Sound Particles inDelay

Despite support for multi‑channel inputs and outputs, this innovative delay plug‑in is equally adept at adding depth and dimension to stereo inputs and binaural outputs.

Available in all the common plug‑in formats, including AAX, inDelay applies the immersive technology that has impressed us on previous Sound Particles plug‑ins to delay. Using the company’s own spatial processing, sounds can be given placement and movement that translates to anything from mono or stereo right up to multi‑channel immersive audio. Both the input and output formats can be selected from a comprehensive range of around 30 multi‑channel options, right down to basic mono, while the output also offers a number of stereo alternatives, including Blumlein and M‑S, as well as binaural and Ambisonic options for headphone listening.

Clearly, this is no simple delay — it can generate up to 100 delays using 16 individually customisable taps, each of which can be positioned in space. For example, if simply processing a stereo track, the taps can be fed from the left, right or combined input channels, whereas if processing a multi‑channel input, there are more options.

There’s also a choice of filter types that can be applied to the various taps: three‑band, parametric, ‘air’ or something called ‘craziness’, which adds diffusion for a more reverb‑like outcome. Settings for the various input channels can be independent or linked. The Feedback Modifiers provide various feedback options, such as ending after a specific number of repeats, and users can also pan each feedback repetition independently. In combination with the various feedback patterns, independent panning can create impressive spatial delay patterns. There’s also tap tempo and DAW sync for the delays, as well as a control to simulate the effects of HF attenuation due to distance. A Tap Record feature enables the user to tap in a custom delay pattern of up to five seconds, while a Kill button mutes the effect output, leaving the dry signal intact. And if you run short on inspiration, there’s a Random button too.

Orientation

The GUI shows a representation of the space in which the delays can be placed. Individual delays may then be set to move by selecting one of five modes: Static, Rotate, Random, Up/Down or Float, the last of which allows you to move them around inside the space, and to adjust them for area and speed. At the left of the screen is a list of the output channels that are colour‑coded to correspond with colours in the display. A Speed knob governs the rate of movement, which shows up in the display as coloured balls bouncing around inside the virtual space rather like an insane squash court.

To the right is where the output format is selected and where output level, wet and dry controls and metering can be viewed. A click/drag Time Editor allows taps to be moved and panned, changed in level and so on according to the current operational mode, while the delays themselves can also be controlled using the familiar Time, Gain and Feedback parameters. The repeats due to feedback are also shown in the Time Editor, along with a view of the processed audio signal.

Delays can be set up using the Channels, Taps and Particles tabs. Channels mode provides control over the delay of each channel of the input signal, while Taps can have one or multiple channels as their input. Particles mode generates a defined number of particles, adjustable by the user, and these are fed by all input channels. There are no facilities for adding modulation to the delays or for applying Doppler shift to fast‑moving repeats, though I can’t say I ever felt short‑changed by not having them.

Particles mode is unlike conventional tap‑based delay, inasmuch as up to 100 particles can be generated. There are different options for pattern, distribution and time, and DAW sync is still available in this mode. The particles can move in space with the option of adding distance attenuation. Of particular interest are the two Soundscape particle modes. In the first, particles are distributed in a square plane, and longer delay times spread the particles over a larger area. Soundscape 3D is similar but operates in a 3D cube‑shaped space. Spacial distribution in Particle mode can also be set to Linear or Gaussian.

Intuitive Operation

Some control options vary depending on the delay mode being used but overall operation is intuitive, behaving much as you’d expect. The visual feedback and click/drag operation of the main display is very informative in showing how the delays are moving, and the time display at the bottom of the window (which also responds to click/dragging) is also helpful in showing how delays and their repeats are behaving.

In Particles mode, inDelay behaves very differently from a conventional delay.

Sound Particles have created a wide range of presets that show off the range of effects you can coax out of this plug‑in, and I suspect that in most cases a few tweaks to an existing preset will get you where you want to be. The more immersive treatments tend to have less of a rhythmic element to them, instead creating an impression of density and space, so it’s when you’re creating simpler delays that you’ll need to be more specific with the settings.

In a multi‑speaker setup, it’s very easy to localise the position of specific repeats, while the busier, more immersive patches surround the listener with myriad delays that create a sense of spatial envelopment. Of course, outside of the movie theatre or a serious home or automotive surround system, most music will be listened to over headphones, and that makes the binaural output important. Binaural processing is based on parameters created for an average set of ears, but because nobody has ‘average’ ears the way binaural processing is perceived varies from listener to listener.

The sense of space it adds is something that you definitely miss when you turn it off.

In my own case, I tend to hear the sound stage as being much wider (left to right) than it is deep (front to back) but, importantly, the sense of surround space is still there. Where only a small number of delays are being created, any of the movement options adds depth to the stereo image, with sounds spreading wide and then wandering behind, although for me rear‑moving sounds still come across as being very close to my head. The placement of binaurally processed sounds that are parked in a ‘behind you’ location can often be less than convincing, but sounds that move, even if only slowly, tend to be much more believable in that respect. Your mileage may vary, but what I can say is that the sense of space that this plug‑in adds is something that you definitely miss when you turn it off. Also, on a practical note, I found that using the binaural setting for the delays didn’t sound wrong over loudspeakers, just a little different in tonality, so it is quite possible to embed a little binaural magic in your mix knowing that it will sound fine on loudspeakers and more immersive when heard over headphones.

Those presets with more complex delays, or that use Particle mode with lots of particles, trade directional cues relating to individual repeats for a sense of spatial envelopment that adds to the illusion that the music is being produced in a real space. Experimenting with the filter options, especially the band‑pass filter with the feedback set just short of self‑oscillation, the repeats take on an interesting coloration that could be useful for processing specific sounds such as percussion.

By way of CPU overhead, I was testing this plug‑in in Logic Pro on an M2 Mac Mini. Although I never saw the CPU meter maxing out when using three instances of the plug‑in, setting up some of the more complex multi‑delay treatments did cause some audible glitching until I picked a larger buffer size. On mentioning this to the developers, I was informed that an update is already in the works to optimise inDelay for smaller buffer sizes, which is great. But, being realistic, most people wouldn’t need to use inDelay on more than one or two tracks or busses in a mix, unless used quite subtly.

Verdict

In summary, then, inDelay is a powerful and creative tool. Although it supports multi‑channel inputs and is intended primarily for use in immersive mixing (a capability that’s probably reflected in the price), it can sound equally magical when used with stereo sources. And while its spatial benefits can certainly be appreciated deeply when playing back the result over a multi‑channel loudspeaker system, its binaural and even the straight stereo output options take it way beyond what you can expect from more conventional delays. Well worth checking out.