Delay

The Delay module provides spectral delay effects with control over mix, feedback and delay.

To delay a node or set of frequencies, make sure you're in the delay mode (upper left corner selector) and simply drag the node up. Dragging the node further up is equivalent to setting a longer delay for that node.

To set the amount of feedback, toggle to the Feedback mode. You'll see a faint outline of the Delay curve on the screen, but now the nodes and white curves set the amount of feedback, as opposed to the amount of delay.

You can control the mix (level of dry signal relative to wet) with the Mix slider. All the way to the left, or 0% mix, will contain no wet signal, and 100% mix will contain a pure wet signal.

Snapping

Snapping gives you a way to snap the delay to a multiple of a tempo. Click the "Snapping..." button and the options screen below appears:

Set your reference tempo in BPM (or Period) with the slider or tap it in directly. Once you've set your reference tempo, set a "Snap Type" to control the distance or minimum allowable delay. For example, with a Snap Type of "Quarter", delays will be forced to lie on quarter note intervals.

Once you've set your Snapping options, click OK to return to the delay screen. You'll notice now, as shown below, that delay curves are "staircase-like" and snapped to position - each step of the staircase represents a delay interval (e.g. a quarter note if that was what you set your Snap Type to be)

Delay Tips

1) Like the other spectral modules, the delay module lets you process left and right channels independently. This is especially effective with spectral delay effects. Try a short delay and low feedback on one channel, with a longer delay and more feedback on the other channel. Or have one channel focus on midrange delays with the other emphasizing higher frequency feedback. Whatever you do, try doing different things on the left and right channels.

2) You can set the shape of delay node to be very "rectangular" with hard edges, or softer with rounded corners. You'll notice that delayed nodes that use rounded corners have a "shwooping" effect to them. In short, the shape of the node has a large effect on the overall character of the delayed sound.

3) While Spectron can provide "traditional" delay effects, the real power is in its ability to create synthetic innovative echoes. Try delaying just harmonics using the "Just Harmonic" option. For a very unique effect, try delaying just the harmonics while modulating the frequencies of the harmonics.

4) The envelope triggering also provides interesting options for delay effects. Try "gating" feedback or delay by having a node sweep to zero delay or feedback. You can even create gated reverb-like effects by experimenting with the envelope triggering and envelope hold time (fast attack, long hold, fast release)

5) The number of spectral bands (set in the main Options screen) dictates the shortest delays that can be used. There's a mathematical tradeoff here - more bands provides higher frequency resolution (smoother sounds), less bands provides greater time resolution (shorter delays and more precise LFOs).