Drift Delay manual
Drift is a stereo delay with Tape, BBD and Digital modes, two resonant filters, reverse playback and pitch shifting in the feedback loop.
Formats: VST3, AU, CLAP and Standalone on macOS; VST3, CLAP and Standalone on Windows.
Signal path
In trim feeds the dry path and the delay loop. The loop applies Input gain, compression, drive and delay, followed by the filters and expansion. Its output feeds both the feedback path and the wet output. Makeup, ducking and a soft limiter act on the wet signal before Mix and Out trim.
The dry path bypasses the saturation and filters. Feedback above 100% is bounded by saturation.
Compand enables paired compression and expansion on Tape and BBD. The compressor gain is recorded alongside each audio sample and reversed on playback, so the compander does not shorten the feedback decay on sparse input. Quiet tails can receive a cumulative lift of up to 12 dB. Digital bypasses the compander. Floor noise is gated by expansion when Compand is enabled.
Echo Map
The display below the preset bar shows current delay times, repeat levels and feedback paths. Left repeats appear above the centre line and right repeats below it. The display follows time glide, drift, ducking and wet-level modulation. Markers indicate inverted feedback, reverse playback and pitch shifting. A beat grid appears when a control is synced.
Time
| Control | What it does |
|---|---|
| Time L / R | Delay time from 10 ms to 2 s, or a note division from 1/32T to 2/1 when Sync is on. Synced delays can reach 5 s. Type a time or division into the readout; double-click to reset. |
| Sync L / R | Follows host tempo for that channel. The header shows BPM. |
| Link L/R | Makes right delay time and Sync follow the left. |
| Drift / Rate / Width | Adds wow and flutter. Depth scales with delay time, up to 1.5%, and includes slow random movement. Rate is 0.05–4 Hz. Width ranges from identical movement on both channels to independent movement. |
| Offset | Shifts the right delay by up to ±30 ms, including when linked. Small offsets widen a mono source but can change its sound when summed to mono. |
| Swing | Adjusts ping-pong timing from straight at 50% to maximum shuffle at 75%. Use linked or equal delay times for a regular swing pattern. |
| Tap | Sets delay time from the average of recent taps and switches Sync off. |
| Play | Fwd plays normally. Rev plays backwards in delay-length segments. Repeats alternate direction as the loop records its own output. Time changes take effect within one segment; this can take several seconds at long settings. Frozen reverse audio gradually smears. |
| Time Glide | Tape bends pitch as time changes. Fade crossfades between old and new delay times, useful when changing synced divisions. |
| Model | Tape adds high-frequency loss and a low-frequency bump. BBD becomes darker at longer delay times. Digital leaves the delay line uncoloured. |
Filters
Each filter has an On switch, Freq from 20 Hz to 20 kHz, Res, a mode selector and a response display. Low-pass and high-pass offer 6, 12 or 24 dB/octave slopes. Band-pass, notch and all-pass use their own responses.
New instances start at 6 dB/octave. Factory presets retain their saved slopes. Filters are inside the feedback loop, so their effect accumulates with each repeat. Try a shallow low-pass slope for gradual darkening, band-pass for a narrow tail, or all-pass for phase movement. High resonance can self-oscillate; saturation affects the response at high levels.
Series sends both channels through Filter 1 and then Filter 2. Parallel sends left through Filter 1 and right through Filter 2. Changing the slope or switching between Series and Parallel crossfades over 30 ms, so automating either does not click.
