Being a long-time fan of delays (and author of Echo farm PT plug-in and DL4 delay modeler stompbox), starting with tape delay (first a Univox tape delay, graduated to Roland Space Echo (the space echo emulation in Echo Farm is based on my aged RE-101)…when the digital first came in, it was neat at first, but exact (near exact) delay is so boring after a bit, and your realize that the rapid drop-off of frequencies in analog delays is a feature, not a fault, and certainly the pitch consistency of tape echoes. My old prog band recorded an album in 1979, and the engineer/producer wanted to use his shiny new MXR rack delay. I completely regret not demand that we use the space echo—my modular synth sounded so tiny.
Anyway, I was having a conversation with my old bandmate some time back, over the phone; he’s a recording engineer producer theses days, and he mentioned something about delays, saying that he never quite latched onto their use (the way I had). I mentioned a fun way to use them that I had always liked (I guess similar to the Alan Parson’s I Robot), then after getting off the call whipped up some simple changes to show him what I meant. Being the guy he is, he couldn’t help but add drums and finish it out. I made a little video for it (he added the echoey sparse vibraphone/marimba melodic part, not really what I’m talking about; I’m referring to the baseline and the textural chordal change parts, also a mallet-ish sound by constant, where the echo is integral to the sound): https://youtu.be/BsNchxCglVk > On Jul 20, 2015, at 9:43 AM, Theo Verelst <theo...@theover.org> wrote: > > Hi all, > > No theoretical dumbfounding or deep searching incantations from me this > Monday, but just something I've through about and that somehow has since long > been a part of music and analog and digital productions. > > I recall when I was doing some computer audio experiments say in the early > 80s that there was this tantalizing effect that outside of special tape based > machines hadn't really existed as an effect for using with random audio > sources: the digital delay. I recall I was happy when I'd used (low fidelity) > AD and DA converters and a early home computer with 64 kilobytes of memory to > achieve an echo effect. It was fun. For musical purposes, a bit later I used > various digital effect units that optionally could act as a delay line, and > with a feedback control, as an echo unit. > > It seems however that with time, the charm of the effect wore off. Just like > nowadays some people occupy themselves with (arguably desirable) reverb > reduction, it seems that using a delay isn't very cool anymore, doesn't > necessarily make your audio workstation output prettier waves when playing a > nice solo, and even it makes samples sound uglier when a digital delay effect > is used on them, now that everybody with a computer and a sound card can do > some audio processing, in a way that's a shame. > > Some of the early charm must have been that the effect was featured in > popular music, and wasn't easy enough to get for a hobbyist in the 70s, and > possibly that the grungy and loose feel of the low bit depth and the jittery > or modulated AD/DA converter clock signals was only fun while it lasted. > Maybe instruments aren't designed to sound good with a delay effect either, > or there's a conflict with audio system's internal processing, and as last > suggestion, the studio "delay" effect does a little bit more than just > delaying that makes it so addictive... > > T. > — -- dupswapdrop -- the music-dsp mailing list and website: subscription info, FAQ, source code archive, list archive, book reviews, dsp links http://music.columbia.edu/cmc/music-dsp http://music.columbia.edu/mailman/listinfo/music-dsp
