Multitap delay

Programming and Development New Plug-Ins
1

This Multitap (or Multi-Tap) effect creates multiple echoes.
The basic principle is described here: http://audacityteam.org/manual-1.2/effects_delay.html

The effect has 5 “Delay loops”, each of which has its own delay time (in milliseconds) and can be set to an initial level (linear scale of 0 to 1).
The Feedback control at the bottom sets the amount of feedback for all delay loops.

Notes:

  • “Taps” refer to “tapping into” the audio stream. It has nothing to do with tapping your foot or tapping a button.
  • It is often useful to extend the selection beyond the end of the audio so as to allow room for the echoes.
  • Only the first delay loop is enabled by default. To enable additional delay loops, set their delay time and level to above zero.
  • The plug-in may be used on mono or stereo tracks, but it is a mono effect in that it applies exactly the delay to both channels of stereo tracks.
  • Adding echoes is likely to make the audio louder, so it may be necessary to manually reduce the track level (with Amplify or Normalize).
  • Multiple tap delays are often most effective if the delay times are not exact multiples of each other.
  • Interesting tonal effects can be created by using several very short delays

Installation is in the usual way: http://audacityteam.org/download/plugins

Comments are as always very welcome.
multitap.ny (1.81 KB)

2

I think the shipped delay will be preferable for novices as there is no absolute need there to select extra audio.



Gale

3

I agree that this is not a mainstream effect for Audacity, but I think a good one for the wiki.

Which also has the downside that it will usually be unsuitable for applying to a selection within an audio track because it will extend the selection, pushing subsequent audio to a later time.

4

Yes. I hope if gets there after discussion.

Also a problem with Echo and Multi-tap delay unless you add the extra audio first?



Gale

5

Less of a problem for Echo and Multi-tap delay because they don’t push subsequent audio along the time line.

For example, if you wanted to add some echoes to the last word in a verse (assuming one vocal track and a typical song structure), for the Echo or Multi-tap delay effects you can select just that one word, plus the gap before the first word of the chorus and apply the effect. If you do that with the “Delay” effect, the chorus and subsequent verses will be out of time with the instrumental tracks.