Delay level differences…. Bug, feature, or user error?

S

smj

Inspired
Greetings all,

I was playing w/the worn tape delay and noticed that the delay level was quite low compared to other delays w/the same settings.

It’s quite dark to begin w/but so are bucket brigade delays which don’t have this characteristic.

If I turn up the high end on the delay it’s more prominent. Still, the default setting of that delay is barely audible in some cases even with all levels set the same as my other delays.

I rolled back to 5.3 w/same issue. Also monitored through headphones… same issue. I put the delay after the amp by the way. Turned reverb and compressor off… same thing… super quiet.

Is that just how it it is? Is it a bug? Am I missing something? Thanks in advance.

Sean Meredith-Jones
 
Tape delays seem to like to be in front of an amp but they will work after, I use them quite a bit. As @unix-guy mentioned, play around with the Mix parameter.
 
The mono tape based models (Mono Tape and Worn Tape) are inherently a bit quieter. If you set them to 50% mix your your wet signal is still always quieter than your dry even with input gain all the way up.

If you run the delay block in parallel at 100% wet you can compensate with the delay block level control to get it back to unity gain and then use Input Gain to control your final mix amount.

Alternatively, you can also run it in series, set MIX to 75% and Level to +6 dB to get it back to unity gain and then use Input Gain to control your mix instead.
 
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unix-guy said:
Did you try resetting the block/channel?

Did you adjust Mix?
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Late response on my part. Yes I did both those things initially. No change resetting the block channel.

To the Mix. Even at 50/50 the delay is lower than the signal. The only way to get them level is to get into 60/40 or so... but then, the original signal starts getting attenuated.

Sean Meredith-Jones
 
JoKeR III said:
Tape delays seem to like to be in front of an amp but they will work after, I use them quite a bit. As @unix-guy mentioned, play around with the Mix parameter.
Click to expand...
There's definitely more level before the amp... not as much as other delays... but much more level than after the amp. The delay gain characteristics are different... more defined and less gained up when before the amp. Also, it becomes mono. Both those things are why I personally favour putting delays after the amp.

Sean Meredith-Jones
 
mr_fender said:
The mono tape based models (Mono Tape and Worn Tape) are inherently a bit quieter. If you set them to 50% mix your your wet signal is still always quieter than your dry even with input gain all the way up.

If you run the delay block in parallel at 100% wet you can compensate with the delay block level control to get it back to unity gain and then use Input Gain to control your final mix amount.

Alternatively, you can also run it in series, set MIX to 75% and Level to +6 dB to get it back to unity gain and then use Input Gain to control your mix instead.
Click to expand...
Makes sense. I thought maybe something was wrong or I had set something wrong... but if that's how it is, I'm good with it. I am curious though why it reacts so differently... feature of the analog tape machine it was modelled after?

Sean Meredith-Jones
 
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