FRCTL added a Glide switch to DLAY 1.0.2 that lets delay-time changes either crossfade cleanly or repitch in a tape-style glide. That choice matters because changing delay time is not the same operation as moving an ordinary volume or filter control.
A delay stores incoming audio and reads it back from an earlier point in its buffer. When the requested time changes during playback, the processor has to decide how to leave the old read position and reach the new one.
That decision creates three distinct outcomes. A sudden jump can create a discontinuity and click, a continuous move can bend pitch, and a crossfade can move between two fixed times while avoiding both behaviors.
This is why a continuously automated delay can produce a swoop even when there is no pitch shifter in the signal path. The pitch movement comes from the changing relationship between the write position and the moving read position, not from retuning the source before it reaches the delay.
The direction is predictable. Shortening the delay makes the read point catch up with newer material, which means it has to move faster for a moment and the pitch rises. Lengthening the delay sends the read point farther behind, so it moves more slowly and the pitch falls.
The amount of bend depends on how quickly the delay time changes. A large timing move completed quickly produces a stronger temporary repitch than a small or slow move, while a fixed delay time stops producing that glide once the read position has settled.
That makes delay-time automation useful for deliberate sound design. You can turn rhythmic timing changes into pitch gestures, downward dives, brief upward chirps, or unstable transitions without automating a separate pitch processor.
DLAY exposes that behavior directly through Glide. With Glide on, tap-time changes use a tape-style repitch response, including changes caused by tempo movement, rate edits, or dragging taps while audio is running.
That sudden difference creates a waveform discontinuity. Heard plainly, it can become a click or pop, especially when the delayed signal is loud and the timing change happens in the middle of sustained material.
Smoothing the timing value sample by sample removes the abrupt jump, but it does not make the transition neutral. It merely replaces the discontinuity with the read-speed change that produces repitching, so ordinary parameter smoothing cannot give you both stable pitch and a click-free move.
This is the trade-off many delay interfaces hide behind a single time knob. The control may look simple, but the processor still needs a strategy for changing its buffer readout while audio is already inside it.
Modern delays often expose that strategy. Some separate repitch, crossfade, and immediate-jump behavior, which reflects the same underlying choices rather than three unrelated effects.
Because neither audible delay has to sweep continuously through the buffer, the transition avoids the read-speed change responsible for pitch bending. Because the old signal fades while the new one appears, it also avoids the hard waveform jump that can produce a click.
The compromise is different. During the fade, you briefly hear a blend of two delay times, so a long crossfade can make both timing positions perceptible instead of sounding like one delay physically sliding from one location to another.
DLAY 1.0.2 uses this approach when Glide is off, which is the default behavior described for tempo automation. Glide on deliberately chooses the repitching version instead, giving you a sound-design choice rather than treating pitch movement as an unavoidable artifact.
With DLAY's per-tap feedback and width controls active, Glide still determines how a tap reaches a new time, while feedback and width determine what that tap does once it is there.
For practical automation, the distinction is useful before you touch a curve. Use the crossfade behavior when tempo changes should stay transparent, and use Glide when the transition itself should become part of the sound, because the pitch movement only lasts while the delay time is actually changing.
A delay stores incoming audio and reads it back from an earlier point in its buffer. When the requested time changes during playback, the processor has to decide how to leave the old read position and reach the new one.
That decision creates three distinct outcomes. A sudden jump can create a discontinuity and click, a continuous move can bend pitch, and a crossfade can move between two fixed times while avoiding both behaviors.
Moving the read position changes playback speed
A smooth change in delay time means the read position moves through stored samples at a different rate from the rate at which they were written. If it advances through the buffer faster, the delayed material rises in pitch. If it moves more slowly, the material falls.This is why a continuously automated delay can produce a swoop even when there is no pitch shifter in the signal path. The pitch movement comes from the changing relationship between the write position and the moving read position, not from retuning the source before it reaches the delay.
The direction is predictable. Shortening the delay makes the read point catch up with newer material, which means it has to move faster for a moment and the pitch rises. Lengthening the delay sends the read point farther behind, so it moves more slowly and the pitch falls.
The amount of bend depends on how quickly the delay time changes. A large timing move completed quickly produces a stronger temporary repitch than a small or slow move, while a fixed delay time stops producing that glide once the read position has settled.
That makes delay-time automation useful for deliberate sound design. You can turn rhythmic timing changes into pitch gestures, downward dives, brief upward chirps, or unstable transitions without automating a separate pitch processor.
DLAY exposes that behavior directly through Glide. With Glide on, tap-time changes use a tape-style repitch response, including changes caused by tempo movement, rate edits, or dragging taps while audio is running.
Abrupt changes trade pitch bends for clicks
Jumping instantly to a new delay time avoids the period of continuous movement that creates the pitch bend. The problem is that the new read position can contain a sample value that has little relationship to the sample the output was playing one moment earlier.That sudden difference creates a waveform discontinuity. Heard plainly, it can become a click or pop, especially when the delayed signal is loud and the timing change happens in the middle of sustained material.
Smoothing the timing value sample by sample removes the abrupt jump, but it does not make the transition neutral. It merely replaces the discontinuity with the read-speed change that produces repitching, so ordinary parameter smoothing cannot give you both stable pitch and a click-free move.
This is the trade-off many delay interfaces hide behind a single time knob. The control may look simple, but the processor still needs a strategy for changing its buffer readout while audio is already inside it.
Modern delays often expose that strategy. Some separate repitch, crossfade, and immediate-jump behavior, which reflects the same underlying choices rather than three unrelated effects.
Crossfading keeps pitch stable during timing changes
A crossfaded delay-time change uses two delayed readouts instead of forcing one audible read position to travel directly to its destination. The processor can prepare the new delay time on an unheard path, then fade from the old path to the new one.Because neither audible delay has to sweep continuously through the buffer, the transition avoids the read-speed change responsible for pitch bending. Because the old signal fades while the new one appears, it also avoids the hard waveform jump that can produce a click.
The compromise is different. During the fade, you briefly hear a blend of two delay times, so a long crossfade can make both timing positions perceptible instead of sounding like one delay physically sliding from one location to another.
DLAY 1.0.2 uses this approach when Glide is off, which is the default behavior described for tempo automation. Glide on deliberately chooses the repitching version instead, giving you a sound-design choice rather than treating pitch movement as an unavoidable artifact.
With DLAY's per-tap feedback and width controls active, Glide still determines how a tap reaches a new time, while feedback and width determine what that tap does once it is there.
For practical automation, the distinction is useful before you touch a curve. Use the crossfade behavior when tempo changes should stay transparent, and use Glide when the transition itself should become part of the sound, because the pitch movement only lasts while the delay time is actually changing.
