FB Brigade Delay

Name: FB Brigade Delay
Author: Full Bucket Music

by Full Bucket Music · Delay · BBD analog delay emulation

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FB Brigade Delay (Full Bucket Brigade Delay) is a free simulation of an analog bucket brigade device (BBD) delay line.

Delay time changes smoothly without clicks, and an LFO turns it into chorus or flanger; it is free.

Best for: Guitars, Keys & Synths, Vocals, Sound Design. Genres: Rock & Indie, Electronic & EDM, Lo-Fi, Pop.

Keywords: BBD, chorus, flanger, free, analog delay, synths, freeze, lo-fi, hardware emulation, samples & loops, simple, smooth, sound design, vibrato, vocals, CPU-light, electric guitar, spacious, classic, clean, dark, inspired by, MIDI-controllable, mixing, resizable UI.

What it does

FB Brigade Delay is a free simulation of the bucket brigade device (BBD) chips in classic analog delays, taken from Full Bucket's Nabla synth. Like the hardware, its repeats lose top end and pick up slight distortion, and the developer kept it deliberately simple, in the spirit of those old units.

Range and Time: five coarse ranges (1–8 ms, 4–31 ms, 16–125 ms, 31–500 ms and 250–2000 ms) with Time for fine adjustment, so it covers flanging and chorus through to long echoes up to 2 seconds.
Smooth time changes: changing the delay time does not crackle or drop out, so you can sweep it for pitch-bending effects.
Feedback: 0 to 100%, from a single slap to long, degrading trails.
LFO: Speed from 0 to 25 Hz and Depth to modulate the delay time, for chorus, vibrato and flanger sounds, with an LFO Sync option.
Quality: lower values make the effect more lo-fi and "analog"; higher values keep the repeats cleaner.
Sync and Freeze: Delay Sync locks the time to host tempo (replacing the range switch); Freeze loops the current delay content indefinitely.
Workflow: stereo, Mix control, 10 preset slots, MIDI Learn on all parameters, double-precision processing, low CPU use and a resizable interface.

The current version is 2.0.3 (24 November 2024). It is a free download; the developer accepts donations.

Source: Full Bucket Music product page

When to use it

FB Brigade Delay is the better pick when you want one warm BBD-style echo or modulation effect for free, with low CPU use. Compared with EchoBoy (Soundtoys) and Valhalla Delay, it has a single analog voice instead of many tape, digital and BBD styles, and no groove, diffusion or ducking controls, but it costs nothing. Unlike Timeless 3 (FabFilter), it has no filters or modulation routing; the Quality control is its only tone shaping. Its short ranges and LFO also make it a usable chorus and flanger, which most echo-focused delays like Galaxy Tape Echo don't aim for.

Best for: dark analog-style echoes, chorus, vibrato and flanging on guitars, synths and vocals, and Freeze loops for sound design.
Genres: rock, synth-pop, lo-fi, dub, ambient and electronic.
Look elsewhere if: you want tape, digital and BBD modes in one plugin, ping-pong or rhythmic taps; EchoBoy or Valhalla Delay cover more.
Tip: pick the 1–8 ms or 4–31 ms range and add LFO Depth with low Feedback to turn it into an analog-style chorus or flanger.

What producers say

Users like its sound and retro character; the requests are mostly for extras the developer chose to leave out.

KVR users rate it 3 out of 5 from 1 review (2020, version 1); the reviewer said it "sounds excellent" but missed tempo sync and found the LFO range hard to use. The developer replied that tempo sync has since been added.
KVR discussion users asked for longer delay times, more LFO shapes and stereo separation; the developer said it is meant to stay as simple as the BBD units it emulates.