Bitwig delay vs others

[Butwug]

I’ve been looking at some delays like D16 Sigmund/Tekturon and Echoboy but cant help to think Bitwigs native delay 4 has it all covered. I’ve used it a bit but havent really sat down and learned it inside and out.

With the insert fx capabilities Ive done basic things like pitching a delay but leaving the other delays alone. Have a feeling Delay-4 is more than capable.

Any thoughts? Is Delay-4 just as good as any other pricey delay?

[JHernandez]

A delay is a delay is a delay is a delay is a delay . . . oK I'll stop, imo.

Bitwigs native delays is what I go to first unless I'm looking for a certain "color" or want step by step *Drawable* control, for example.

Do you find it's missing something you want to do?

[x.iso]

I’ve been looking at some delays like D16 Sigmund/Tekturon and Echoboy but cant help to think Bitwigs native delay 4 has it all covered. I’ve used it a bit but havent really sat down and learned it inside and out.

With the insert fx capabilities Ive done basic things like pitching a delay but leaving the other delays alone. Have a feeling Delay-4 is more than capable.

Any thoughts? Is Delay-4 just as good as any other pricey delay?

It was a bit unintuitive to work with for me as I tried to make some complex dynamic delay textures, so instead I've made FX selector (with Random and other ways to modulate selection) with series of regular and Comb delays with varying parameters each, that got me what I was looking for much faster.
Then there's a Grid now and even more delay effect capabilities.

[Butwug]

A delay is a delay is a delay is a delay is a delay . . . oK I'll stop, imo.

Do you find it's missing something you want to do?

Lol i fell for it

Not anything in particular. Was just curious if it was capable if being a main delay without missing out on much. Tekturon has ability to control each step but with some imagination I think fx can do most of that with delay4.

It was a bit unintuitive to work with for me as I tried to make some complex dynamic delay textures, so instead I've made FX selector (with Random and other ways to modulate selection) with series of regular and Comb delays with varying parameters each, that got me what I was looking for much faster.
Then there's a Grid now and even more delay effect capabilities.

It is a bit weird but at same time it seems powerful. Couple hours with it might make it seem less weird. Havent tried the grid yet but cant wait for final version to be out to take a look at it.


I want to start using delay more and more and cut down on tracks. I want to use delay in weird and unique ways such as using a kick delay to make it a bass, make hi-patterns fade in and out with delays/delay sends, etc. All the experimental techno stuff.

[pdxindy]

I’ve been looking at some delays like D16 Sigmund/Tekturon and Echoboy but cant help to think Bitwigs native delay 4 has it all covered. I’ve used it a bit but havent really sat down and learned it inside and out.

With the insert fx capabilities Ive done basic things like pitching a delay but leaving the other delays alone. Have a feeling Delay-4 is more than capable.

Any thoughts? Is Delay-4 just as good as any other pricey delay?

I would say Delay-4 can do almost anything. Each delay line can have its own FX chain (including VST's) in the feedback path.

Colour Copy has the freeze function and a lovely character that is immediate and fast.

Much of the time I use the Bitwig Delays... not all of the time.

[Quack Quack]

It's nice to have one delay with crazy effects such as sigmund, echoboy, or dub delay. But honestly Bitwigs delays are great and get most of the jobs done.

[Butwug]

Downloaded a couple delay plugin demos and bitwigs delay-4 seems to actually make the most sense out of the ones I tried. As far as which one stood out the most, besides Bitwigs, is D16 Tekturon. Lot’s of options on a per step basis, and the visuals help a lot. Didnt spend too much time with them, but the other delays just seemed clunky and slow, compared to delay-4. For instance, an “analog” option just seemed to low pass the delay. Something that can easily be thrown into bitwig delay chain. Same for saturation of a delay line, filter, etc.

Gonna give all of them another try when I have time.

These little things really make me appreciate bitwig.

[mholloway]

There's no true Ping Pong mode with the Bitwig delays, which seems like a strange oversight. I guess you can 'build' it now with the Grid FX though.

[Butwug]

There's no true Ping Pong mode with the Bitwig delays, which seems like a strange oversight. I guess you can 'build' it now with the Grid FX though.

Looked up graph/feedback loop chart of what ping pong delay does. Since ping pong works with 2 channels, L&R, and they feed into each other, cant that be simulated by Delay-4?

Chart shows L/R plays and signal goes thru, then the delay plays, and gets fed into other side, and that gets delayed, and fed back into other side. Isnt it possible to have the unpanned signal play then feed those into the other 2 slots which are panned and they feed each other? Not sure if thats ping pong delay but seems like something can be worked out with Delay-4.

After another hour or so of fiddling around with a handful of delays, it seems Delay-4 is actually the most complex, yet straight forward of the bunch. It’s open ended approach allows me to throw a bar loop with 16th grid, count where I want stuff, put delays where I want and feedback into each other and what not.

Tried sigmund, repeater, tekturon, echoboy, fabfilter delay, and softube delay. Couldnt click with any of them except Tekturon, and Delay-4 of course.

[Taika-Kim]

Delay-4 is the most advanced delay that I've seen, combined with the BW modulation system. If you want colour, just drop a colouring plugin somewhere inside the chain.

[Butwug]

Delay-4 is the most advanced delay that I've seen, combined with the BW modulation system. If you want colour, just drop a colouring plugin somewhere inside the chain.

It really is the most advanced, from what Ive seen. The 4different delay lines with pre/post fx is limitless. You can have one delay line pitch shift, another with color, another sweeping left to right, and last one filtered. Thats before even touching the feed/routing matrix

[Trancit]

There's no true Ping Pong mode with the Bitwig delays, which seems like a strange oversight. I guess you can 'build' it now with the Grid FX though.

Looked up graph/feedback loop chart of what ping pong delay does. Since ping pong works with 2 channels, L&R, and they feed into each other, cant that be simulated by Delay-4? ...

It can without any problem...
Only issue I have with Delay-4 is that always all delay lines are active even if there are only (in the case of a ping pong delay) 2 used... therefore it takes more CPU... but not a big deal compared to many vintage modelling of other delays...

[x.iso]

The only 'problem' with built-in delay that I could name is that there's no control over 'smoothing' the time change transition, although it is pretty flexible and sounds good for general use (kind of like tape delay), sometimes I might prefer glitchy sharp changes of timing.

[Hez]

Just an FYI, there is currently a bug with Delay-4 where the Global Feedback knob on the right hand side actually attenuates input gain as well. In other words, if you scale global feedback all the way down to zero, there will be no delay signal at all because all the input gains have been reduced to zero as well. I would probably leave that knob on 100% until the bug gets fixed and scale your feedbacks using the matrix in the centre instead.

Support are aware of it but it's probably a fairly low priority ticket compared to making sure the grid is working properly etc.

[Taika-Kim]

I guess you could always modulate the time parameter with a macro that gets smoothed with a S/H modulator.

Btw I got some great sounds by modulating the delay time with the output signal and finding the sweet spots.