MonoDelay: a lo-fi delay and noise instrument by DROP_OUT audio

[Drop_Out]

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Hi all,

This is my first release as drop_out audio, a one-person shop, so I'll keep it straight and stick around to answer questions. Presenting:

MonoDelay

MonoDelay is a lo-fi delay that also works as a playable noise instrument. It's built around the behavior of the PT2399 echo chip rather than a clean digital line, so the character is the point.

HeroMonodelayKVR.png

What it does:

• The effective sample rate drops as delay time increases, the way the PT2399 does, so repeats get darker and grittier the longer they run.

• An MS-20 style filter on the feedback path self-oscillates at the peak. That's where the drones, sirens, and noise-instrument behavior come from.

• It runs as both an effect and a VSTi off one engine, with a ribbon keyboard on the instrument side.

• Tight headroom by design, and a deliberate noise floor that's a usable source rather than a defect.

Video tutoridemo and audio available on my site.

Formats: VST3 on Windows 10/11, AU and VST3 on Mac (Apple Silicon native). Light on CPU.

Price: It's €39/$45 intro, and there's a 14-day full trial with nothing locked off so you can run it on a real session first.

Honest about what it isn't: this is not a pristine, surgical delay. It's designed as a hands on piece of character. If that's your thing, I'd love your ears on it.

Martijn (drop_out audio)

<< CHECK OUT MONODELAY>> (https://dropout-audio.com/plugin/monodelay)

[Vortifex]

This actually looks nice but I'm not going to make an account just to try a demo.

[audio/fault]

So, honest question, why should I get this over the monotron delay at more or less the same price? Already have one. I see a few more tricks like resonance and enhanced lfo, but it clearly misses the hands-on fun.

[pekbro]

This is a cool delay, a bit on the expensive side imo. I like it though, and find it interesting, well see if I feel like I need to own it or not, timing is not super good for me. Thanks for the demo...


Welcome to KVR btw...


*It actually remembers it's UI scaling. That's f**king amazing! I would say like 9 out of 10 new plugins can't do that at release. Good job!

[Drop_Out]

This actually looks nice but I'm not going to make an account just to try a demo.

Thanks for the feedback, I will think about it as it is quite easy to change... Tbh it's a tradeoff as a new developer wanting to 'build a list' with people who are interested in some way.

If anybody else feels this way, please holler.

[UltimiGiorniRecords]

Out of curiosity, what justifies the price being higher than an actual Korg Monotron Delay?

[Drop_Out]

This is a cool delay, a bit on the expensive side imo.

Out of curiosity, what justifies the price being higher than an actual Korg Monotron Delay?

So, honest question, why should I get this over the monotron delay at more or less the same price? Already have one. I see a few more tricks like resonance and enhanced lfo, but it clearly misses the hands-on fun.

Fair questions, and a couple of you have circled the same thing, so let me take it head on.

First, I'm not pricing against the Monotron and I'm not trying to beat it. I own one, it's what got me started, and the ribbon is more fun to mess with than anything on a screen. If you've got one and you only ever play it standalone, honestly, keep using it. I'm not selling my modded one that this plugin is inspired by

Second, and this is the part that matters for the price: it isn't just a delay. It's a delay (FX) and a playable mono synth/noise instrument (Synth) off one engine. It's two plugins in the digital realm. Insert it as an effect on any track, or load it as an instrument and play it. Most character delay plugins only do the effect half. Buy a character delay and a mono noise synth as two separate plugins and you're way past this price already.

And yes, the Monotron is also a synth and a delay. The difference here is that both halves are now proper DAW citizens:

• Drop it on anything. Vocals, drums, a whole bus, a soft synth. The hardware only delays what you patch into it, in mono, and then you're committing the take to tape.
• Total recall and automation. Open the project next year and it's exactly where you left it. Automate cutoff, feedback, delay time across a track. Knob positions on the original are gone the second you move them, which is a pain tbh.
• As many instances as you want. No batteries, no cable spaghetti.
• It also adds what the toy doesn't have: the resonant filter on the feedback path that self-oscillates, the routable LFO, feedback up to 110%, a recordable ribbon on the instrument side.

The hands-on fun point is fair, you give up the physical ribbon. That's actually why I made sure the ribbon action is recordable with MIDI.

So you're not paying for a circuit clone. You're paying for a new instrument inspired by the monotron, for two plugins, delay and instrument, both recallable and automatable on any source. With considerable attention to detail in the DSP. That's how I priced it.

Always open to feedback though. More ideas on the way, and I'm keeping room for bundles down the line

[pekbro]

My thing is that it’s got no features, no a b comparison, no bypass, no browser, that’s just a tiny menu made to look like a browser, no hp, no ducking, no parameter values and more.
Devs think the can charge whatever they want these days while still leaving out the basic features we all expect.

I bought a nice delay yesterday for $9, 10x as many features as this. No joke.

*Interestingly, I only now am seeing the whole lower keys/control section of the plugin, how do you turn that on and off?

[Drop_Out]

*Interestingly, I only now am seeing the whole lower keys/control section of the plugin, how do you turn that on and off?

That's what I've been trying to tell you its a synth + effect = 2 plugins. So the one with the keyboard is simply the synth version, not the effect one. It's a two in one.

MonoDelay:

Hero Monodelay.png

MonoDelayFX

Hero MonodelayFX.png

My thing is that it’s got no features, no a b comparison, no bypass, no browser, that’s just a tiny menu made to look like a browser, no hp, no ducking, no parameter values and more.
Devs think the can charge whatever they want these days while still leaving out the basic features we all expect.

Bigger picture; the philosophy of what I'm building is purposely limited, oldschool and analog leaning. Few controls that all have real impact on the sound. Not a swiss army knife, but an Opinel. More deliberate.

The preset menu is banks of 16 presets on purpose, a nod to 90s ROM synths. A minimal mono delay/synth doesn't need 128 slots and I didn't want to pretend it did.

This is built as an instrument with that point of view. The risk with that, which I clearly underestimated, is that "focused/limited as a design choice" and "missing stuff" read identically in a feature list. That's on me to communicate better, and probably gets clearer once there's a small family of plugins instead of one.

Looking at your suggestions, and taking into account that I want the top bar to be reusable across multiple plugins, I like:

• Parameter values: I kept the face clean on purpose and will keep doing that, but a value on hover might be a smart addition here.
• Bypass: That one's already in, it's the panic button up top.
• A/B comparison: Good suggestion, that'll go into a future update.

So a genuine question, not rhetorical: from a minimalist angle, how would you build the menu out? Which one feature would actually change whether you reach for it?