Audio Echo
A real delay line with feedback โ slapback to dub, tail preserved.
About this effect
Three controls, the real ones: delay time, feedback (how many repeats survive), and mix. The render extends the file so the echo tail rings out naturally instead of being cut at the original length. Preview, then WAV.
Three knobs, sixty years of sounds
This is the tape-echo circuit in software: the signal is delayed, fed back into itself a bit quieter, and mixed with the dry sound โ every repeat a fainter copy, exactly like the hardware that defined entire genres. The presets hiding in the knobs: DELAY under 100 ms with low feedback is slapback, the quick double that made 1950s rock-and-roll vocals; 300โ500 ms is the canyon shout; longer runs toward ambient washes. FEEDBACK at 30โ40% gives a polite handful of repeats; push past 70% and each echo nearly sustains itself โ dub territory, where the echo becomes the instrument. The musician's secret worth stealing: set the delay to your song's tempo (60 รท BPM seconds โ tap it out on the BPM counter) and every repeat lands ON the beat, which is why some echoes sound "musical" and others sound like a mess. The famous reverse-reverb vocal trick chains this with the reverse tool โ reverse, echo, reverse back, and the tail swells into each word. A true room reverb is thousands of overlapping micro-echoes โ a different algorithm this tool won't fake with one delay line.
Frequently asked questions
What settings give the classic slapback?
Delay 80โ120 ms, feedback near zero, mix around 30% โ the single quick repeat behind 1950s vocals. It thickens a voice without sounding like an 'effect'.
How do I make echoes land on the beat?
Set delay to 60 รท BPM seconds โ a 120 BPM song wants 0.5 s (or half that for eighth notes). Tap the tempo on the BPM counter first; in-time echoes are the difference between musical and muddy.
Why is the output longer than my file?
The echo tail is rendered in full โ the repeats after your audio ends are part of the effect, and truncating them (as lazy tools do) amputates the decay mid-ring.
Is this the same as reverb?
Related but different: echo is discrete repeats; reverb is thousands of micro-reflections blurred together. High feedback with short delay gestures toward reverb but won't fool a producer โ and this page won't claim it does.