DelayJaVu

DelayJaVu - Stereo Reverse Delay (AUv3)

DelayJaVu is an audio effect plugin that can run standalone, or in any AU compatible host application such as Logic Pro or GarageBand.


Overview

Deja Vu - French for "already seen". The brief, intense and often startling sensation that a current, new experience has happened before.

DelayJaVu is a stereo reverse delay with independent delay times for the left and right channels. DelayJaVu works by capturing your dry signal in a delay buffer, which is then read backwards over a time period corresponding to a delay time. As the virtual delay head repeatedly scans back through the delay buffer, you hear segments your original dry signal, repeated in reverse.

I think reverse delay is a really cool effect - one of my favourites in fact! I especially like its slightly unpredictable nature, making it a great effect to interact with, as you play. I don't recall seeing any reverse delay plugins with independent times for the left and right channels so that may be something unique that DelayJaVu has to offer. And the addition of modulation and variable stereo spread adds further creative options, while keeping DelayJaVu compact, super easy to use and very DSP-friendly.


Controls

Mode - Off bypasses the effect and uses a "soft switching" aka "trails mode", to avoid pops and clicks. In L/R Lock mode, the delay time is set to be the same for the left and right channel, and the parameter sliders will be "locked" to the same value when changed. In L/R Free mode, you can set independent delay times for the left and right channel.

Time L / R - Sets the delay time for the left and right channels independently, from 250ms to 2.5 seconds. Interesting effects can be achieved by setting the delay times to be close, but not exactly the same.

Please note - Unlike a "normal" delay where you will hear the sound repeat after the delay time specified, DelayJaVu doesn't quite work like that. The delay heads for both channels are always in motion and repeat their cycles according to the delay time. This means that sometimes the delay head will be "closer" to the incoming audio. In this case you may hear the first repeat almost straight away, with subsequent repeats occurring at delay time intervals when the Feedback is > 0%. This is especially noticeable (and cool!) when running in Free mode with different delay times. This is also the way many reverse delays are implemented and why this particular design doesn't lend itself to tempo sync delay effects as the repeats will not "quantise" to note length boundaries.

Feedback - Sets the feedback / regeneration for the delay on both channels.

Mod - Adds a variable amount of modulation to both channels. As each channel is modulated differently, this can produce a nice stereo effect.

Spread - At maximum, the left and right delay channels are hard-panned and have their own independent modulation applied. Decreasing the Spread parameter effectively narrows the stereo image of the dela