Syd Barrett made extensive use of this effect during his time with Pink Floyd. Even after Syd left the band, David Gilmour continued using it, as it was essential to achieving some of the iconic early Floyd sounds.
The Binson Echorec is a delay unit that, instead of using tape, utilized a magnetic disk to produce the effect by replaying the sound with a slight delay. Manufactured in Italy, functioning units are now incredibly rare and highly sought after, often fetching thousands of dollars.
Syd and David are the two musicians most credited with popularizing the Echorec. Syd likely used the smaller “Baby” version, while David, especially in the early days, favored the Echorec 2.
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I’ve always heard Syds echo/delay was converted from a telephone delay unit?