Choosing a delay

I'm really struggling to pick a delay out right now. I want to make super textured sounds so beads seems obvious but sealegs has the tape sound option which is also interesting to me. And then there's also mimeophon, which seems great all around. I like the sound of them all and can see potential benefits in them all, so I'm just looking for any experiences with them or advice that might help me make a conclusion, thanks.

Edit: Also any other ideas I didn't mention

EDITED Oct 10th 2023, 04:10

Check out Intellijels Rainmaker. I have both Beads and Mimeophon, and theyre awesome, but the Rainmaker is on a whole other level. Its a bit pricier than the others but its a super textured delay powerhouse.

I dont have and havent used Sealegs, but between the other 2 it really depends on what you want from your delay. If youre interested in granular stuff, go with Beads. Otherwise i'd choose Mimeophon, personally. Its defintely a more textured delay. But then again being a delay is not what Beads does best.

Maybe think about, which modules you already have to pair with.

I saw a Morphagene in your rack.
this can also add some tape character and effects, but as far i know without saturation

I like the mimeophon, because its nice to modulate, good to control and very playable.

I grabbed a beads last week. It appears very versatile to me, but right know I dont know how to tame it. I guess you have to know excactly what you are doing to control it. But maybe I just need more time to learn it.

I guess Beads can replace or substitute other modules. For example, I wanted to buy a Qu-bit Data Bender, but I realized that I can do similar effects with beads stutter- / glitch mode.

At the moment, beads acts in my setup like a data bender for unpredictable random glitches and broken harddisk error- effects

If you need an accurate and powerful Delay module, I think it’s better to differentiate specialized modules like Dual Looping Delay (https://www.modulargrid.net/e/4ms-company-dual-looping-delay), or Chronoblob2 (https://www.modulargrid.net/e/alright-devices-chronoblob2) for example, and all those whose function allows a mix of sound manipulations including more or less the Delay function (like Beads, excellent module by the way, or Mimeophon).

If you can get your hands on an inexpensive clouds clone, there's an alternative firmware for it that add several modes besides granular: reverb with pitch-shift, resonator, looping delay and looping delay with pitch-shift. It's from Matthias Puech who also worked on serveral 4MS modules. You can check more on this website https://mqtthiqs.github.io/parasites/clouds.html.

It's not as versatile, but especially if you have one that has dedicated knobs for the blend-modes, it may be a cheaper option than the modules mentioned above. Here I can find the After Later Audio Typhoon for 250 euros for example. This way you can easily check if granular/looping delays are something that fits your style.

Alternatively, if you want to go have a big dedicated module without this alternative firmware stuff, the modules mentioned above seems very interesting and there are some great video's on YouTube on them.

At the moment, beads acts in my setup like a data bender for unpredictable random glitches and broken harddisk error- effects

-- MCGM

This seems super promising for what I'm hoping to make, thank you for the input!

It's not as versatile, but especially if you have one that has dedicated knobs for the blend-modes, it may be a cheaper option than the modules mentioned above. Here I can find the After Later Audio Typhoon for 250 euros for example. This way you can easily check if granular/looping delays are something that fits your style.

-- dubstepjoris

Thanks so much for the idea! I'm definitely trying to save some money and this seems like a great option to test stuff out.

If you need an accurate and powerful Delay module, I think it’s better to differentiate specialized modules like Dual Looping Delay (https://www.modulargrid.net/e/4ms-company-dual-looping-delay), or Chronoblob2 (https://www.modulargrid.net/e/alright-devices-chronoblob2) for example, and all those whose function allows a mix of sound manipulations including more or less the Delay function (like Beads, excellent module by the way, or Mimeophon).
-- Sweelinck

I hadn't considered that but it makes sense, I think in my case I'm looking for more of the variation and it seems like beads it is for now. Thanks!

Check out Intellijels Rainmaker. I have both Beads and Mimeophon, and theyre awesome, but the Rainmaker is on a whole other level. Its a bit pricier than the others but its a super textured delay powerhouse.

-- anelekt

I would love Rainmaker I just don't have the room for it 😭

qu-bit is releasing a new granular module "Mojave"

It seems to be not a delay and focused on granular live processing.
But it seems to be inspired by beads.