TapPanZeit

This is an audio effect made in Max For Live that implements a bucket-brigade multitap (up to 128 individual taps) delay effect with visual control over inter-tap timing and pan position. It can serve as a simple delay, or incredibly complicated combination of the two.

I originally had an idea that there should be a function in a reverb that lets you control the pan position of the reverb tail at specific times after the initial impulse. I didn't find that in the reverbs that I had, so I decided to mock one up. My first attempt was to use an audio effect rack with five chains spread across the stereo range. Each chain had a delay followed by a reverb. The chain delay increased in some increment across the chains, e.g. chain 1 was 0ms delay, chain 2 was 100ms, chain 3 was 200ms, etc. This had the effect of making "reverb bursts" across the stereo field, which was cool. But it wasn't what I had in mind exactly.

One thing led to another and I embraced my love for delays with this concept of controlling a tail. There is a configurable number of taps (up to 128) that are spaced at a configurable time interval. There are visual controls for pan position, volume, and time coefficient that give you very direct control over some wild effects.

Demos

Check out a feature walkthrough on YouTube, as well as a deep dive into how the device works, bit by bit in Max.

Installation / Setup

If you just want to download and install the device, then go to the Releases Page and download the newest version there.

Changelog

• v11 - 2024-11-22 - Add meters behind each [function] object to visualize what each tap is doing with respect to the function.
• v10 - 2024-11-20 - Small refinements and improvements from How It's Made video prep.
• v9 - 2024-11-16 - Fix bug with multiple instances; Prettify patcher view for a "How It's Made" video.
• v8 - 2024-10-30 - Allow for up to 125% time; Shape Presets
• v7 - 2024-10-26 - Rename to TapPanZeit, simplify and clean up interface. Fix bugs around tap graph position.
• v6 - 2024-10-17 - Add presets; Tighten up UI a bit.
• 0.0.5 - 2022-05-19 - Show taps in time/pan/volume areas as vertical lines.
• 0.0.4 - 2022-05-15 - Add functionality to draw per-tap output level.
• 0.0.3 - 2022-05-06 - Optimize CPU usage by using mute 0/1 messages for poly~ voices rather than just setting their volume to 1 or 0.
• 0.0.2 - 2022-05-06 - Visual changes; add feedback mod rate dial.
• 0.0.1 - 2022-05-05 - Initial release.

Usage

Taps

This knob controls how many taps are in the tap field.

Time Base

This knob controls the default delay between each tap in the field.

Tap Time Factor

This is a visual input to control each tap's relative delay time. Pull the line toward zero to speed up the taps, or up to one to slow it back down. Shift-click to remove points. Alt-drag to adjust curve.

Panning Path

This is a visual control that lets you position each tap in stereo space. Draw a line to indicate where, from left to right, each tap should be placed. Shift-click to remove points. Alt-drag to adjust curve.

Tap Output Volume

This controls the output of each tap, so you can make the taps fade in or out or anything in between. Shift-click to remove points. Alt-drag to adjust curve.

Dry Volume

This knob controls how much of the original input signal is sent to the device output.

Wet Volume

This knob controls how much of the tap output signal is sent to the device output.

Feedback Amount

This knob controls how much of the output signal is fed back into the pre-reverb section.

TODO

• ...

Contributing

I'd love it if others extended this device. If you would like to contribute, simply fork this repo, make your changes, and open a pull request and I'll have a look. Or if you have ideas or something to add to the to-do list above, just open an issue here or email me at [email protected].