Replicating the Helix Glitch Delay on Axe3

Orvillain

Orvillain

Power User
Sorry in advance. I know these topics can sometimes get a bit heated. I don't mean to besmirch the Axe3.

But there's an effect on Helix called 'Glitch Delay' which I've really been digging.
1689949939847.png

So you've got a digital delay.... you set a time value .... and the algorithm from what I can tell ... divides that buffer up based on the delay division parameter. These slices have their own feedback value, and the playback order of them can be shuffled, you can bring in an octave up+down shift effect in there somewhere too... and also a reverse delay. The internal sequencer can be set to drift, and the whole thing can be smoothed out to create these really dense textures.

Axe3 is definitely capable of dense textures. But does anyone know how we might replicate the Glitch Delay??
 
What's it sound like? Might help chasing the dragon.

On the surface the Multitap Delay block's Quad-Tap Delay or Quad Parallel Delay algorithms might be the place to start? But if you want octaves, you'd want to look at the Plex Delay block.
 
Aye! A clip would be useful wouldn't it!


This is a couple of tracks from a song, which all use the glitch delay to some extent. I'm hitting the front of a high gain amp. It is sorta part delay, part pitch, part granular sampler ... it is odd. But sounds quite cool.

You can hear how it creates these harmonic sequences that I didn't really play.
 
Two suggestions..
  1. Temporarily put it after the Amp/Cab to make it easier for others to hear exactly what it is doing. It is hard to decipher with the amp gain distorting it.
  2. Play a series of different staccato notes/chords and let the effect only decay to the end to make it easier for others to hear exactly what it is doing.
 
Moke said:
Two suggestions..
  1. Temporarily put it after the Amp/Cab to make it easier for others to hear exactly what it is doing. It is hard to decipher with the amp gain distorting it.
  2. Play a series of different staccato notes/chords and let the effect only decay to the end to make it easier for others to hear exactly what it is doing.
Click to expand...
I'll do a few more clips of different chains, some clean stuff too. This is just what I had to hand right now.
 
Some fun stuff I've done in the past is have a delay in parallel, and after that delay have a tremolo block with is set to square, 100% depth. Then attach a random modifier to the rate. Now you have randomly glitched delay lines. If you run this stereo, you can even randomly modify the pan for even more craziness.

This thread made me want to try a normal delay and reverse delay blend with maybe a mixer or multiplexer block or something to let it sporadically pick which delay is being fed signal.

Either way it wouldn't be the same thing as the glitch delay, but there is definitely some fun wild stuff you can build.
 
Orvillain said:
Aye! A clip would be useful wouldn't it!


This is a couple of tracks from a song, which all use the glitch delay to some extent. I'm hitting the front of a high gain amp. It is sorta part delay, part pitch, part granular sampler ... it is odd. But sounds quite cool.

You can hear how it creates these harmonic sequences that I didn't really play.
Click to expand...

That is really cool. I love your music TNBD.
 
Right... additional clips here:


It is a playlist with 11 files. The is the dry DI guitar going into a bit of compression, and then into the Glitch Delay. Nothing else. Here are the settings I'm using in this song.

1690053396763.png

This thing is really cool and a bit crazy. It never seems to produce the same pattern twice, as you can hear from the clips. Sometimes one octave is stronger than the other, and sometimes the rhythmical qualities are stronger than other times.

This particular patch has a lot of reversed delay qualities. But that doesn't really cover everything.

When you stack up more and more notes, the effect obviously gets denser. But even doing just a single note at a time, you can hear it has that Eventide 'Crystals' kind of quality to it.

In a few of these clips you'll hear how halfway through the rhythm can totally change. You'll hear it mostly in the tails. I don't know what causes that, but it is cool.
 
iaresee said:
In some of the clips it seems to play the sample forward and then play it reversed. And sometimes it pitch shifts the reverse repeat by an octave.

This could be tricky to mimic.

Sounds cool though!
Click to expand...

That's the way most granular delays work. The effects applied to each grain have some randomness to give it a chaotic feel. That's the key to getting interesting ambiences from found sounds. For more examples, see my Tungsten granular delay plugin or the granular engine I put in Omnisphere. While you can do plenty of cool glitch things in the Axe-FX, the basic tools needed for granular just aren't there.

 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top Bottom