Stereo Delay: the Global section (a) offers a number of creative routing options, the Feedback knob (b) sets how much of the output is fed back into the input, and the Deviation parameter (c) lets you offset the left and right timings against each other.
Logic’s bundled delay plug‑ins might be the only delays you’ll ever need.
Logic’s arsenal of delay plug‑ins are a staple of my productions. And, while I own a basketful of third‑party delays, I find I keep coming back to the dependable workhorses that I know so well. In spite of the fact that I’m able to get reliably outstanding results with Logic’s delays, I realised recently that I wasn’t as familiar with all of their parameters as I thought I had been. With that in mind, let’s reacquaint ourselves with the basics.
A delay is an echo effect where the delay time is the spacing between echoes, and feedback sets the number of times the echo repeats. And for the most part, that’s how it appears to work. But to truly become adept at using this tool, a few distinctions need to be made.
The first of these is to understand that the effect is not creating an echo, per se. It’s delaying the incoming signal before playing it. Think of it as buffering a signal, holding it for a spell, and then letting it run free. The reason we perceive this as an echo is because we usually hear the original source sound in addition to the delayed version. In fact, if you set up a pre‑fader send from your track to a delay (100 percent wet, zero feedback), turn the source track’s fader all the way down, and press play, all you would hear is your track... albeit starting a bit later. Essentially, it’s as though you copied your track, slid the regions backwards and muted the original.
So what makes it sound like an echo? Well, firstly, when the delayed signal is combined with the dry source, we can now hear a call and response. To make the response sound more distant, we adjust its volume and tone.
And what about the number of repeats? Shouldn’t there be a dial that says “Repeats 1‑10?” That would make sense, but doesn’t reflect what’s going on behind the scenes. The delay only has one function: delay the incoming signal before playing it. That’s where the Feedback control comes into play. Quite simply, it feeds the output back into the input. If you turn up the feedback to 100% in Logic’s Stereo Delay, it will repeat the source track indefinitely in an endlessly annoying way. As you back the amount down, it sends less of the source back in, resulting in the classic dreamy effect we’ve all come to recognise. The feedback control is often underestimated, but with some very minor adjustments, you can dial in the exact amount of repeats you want.
The Stereo Delay plug‑in is essentially two mono delays strapped together.
Stereo Delay
Now that we understand how the delay effect works, we can start to get the most out of it. The Stereo Delay plug‑in is essentially two mono delays strapped together. The Stereo Link button forces any adjustments made in one chanel to be cascaded to the other. Don’t think of this as a one‑time setting: I usually start with Stereo Link engaged for broad settings, before disengaging it for fine‑tuning. It’s very common for me to set each delay with the same duration — either in milliseconds or note value — and then adjust the Deviation percentage up on one side and down on the other to create a bit of imbalance. And while the Stereo Link is handy for keeping the filters on each side consistent, having them at different settings adds some magic to the effect.
The Crossfeed knobs on each module introduces yet another dimension to the effect. Instead of adding a bit more of each delayed signal back into its own channel, the Crossfeed knobs let you add it to the other side. Once you start playing with crossfeed, you are practically entering the world of musical sound design, and the results can get quite trippy and hypnotic.
Now that you have a better grip on what these functions do, I hope you’ll be less likely to reach for the presets. Not because they are substandard (they are excellent), but because this is one effect that it’s worth the effort to roll your own to meet your project’s needs. If that’s too big an ask, meet me halfway. Set up the main parameters (delay times and filter settings) on your own and then cycle through the Routing presets from the pull‑down menu. The second option, labelled Crossfeed, is particularly handy. It simply reverses the left/right inputs. So if you have a guitar that’s hard‑panned left, its delayed version will be panned right.
Tape Delay
When you consider all of the tape and tube/valve emulation plug‑ins in today’s market, you may wonder why Logic doesn’t have any. But the surprising fact is that it does! However, rather than sporting graphics of spinning tape reels or glowing tubes/valves, Logic plays it cool with minimal fanfare.
The Character section of Tape Delay is where you dial in how much tape vibe you want, while the Modulation section gives you the ability to emulate the pitch inconsistencies that tape presents.
The Tape Delay plug‑in has always been my second choice for echo duties, but is starting to give the Stereo Delay some competition. While it’s presumably inspired by hardware units like the Roland Space Echo, Tape Delay ups the ante with some truly unique features. The plug‑in forfeits some of the fancy routing options of its sibling and replaces it with a palette of vintage tape offerings. The difference in approach is that it focuses more on altering the sound of the delayed signal; the actual delay section is very similar to that of the Stereo Delay.
The Character section is where things start to get intriguing. The Clip Threshold is used to dial in some tape saturation, while the Tape Head Mode buttons give you options for simulating the tape head position. Remember, all of these parameters only affect the delayed signal, not the original.
The Modulation section gives you control over all of the highly sought‑after inconsistencies of tape that used to give engineers ulcers decades ago. A hidden feature that I’ve fallen in love with is the Freeze button. When pressed, Tape Delay will repeat indefinitely. This means you can automate the Freeze button on the last word of a vocal and have it repeat as long as needed.
It’s easy to get intimidated by parameters you don’t truly understand, but you really can’t mess up the LFO and Flutter controls. Just tweak until you like how it sounds. There’s no real secret to this one.
Tape Delay works well when opened as a mono plug‑in. It’s perfect for vintage slapback echo. You can, of course, open it in dual mono and treat it like two units but, to me, that’s not the best use for this one. When opened as a stereo plug‑in you can take advantage of the Spread knob. This is another tasty automation opportunity to add drama and width.
I’m surprised that a spring reverb option isn’t available, but that’s an easy fix. More on that later.
Echo
While Stereo Delay and Tape Delay are the thinking person’s echoes, the simply named Echo plug‑in is perfect for the don’t‑sweat‑the‑details types. It’s essentially a mono (although it can be stereo) version of Stereo Delay without all of the routing options. Its simple interface is actually quite refreshing and it does the job without offering much in terms of tweakability. That said, the Color slider does offer a range of tones.
The humble and unassuming Echo plug‑in is a good choice when you don’t want to be overwhelmed with options.It should be mentioned that with all of these plug‑ins, as long as you open them on an aux track, you are free to add any processing you like to alter their sound. Distortion is a good option, as are filters and modulation effects like chorus and flanger.
Adding reverb to the delayed signal is a tried‑and‑tested manoeuvre to give a delay more space. Another great trick is to use the Stereo Spread plug‑in after the delay to widen the effect. Additionally, don’t feel limited to putting plug‑ins after your delay; consider adding some before it. Besides the aforementioned ideas, try a pitch‑correction plug‑in before the delay for a vocal. How about the Enveloper to add some attack before your percussion hits the delay?
It’s easy to forget or ignore how delays work, because they can deliver such usable results out of the box that we never need to examine what’s going under the hood. But by getting more acquainted with the controls, options, and functionality, Logic’s delay plug‑ins become powerful creative tools.
