MainStage Mondays: How To Use Delay

This week we’ll be quickly talking about how to use delays in MainStage. Delays create an “echo” type effect that repeats your original sound. There are several really cool delay plugins in MainStage (my personal favorite is Delay Designer), but for simplicity’s sake we’re going to look at Pedalboard’s Delay plugin. Here’s how to use it: 

1. Open MainStage. Select a template.

2. Click on the first channel strip in your patch, then select Amps & Pedals>Pedalboard>stereo. 

3. Drag and drop the Delay stomp box on to your Pedalboard. 

Here’s what the plugin looks like: 

Here’s what the bottom parameters do:

Sync:  this links the tempo of the delay with your patch’s tempo (a cool feature for keeping everything in sync). 

Time:  this is how fast your delay repeats.

Feedback: this controls how many times the delay repeats. 

Mix: this controls the ratio of how much of the delay you hear vs. the original sound source. 

Here’s what the top parameters do: 

(Note: both of these top parameters only apply to tape delays. All the other parameters I cover are universal to almost all delays).

Flutter: this simulates the sound of analog tape delays, and more specifically the occasional slips that would happen with the tape. 

Dirt: this controls the level of distortion in the delay as it feeds back. 

Hi Cut: this rolls off the high end in the delay, making it sound more muffled. 

Low Cut: this rolls off the low end in the delay, making it sound more tinny. 

Here’s what the side parameters do: 

Reverse/Normal: this switches between simply repeating the original sound source exactly like it came into the delay, and repeating a reversed version of the original sound. 

Power: this one is pretty obvious: it turns the unit on and off. 

That’s it! This covers most common parameters you’ll use in all delays. Next week we’ll be covering how to use compressor plugins in MainStage.