Comeback Kid

Name: Comeback Kid
Price: 69 USD
Author: Baby Audio

by Baby Audio · Delay · Analog-flavored

vst3s Score 8.4/10 · rated #6 of 10 delays

A modern delay with analog flavor: drive, modulation, width and filtering, plus built-in ducking so repeats stay out of the way of the dry signal.

It gets a finished-sounding vocal throw in seconds.

Best for: Vocals, Keys & Synths, Guitars. Genres: Pop, Hip-Hop & Trap, R&B & Soul, Lo-Fi.

Keywords: ducking, vocals, analog-sounding, lo-fi, retro, tape, electric guitar, keys, simple, vintage, algorithmic, beginner-friendly, classic, digital classic, digital delay, hardware emulation, mixing, modern, perpetual licence, phaser, ping-pong, randomize, subscription, subtle, swirling, tape echo, tempo-synced, wide.

What it does

Baby Audio describes Comeback Kid as "an easy-to-use character delay" with several flavours of vintage-style echo, from classic tape delay to old-school digital rack units. It's built as a go-to delay for retro colour, with every control on one screen.

Timing: tempo-synced repeats (straight, dotted, triplet), a free mode from 0.01 to 2,500 ms, and ping-pong stereo delay.
Ducker: turns the echoes down while the dry signal plays, so repeats sit between the phrases.
Tone: analog-modelled Lo-Cut and Hi-Cut filters, plus Attack and Sustain transient shapers on the repeats.
Flavours: Tape adds saturation and distortion; Cheap emulates an 11-bit vintage digital delay.
Extras: Swirl (phasing), Sauce (algorithmic reverb), Wider and Richer for stereo, Pan and Mono options, and Destiny for subtle randomisation.

It's sold as a one-time purchase or subscribe-to-own (yours after 6 months), with a free trial.

Source: Baby Audio product page

When to use it

Comeback Kid is the simple, fast option among the rated delays. Soundtoys EchoBoy and Valhalla Delay model far more echo types and go deeper, and FabFilter Timeless 3 offers much more modulation. Comeback Kid trades that depth for a single screen, a built-in ducker, transient shapers on the repeats and a touch of reverb, so you can get a finished-sounding delay in seconds.

Best for: vocal throws, dotted-eighth leads, lo-fi and retro colour on keys and guitars, and quick mix delays that shouldn't clutter the dry part.
Genres: pop, hip-hop, R&B, lo-fi, indie and electronic.
Look elsewhere if: you want accurate models of specific hardware units, multi-tap patterns or deep modulation routing.
Tip: use Attack to soften the start of each repeat and the Ducker to keep echoes out of the way of a busy vocal.

What producers say

Reviewers praise how quickly it gets good results and how much the shaper and ducker add for the price.

Tape Op (Ben Bernstein, 2020) liked its "hardware feel", the Ducker and the separate dry/wet outputs, calling the results instant and gratifying.
MusicRadar / Computer Music (2020) found it easy to use but "surprisingly flexible", with a sound close to pricier delays; the shaper and Ducker stood out, and it came with 61 presets.
Gripe: Computer Music felt some of the flavour options weren't very distinct from each other.

Where to buy

Tutorials and reviews

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