K7D is an audio delay effect which consists in an audio signal being recorded to some medium and then reproduced after a short period of time. This audio effect was first developed in the 1940's using tape. The principle is simple, one tape head records and one or more tape heads, physically distant from the recording head, reproduce the audio signal. The distance between the recording and playing heads represent the delay time. The reproduced audio signal is filtered and partially fed to the input again creating the effect of a decaying repeating sound. K7D emulates this old mechanical tape loops.
The interface of K7D consists of a status bar on the top, a main panel with the common delay parameters along with three tabs on the bottom for modulation, filtering and character manipulation, which we will cover in detail in the next section.
The following features are found on K7D's status bar:
- Tempo - Tempo in BPM's. If K7D is running as a plugin, tempo is defined by host.
- Patch - Displays current selected patch. Click on this area to open patch browser.
- Save - Open the patch save dialog.
- Revert - Restores the currently loaded patch to its original saved state.
- Randomize - Assigns a random value to each parameter.
- Up - Selects the previous patch.
- Down - Selects the next patch.
Parameters
MAIN PANEL
- Time - the delay time in milliseconds. This parameter varies between 1ms and 1000ms.
- Sync - syncs Time with Tempo. If ON, delay time value is synced to Tempo and is fixed to beat division steps (2, 1, 1/2, 1/4, etc).
- LFO - the amount of low frequency modulation affecting Time. This parameter is bipolar. It can have a positive or negative modulation values.
- KBD - if set to ON the delay time will vary accordingly with the note played (the higher the note the shorter the delay).
- INVERT - if set to ON inverts the phase of the LFO applied to the right channel, creating subtle stereo nuances.
- MUTE - mutes the audio input (only visible in iOS standalone version).
- PRE-GAIN - amount of gain given to the unprocessed (dry) audio signal before being delayed.
- FEEDBACK - the amount of delay feedback. How much signal of the output is fed back into the input.
- DRY/WET - the mix of unprocessed (dry) and processed (wet) audio outputs.
CHARACTER
- SPREAD - amount of time offset between left and right delays. When this parameter is zero, both delays have the same time. When this parameter is one, the right delay line has twice the time of the left delay channel.
- STEREO WIDTH - the amount of stereo widening applied to the delayed signal (left is full mono, right is full stereo. When PING PONG is ON full stereo becomes hard pan).
- WOW - slow form of flutter. Knob represents the effect amount applied to the signal.
- FLUTTER - emulation of tape's time fluttering while rotating, resulting in pitch variation. Knob represents the effect amount applied to the signal
- PING PONG - If set to ON the the first delay tap plays only on the left and the second tap plays only on right side and so on. STEREO WIDTH must be greater than zero to hear this effect.
LFO
- WAVEFORM - the shape of the waveform used for modulation (Sine, Square, Sawtooth, Triangle, Sample ; Hold or Filtered Sample ; Hold)
- RATE - the rate of the low frequency modulation (LFO) signal measured in Hz (cycles per seconds). This parameter varies between 0.01 and 10 Hz.
- SYNC - syncs LFO rate with tempo. If ON, LFO rate value is synced to Tempo and is fixed to beat division steps (2, 1, 1/2, 1/4, etc).
- PHASE - determines LFO phase behaviour. Two possible modes: FREE, LFO runs free; KBD, LFO's wave cycle phase resets when a MIDI note event is received.
FILTER
- LOWPASS - determines the cutoff frequency of the low pass filter. It cannot be inferior to the high pass cutoff frequency.
- LFO - amount of low frequency modulation (LFO) affecting the cutoff frequency of the low pass filter.
- HIGHPASS - determines the cutoff frequency of the high pass filter. It cannot be superior to the low pass cutoff frequency.
- LINK - links LFO filter amount knobs so that the same amount is applied to both parameters.
- LFO - amount of low frequency modulation (LFO) affecting the cutoff value of the high pass filter.
Patches
Clicking on the patch name on the status bar opens the patch browser, which consists in three columns:
-
Bank - Two available banks: Factory - patches created by Imaginando; Local - user created patches;
-
Name - the list of available patches in the currently selected bank
-
Filter - list of attribute 'tags' to filter the currently selected bank
To exit the patch manager, simply click the name of the currently selected patch on the menu bar again.
WATCH TUTORIAL
Features
1ms to 1 sec. dual playhead analog modeled delay with noise, tape distortion and mechanical vibration models.
Modeled microphone input with pre-amp saturation.
Normal And Ping Pong Modes..
Optimized Gain Staging And Saturation Algorithms For Very Musical Results.
Delay Time Spread Between Heads And Stereo Width Control.
High pass and Low pass filter on feedback path.
Powerful LFO Bipolar Time Modulation With Multiple Waveforms (Sine, Triangular, Saw, Square, Sample And Hold And Filtered Sample And Hold) And Possibility Of Inverted LFO Phase On Second Play Head (For Added Stereo Imaging).
Delay time syncable with BPM.
Possibility Of Delay Time Modulation Via Incoming MIDI Notes.
Oscilloscope Visualization Of Audio Waveform And Lfo Waveform.
Built-In Patch Manager.
Includes Factory Soundbank With 50 Presets.
Lifetime Free Updates.
Up to 5 computers per license.