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Delay recommendations: Thoughts on Melda's MDelayMB, EchoBoy or others?

Pier said:
If you have Komplete it comes with Replika XT. You might not need anything else.
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Thumbs up for Replika XT, outstanding delay plugin but I'm still using a couple more plugins for my daily fixes ...

d16 Repeater ... emulates 24 different vintage delay units and sounds just beautiful
MDelayMB ... excellent, very flexible delay
H-Delay ... not too flexible but does the basic jobs, used to be one of my gotos until I got rid of all my Waves stuff

Some more experimental delays ...

AAS Objeq Delay ... acoustic modeling delay for those special jobs, lovin' that thing
Unfiltered Audio Sandman Pro ... the crazy kid, does all the standard jobs but comes with loads of options to go really overboard
d16 Sigmund ... another utterly flexible FrankenDelay but pretty useful for all sorts of standard jobs as well

(At the end of the day I'm a Bitwig user and the built-in delays are nothing short of amazing - limitless modulation options (modulating the modulators) plus the feature to insert any other plugin into the feedback loop(s) - the only limit is your long suffering CPU).
 
In a typical pop mix, I easily use ten different models of dynamics processors and EQs, five different models each for saturation, modulation and even reverb - but ever since it appeared on the surface, I usually use only one plug-in model for all delay-based tasks: Echoboy. And I use delays _a lot_. :)

Every now and then I try one of the many contenders whose products I have installed, too, and often I even like what I hear, but ultimately Echoboy is simply more musical and "interesting" to the ear, most of the time, with less effort.

The only real shortcoming of Echoboy is that you need additional tools for ducking delays, gated FX and the like, as there is no built-in dynamics section.

(Sidenote: As a useful addition to Echoboy there used to be the legendary "Spectral Delay" from NI - long discontinued since - which I liked for highly synthetic, "industrial" sounding effects. A pity that Melda's plug-in of the same name doesn't sound as appealing as its former NI counterpart).
 
My favourite is u-he - colour copy
Great interface with nice amount of features that are easily understood and manipulated.

edit: I also have Timeless 3 from Fabfilter, but I find it more usable for sound design than normal delay. Wast amount of features, but for some reason, the user interface for Timeless has never gelled with me.
 
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The only one I like more than Echoboy is Echoboy Jr. The simplicity is so nice to have.

Replika sounds really good too, imo, but is easier to use as an internal effect within Kontakt than as a plugin.
 
If I could only have one delay, it would be Relayer. It can go from clean and simple slapback to nightmarish reverb, and is equally happy at any point inbetween. It also has a surprisingly shallow learning curve for something that opens up so many topographically rich environs, that will take a lifetime to exhaust.
Others I'm inclined to turn to:
D16 Repeater and Sigmund (bring on v2!)
Phonolyth Cascade
ADA STD-1
SoundeviceDigital Pluralis
UVI Dual Delay X
2GetherAudio Space Duck
HY-Plugins Hy-Filter 4

Replika XT is incredible, but has a tendency to go "om,nom,nom...flops", MTurbo Delay has a tendency to go "Oh, you wanted to track with this? Well when you chose that preset, I've inexplicably introduced 48.7ms of latency! Ha Ha!", and MDelayMB is one of the Melda stable that I fully appreciate as being everything I need a lot of the time, but hasn't yet given me a reason to not stick with a soution I'm more familliar with.

Whilst I don't have it yet, I have demoed it, and would have no hesitation recommending Recirculate from Newfangled Audio. It takes elements of Relayer, Pluralis and Space Duck and melds them into a time based gyre. It is now one of only 2 delays on my will buy one day list, along with Other Desert Cities, but while I look forward to owning them, I have their ground, where not covered, at least surrounded, so I'm in no rush.

My suggestion would be is to create a list of all the delays with demos, and go through as many of them as you can, because delay is as individual to a person as almost anything but reverb or love. Learn to know what sparks you, works for you, makes you want to work with it, start with those, and as, over time, those conditions change, adapt accordingly.
 
If you just need a delay, especially with analog-behavior, Valhalla Delay.
If you need a delay + a little more, Replika XT. Or Echoboy if you're into Soundtoys (I'm not - always found others to be better for me).

From there, it's sound design. Timeless3 or the new Recirculate. Or D16 Tekturon.
Or it's specific vintage tape emulations, like Echoleffe or OuterSpace 2, etc.

I pretty much only use 3 delays, though I have more (and have used many more): Valhalla, Replika XT, and Echoleffe.
 
Pier said:
I didn't know this one!

The marketing page says "You have to hear this thing. You’ll poop the console." so it must be pretty good 😂

Have you compared it to Uhe Satin?
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1) I definitely wouldn't pay the list price of $200 for Echoleffe, however, it is definitely worth $100 to my ears, though an even lower price is attainable if you have at least one of their plugins (20% loyalty discount + a 50% flash sale)

2) It's the best gritty old tape delay I've heard, and also the best tape saturation as well as best tape amp (it's 3 effects in one, but only one mode at a time)

3) Satin can be dialed in more (more controls) and is more easily controllable. Echoleffe is a bit more on the wild side and has more of a sound/box tone to it than Satin.

4) I've not done a direct comparison. I've done the demo of Satin and passed on it, sticking with Softube Tape and then Softube Tape Delay as my favorite tapey delayey plugins. Until Echoleffe. Since I'm not a huge tape fan I only kep Echoleffe installed.

(be sure to not miss the Korneff track limiter, El Juan, while it's free!)
 
Pier said:
Thanks! I just realized the name is a pun on L1 😂
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+1 Korneff is a great developer,they are an extremely dedicated,friendly and very talented 2 man team.
They haven’t churned out a ton of plugins so they aren’t as well known as they probably should be when you consider the quality of their plugins.
Subscribe to their mailing list and wait for a sale.
 
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