DigiTech DSP 256

I've read some of the reviews here. I'm not totally up on all the stuff that's out there these days but . . . I've messed with some and none of them sounded as good as this old girl. More on that in the next section. I like it because it has some good old knobs on it. It is super easy to figure out and tweak. The manual is good but if you are a little familiar with gadgets these days, it's pretty straight forward. Lots of features.

First of all, I use it for Vocals only. There aren't many effects out there that let you chain 4 effects. I blow people away with my vocal stuff . . . mainly, I do sing very well but . . . using the right effect set just right makes a HUGE difference. Listen to the old Beatle stuff. They used a lot of really cool effects on their vocals - especially John. So did Paul. There are some tricks to making your vocals really fat and the 256 let's you do that. Adding a slow sweeping, doubling chorus along with delay and even some reverb is fat city and sounds amazing. It's amazing to me how many bands just grab a cheap PA maybe put on a little reverb and that's it.

The only negative here is that this is old and consequently only 16-bit. I have two Roland Effects cards in my Birtual Studio recorder that do indeed sound cleaner. But for live stuff, this thing kicks ass.

As many of the other reviewers have stated, this thing is built like a tank. The only problem that I ever had was that the battery went out on it and I lost my memory stuff (as I never bothered to do the dump). I got another battery but it only lasted about 1 1/2 to 2 yers or so. The original lasted something like 13 years!! I must not have replaced it with the right one. If anyone knows where you can get the right one, please let me know.

Called them once for something else and they were friendly and knowlegable.

I bought this baby new but I can't remember what I paid for it but I was pretty poor back then and I remember that it was a lot. I just thought that I had problem with it (but it was something stupid I did with the Mixer and wasn't sending it any signal). I went into a panic and went right to e-Bay and snagged another one. So now I'lll have two! I like it that much!

Super easy to use...........................

I bought this unit at a pawn shop for $70.00 fifteen years ago! It's still in my rack and sounds awesome!!! In readind reviews on these unit Im hearing people say "I've used it for six years now and it just doesn't sound as good as it did when I first got it" !!! 6 YEARS?! What other effects unit last 6 freak'en years? I have had this unit tuned up from my tech 1 time in all the years I have been using it! Any unit with tons of wear needs to be "TONED UP" to bring it back to fresh and new...............It would blow your mind to see all the musician's that use this unit and will never give it up....Im one of them! If your reading this review and are looking for a wonderful clean multi-effect unit THIS IS IT! If you can find one BUY IT!

Always ready!

Great..................

Over all this is an all round unit that can be used be any musician for warm clean effects!

I've had my DSP 256 for about 10 yrs. It is very easy to use. You can edit your sounds by using the arrow buttons on the front to adjust your parameters. It has a LCD screen on the front. I have never read my manual for it. You don't need one.

I use this for my guitar. I'm currently trying to find a new effects unit for my effects. This unit is too dated now. I remember when I first heard it in the late 80's and early 90's. I thought it sounded incredible. The sounds that it produces doesn't sound as rich and full to me now as it did several years ago. The sounds are, in my opinion, too thin sounding now. The unit just consists of your basic effects, which are your reverbs,delays, and chorus. It's great if your wanting something thats alright and your not looking to spend a lot of money. You can find them used now for $100-150. They use to be $350-400 back in 1990.

My unit has never messed up. I bought mine from a friend 10 years ago. I think he bought it from a friend of his also. In my opinion it is very reliable. This unit came out in the days when big hair bands ruled. This unit has survived the big hair era, the grunge era, and now still works for today's rap metal era. I think it will last till I'm 80 yrs. old.

I have never had an upgrade. I have never contacted digitech.

I still play rock and metal. I've been playing for 16 yrs. I would never by this unit again if it was stolen or destroyed. I'm wanting a more modern effects unit now. Like I stated earlier, if your looking for a basic effects unit and your not looking to spend a lot of cash, get it. If your looking for something that has warped, crazy sounds, don't get it.

I have owned my DSP 256 now for almost 12 years, so I guess I would
qualify as having a bit of experience with it. Within the limitations of it's age and price point ($375 in 1989) it's been a great F/X processor.

Since there is only now one review (not counting the XL version) on HC, and I know quite a bit about this unit, I thought I'd contribute my scribblings to the pile.

I also posted a review of my old (1988 vintage) DSP-128 here on HC, if you notice a lot of similarities between the reviews, that is because I used parts of the DSP 128 review as a reference.

Both units are pretty similiar, the obvious differences being that the DSP 256 has an LCD display, in addition to the LED, and it also has an edit buffer, and is a full bandwidth (20 hz to 20 Khz) device, whereas the DSP 128 only goes up to about 12k.