Echo
| Control | What it does |
|---|---|
| Feedback | 0–110%. Above 100%, the loop sustains through saturation. The taper gives more travel to the 45–95% range. Effective feedback is reduced as filter resonance rises. |
| Mix | Equal-power dry/wet blend. |
| Drive | Adds 0–20 dB into the soft clipper, with wet-output level compensation. Tape uses a slightly asymmetric curve. |
| Age | Adds high-frequency loss on each repeat, in all models. |
| Spread | Cross-feedback between channels, from dual mono to fully crossed. Ping Pong is already fully crossed. |
| Diffuse | Softens repeat attacks through four modulated all-pass stages. Higher settings and feedback produce denser tails. The effect blends in continuously from zero, so a small amount softens the tap rather than replacing it with the full all-pass chain. |
| Pitch | Shifts feedback by up to ±12 semitones per pass. The first echo retains its original pitch. Positive settings make later repeats rise; negative settings make them fall. |
| Amount | Blends pitch-shifted and unshifted feedback. At zero the shifter is bypassed. Shifted repeats arrive a few tens of milliseconds later because of the processing. |
| Input | ±24 dB gain into the loop only. Use it to drive Tape or BBD harder without changing the dry level. |
| Loop Input | Selects Stereo, Mono sum, Left only, Right only or swapped sides (X). The dry path remains stereo. |
| Delay | Switch off to use drive and filters without echoes. |
| Freeze | Holds the loop at unity feedback, mutes new input and removes drive/clipping from the loop. Filters still affect the output. Click to latch, or press and hold for momentary use. |
| Runaway | Forces feedback above 100% while held, overriding the usual resonance and ducking reductions. Freeze takes priority. Runaway can be automated but is not saved in presets. |
| Ping Pong | Feeds input to the left delay, then alternates feedback between left and right. Works with mono input. |
| Compand | Enables paired compression and expansion on Tape and BBD. |
| Makeup | Compensates loop Input gain on the wet output. |
| Invert | Reverses feedback polarity. Later repeats alternate polarity, changing cancellation patterns against the dry signal. |
Output
| Control | What it does |
|---|---|
| In / Out | ±24 dB trims before processing and after the mix. |
| Duck / Thresh / Release | Reduces echoes during louder input. Threshold is the input level for full ducking, from −40 to 0 dB; quieter input produces less reduction. Release sets recovery time after a short hold. |
| Key | Main follows the plugin input. SC uses the external sidechain for both ducking and envelope modulation. Route a source in the host before selecting SC. An unavailable sidechain falls back to Main; some hosts expose an unassigned sidechain as silence. |
| Ducking | Wet lowers the full wet output. Feedback lowers regeneration only, preserving the first echo. |
| Floor | Adds noise inside the loop. Low is quieter; Vint is louder and darker. With Compand on, the noise is gated with the signal. |
| Width | Wet stereo width, from mono at 0% to unchanged at 100% and wider at 130%. The dry signal is unaffected. |
| Meters | In and Wet show peak levels. Lim indicates wet-path limiting, which can become audible at high feedback or resonance. |
| Wet Solo | Mutes the dry signal. |
| Bypass | Stops new audio entering the loop, lets the tail finish and passes the dry signal. The host bypass uses this behaviour. |
| HQ | Runs the loop at twice the host sample rate to reduce aliasing from saturation. Uses more CPU and adds latency, reported to the host. |
| Panic | Clears the delay lines and feedback state immediately. |
Modulation
Each of the two LFOs offers sine, square, saw and random sample-and-hold waveforms. Free-running rates span 0.05 Hz–1 kHz. Sync locks rate and phase to host tempo and position; loops and seeks realign the LFO. Phase offsets the cycle. Smooth rounds off changes, including stepped waveforms.
The routing matrix has one row for each destination. Choose Off, LFO 1, LFO 2 or Env, then set an amount.
- Time: up to 25 ms of delay-time modulation. Excursion is limited by the shortest active delay time; a 10 ms delay allows up to 5 ms.
- Filter 1 / 2: cutoff modulation up to ±2 octaves.
- Level: reduces wet level by the selected amount, providing tremolo on the echoes.
- Env: uses the same envelope as ducking, selected by Key. Route it to a filter for envelope-controlled filtering or to Time for pitch movement that follows input level.
Presets and comparisons
There are 76 factory presets. Browse by category, step with the arrow buttons, or press Find to search by name or category. The browser stays open while loading presets. Star favourites to collect them at the top; favourites are stored on the computer and follow you across projects.
Type a name and press Save or Enter to save a user preset. Overwriting an existing user preset asks for confirmation. Delete removes user presets; factory presets cannot be deleted. An asterisk marks an edited sound, and the preset name is saved with the project.
Lock preserves Mix, In/Out trims and Wet Solo when loading presets or switching A/B. This is useful on a fully wet send. Saving a preset includes the locked values.
A/B stores two complete settings in the project. Copy writes the current settings into the other slot. Switching A/B clears the undo history. Undo / Redo otherwise steps through edits made in the plugin window.
User presets are XML files in these folders:
- macOS:
~/Library/Application Support/DriftDelay/Presets - Windows:
%APPDATA%\DriftDelay\Presets
Window and editing
Drag a corner to resize. The window keeps its aspect ratio and saves its size with the project. Type values into readouts, double-click knobs to reset them, and use Ctrl or Command while dragging for fine adjustment. Knobs also respond to the scroll wheel. Hover over a control for its tooltip.
Starting settings
- Vocal delay: try a quarter note or dotted eighth, 45% Feedback, full Duck and 250 ms Release. Adjust Threshold to the vocal level.
- Frozen pad: freeze a sustained chord, then adjust the filters. Ducking remains active on the held tail.
- Shimmer: try Pitch +12, Amount 100%, Feedback around 70% and a long delay. Add Diffuse and lower the low-pass cutoff if the upper repeats become too bright.
- Driven BBD: select BBD, raise loop Input to +9 dB with Makeup on, and start near 60% Feedback. Pushed Bucket provides a factory starting point.