Software Review
All these iconic delay sounds
There are good and interesting delay plugins. And then there are those that are slightly better… and then there’s the German developers HOFA’s Color Delay. This delay is almost in a class of its own. Four different types of delay effects have been incorporated into one and the same plugin. But the developers didn’t stop there. Color Delay has also been equipped with a lot of extra effects and other functions, which make it a very useful plugin. We take a closer look…
Even before we started listening to it, we knew there was something special about this delay. The four different delay effects, Tape, Bucket Brigade, Digital and Destruction, can be used in any order and in any combination you want. In addition, you have access to effects such as Diffusion, Phasing, Chorus, Ducking and Auto-pan. But let’s start from the beginning.
Installation using the HOFA Plugins Manager
From the developers’ website we download the HOFA Plugins Manager. With the help of this app, we can download, install, and then also authorize or license the software. You don’t need a special dongle for this, but if you need to be able to move the two licenses offered between different machines that may not have access to the web, you can place the licenses on a USB stick or similar. This way you can use your two licenses on two different computers and run them at the same time. This can be a desktop computer and a laptop, or a Mac and a PC, for those who feel like it.
Of course, there is support for all known plugin formats and DAW programs, and you can also test HOFA Colour Delay by downloading a trial version that lasts for 14 days. Should these 14 days not be enough, surely HOFA will also be generous with extending them if you contact their support.
HOFA Colour Delay
There are those who have pointed out that the name may not be very original – for example, there is already a BBD-based delay from u-he called Colour Copy – but still … it has to be called something. And if the name doesn’t get that many extra plus points, I still have to award quite a few points for just about everything else related to the HOFA Color Delay. But let’s take a look at what this plugin can do with an audio signal that needs that little bit extra.
As we mentioned earlier, HOFA Colour Delay offers no less than four different types of delay effects, and you can run all four at the same time. The different delay types are Tape, Bucket Brigade, Digital and Destruction, and of course you choose how many of these different variants you want to use and in what order. Just drag and drop them in the order you prefer. The delay effects are all of such high quality that each one can absolutely stand on its own, but when you combine a couple of them (or more) you can create some really amazing sound effects. And when it comes to effects, you can also add some to the delay, if you think it’s needed. Here too, the range is really generous. Or how about diffusion, phaser, chorus, auto pan and ducker?
“When developing the Colour Delay, two things were vital for us: we wanted any imaginable sound to be realizable with just a few clicks. And combining the different colours should be really fun!”
Fabian Freitag & Jochen Sachse from HOFA-Plugins
Four types of Delay
Tape: This is a delay effect that emulates the old, trusted tape echo from the childhood of rock music. Here you can create just the right amount of tape compression for a truly successful nostalgia trip. Warmth, saturation and all the other artifacts that make tape so beloved today are here in abundance.
Bucket Brigade: This also has a really old pedigree, and there are plenty of lo-fi artifacts here. Bucket Brigade Delay is based on an old analog delay technology where an audio signal was sent into an IC circuit with a chain of capacitors. When the first capacitor is filled, the signal is sent on to the next one, and then to the next; one step for each clock cycle. This way you get a certain delay of the signal. At the same time, both the input and output signals are low-pass filtered in a BBD unit, and this, together with some other artifacts from the system, gives it a typical lo-fi sound, especially compared to modern digital delay units. Bucket Brigade Device refers to the old-fashioned chain of buckets filled with water that firefighters often had to use to fight fires in the past.
Digital: Even digital delay devices have their faults and shortcomings to a certain degree, depending on their design. Here there are effects such as aliasing and quantization distortion, which are due to low sampling frequencies and bit depths. This effect aims to emulate the early digital delay units which had an abundance of just such flaws.
Destruction: Here we are talking about real digital shortcomings, saturated sound and tube distortion – at its best/worst. As the name suggests, there are possibilities here for many forms of sonic destruction. Analog warmth in the form of tube distortion, sound that clips – you name it! Room for experimentation.
The Graphical User Interface – the GUI
You can actually access all the settings in one and the same window, and most things feel very intuitive and easy to understand. Centrally located in this window, the delays are displayed graphically as bars, along with waveforms of the sound passing through. Modulation results in “fuzzy” bars. Below this image is a diagram that shows frequency content along with a very useful EQ section. Everything is very interactive.
You will find the delays in the upper part of the window. Each delay has its own controls. Tape has knobs for Drive and Wow & Flutter. Bucket Brigade has different types of BBD effects (Standard, Vintage, and so on), as well as a knob for Noise. Digital has knobs for sample rate reduction (lovely word!) and bit depth, and finally, with Destruction, you can control the amount of Tube (distortion) and Clip.
Below this, you can control the amount of Delay, Feedback and Modulation, and also sync the effect to your DAW’s own tempo. There’s also a Tap function, where you physically tap the tempo you want on the delay. You can also choose from a variety of ping-pong effects here, where the echo bounces back and forth between the left and the right channels.
Five post-delay-effects
In addition, you have access to five different specially designed effects to add after the delay.
- Diffusion: Here you can create a dense sound structure with small reverb-like modulations – perfect for creating atmospheric soundscapes.
- Phaser:This is a classic delay effect that can create a modulated movement and a more dynamic sound. Perfect for more rhythmic sounds.
- Chorus: Another classic effect which creates a bigger stereo image using small pitch modulations. Works great on chords as well as solo parts.
- Auto Pan: This creates a moving stereo image that floats between the left and the right channel – especially illusory when listening through headphones.
- Ducker: We also have a ducker function that allows us to avoid drowning the original signal in echoes and delays. The ducker brings out the delay effects in pauses between different vocal or instrument phrases, and suppresses the effect when it risks clashing with what might be more important.
Even with these post-effects we have controls to fine-tune the different parameters, and in some cases – that is the diffusion and the phaser – you can also choose between different types of effects within the same genre. And here too, you can use the drag-and-drop method to decide in which order the various effects should be placed. The algorithms for these effects are claimed to be developed to work optimally with delay effects, and there is nothing to suggest otherwise. It all sounds absolutely amazing!
Conclusion
It’s always fun to test effects plugins that shows that someone has clearly thought outside the narrow framework that developers – especially in previous years – have felt compelled to adhere to. A delay plugin can be so much more than just a delay. HOFA Colour Delay shows this with all the desired clarity. Here we are offered a lot of possibilities to manipulate the sound effects in exactly the direction we want – and then a little further into the unknown.
Four different delay types that we can combine in exactly the order we want, combined with a range of great-sounding and hand-picked special effects… This means a completely veritable smorgasbord of exciting and imaginative delay effects.
The fact that they the developers have focused a little extra on warm, vintage-like sound effects is of course not something we feel sorry about. On the contrary, we get just as warm inside as the many wonderful sounds we can create with HOFA Colour Delay.
We definitely don’t miss the squeaky clean, but oh so sterile and emotionless digital effects that we have been fed for many years. This is exactly how we want it to sound! A big thank you to all the developers at HOFA!
LINK
Here is a brief overview of how HOFA Colour Delay works:
SYSTEM REQUIREMENTS
- Windows: Windows 7 or later
- Mac: OS X 10.13 up to macOS 14 (Sonoma), Intel (64 Bit) or Apple Silicon
DEVELOPER HOFA Plugins
INFO hofa-plugins.de/en/plugins/colour-delay
PRICE Now: 103,99 euro; Normal price: 114,49 euro