"stereo" delays

[Abstraction]

im having a bit of a prob with delay plugins. basically ive got my delay set up on a FX channel and the signal im sending to it is very obviously stereo (ie something happening over on the left, then a bit of a gap, then maybe something over on the right etc) and all of the echos are coming through dead centre. ive tried it with three different delay plugs, all (i think) stereo delays, the fx channel is a stereo channel, and i cant work out what ive done wrong. i want the echos to stay in the same bit of the stereo field as the sound wot made them

any ideas?

 

[Rorymonster]

Basically a stereo delay is not an effect which sends its left input to the left delay and its right to the right delay. It is sending the input sound to both so that they be delayed independently. There may well be a stereo delay plug-in that does what you want but I couldn't recommend one. You'll have to do it yourself.

Set up two fx channels and pan one of them left and one of them right. Send your dry signal accordingly (you might thus have to split your stereo channel into a separate L and R). Annoying and time consuming I know.
Alternatively, you could try using the mono->stereo delay setup that you unwillingly have, and pan the results, either manually or with a plugin like tremolo which will bounce things left and right as you desire. This might produce a different effect that that which you require though.

R.

 

[Ott^]

Which sequencer/delay are you using? All things are not equal.

Basically a stereo delay is not an effect which sends its left input to the left delay and its right to the right delay. It is sending the input sound to both so that they be delayed independently.

Not so. Depends on the effect.

 

[Faction]

Ott's right.

Waves multitap delays are excellent examples of stereo delays which can preserve the stereo image of their input signal. I think Bionic delay (freeware) will do the same too.

However you need to make sure you're sending a stereo signal to them in the first place. With a mono audio track In SX, even if your signal is panned hard to one side it will not affect the pan position of the aux sends; each aux on each channel has a pan control (accessed by selecting the routing option at the top of the aux panel for that channel) which allows you to pan that channel's send for that aux. Auxes on stereo channels have the same selection of panning modes available (with a right-click) as channel faders themselves do.

 

[Abstraction]

in cubase sx2 i tried the standard cubase 'double delay', sonitus ultrafunk stereo delay, and voxengo tempo delay.
the second two on that list actually have seperate controls for left and right channels, and the sonitus one even has a control to allow each side to bleed into the other (which i turned down to 0) so im begining to think its a prob with cubase rather than the plugins.

 

[Faction]

Are you sending it from a mono or stereo track?

Try using the delay as an insert rather than a send.

 

[Abstraction]

its four stereo tracks, all panned to different places, to give the impression of four people standing in different places having a conversation, which is why im reluctant to use inserts cos id have to use four of them but i spose thats not too much of a problem if it comes down to that.

 

[ChrisCabbage]

Slightly related delay tip:

My free delay plug of choice: Kjaerhaus' Classic Delay.

Great for ping-pong delays...

 

[Faction]

Try panning the aux sends for each track as described above to match the pan positions of the channels themselves. A delay plugin with separate controls for each channel should definitely give you the sound you're looking for.

 

[Abstraction]

yeah i think its gonna have to be inserts on each channel so that they get panned along with the channel itself.
thanks guys

 

[Faction]

Still think there's something you're not doing... it should be perfectly possible to do it with sends.