To start, I put a vocal part on loop and just played around, changing this, trying that, messing with the Style, just to get a feel for how it worked, how it felt, how it sounded. Finally, there’s some EQ control to tame the highs or get rid of unwanted lows.įour of the delays go for the feel, rather than exact replication of vintage devices, and at first, Tape was where I spent most of my time, as it’s more reminiscent of my beloved Space Echo. Each mode also has two knobs to tweak things a bit that are specific to the mode, such as Wow/Flutter for Tape mode, Rate/Depth for the BBD mode, etc. You can really smear the delays into one other in a very pleasing way. There’s a Color section with Drive and Age controls, and there’s a Diffusion control that shapes the clarity of the delays, not in terms of EQ, but how blurry or crisp they are. When you’re in Quad style in a given mode, you have the option to turn on/off whichever of the four delay taps you’d like, giving you the ability for further exploration/customization. Dual, Ratio, and Ping-Pong are stereo effects with distinct left and right delays.
In each delay mode you can choose Single, Dual, Ratio, Ping-Pong, and Quad algorithms. There are the standard Delay/Mix/Feedback controls for each mode, and a Style control as well, which adds various changes to the mix depending on the mode you’re in. There’s plenty of available tweaking to be had, without too much clutter of the GUI-a Valhalla trademark-and it’s truly a joy using their plug-ins because of this. The delays on offer might be inspired by vintage delays, but Valhalla has moved way beyond what was, and has in the process created a new standard. Valhalla Delay offers ten different delay modes, and they cover a lot of ground. The Valhalla Delay has a lot to live up to, and I knew I would like this, but would it add the magic, the special sauce that my RE-201 lent to all my recordings over the years? As my now dusty Space Echo can attest, the Valhalla Delay absolutely can. I’m friends with somebody that was working on the production of this, and for over a year every time I’d ask about it, he would tell me they were close, but there was always another delay, and it just needed a little more tweaking. They sound amazing, are dead simple to use, there’s no dongle/key/password/bribe required for them to work, they’re priced well, and their interface is simple and attractive, not just some animated version of the thing they’re trying to emulate, which can hog up a ton of CPU and seems totally pointless to me. I’ve been using Valhalla reverbs ever since reading about them in Tape Op a while back, so when they finally released the Delay I kept thinking, “It’s about time!” There are so many things I like about Valhalla plug-ins. Yes, it’s a bit sad, but what can you do? I still love the Space Echo, and it will always hold a special place for me, but nowadays when I need a good delay I don’t even hesitate. I’ve tried/owned other tape delays, pedals, and plug-ins to take the pressure off of it, but nothing sounded like my RE-201, nothing could dethrone it from its perch high atop my studio desk. It hasn’t always been easy, but the results have always been worth it.
#Valhalla vintage reverb vocals skin#
In my time with it, I’ve recapped it, put in new felts and pinch rollers, cleaned it hundreds of times, tried numerous tapes from numerous sources, found a rattlesnake skin inside, and more than a few times, have powered it up to use on a session only to not have it work properly, or at all. I’ve considered it my secret weapon forever, as it always adds just the right amount of delay and mystique to background vocals, snare, synth, whatever.
I’ve been recording my own music forever, and have tried/owned tons of different mics, guitars, synths, keyboards, drums, etc., but the one and only thing that I have always held onto was my Roland RE-201 Space Echo.