Hey guys,

I'm not new to music production but I also don't have many years experience in it (about 4). During the last months I was just wondering if there is a great delay plugin for vocals, synths, etc. ? I was also thinking if it's more useful to use different delay plugins for various Instruments/ Vocals ?

Thanks in advance!

Regards,

Jan

I'm a delay junkie, and tied for first place are my two favorites: Valhalla Delay and Soundtoys EchoBoy. I'd be perfectly happy with either of those, forever, without another delay in sight. Love them both dearly.

In second place for me would be Native Instruments Replika, either the original or the 2nd incarnation, both are very good and nicely shapeable.

Any of these are equally serviceable on whatever voices or instruments you like. Their sounds can be shaped very effectively to your taste and whichever project you're working on.

Thank you! I've always heard good things about the Echoboy and I think that I'm going to try it out soon.

Valhalla Delay - don't really need anything else except for super special effects

I have no interest in Echoboy or Soundtoys.

2nd place for me is Replika XT. And then it goes into some different tape emulations. But, again, I could easily just use Valhalla Delay and no others.

Of all of them, Valhalla is certainly the one that could be the end-all, replace-all. Even for zany out-there stuff. And if you need REALLY crazy, Valhalla Supermassive is forkin' free!

I do still have a soft spot for Echo Boy, but I admit I use Valhalla much more frequently these days. Still plenty of love for the Replikas as well!

I like EchoBoy and Valhalla Delay as well. But for an old school analog vibe I love Pulsar Echorec.

Steve

I have a particuIar fondness for MH Dirty DeIay because of how it sits in a mix.

Fabfilter Timeless3 is insanely good!

Apart from that, Softube TapeEchoes and Soundtoys EchoBoy.

valhalla delay
surreal machines modnetic - dubby
audiothing outer space - dubby
aas objeq delay - it was cheap and it does weird things. i think you can get it free from plugin boutique if you buy something

RP-Delay is a monster.

https://www.robpapen.com/rp-delay.html

Massive bang for buck for what you pay. Loads of intricate presets. Doesn't get enough love for the sheer beast it is in the delay world.

---

Nomad Factory Echoes.

https://go.nomadfactory.com/products/p803-Echoes/

So quick to dial in. So 'old-school' sounding. You can get this cheaper by buying second-hand or getting a Nomad Factory Bundle. Come to think of it I've got a spare license now I just bought a Nomad Factory Bundle.

---

Tal-Dub-X.

https://tal-software.com/products/tal-dub-x

Very reasonably priced. Another beast of a delay especially if you like to dial in Dub delay. Yeah, 'dub' is in the name, but it's actually pretty good for that style too. Paid about 15 bucks for mine. Free updates. Lovely.

Also get all the free ones they do because they are superb as well.

https://tal-software.com/products/tal-dub

--

D16 Tekturon.

https://d16.pl/tekturon

One of my absolute faves. Just an absolute joy to use. Easy. Quick. Sounds stellar. Can pick up fairly cheap second-hand or on sales by D16. Worth every penny and more though at the normal price. I've got other delays by them but this is easiest to use by far.

---

u-he Colour Copy.

https://u-he.com/products/colourcopy/

A particular flavour. It does it well. Check out the skins by Ploki.

---

PSP 608.

https://www.pspaudioware.com/products/psp-608md

An exceptional sounding delay that adds real world recording shine to your bus when you stick it on. It's magical. It's other-worldly. Perhaps the best sounding delay ever created. It's old now but worth every cent. I've got the other PSP delays (except for the latest as I have parted ways with PSP due to their copy protection). I could have mentioned them too. I just feel this one has a certain 'I don't know what'.

---

Boz Imperial Delay.

https://www.bozdigitallabs.com/product/imperial-delay/

For those annoying times when Elton John's producer wakes you up in the morning. Accept no substitutes. Used to cost 200 bucks now you can get it for 20 quid at plugin boutique.

https://www.pluginboutique.com/produ...Imperial-Delay

Has a sneaky little Drive/Saturation knob that is absolutely to die for when driving a 303 like instrument like D16 Phoscyon.

---

Waves H-Delay.

https://www.waves.com/plugins/h-dela...sic-production

Sounds great. Dials in quick. Doesn't cost too much (initially). Lot of fun.

---

Objeq Delay.

Grab it cheap at plugin boutique -

https://www.pluginboutique.com/produ...1-Objeq-Delay-

About 8 quid right now. Great sounding whilst bringing something different to the table compared to what all your other delays do.

---

Hornet Deelay.

https://www.hornetplugins.com/plugins/hornet-deelay/

If money is tight they have this going for 2 euros right now on a sale. It's a handy little unit. Easy. Does the job.

---

Voxengo Tempo Delay.

https://www.voxengo.com/product/tempodelay/

If 2 euros is breaking the bank for you right now, this one is free. It's got that typical Voxengo quality to it. A seriously powerful delay plugin that will do the majority of what all the other plugins I've mentioned will do, but for no money at all. It's probably missing some tricks. But I doubt anyone could argue this is the best 'bang for buck' of them all.

