Delay is a human-made audio effect technique that takes an input signal, stores it in a delay line, and returns discrete repeats of that signal at fixed or modulated time intervals, mixing the repeats back with the dry signal. Parameters: (1) delay time — the interval between the original and each repeat (typically 20 ms to 2 s; below roughly 30 ms the repeats fuse into the source and become thickening rather than discrete repeats), (2) feedback — the fraction of each repeat re-injected into the delay line, generating a geometrically decaying cascade of repeats, (3) wet/dry mix ratio — the balance between the original signal and the repeat train, (4) per-repeat filtering — a low-pass applied to each repeat damping high frequencies to simulate air absorption, (5) optional modulation — an LFO on the delay time moving the repeats chorus- or flanger-style. Mechanism: the input is stored in a delay line (tape loop, analog bucket-brigade device, or digital buffer), the stored copy is retrieved after the delay time, summed with the input, and optionally routed back through the line so each successive repeat is a scaled and filtered copy of the last. Persistence: the delay line's storage-and-retrieval is the effect's constitutive element — remove it and there is no repeat to return, and the technique reduces to plain mixing; the effect persists as embedded circuitry in guitar pedals, DSP algorithms in studio software, and built-in patches on synthesizers. [formal: delay | substrate: mind | horizon: a moment | explicit: yes | epoch: 0.01]
Accepted ontology entry
delay
Delay is a human-made audio effect technique that takes an input signal, stores it in a delay line, and returns discrete repeats of that signal at fixed or modulated time intervals, mixing the repeats back with the dry signal. Parameters:…
Definition
Why it is in scope
A human-made audio effect technique — the discrete repeat of a signal via stored-delay retrieval with feedback — built to persist as a standard effect in guitar pedals, studio DSP, and synthesizer patches.
Names and aliases
- delayen · CANONICAL
Relations from this entry
- cmstidkhm016p13a416eaddtdSERVES →
For whose sake: delay is designed and maintained for audio-engineering, creating echoes, spatial depth, and rhythmic effects in mixing and sound-design workflows. Servant→master.
- delay-lineDEPENDS_ON →
Removal test (Laws 8a/8b): the delay definition's mechanism IS the delay line — 'the input is stored in a delay line (tape loop, bucket-brigade device, or digital buffer), the stored copy is retrieved after the delay time'. Remove the delay line and there is no storage, no retrieval, no repeat to return; the technique reduces to plain mixing. The delay line is an operative component of the circuit, constitutive to delay's operation, not an ambient formalism. Contrast with reverb->delay-line (correctly struck): there the definition covers spring, plate, and chamber mechanisms, so pinning to delay-line caught only a subset; here the defined mechanism is the delay line in all its instantiations, so the pin covers the whole defined endpoint. Pinned sense: delay-line as the storage-and-retrieval element. Direction: delay (dependent) -> delay-line (dependency).
- cmrf51qwi005rcqqtmpyziy84DEPENDS_ON →
A delay line stores audio samples in memory and plays them back after a set interval. Remove memory — samples cannot be stored — and the delay mechanism cannot function. Memory is the substrate that holds the signal during the delay period.
- audio-effectINSTANCE_OF →
Delay is a specific kind of audio effect: it intentionally alters a sound signal by returning discrete repeats of it (the classic echo repeats), matching the audio-effect shelf definition ('a signal processing technique or device that intentionally alters a sound signal to change its perceptual character'). The echo entry is a concept of the natural reflected-sound phenomenon, not an effect rung, so the nearest kind on the effect axis is the shelf itself — the same rung chorus, phaser, flanger, and comb-file all hold directly. Direction: specific -> general per Law 9.
Relations to this entry
- flanger← DEPENDS_ON
Flanger mixes the input signal with a slightly delayed copy (0.1-20ms), where the delay time is continuously swept by an LFO to create the characteristic whoosh. Remove delay — both signals are identical and in phase — and the interference pattern disappears. The delay element is the core mechanism of flanging.
- chorus← DEPENDS_ON
Chorus duplicates the input signal, adds a short delay (15-50ms) to the copy, and modulates that delay time with an LFO. Remove delay — the copy and original are identical and in phase — and the thickened, multiplied sound vanishes. Delay is structurally necessary: without it the effect collapses to the dry signal.
- tape-delay← INSTANCE_OF
Tape delay is a specific kind of delay effect: it intentionally alters sound by returning discrete repeats, using a magnetic tape loop as the delay line. A competent speaker calls tape delay 'a type of delay'.
- reverb← DEPENDS_ON
Algorithmic reverb models acoustic reflections by routing delayed copies of the signal through networks of allpass and delay lines. Remove delay — the reflections cannot be spaced in time — and the reverberant field cannot be constructed. Delay lines are the fundamental building blocks of reverb architecture.
- tape-loop← INSTANCE_OF
tape-loop is a specific kind of audio delay effect: the original tape delay uses a loop of magnetic tape to create echoes. An engineer calls tape-loop 'a type of delay.' Files against nearest kind.
Record identity
- Created
- Sep 7, 2026, 11:11 AM UTC
- Content hash
- 60d5007994c967183e0a8f0ba2b6d61f0f5b3619cd003fae25a92360ab5ec91c