SANDMAN PRO vs OTHER DESERT CITIES vs REPLIKA XT
Most of the time when we reach for a delay, we just need a simple echo, we want the sound to repeat a few times and fade off, and for this reason, most delays kinda feel like the same thing, why pick one over the other when we’re just going to do the same thing with them. At the same time, they are a dime a dozen, every synth has one built in, a good amount of effects have delays built in, and your DAW probably came with at least 4 factory delays. For this reason, it’s easy to over look creative delays and why you might. want to use one. If you do any sound design or resampling, creative delays can be an excellent source of sonic material, combining feedback with wandering delay times to produce pitches that glitch around as the delay algorithm tries to keep up with the laws of physics. You can also create resonators with short delays or even reverbs with diffusion. All the different delay modes and extra options in these creative delays will provide a playground of creative ideas, but make sure you are recording as replication is nearly impossible, and also a limiter because the feedback can get out of hand fast.
ACROSS ALL THREE
-filtering
-diffusion
-tempo sync
-saturation
-stereo spread
Each of the delays in this shootout feature multiple flavors of delay, a diffusion algorithm, some sort of creative modulation and something that makes them unique. I’ve also chosen all three for their intuitive and well laid out UI, keeping everything on the surface simple, with options organized in a manner to never be overwhelming but always expand creative ideas. I will not be testing the quality of the echos, I feel safe in assuming there’s no magic going on in repeating an audio buffer. I’m not coming from a mix engineering perspective either, these are my opinions as a sound designer, especially focussed on glitch and abstract industrial sounds. What may be important to you, might not have even be considered by me.
Usage as a short delay is important to me, as making resonators is an incredibly fun sound design technique, so when I’m measuring delay range, it is important to look at the smallest number, as that is how high of a frequency you can produce. The resolution is how fine you can adjust between each value, meaning you have more control over the tuning. So if one delay can go faster than another, but only has a resolution of 1 second, that means you loose all the values between each control position.
SANDMAN PRO
Delay modes: 6
Modulation: up to 6 modulation sources
Looping: yes
Delay range and resolution: 5ms -10s
0.01ms resolution
Unique features: Sandman Pro has an extensive modulation system, each source can be either an LFO, follower, random, or sequencer. This really makes it a great tool for rhythmic processing and creating insane glitch presets, where delay time and sleep buffer jump around like crazy. Which brings me to the other unique feature, the sleep buffer is just so powerful, you get extensive control over the start and end points and are even able to modulate them, it may not seem like much, but modulating time or end point can produce utterly powerful transformations of your sound.
Unique limitations: Out of these three, Sandman Pro has the weakest diffusion algorithm, you can work with it and get some good results out of it, and it does have its own character which might be better depending on use case.
Personal use cases: I enjoy creating utter chaos with Sandman Pro, by routing modulation everywhere, and triggering the sleep buffer, it’s perfect for just breaking things and speeding up the entropic thermal heat death of the universe. The glitch shifter mode and multi tap modes go completely insane, and when you add the SRR on top of that, you have a recipe for glitch chaos. The extensive modulation is perfect for creating presets that mess up audio in repeatable ways rather than relying on external modulation as well.
Full Review: https://www.databroth.com/blog/sandman-pro-review
OTHER DESERT CITIES
Delay modes: 6
Modulation: 2 LFOs and 1 envelope follower
Looping: yes
Delay range and resolution: 0ms - 2s
10ms resolution
Unique features: Most of Other desert cities unique features lie in each algorithm, as it has some of the strangest and most versatile delay types. The cactus, thermal, mirage, and sky valley algorithms could all likely be smaller plugins on their own and offer a range of creative options. The diffusion algorithm is probably the most vast of the the, ranging from the cluttery lofi end of things to smooth and lush reverbs, and a nice transition between.
Unique limitations: Other Desert Cities, probably has the least limitations of the three, but is pretty useless as a resonator/ short delay, as the resolution is incredibly low. Given that below about 30 ms you start to drop below anything recognized as a frequency, you really only have about 3 positions that resonate.
I’d also say the lack of unique features might qualify as a unique limitation as well, but this is made up for with the creative delay modes.
Personal use cases: Other Desert Cities feels a lot more boutique, I tend to use this one for more subtle glitch design. adding nuanced textures that sit a little bit more in the background rather than being the sounds them selves. While I’m more likely to sample Sandman Pro, I’m more likely to use Other Desert Cities in a track, where the more mild chaos wont have as much of an impact, providing more of a vibe.
Full Review: https://www.databroth.com/blog/other-desert-cities-review
REPLIKA XT
Delay modes: 5
Modulation: restricted to delay time only
Looping: no
Delay range and resolution: 0m - 2s
1ms resolution
Unique features: Replika XT does quite a few things to make up for its limitations, for one, it has a dual delay mode, allowing you to stack 2 delays in series or parallel. Each delay also gets controls for pattern, which slightly approach the ideas you’d find in a multi-tap delay. On top of this Replika XT offers 7 effects, a couple of which can be placed into the feedback loop for more creative potential. The frequency shifter and pitch shifter are especially fun for this. The diffusion algorithm is particularly smooth and gets into incredibly lush reverb territory, and is my favorite diffuser of the bunch.
Unique limitations: Speaking of diffusion, the first limitation is that diffusion takes up a whole delay mode, so you can’t combine it with other modes. Replika XT also lacks any modulation beyond the rate modulation included in most modes, it is a fixed shape as well. On top of this, the delay modes here lean more towards emulation rather than innovation, there’s nothing too far out of left field, but you will get more “classic” sounds from this one if that is what you are after.
Personal use cases: Replika XT’s diffusion and effects make it perfect for making shimmer verbs, the dual delay arrangement, frequency shifter, and more subtle differences between delay modes make it ideal for creating resonators. Applying external modulation also makes for some really great sci-fi sound design, with a softer more organic sound, rather than pure digital insanity. The pattern settings as well add to the variation of resonator design choices. I’ve also used the standard Replika as my main dotted stereo delay.
Full Review: https://www.databroth.com/blog/replika-xt-review
These are in no way the “best” three delays out there, or the most comprehensive, they were simply the most similar in terms of what I find interesting. A couple delays that almost made the list were HY-Delay, which was mostly left off for having a bit of a cluttered U, and the feature set just didn’t quite fit in. I will be reviewing this one later as it did have more features than any of the others. Also Cluster Delay, which has an incredible UI and is amazing for glitches, but only had one delay mode to choose from. I really enjoyed these three for their variety of sound design options that always felt like you could come up with new ideas. As with the other shootouts, I felt these were all fairly equal, what one delay lacked was made up for by another feature, for example: Replika XT doesn’t really have modulation, but has dual delay and effects, and ODC has no effects and limited modulation, but a great diffusion and some incredibly creative delays.
I will be exploring all three in creative ways for sound design, but if you can only pick one, I hope this shootout can help you make a more informed decision.
if this article helped convince you to purchase any of these plugins, please consider using one of my affiliate links below. (after you have searched to make sure you can’t get a better deal elsewhere)
OTHER DESERT CITIES: https://www.pluginboutique.com/product/2-Effects/53-Multi-Effect-/8030-Other-Desert-Cities?a_aid=61c378ab215d5
REPLIKA XT: https://www.pluginboutique.com/product/2-Effects/10-Delay/10999-Replika-XT?a_aid=61c378ab215d5