Here’s 5 delay plugins every producer should own in 2023, covering different aspects of the fine art of echo and delay we offer something to cover everything in our round-up of the 5 must-haves!
The Industry Standard - SoundToys Echo Boy
If anything deserved the term ‘Industry Standard’ then Echo Boy is a contender. Ask any working producer what delay plugin they use and Echo Boy is likely to be on their list.
Soundtoys’ hugely popular Swiss army knife delay plugin features no less than 32 preset analogue and digital delay styles, including a range of tape options – Space Echo, EchoPlex, Tube Tape, Cheap Tape et al – each with its own particular frequency response, non-linearity and saturation characteristics. Four delay modes – Single, Dual, Ping-Pong and Rhythm – determine the nature of the echoes, the last a fully programmable 16-tap affair that can be quickly tweaked with the multifunctional Shape knob, should you want to steer your electromagnetic adventures well off the path of realism. It all comes together in a powerhouse plugin that could genuinely serve all your present and future echo generation needs.
The Free One - Valahalla Freq Echo
“Bode-Style Frequency Shifter + Analog Echo Emulation = Skull Melting Chaos.” Or at least that's how Valhalla put it. They go on to say: "Perfect for dub, Dr. Who and all of your psychedelic needs. Sonic results range from subtle chorusing and double tracking to barberpole phasing and flanging to endless glissandos and runaway echoes".
Editor Julian Rodgers said: “Having tried this out I have to say this isn't a case of "good considering it’s free". This delay is unlike anything else I have, free or paid-for. The frequency shifter is fascinating, the delay suitably analogue-sounding and it doesn't create zipper noise when changing the delay time, making it perfect for dubby silliness. I lost an hour to this plugin with just a signal generator and a Freq Echo - try it!”
The Vintage One - Wavesfactory Echo Cat
Echo Cat is based on the WEM Copicat tape echo device from the late fifties. It incorporates all the notorious sonic elements and imperfections of tape-based delays and all the superb, characterful qualities they bring to music production. Have I got your attention yet?
Like all useful modern delay plug-ins, Echo Cat not only models old behaviour, it offers improvements that were not present in the original physical devices. The ducking control in Echo Cat is genius. It feels like there is a built-in compressor with the input signal feeding a side chain input. Two simple knobs help contour the echoes perfectly around the input signal. Although this sort of ducking isn't exactly new, I've never seen it on tape-based delay plug-ins before. I think it is a valuable addition.
Echo Cat also has useful mid-side functionality. Again, not unique but unusual to find on a tape-based emulation. Mid-side delays might not be something I would use every day, but it is a fantastic creative tool that I am glad to have available for those special moments. And in addition to the usual mono and stereo controls, there is a useful "fake stereo”, a control which applies a 5 ms delay to the right channel, which results in the sensation of a more expansive sound.
The Clever One - Air Delay Pro
Serving up familiar echoic favourites as well as completely new sounds, AIR Delay Pro has some different features to set it apart from the crowd. Alongside options for diffusion and envelope following, it also features Auto-Clear which promises dense delays that won’t overwhelm the source.
Like any tool, engineers can form a good working relationship with the ones that do one thing: make the music better. Delay is definitely such a tool, mainly down to its inherently musical effects, so anything that invites a great artistic result deserves a seat at the top table. Many will have their favourites. Up until now, for me my go-to’s fiddly GUI had never quite matched its addictive sound (in its defence though it was released quite a while back). Delay Pro instead brings a clean, ‘wire-fame’ look that gets the job done and lets its superb sounds do the talking.
Interestingly, the whole team found entirely different things to like about Delay Pro. Whether scattering subtle shadows in behind sounds, or dialling up total delay junky-ism, AIR Delay Pro has those plus everything in between.
The Easy One - Waves H-Delay
Offering just a single ‘sound’ but a lightning fast interface and some nice additions like tap tempo for setting delay times and a filter lock feature which allows the high and low pass filters to be offset from each other but move together for interesting band pass effects on long repeats.
Russ Hughes wrote about H-Delay saying; “I love it for a number of reasons, the sound of course, is usually in the ballpark of analogue devices without too much tweaking, but it doesn’t take long to get it sounding just right, Waves H-Delay is just so simple to use.
Great on guitars, synths, vocals, and more, Waves H-Delay has been my go-to for as long as I can remember. When all is said and done, in other delay plug-ins, which seem to have a millions controls and layers, H-Delay stands strong as a delay that can be easily wrangled to get impressive results quickly and easily. It’s the essence of an analog delay, nothing more, nothing less. Waves could had easily made this into a monster delay but they didn’t.”
What Have We Missed?
So there’s our five plugins worth considering for your music productions, what have we missed? Let us know in the comments.