Matriarch Delay: Time & Space twisting
Posted: Mon Mar 15, 2021 5:53 pm
When turning the Spacing & Time knobs using the Delay, I get wild frequencies moving around. Kind of cool actually, but I don't understand why. An inherent design feature?
Yes, it is a feature of the bucket brigade devices used for the delay. The signal from the input is passed along a number of "buckets" driven by a clock signal. If the clock is constant, the input signal will appear at the output some time later (with some inevitable distortion). But if you change the clock while the signal is within the BBD, the frequency at the output will also change. The time knob (and spacing, for the second delay; or CV on time 1/2 in) just modifies the clock rate of the BBD.
In fact, it's similar to a tape delay in that respect: When you change the tape speed, the output signal will also change frequency.
My favorite delay patch "just for laughs" is a cable from modulation wave out to delay time 1 in, modulation rate at 11 waveform random; delay time, mix and feedback high at around 2.