Just checking with you guys using delays (digital or tape) as predelay for reverbs.

Do you have any general setup "rules" ?

Do you use any repeats on the delay or is it strictly just delaying the input signal to the reverb ?

Fav delays for this application ?

Thanx.

Generally just delaying the singal, no echo repeats.

Lexicon PCM-42.

A noted expert in this field also likes a stereo Lexicon delay, I believe it's the 1300, but I may be wrong on that.

The PCM-42 has a Hi Cut Filter that I use pretty much all the time.

That was pritey much all they had for a long time!
Tape delay>echo chamber
Tape delay>plate reverb

Using a delay infront of a reverb and how to use is all a mater of taste.
Stop hanging around here reading threads, start checking out your gear and what it does.
USE YOUR EARS!

Great advice!

I use old DDL's for 'verb predelay rather then the 'verbs predelay a LOT.

Provides more control & lets me blow more smoke & mirrors into the mix.

is the pre-delay built into electronic reverbs just a simple delay of signal from a timing perspective? Is delaying the signal with a separate unit the same? I'm talking from a timing perspective - never mind EQing etc.

For instance, muting the reverb output for the predelay period would be very different from literally delaying it because attack would be muted instead of the timing of the verb relative to dry signal being shifted.

Whuh?!

what I'm trying to say is a simple delay of the signal would shift the entire verb envelope by the delay amount. So for instance a 25ms pre-delay would mean the entire verb envelope is shifted by 25ms. Another approach could be to just mute the first 25ms of the verb envelope so that the verb only becomes audible after 25ms... or some combination of the two - for instance delaying the early reflections but not the tail.

If the delay is being handled within the reverb unit, it opens up all kinds of possibilities that would not be achievable with a separate delay placed before or after the reverb in the chain.

I'm wondering what reverb plugs and boxes are doing. Is it simple delay - replicable with a separate component - or something more complicated?

I've seen reverbs that give you separate settings for the pre-delay and the delay between the ER and the tail.

When using a delay as a pre delay for reverb, sometimes repeats are good, sometimes not. Sometimes it's also good to mix the dry delay back in with the delayed reverb, too, and hear the repeats.

Would this work (not using a mixer's auxes)?

To use a Lexicon 1300S as a predelay for a PCM70 reverb with a PCM42 as a delay (not predelay):

Let's say a mono vocal track--

1) mono vocal into PCM42
2) dry output of PCM 42 into DAW channel 1
3) delay output of PCM 42 into DAW channel 2
4) mix output (dry + delay: mono out) into one channel of a Lex 1300S then that one delayed channel goes into the PCM70 then those two outputs go into DAW channels 3 and 4
5) In mixer, set panning and levels of the four channels to taste

Is this right, or am I way off?

And Q: There is a substantial difference between using the PCM70's predelay setting and using a separate unit for predelay?

[See below: Audiofool has the same question.]

Why not just use the built-in pre-delay option on the reverb unit?
Is there any difference between that and the use of a separate delay unit?