choice is yours!
Havoc
The all-important Havoc control, how could we ever forget? As a classic feature of Caroline effect pedals, we have the Havoc footswitch. Though Caroline's Havocs have covered a wide range of functions for different pedals in the past, today's Havoc footswitch is at once blissfully simple and simply blissful*. Putting the "tap" in "Lo-Fi Tap Delay," the Caroline Kilobyte 2000's Havoc footswitch operates as a tap tempo control as well as a self-oscillation control – tap the footswitch at least two times to set the delay tempo, hold it down for self-oscillation. This dual capability allows for the Kilobyte 2000 to be the best of both worlds, both strictly regimented and thoroughly chaotic. Additionally, the front-facing Havoc dial rounds out our trio of miniature controls, allowing for the adjustment of the oscillation level and making for the perfect companion for hitting oscillations exactly where you want them.
See what we did there?
Attach and DetachWithin the Kilobyte 2000's internal architecture, we have a small function for all of you who can't help but open your pedals up and look inside. The Caroline Kilobyte 2000 features an internal switch that can "detach" the tap tempo functionality from the Havoc footswitch. Where this matters is in the smaller details – since the Havoc is pulling double duty, holding down the footswitch won't immediately trigger the self-oscillation function, since the Kilobyte needs that extra moment to figure that what you're doing isn't tapping a tempo. This internal switch makes the Havoc switch strictly for self-oscillation, meaning the Kilobyte 2000 will more quickly swap into its infinite repeats. You can also route an external tap tempo footswitch into the Kilobyte 2000, if that's your cup of tea.
FX Loop
Alright so, we've arrived. Not quite at the end, but definitely at the showstopper – the "we didn't have to go there, but we did" part of our journey: effect looping. One of the most outstanding parts of the Caroline Kilobyte 2000 is its effect looping function, where additional effect pedals can be looped into the Kilobyte's signal chain, affecting only its delay trails. If you immediately started imagining the possibilities, let's just lay them out plainly for all to see, shall we?
Loop in a phaser for spacey, wavering modulation across your lo-fi repeats for cool or mind-altering experiences. Loop in a distortion for doubling down on drive and gain for intriguing, down-and-dirty digital delays sure to rouse the neighbors. Loop in another delay altogether to really go off the deep end into true, interstellar, 2000s-primed bliss. Did you remember there's a footswitch for self-oscillation? Release your inhibitions. Feel the rain on your skin.
The FX loop is accessible via a TRS Y cable, so if you have one of those laying around, this additional function is absolutely worth a try and certainly something that can make you stay for way longer than you originally planned. "It's been how long?"
Caroline Kilobyte 2000 Lo-Fi Tap Delay Final Thoughts
The Caroline Kilobyte 2000 Lo-Fi Tap Delay is what any great sequel or reimagining should be: familiar but forward-thinking. It effortlessly expands on the characteristics that made the original Kilobyte so beloved without erasing them altogether. Because of this, fans of the original Kilobyte have no need to fear, Caroline absolutely has you covered. Caroline's Kilobyte 2000 is at once a reintroduction for fans to one of their favorite digital delays and a push by the company into a new era.
We know the world was already in color by the turn of the millennium, but let's pretend it wasn't for a second. Caroline proudly refers to the Kilobyte 2000 as "the twentieth century's delay pedal of the future" – and rightly so. In this hypothetical 1999, what does the world look like? Monochromatic? Grey? Antiquated? We might imagine. Therefore, our Caroline Kilobyte 2000 illustrates for us a new millennium in wonderful technicolor. The constant between these two eras? The PT2399 karaoke delay chip.
Sing along if you know the words.