Well a cliche I like to use a lot is that the DSP 256 is so easy to use, a crackhead could program it. Seriously, I don't understand some of the reviews that said this unit is hard to use. If you have a pulse, and some basic motor skills and coordination, you can program it no problem.

Getting a good sound is variable - keep in mind this is a cheap F/X processor (under $400 street price) that was made from 1989 to around 1992 (in "XL" guise). If you compare it to a modern unit you will of course be disappointed.

Percussive sounds don't work as well (kind of excites the ringiness
of the reverbs), and it's not exactly a Lexicon or TC Electronic on vocals, but for it's age and price, it's not too bad.

Chances are if you have one of these, or have bought one, you didn't fool yourself into thinking you were getting a world class reverb.

If you consider that a used one will set you back maybe $125, and this unit is very reliable and easy to use, then that puts it into more perspective.

There is a reverb algorithm, called "Ultimate Reverb" that sounds pretty damn respectable, even these days. The other algorithms that add more and more effects tend to sap the quality of the reverb, but if used as a straight one F/X box - Reverb or delay, or delay/chorus, I think the DSP 256 sounds pretty good.

Some of the verb sounds, depending on the source can sound a bit metallic or ringy, but not nearly as bad as the ART stuff. One nice thing about old cheap digitechs is that they don't have that hyped, fizzy top end cheap digital reverb sound, like the old Alesis and ART stuff.

I think the DSP 256 verb does not sound as good as the Quadraverb verb, but it is pretty close. The 256 is way easier to use though and for the likely applications one would see today (cheap PA or recording rig), a DSP 256 might be a better bet, just do to the ease of use.

Editing patches is a piece of cake, pick a preset, then choose your algorithm. You then use arrow buttons to rotate through a list of parameters for that preset. You can go forwards or backwards in the parameter list. Find the parameter you want to edit, then use the up and down buttons to change it's value. Having an edit KNOB or WHEEL would have been a lot better but for some reason, F/X makers only discovered this later (early 1990's) and then acted like they had figured something cool out. They should have had a knob or data wheel to begin with!

There is not a lot of variety in the 256, but your basic meat and potatoes combinations are covered. This is a box for straight F/X, not weird whacked out stuff. Techno users would probably hate it because it doesn't do anything weird, other than some cool buzzy flange stuff.

The manual for it is pretty good, helped by the fact that it is a simple device. In general, I think digitech makes some of the better manuals out there for F/X.

I can't remember my firmware version, mine has never been upgraded and never had a moment of downtime.

It's probably a really early version though, as it was introduced at the Summer NAMM show that year (1989) and I bought mine in August.

One final thing I have to mention is the midi

I am using this unit in a send/return setup in a rehearsal PA right now, but I used it back in 1989/1990 as my main vocal reverb, then it became the backup vocal F/X, then the 2nd guitar F/X, then the main keyboard F/X, then the 2nd keyboard F/X, and now the vocal F/X on a rehearsal PA.

So needless to say it's sort of worked it's way down the food chain as I have bought better quality (and newer technology) units.

It's not exactly whisper quiet, but it's not too bad.

I think the effects sound good, considering what it is, and the unit has a strong output, and pretty good input headroom.

Extra points go out to the dedicated input, output, and mix knobs. You can patch this thing in to a strange setup and get things going level wise really quickly. Software based controls may allow you to "save" your settings but who wants to dick with finding the output level page in the software when the band starts playing live.

Like I said, I'm, not using it with an amp, it's patched into a F/X send on a board, then back into a channel as return.

I didn't buy this thing to sound like anybody in particuliar, I bought it to use for F/X on original songs in a recording situation mainly. I am using it now with the rehearsal PA because I have plenty of F/X units for my recording situation.

To me, the unit was worth keeping, rather than selling, just because it's so easy to use - that makes it great for live PA work.

I think the reverbs are serviceable, especially the "ultimate reverb" which restricts you to using only reverb.

The chorus and flange settings are ok, but have a bit of digital thinness.

I think the delays are great, especially the multitap ones - you can get some pretty kooky things going on with it.

I used this box mainly to get reverb and delay combos, or some reverb and chorus on mellow guitar parts. Generally the mellower the source, the better the DSP 256 sounds.

None of the F/X on it sound truly bad, just some of them are kind of bland, others don't sound bad at all for a 12 year old box that costs about $100.

There are really two ratings for sound quaility here, I'll split the difference:

1989 (for $375 new) - 7

2001 (for $125 used) - 5

This is one of the most reliable pieces of gear that I have owned. I have owned it almost 12 years now, and it has never failed to boot up, it's been hauled around in PA's, pulled in and out of racks, used for all different apps, etc. and I have not had one spec of trouble with it.

