Doepfer

> Hallo group,
>
> are there any disadvantages in a BBD having more stages ? is 512
> "better" than 256 ?
>
> cheers,
>
> stu

From the technical point of view the quality is worse for longer BBDs as the
signal losses, noise and clock suppression are worse due to the higher
number of "buckets" represented by very small capacitors in the pF range.

Another point of view is the sound that can be generated with a longer or
shorter BBD. As the typical clock frequencies are in the 10kHz...100kHz
(200kHz for shorter BBDs) range for all BBDs one obtains different delay
times for BBDs with different numbers of stages. Shorter delays are used for
flanging or chorus effects and Karplus-Strong-Synthesis. Longer delays cause
audio delay effects. You find a detailed list of delay times with reference
to clock frequencies and number of BBD stages in the A-188-1 user's manual.

The most flexible solution is a tapped BBD (as used in the A-188-2) as one
has available six taps with stages between 396 and 3328.

Best wishes
Dieter Doepfer