Delay

1. Time Knob Delay time, from 1 millisecond to 8 seconds.
2. Clear Input Gate input. When high, delay line is cleared and no new signal is stored until input goes low.
3. Clear Button Manual trigger for the Clear input.
4. Low-Cut Knob Cutoff frequency of a low-cut (or high-pass) filter applied to delayed signal.
5. High-Cut Knob Cutoff frequency of a high-cut (or low-pass) filter applied to the delayd signal.
6. Feedback Inputs Dedicated stereo input for signal fed back into the delay line. Normalled to the module output.
7. Feedback Gain Knob Adjusts the gain of the feedback input. Can be modulated with the Mod input below.
8. Delay Inputs Signal present on this stereo input will be delayed by the specified time before going to the Out jack.
9. Delay Outputs Stereo mix of the delayed input and feedback signals.

Overview ⚓︎

The Delay module delays its input signal by the specified amount of time. It can be used with audio or CV signals.

It can work with mono or stereo signals. For mono signals, the convention is to use the left input and output jacks.

Thanks to its built-in filters and feedback input with modulation support, it can easily be used as a building block to create interesting echo or chorus effects.

Usage ⚓︎

In its simplest configuration, the Delay time will delay the signal connected to its In jacks by the time specified by the Time knob, and the delayed signal will be sent out of the Out jacks.

When the Gain knob in the Feedback section is turned clockwise, the signal from the Feedback In jacks is mixed with the main input signal before going into the delay line.

The Feedback In jacks are normalled to the delay outputs. A simple echo effect can be dialed-in with the Gain knob without needing any manual patching.

In Depth ⚓︎

Time ⚓︎

Delay time, between 1 millisecond and 8 seconds.

The time knob sets the delay time, which is amount of time that passes between the moment a signal enters the input and exits from the output.

The knob can set the delay time between 1 millisecond and 8 seconds, but actual delay time may be shorter or longer when modulation is applied. The maximum delay time is 20 seconds.

Modulating the time with any kind of CV signal with no discontinuities in the voltage—such as a sine or triangular LFO, or an ADSR envelope—will create interesting pitch effects.

When applying modulation with a depth of 100%, each 1V increment will double the delay time. Conversely, with a modulation depth of -100%, each 1V increment will halve the delay time.

To synchronize the delay time to the Master Clock tempo, connect the clock’s Tempo output to a Time modulation input, set the modulation depth to -100%, and adjust the delay to match the current tempo. If the tempo changes, the delay will stay in sync. This is demonstrated in the Sync to Tempo patch in the Basics folder of the Factory collection.

Low-Cut and High-Cut ⚓︎

The delay line passes through a low-cut (or high-pass) and a high-cut (or low-pass) filter. Use the Low-Cut and High-Cut knobs to adjust their cutoff frequency. Both filters have a -6 dB/oct slope.

The low-cut filter is bypassed when its knob is fully counterclockwise, and the high-cut filter is bypassed when its knob is fully clockwise.

The low-cut filter can be used to deemphasize bass in the delayed signal, while the high-cut filter works nicely for tape delay effects where each successive echo sounds slightly darker.

Feedback ⚓︎

Many use cases for the delay module involve some kind of feedback path. For example, you could send the output through a low-pass filter and feed it back into the delay for a damped echo effect.

The Feedback section provides a feedback input, a Gain knob and a modulation input for the gain. The Feedback In jack is normalled to the module output, which means that the default feedback is the delayed output.

The reason this module has a separate input for feedback is twofold. First, many patches need to feed the output signal back into the delay, so having a dedicated feedback input removes the need for a separate mixer and makes the patch more compact and more efficient.

The other reason is technical. Warning: this explanation may be headache-inducing. Read on if you are interested in the subtle differences between a hardware and a software modular synthesizer, or skip to the next section if you just want to make music.

In a software synthesizer, modules are processed sequentially and work on very short chunks of audio signals. Multiphonics modules process chunks of half a millisecond at a time. Imagine that the output of a Delay module is connected into a State Variable Filter, and the output of the filter is connected back into the delay’s feedback input. When the Delay module is processed, it will see the chunk of audio that the State Variable Filter produced half a millisecond earlier.

As you can see, the feedback signal is already delayed by half a millisecond. If it were mixed directly with the input signal, it would have a total delay of 0.5 ms plus the actual delay time. Although half a millisecond is not usually perceptible, it will add up each time the signal is fed back to the input. In an echo patch, after 10 echoes, that compounded delay would be 5 milliseconds and might become noticeable if the delay time was synchronized to the tempo. With a shorter delay time, the error will add up even faster.

Therefore, the Delay module’s feedback input was designed to compensate for this extra half a millisecond delay. So to avoid unpleasant surprises, always connect the source signal to the In jack, and the feedback signal to the Feedback In jack.

Clear ⚓︎

When the Clear button is pressed or a gate signal is applied to the Clear input, the contents of the delay line will be cleared, and nothing will be stored into the delay line until the button is released or the gate goes down.

This happens instantly, so it may cause clicks in audio signals.