Adam Monroe's Delay Updated To Support macOs Big Sur V1.2
7.16.2021
Adam Monroe's Delay Is a Free 32/64-Bit VST AU AAX Plugin For Windows And OSX
* Time, Feedback, And Mix Knobs
* Synced Panning
* Linear And Exponential High Pass
* And Low Pass Filtering
Requirements:
VST

Windows 7/8/10 (32 or 64-Bit)
OS X 10.9 - 10.15 (64 Bit)
OS X 10.9 - 10.14 (32 Bit)

4 Gigabytes of Ram (8 Gigabytes recommended)

Intel Core 2 DUO @ 3GHZ or higher recommended.

Firewire or PCI-based Audio Interface recommended

*Plugin may work with older hardware, but performance will be affected
*Plugin designed to work at 44.1, 48, 88.2, and 96 kHz sample rates.
AU

OS X 10.9 - 10.15 (64 Bit)
OS X 10.9 - 10.14 (32 Bit)
(little endian CPU)

4 Gigabytes of Ram (8 Gigabytes recommended)

Intel Core 2 DUO @ 3GHZ or higher recommended.

Firewire or PCI-based Audio Interface recommended

*Plugin may work with older hardware, but performance will be affected
* Plugin designed to work at 44.1, 48, 88.2, and 96 kHz sample rates.
AAX

64 Bit MAC OS X 10.9 (Mavericks) or later
64 Bit Windows 7/8/10

Protools 11/12/2018/2019

4 Gigabytes of Ram (8 Gigabytes recommended)

Intel Core 2 DUO @ 3GHZ or higher recommended.

Firewire or PCI-based Audio Interface recommended

* Plugin designed to work at 44.1, 48, 88.2, or 96 kHz sample rate.
Download Includes VST (Windows/OSX),
AAX (Windows/OSX), and AU (OSX) Versions

  1. Delay Presets Cycle
  2. Canyon Preset - Rhodes Piano
  3. Bubbly Preset - HI-Hats+Guitar
  4. Various Presets - Guitars in Mix
  5. Spatial Presets - Wurlitzer

Adam Monroe's Delay is a free VST AAX and AU effect plugin for Windows and OS X. There are many free and commercial delay effect plugins, but I wanted to make my own unique delay. Interesting features of this plugin include:

*ping-pong panning that is synced to the delay time, so that each delay sounds like an echo sweeping from left to right.
* built in high and low pass filtering, so that the frequency of the delay can be filtered, well leaving the original dry signal intact.
* mix, panning, and panning-width controls.

The end goal was to make a highly parameterized delay plugin that could emulate some of the classic delay sounds like slapback, as well as create new and interesting effects, and package them in a comprehensive preset list and GUI, that the end user could easily navigate.

The development of this plugin was restricted to the delay effect itself. Early on, the idea of a "time stretching" delay effect you might find on some digital and analog delay pedals as you change the delay time - for example, the rimshots on the Bauhaus song "Bella Lugosi's Dead" - was toyed with, but due to developmental restraints was ommitted from the final version of the plugin. Future versions of this plugin might include this feature.

Perhaps the most interesting feature of this plugin is the option to set the high pass and low pass filters to linear or exponential. Setting to exponential creates interesting effects like hisses and clicks, as the filtering folds-back on the delay buffer. This effect works best at 44.1 kHz, but many sample rates are supported.

I have updated this plugin to version 1.2. I've added a "dry mix" knob and around 25 presets. The new preset have a bit of a focuse on spatial delay effects...I wanted to make delay sounds sort of like you hear in Jerry Goldsmith's score for Alien and other weird horror scores. Check out the "spatial presets" mp3. There is also now support for macOS Big Sur and Arm64.

A delay VST AU or AAX plugin effect isn't that difficult to program - delay effects are relatively simple algorithms to implement. The interesting part is how to implement and manipulate simple concepts to produce interesting results.

Presets include short delay times, which create slapback and doubling effects, to longer delays, and filtered delays that begin to approach the sound of reverb. Some of the delay presets can be used to "thicken" up a signal, as they approach chorus times without pitch-shifting

The minimum and maximum delay time ranges from 0 to 1 second, and the feedback ranges from 0 to infinite. The plugin supports sample rates from 44.1 to 192 kHz and does this by detecting the current sample rate and utilizing appropriate buffer lengths (as opposed to sample rate conversion). Filtering is accomplished through a 3rd-party library, and because of this, it's recommended to use 44.1 kHz, as the filtering library doesn't sound quite the same at higher sample rates.

This plugin was coded in native C++ for the VST AAX and AU versions. The majority of the build time was spent porting the plugin to the various graphics libraries and plugin frameworks, and in developing the various presets.

Total development time took around a month of intermittent work, for programming, GUI, porting, and testing. This plugin is being released for free, as it will likely be incorporated into my instrument plugins, and because of the amount of existing delay plugins in the market.

If you enjoy this plugin or find it useful, consider donating, or checking out one of my other free and commercial plugins.