A dedicated Valhalla Delay plugin?

[ontol]

[valhallasound]

My dream is to have something that sounds like everything great about tape echoes, but much more so. I want everything to have that "aged" sound from the first repeat. Think Boards of Canada, or early 70s Frippertronics.

Sean Costello

Good Morning Sean,

This will be an Instant Buy for me. Please take my money ASAP.

here too--with delay times so long they actually may have started in the 70's.

This would need to be a different mode, versus the standard delay stuff. Here's why:

- A tape delay usually maxes out somewhere between 600 ms and 1000 ms. This amount of delay memory safely fits within the cache of modern computer CPUs (i.e. Intel, AMD). Memory that is in cache = fast access = lower CPU.

- A looping delay should be able to get up to 30 seconds or so, even if you are staying within the tape emulation realm (my RE-301 has about 30 seconds max of looping delay in Sound on Sound mode). This WON'T fit within the cache, and has to be shuttled back and forth between the CPU cache and the much slower main memory. So, a long delay can have a much higher CPU cost than a short delay, even though the operations performed on the delay (saturation, tape emulation, etc.) have a fixed cost.

As mentioned above, I LOVE Frippertronics. There is something magical that happens with tape loop feedback, versus just repeating a digital buffer.

Sean Costello

[ontol]

[valhallasound]

Don't tell me I can't have crazy things and then explain why with facts.

That's not how the world works now days.

I want what i want and I want it now.




"just kidding" in case the snickering smiley didn't express it well enough. I am sure you will deliver the best possible solution to whatever audio problem you apply your skills and look forward to the results!

Trust me. I'm always up for a good Veruca Salt joke.

Honestly, I was mostly thinking out loud. Switching between an "echo" mode (delays max 1 second or so) and a "loop" mode (delays into the 30 second range) would solve the issue.

Sean Costello

[Krakatau]

no delays for the ones who knows what they want and want it now ...me thinks ! (i'm afraid...)

[scintillator]

My dream is to have something that sounds like everything great about tape echoes, but much more so. I want everything to have that "aged" sound from the first repeat. Think Boards of Canada, or early 70s Frippertronics.

Sean Costello

One of the things I've always really liked about the RE-201 (I suppose the same would be true for the 301) is the spring reverb. The tandem of spring reverb+tape delay really does wonderful things. I'd love a Valhalla plugin that combined to do both, even if it didn't try to be an absolute faithful emulation of a 201.

A normal delay + 3 more controls: aged, spring, pitch shift.

I'm not a fan of this aged stuff, it's been done quite well already - NastyDLA, H-Delay, Echoboy - and doesn't sit well with clean/digital type of sounds.

It'd be better to add controls that allow you to modify the character/shape of the delays, i.e. dial in the spring, dial in fuzziness, dynamics, pitch and tempo instability, reflectivity (reverbness), etc. All this to taste. "Always aged" = not good.

[scintillator]

It'd be better to add controls that allow you to modify the character/shape of the delays, i.e. dial in the spring, dial in fuzziness, dynamics, pitch and tempo instability, reflectivity (reverbness), etc. All this to taste. "Always aged" = not good.

To improve on this, it can be done Space Echo-style, via a mode selector (singles or combos of the above) and an amount knob.

[Funkybot's Evil Twin]

It'd be better to add controls that allow you to modify the character/shape of the delays, i.e. dial in the spring, dial in fuzziness, dynamics, pitch and tempo instability, reflectivity (reverbness), etc. All this to taste. "Always aged" = not good.

To improve on this, it can be done Space Echo-style, via a mode selector (singles or combos of the above) and an amount knob.

I had a similar thought when I posted my request for a Space Echo style spring reverb. The RE-201 has that big mode dial and I agree that maybe a similar design could be put to use in a ValhallaSpaceDelay (plugin named!). I'd ideally like to see a Tape Delay (do we want different modes for different play heads?), a Springverb+Delay, and Springverb only set of modes. If Sean wanted to build the ability to clean up the delay, and or add chorus/modulation to the delay line via additional modes(my TC Electronic Flashback has a chorused delay mode that sounds a bit cheesey, but still kinda cool), even better.

We'd probably want a knob for delay time, and another for feedback. A single, well-tuned knob for Tape Age (or "character"), could potentially cover the wow and flutter, distortion, noise, etc. A set of knobs for delay mix and reverb volume would cover those functions. Then another set for HP/LP filters.

So based on what I'm imaging, we're only talking about a very reasonable 8 controls so far (if a global mix gets included, or modulation in the delay lines, that could increase). I can practically see this in my head (hint: it's Green).

Just brainstorming...

[sqigls]

I revisited the Portishead live album today.

So I want you to steal Adrian Utley's EP-4 and model that.
God I love that delay.