Digitech stuff (with some exceptions, like my TSR-24) is VERY reliable, it almost never breaks.

Think about it, you still see all kinds of DSP 128's and DSP 256's out there, along with those really old RDS delays, etc.

Do you see any really old Alesis or ART Effects, or old Roland stuff anymore?

That is kind of a problem with the digitech stuff really, you better like it, because chances are it will not break so you will either have to sell it cheaply (because it has no resale value), or just keep it forever.

Kind of reminds me of what I read about the best and worst features of Peavey gear once:

Best Feature - it lasts forever

Worst Feature - it lasts forever

Yeah I'd gig with this thing without backup, done it a bunch of times

In my experiences with the company they have been great. I needed a chip socket installed in my DSP 128 (I had an early release unit, without the chip socket for a ROM OS update chip), and even though my unit was out of warranty, they put in the socket, upgraded my OS (I supplied the update chip), and even changed the battery.

Later on, Digitech went to a outsourced repair setup, which has done some ok stuff for me (repaired some probs with my TSR-24), I don't know if they do stuff in house anymore.

They are pretty good with their phone and email support as well, very friendly and knowledgeable (for the most part) and pretty easy to get in touch with.

The only thing that bugs me about Digitech is they seem to have given up on the mid level market for F/X processors and are focusing on the truly low end (S Series) and guitar related stuff.

I guess with software plugins gaining market share for recording, they don't see it as a growth market, plus every time Digitech tries to do a high end unit, or at least high end for them (Studio 400, TSR-24) it has usually been a sales bomb.

Still to me the old DSP 256 smokes the new S series stuff sound quality wise, which does not seem right after 12 years. I think they need to get back to making better "bang for the buck" F/X rather than just making cheap ones.

I play rock and prog rock, and do a lot of recording. The DSP 256 has been a real workhorse for me.

I wouldn't want to use it for a main vocal effect (except on a live PA), but as I developed better ears, and got more money over time, I was able to shift the DSP 256 down the food chain, and it was useful in all of those apps. I never did feel like I wanted to get rid of it, and at the prices they go for these days ($100 - $125) it's worth keeping just as a backup F/X for a live rig.

I've been playing for a long time, longer than I would care to admit in fact if I took a DSP 256 and a time machine, and went back to when I first started playing, people would think that I was some kind of F/X god.

Back then, reverb was from a spring (unless you had an EMT Plate or a chamber), and delays came from mainly from tape devices.

Back in those days, ANALOG DELAYS were considered the newfangled effects processors...

Anyway, I won't bore you with the all the gear that I own, other than to list my F/X and what I use them for. Many of them have been reviewed here on HC if you want to check out the reviews:

YAMAHA REV 500 Snare Drum Mainly I just got this, but so far
like it a lot, very good verb
for the price point

QUADRAVERB 2 Backup Vox, Guitar A great sounding box, with a
number of "issues" that have
driven me crazy. It sounds good
but I plan on selling it

DIGITECH TSR-24 Lead/Backup Vocals I wish the DSP 256 sounded like
this, but that the TSR-24 was
as easy to use as the DSP 256.
I have owned this one for a
long time, and had started to
think it was "cheesy", until
I found out a lot of big time
pros like them for certain
things. This and the Studio
400 were the best products,
soundwise that Digitech ever
did. I wish they still made
stuff like this...

DIGITECH DSP 128 Guitars, some vocals An old workhorse, but I'm about
ready to retire it. Kind of a
darker, mufflier, harder to use
version of the DSP 256. I liked
this one a lot, but in
retrospect, I wish that I had
waited a year and bought two
DSP 256's.

LEXICON VORTEX Weird Whacky bits This thing is so cool, I'd
never get rid of it. Not a box
you would want to use on every
song, but there is nothing else
that sounds like it. Sort of
like two Tasmanian devil
digital delays trapped in a
room with a big rock of crack..

ALESIS QUADRAVERB Keyboard F/X I bought this around the same
time as the DSP 256. while the
verb on the Alesis is a bit
better, the 256 is way easier
to use and I think both units
complement each other. Still,

This unit is easy to use. The layout becomes evident quickly. My used unit did not come with a manual. Intergrating it into your mix is another thing.

After using this piece for about six years..this unit is noisy, very cold and fake sounding, can be dull and hard to "place" into the mix. However, I have heard worse and it is much better than nothing. You can still get results if you put the effort in.

Never had a problem. The physical construction is rugged.

If you need effects and don't have much money to spend this is a fine used start. I have gotten a lot of mileage out of mine but this is no T. C.,Eventide or Lexicon by any straw-grasping strech of the imagination. It takes work to make it sound proffesional in a mix but this CAN be an interesting challenge sometimes.