Thank you for downloading Ekko. We hope you enjoy using this plugin and that it inspires new ideas.

Introduction

Ekko is a delay plugin that can provide degraded cassette-inspired echoes and skipped repeats. Use the unique scramble feature to create new chaotic moments unlike any delay you've ever heard, widen the image using our new ping-pong algorithm and more. Our aim here was not to create a 1/1 recreation of an analog delay, that's been done time and time again — Ekko can be as clean as you like, as dirty as you like and can even be chaotic, if you want it to be.

Ekko's ‘Scramble’ control is inspired by our Jumble plugin, but placed within a live delay buffer. This creates uncontrollable playback that can be incredibly inspiring. Unlike a granular delay which takes small snippets of your audio and plays them back, Scramble is randomly shifting the single playhead in the delay buffer to a completely new position, at a rate you decide. Ekko can either play by the rules as a delay, or bend the rules and skip through snippets of the past. The position of the playhead itself is not synchronised in any way (other than the rate) — resulting in imperfect textures.

I believe the most interesting sounds come when something happens that isn't supposed to happen. That's the spirit behind Scramble inside Ekko. Improvise with your instrument, freeze it, scramble it and see what comes out.

Installation

Once you've downloaded the file, extract the ZIP and run the installer. By default, the plugin is installed into:

Once installed, open your preferred DAW. Ekko is a VST3 and AU plugin, so you'll need to ensure your DAW is set-up correctly to find and load the plugin. The above directories are where most DAWs expect these files to be — otherwise some hosts can't find a plugin on the machine. E.g. this is the case for FL Studio or Cubase with VST3 files.

Using Ekko

Ekko is an effect plugin, so to get started, load Ekko into an effects slot inside your DAW. It's a stereo plugin, so ensure the track is stereo.

All our plugins are designed to be quick and easy to use. There's no endless menus and controls here to distract you — what you see is what you get. Ekko has 15 controls in total to help shape your delay — let's walk through them.

Delay Controls

The 8 large controls are focused on the main delay effect:

Mix

Ekko mix amount, from 100% dry to 100% wet.

Time/Rate

Sets the delay repeat time (un-synced) or rate (synced to DAW), dependent on the Sync control above it.

Fdbk

Controls delay feedback amount, from no feedback to 100%, where feedback will loop infinitely.

Ping-Pong

Unlike traditional delays, Ekko lets you control the ping-pong width and direction. Choose where your first echo lands — left or right. Increasing the amount also increases the width of the ping-pong effect, creating a wider stereo field.

Wow

Adds WOW cassette pitch fluctuations. The higher the control, the deeper the amount of modulation. WOW is a classic form of pitch variation introduced by aged and low quality tape.

Flutter

Adds Flutter cassette pitch variation. Flutter is much faster than WOW and is more textural as a result. Sometimes caused by worn tape-machines, such as friction on the tape roller.

Saturate

Adds tape saturation, driving the input signal. The higher the control, the more saturated your audio will become. Great for adding a crunchy flavour to drums and distorting melodic elements. Make sure to balance this with the mix control, as at higher levels it can result in louder delays as more harmonics are introduced to the buffer.

Filter

Controls the frequency cutoff of the 12db filter, with a high-pass to the right and a low-pass to the left.

Buffer Controls

The controls at the top of the plugin control the delay buffer:

Sync

Switches the delay time between host synced BPM rate divisions (rate) or milliseconds (time). This affects the time/rate control below it.

Tape

When enabled, changing the delay time will cause the audio to re-pitch, similar to how physical tape machines work. When disabled, a small cross-fade is introduced between time changes, resulting in a cleaner transition.

Scramble

Enabling Scramble will randomise the delay playhead at a rate you decide using the Rate slider to the right of it. This results in chaotic repeats that don't play by the rules.

Scramble — Rate

Selects the rate of which Scramble will randomise the delay playhead position. At lower rates like 1/1 for example, the delay playhead will jump to a new position at the start of a new bar inside your DAW.

Scramble — Fade

At smaller settings (1-30), Fade can be used to smooth out clicks caused by the playhead jumping. At higher rates, Fade can be used to create a tremolo effect on the delay.

Freeze

Freezes the current delay buffer in place.

Direction

Click to momentarily flip the current delay buffer, instantly reversing your currently playing echoes. If Freeze is enabled, the chosen direction is locked in place, allowing for reversed loops and textures, which can then be scrambled.

Note: Direction can't be flipped with Scramble — bending time and space only gets you so far. When we figure out the fourth dimension, we'll let you know. 😉

Resize Plugin Window

If you wish to resize the plugin window, just drag and drop the bottom right corner of the plugin to set a desired window size.

Plugin Version

If you need to check the plugin version, click the SoundGhost logo at the top right of the window.

Uninstalling

If you wish to uninstall the plugin and/or the demo version of the plugin, you need to delete the Ekko files from the following locations:

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