Long Looping Delays with Kyma?

paugui · Posted: Sun Jun 21, 2020 12:19 pm Post subject: Long Looping Delays with Kyma?

Does anyone know how to get a long delay with Kyma and sustain it in order to make it sound like a looper?

I have tried that before, but it seemed to be really hard to "tune" the feedback so that the sound gets sustained but doesn't "explode"...

Does anyone has a trick on how to tame the feedback to achieve this?

Is that I recently got a Boss DD-20, which I really enjoy, but the main task I have for it is really long looping delays, since it is so easy to achieve these kind of delays without the sound exploding...

However, right now, I really need an hardware sequencer for my setup, so if I could achieve the same kind of results with the Kyma, I could just sell the Boss DD-20 to get some cash for the sequencer Smile

To be clear, I don't really care about achieving the same sound as the Boss DD-20 has...
As long as I get that long sustained delay sound, I am more than happy to get rid of the Boss DD-20 and use my Kyma for those tasks instead!

Can anyone give me some help? Smile

P.S. - I have a Capybara 320 (full expanded in terms of DSP), running the latest version of Kyma X

robsol · Posted: Sun Jun 21, 2020 1:17 pm Post subject:

Assuming that you're using the stock delay module in comb mode:

If you keep the feedback parameter at 1, it should stay stable - as long as you don't add any more audio to it. My guess is that you are adding more material as it feeds back and it all adds together until it overloads.

If you want to "freeze" the loop so it goes on forever, a switch that sets the feedback to full while muting the input is easy enough to implement. But that defeats the object of an overdubbing looper, so this is where it gets a little more involved.

The trick that I have seen hardware loopers use is to attenuate the feedback by the input amplitude, so old material gives way to new material. It's often so subtle that it's hard to notice unless you specifically listen out for it. They probably leave some headroom in the feedback loop as well, and perhaps some gating is involved, especially on guitar loopers.

...and I'm sure it is a lot more complex than that, but what I have had success with is to use an amplitude follower on the input to inversely control the feedback amount of the delay. You have to fiddle around with the parameters to find the right balance.

Have fun. Smile

paugui · Posted: Sun Jun 21, 2020 1:45 pm Post subject:

That actually sounds like a good trick! Smile

Yep, I want to be overdubbing the signal, but it's really hard to keep a steady signal going when using Kyma, but in the Boss DD-20 that's not a problem at all!

Will have to give it a try next time I use my Kyma (unfortunately it's not as often due to lack of space... which will end up being the only advantage of the Boss for me...)