---

I've got a shed load more delays. I've got every single Valhalla plugin bar one. Yes, I've got Delay and it's as superb as everyone says it is. Check out Freq Echo as that is free and very good too. A little Uber Mod goes a long way.

Just tried to mention a few of the oft forgotten ones. Though I'm sure I forgot a few myself right now.

Echoboy on sale right now. I enjoyed using this delay the most but never purchase it after my demo ended years and years ago. Time to grab it.

PSP 285
SSL delay and echo
Softube Echoes
TC electronic
Acustica Lemon
Eventide H3000

ValhallaDelay and PrimalTap.

The thread can be closed.

Thanks for this. I would have never tried the Boz Imperial Delay. Threw it on Phoscyon last night and somehow entered a timewarp where 4 hours passed in minutes. So much fun.

Valhalla Delay. Before that I was mainly using the Logic stock delays (and still do sometimes, mainly Tape Delay) and Replika. Replika is very annoying to use with a mouse; there are times when I can't get the knob to turn the last bit before it starts going the other way. (For other awkward interfaces, see some of the plugin alliance plugins like Lindell 80--I love it, but man it isn't that great to actually manipulate...)

So that's one thing Valhalla has going for it in my book, flat resizable windows with easy to use controls.

I ended up buying Delay partly out of guilt for using and enjoying Supermassive so much I guess that counts as a delay too, so that would be one of my most-used as well.

I use u-he Repro a lot and tend to use the internal delay Lyrebird more often than not, the fx in that synth are great and might be worth getting as standalone fx.

D16 Repeater is a solid entry, as well. If I didn't have Delay and Replika XT, I'd possibly start there.

Replica XT and Timeless 3 are just awesome

Modley by Klevgrand is by far the best I've ever used in term of sound, character and flexibility..
And I have had them all

Mike

Lexicon PSP 42. Sounds great, easy to use. Reminds me of the analog delays I grew up using. Quite old code by now but still my favourite, I rarely use anything else.

Objec-delay

Bread and butter simple delays for me is Waves H-Delay.

For more complex delays I have been enjoying SSL X-Delay.

Em, it’s definitely Valhalla delay, Deelay by sixth sample (free), Audio damage dub station 1.5 (free), native instruments replika and replika XT. The Arturia tape-201 and Memory brigade get a bunch of use too... I don’t really use anything else beyond those mentioned although there are a bunch of others that are decent as mentioned by others. At some point though, you just have to find a few good ones that work for you and forget about missing out on the rest. The Valhalla delay alone can pretty much cover most of your needs for 50 bucks. Deelay is very similar to it with some additional saturation control not found In Valhalla’s offering and it’s free so nothing to loose there.

✌️?

Having access to all the delays previously listed in this thread, I still have to say that Waves H-Delay is the only delay I use. On buses, on tracks (rarely) and wherever else. Versatile, easy and to the point.

These days I mostly use the Pro Tools Bundled "Tape Echo"
Can go from very subtle delay thickening (especially when used in parallel on it own aux track ) or can go to echoing between the canyon walls and everything in between

Here are some examples pay attention to the delay (not my performance )
Note I use in conjunction with my M7 reverb

Used sparingly on the vocal of this simple acoustic guitar & vocal cover song.. Is sent from vocal track to an aux track with the plugin on it




Used on both the vocal (in parallel) and directly on the electric guitar track



Used a with a little more on the vocal and a bit less on electric guitar

I always just use my my delay plugin. I pull great/interesting sounds out of this and use it in my commercial plugins.

Also, it's free

Also, delays aren't that complicated to program

PSP 285 is not only a fabulous delay - the reverb section is pretty comprehensive - so if you're starting from scratch the plug in will do both duties. PSP 285 has excellent plate, spring, room, chamber etc. reverbs which you can run independently. Sure the parameters are limited - but they sound good and use hardly any CPU. They have that slightly 90s grainy sound - which I happen to love.

I recently went thru all my delays plus several demos on a guitar track, trying to replicate a BBD delay pedal I adore. Valhalla was good, U-he was great, Echoleffe was nasty. The few Audiority ones are lovely, and Arturia were fun to play with. Boz Imperial Delay was surprisingly deep but I missed the sale.

The free one from Full Bucket Music was great and I recommend it for anyone's toolkit. far less flexible but IMO doesn't need to be, especially for the price.

I like the stock Analogue Delay in Studio One.

That's a great resume - thanks very much.

Just spent an enjoyable 1hr flipping through these - all of which have appeal in various differing ways.

With Valhalla Delay and all the stock Logic plugs it's not like I need another delay but, well, you know...

I never use presets - I really wish companies like U-he would sell you the actual plug-in a bit cheaper without building in the cost of recouping the obviously significant €€€ investment they have sunk into developing a massive preset list I will never use. If other people really want all those presets they can pay extra for them.

Of course, I realise that's not how the world works these days - gotta have the biggest list of presets to give the kids calling themselves 'reviewers' on YouTube something to keep them busy and fill up 30mins of frivolous 'content'.

Nobody named PrimalTap, seriously? The best Soundtoy by far, and a great complement to ValhallaDelay.

The Fuse Audio one is pretty good. Think I picked it up free at some point. I wouldn't pay $50 for it, but if you can get it second-hand for cheap....