If you simply want to place your sound in a pleasant, believable-sounding echo, Timeless 2 can handle that as well, but I’ve found myself playing around with this plugin for extended periods of time - sculpting strange, hyper-resonant repeats that can transform the original sound entirely. If you like going deep-diving into plugins and mangling your signals beyond recognition, Timeless 2 might be just the delay for you. This is especially true when writing guitar parts that emulate the trademark sound that U2’s The Edge popularized during the band’s most influential era. Mix TipĪlthough I use the SDD-3000 on everything from gently chorused vocals to warm and warbly keyboards, I also love using it when producing music. The SDD-3000 is no one-trick-pony though, as it has plenty of useful controls under its (digital) hood: the input can be pushed to create a driven sound that ranges from warm to crunchy, the regeneration section features low and high filters to tweak the timbre of your repeats and the modulation section can be utilized to give your repeats a subtle warble or a wild, alien-like effect. Whereas the aforementioned delay plugins allow you to access many different delay types, the Korg SDD-3000 from Universal Audio is a faithful emulation of a hardware unit that was released in 1982 and popularized by The Edge (guitarist for U2). Also, don’t sleep on FreqEcho, which is a simple but free delay plugin available from Valhalla DSP. When you switch modes or hover over any other parameter of Valhalla Delay, the plugin offers you a handy block of text towards the bottom of the GUI which explains the parameter. Valhalla Delay is actually an excellent learning tool if you want to know more about delay and how specific controls affect the overall sound. It also has controls over modulation, drive, EQ and more for fine-tuning the sounds of your delay. Valhalla Delay features 10 different delay modes including tape, HiFi, digital and more. They sound fantastic, the user interfaces are clean looking and they are designed in such a way to encourage a sense of play. I’m a huge fan of all the plugins from Valhalla DSP. I’ll map parameters (usually the feedback, mix and filters) to my MIDI controller, and “play” the delay like it’s a musical instrument. This is something I’ll do with all types of plugins to give my processors a greater degree of musicality, and EchoBoy is no exception. Sometimes I’ll even use EchoBoy only as a “color unit,” as the saturation and filters sound fantastic when combined with the unique timbers of the 30 styles. EchoBoy excels at creating delay on virtually any type of signal including vocals, synths, guitars and beyond. Combine these styles with the onboard high and low-cut filters, saturation and input & output controls, and you can sculpt the character of your repeats to be crystal clear, warbly, warm, dull, brash, etc. At the heart of EchoBoy are 30 distinct styles of delay which are based on classic gear, making this plugin a veritable history lesson on delay in addition to a fantastic music production utility. It’s got everything you need in a delay and more. While I utilize each and every delay plugin listed in this roundup, I could likely make do using only EchoBoy. Here are my favorite plugins to use while mixing. Today, we benefit from software companies having created plugin emulations of vintage hardware delay units, while also creating digital tools that are far more complex and controllable than any mechanical delay hardware could ever be. Rack mountable studio gear came next, with processors such as the Korg SDD-3000 and Lexicon Prime Time Delay defining the sound of the 1980’s. Eventually, players and engineers began using self-contained delay units such as the Binson Echorec, the Echoplex and the Roland Space Echo. It would take a certain amount of time for that signal to be heard, hence the term delay. A signal being captured on one tape recorder was sent to another recorder, which was subsequently sent back to the first recorder. The history of incorporating delay in music production is an interesting one, and can be traced back to the practice of using multiple magnetic tape recorders to create an echo effect. It can be utilized creatively to create a droning ambient tail, you can use a single repeat set to a 40-100 millisecond delay to pay homage to early rock and roll or you can set up a ping-pong “ throw delay” to make your pop mix sound more produced and “expensive.” These are just some of the many ways you can incorporate delay into your mixes. When used subtly it can establish a sense of space in which tracks can sit, similar to reverb. When producing and mixing music, delay is such a versatile effect.
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