23DSP has released 23ArpDelay, a multi-tap pitch delay in which each repeat is pitched to a scale rather than reproducing the input at its original pitch.
Tap pitches are stored as intervals from the incoming audio rather than from a fixed root note, so a part played in a different key produces the same pattern in that key without the plug-in being re-configured.
A pattern builder sets all taps at once through four controls. Shape selects the contour (Rising Steps, Valley, Arch, Spread Wide, Octave Jumps or Scatter), Scale selects the quantisation (major, natural minor, the modes, pentatonic major and minor, blues, whole tone or chromatic), Motion selects the order (Up, Down, Up-Down, Down-Up, Random, Converge, Diverge or Skip) and Spacing selects the interval between taps (scale degrees, thirds, fourths, fifths or octaves). Up to 16 taps can be spread across one to four octaves. A graph displays the resulting pattern, and dragging a tap in the graph quantises it to the current scale.
Each tap also has individual controls: level, interval in semitones, stereo position, a filter with selectable type, cutoff and resonance, a tempo-synced subdivision or a free delay time in milliseconds, mute and reverse.
Pitch shifting is performed by a per-tap, per-channel phase vocoder. Output level is independent of the shift amount, so a tap shifted by two octaves matches the level of an unshifted tap, and each tap is delay-compensated for the shifter’s latency so that pitched and unpitched taps align. A tap set to no pitch shift bypasses the shifter and can reach delay times down to a single sample. A Formant mode preserves the spectral envelope, and the feedback path is soft-clipped.
Features:
- Up to 16 taps, each with independent pitch, level, pan, filter, timing, mute and reverse.
- Pattern builder with Shape, Scale, Motion and Spacing controls, and an editable tap graph.
- Scale quantisation relative to the incoming audio, across 11 scales and modes.
- Per-tap, per-channel phase vocoder pitch shifting with level independence and delay compensation.
- Formant preservation mode.
- Tempo-synced subdivisions or free delay times per tap.
- Feedback with linear, exponential or logarithmic decay shapes.
- Stereo placement as Center, Alternating, Wide or per-tap.
- MIDI input sets the reference note; MIDI output passes the arpeggio to another instrument.
- 24 factory presets in five categories, with user presets, import and export.
- Undo and redo, and a light or dark interface.
Pricing and Availability
23ArpDelay costs EUR 15. It is licensed by a purchase key for three machines; the plugin works offline between periodic online checks.
23ArpDelay runs on Windows 10 and later (VST3), macOS 11 and later (VST3 and Audio Unit, universal, supplied as a signed and notarized installer) and Linux (VST3 and LV2). The current build is version 0.9.0-rc5, a release candidate.
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