DeeLay 1.4.0 is available, this update is free for owners of our dub delay plugin and includes:
- Added Apple Silicon compatibility
- Added support for hi dpi monitors in windows
- Removed 32bit support
Good sounding digital dub delay
HoRNet DeeLay is a creative and character-rich vintage digital dub delay plugin designed to go far beyond the ordinary. Whether you’re looking to add a classic echo, build otherworldly textures, or craft intricate rhythmic effects, DeeLay offers the perfect blend of simplicity, musicality, and unpredictability. It’s not just another delay plugin—it’s a creative playground for modern producers who love the raw edge of early digital effects.
A Digital Delay with Vintage Soul
While modern delays strive for precision and transparency, HoRNet DeeLay celebrates the quirky charm of early 90s digital hardware. Those early digital devices were imperfect by today’s standards, but their limitations gave them a sound that producers have grown to love—gritty, glitchy, and full of character. DeeLay captures that spirit and brings it into your DAW with one click.
Engage the “Vintage” button, and the plugin simulates the 12-bit digital resolution found in early digital delay units. This intentional bit degradation gives your audio a gritty texture and adds subtle distortion artifacts, enhancing the sense of space and depth. But digital gear wasn’t purely digital—most had analog front-ends, so this mode also introduces analog-style saturation for warmth and punch.
This combination of bit reduction and saturation recreates a sonic palette that’s ideal for dub, techno, lo-fi, or any genre that thrives on color and imperfection.
Modulatable Delay Time for Glitchy Effects
One of HoRNet DeeLay’s most powerful features is its delay time modulation. Unlike analog-style delays that interpolate changes in time smoothly, digital delays shift pitch abruptly when delay time is changed—producing robotic glitches, bizarre pitch jumps, and unexpected sonic artifacts. Instead of hiding these quirks, DeeLay embraces them.
Delay time can be modulated with an internal LFO, giving you access to wobbling, stuttering, and detuned delay effects that add motion and texture to your sound. The result is a futuristic, mechanical character that is far more engaging than traditional delay effects.
With this feature, you can:
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Create spacey, evolving delays on synths and pads
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Add pitch-modulated echoes on vocals for a unique twist
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Design glitchy percussion tails with randomized delay sweeps
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Introduce movement and groove into repetitive sounds
Modulating the delay time is where HoRNet DeeLay shines as a creative sound design tool, not just a functional delay plugin.
Feedback Loops That Never Die
Set the feedback to 100%, and HoRNet DeeLay enters endless loop mode—a state where the delay never fades out. This mode is perfect for building textures, layering rhythms, or simply exploring how far a single sound can go.
What makes this even more powerful is that changing the delay time during these infinite loops also changes the pitch of the loop. This introduces a powerful tool for live performance and experimental production where you can manipulate a sustained sound in real time by adjusting the time parameter.
And with the LFO modulating the time, you don’t have to stay at 100% feedback. Even with lower settings, you can achieve organic distortions, shimmering repitches, and chaotic effects that evolve with the movement of the LFO. It’s like having a tape machine that you can warp and twist at will, but with all the quirks of early digital gear.
Easy to Use, Fun to Explore
Despite its complex sonic possibilities, HoRNet DeeLay maintains a simple and intuitive interface. This makes it incredibly accessible for beginners who want instant results, while still offering enough depth for experienced sound designers to dive deep into modulation and feedback control.
The interface gives you clear control over key parameters:
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Delay Time: Set in milliseconds or synced to your DAW tempo
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Feedback: Determines how many echoes are heard—up to infinite repeats
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LFO Depth and Rate: Modulate delay time for movement and chaos
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Vintage Mode: Bit reduction and saturation for classic digital character
Thanks to its compact layout and responsive controls, you can shape your sound quickly and effectively—whether you’re adding subtle ambience or crafting an aggressive, warped delay effect.
Ideal for Vocals, Guitars, Synths, and More
HoRNet DeeLay is versatile enough to handle any source material. Try it on:
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Vocals to add shimmering echoes or glitchy effects
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Guitars for rhythmic slapbacks or infinite psychedelic loops
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Drums to thicken snares or create offbeat delays for groove
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Synths to build evolving textures and ambient layers
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FX buses to build spaced-out soundscapes or echo chambers
Because of its ability to modulate time and feedback creatively, the plugin becomes a sound-shaping instrument in its own right—not just a time-based effect.
Lo-Fi Meets Modern Workflow
While HoRNet DeeLay captures the character of early digital units, it still operates within a modern production environment. That means:
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Stable performance in all major DAWs
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Automation-friendly parameters for real-time control
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Tempo sync for delay time when needed
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Light CPU usage, making it suitable for large sessions
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High-fidelity signal path when Vintage mode is off
You can seamlessly blend lo-fi grit with hi-fi clarity, and switch between the two as needed. Whether you’re chasing the sound of early dub, vintage house, or experimental electronica, DeeLay gives you both control and chaos in equal measure.
Conclusion: A Delay Plugin with Character, Creativity, and Control
HoRNet DeeLay is not just another delay effect—it’s a creative instrument that invites you to explore the boundaries of echo, modulation, and feedback. With its vintage digital flavor, endless loop capabilities, and time modulation, it encourages experimentation and delivers unexpected, inspiring results.
Perfect for those who love sound design, live performance, or just adding something unusual to a mix, HoRNet DeeLay is your ticket to a world of delay effects that feel alive, unpredictable, and endlessly fun to use.
Demo
The demo is fully functional except for the fact that every now and then it will silence out, you cannot save parameter values with your session and the plugin will not respond to automation coming from the host.
Features
- Delay time up to 5000ms
- Sync mode from 1/16th to 1bar
- Capable of endless delay generation
- LFO from 0.1Hz to 10Hz
- Time modulation
- Vintage mode with 12bit ADC emulation
- Feedback panning per channel
- Output panning per channel
- 15 factory presets
- macOS (10.11 and later) and Windows (Vista and later) support
- 64bit only on both on Mac and Windows
- Apple Silicon native support (except for AAX)
- Audio Units VST2.4, VST3 and AAX format
Copy protection
The HoRNet DeeLay has no copy protection, I don’t believe in copy protection, they are always cracked and they are annoying for the users, we all know you are not going to give away the plugin on the internet…
So simply download the plugin and enjoy your recordings!
Bought it, love it. Good classical delay sound in vintage mode.
Only thing is I want a “TAP” function on it , it syncs to the project bpm
but I sometimes want something slightly off.
Picked this up the other day, wasn't expecting much, boy was I wrong! This delay sounds really good, its really useful for me. Thank you for this great little plugin.
Niceeeee
Exelente Ótima qualidade. Grato
It's super simple and super fun. The presets are ok but going off the reservation is where this plugin slaps.
Sounds nice, gives you easy and clean this horror movie delay sound of the past
Really nice sounding but a pity it is missing sync timings like dotted.
Very good Delay !
You can sync DeeLay to the host simply choosing the number of 16th you want to use for the sync from the dropdowns
Straight forward, no hassle. The inclusion of a " sync to host tempo" feature is the missing cherry on top.
This delay does exactly what it says on the tin….You can create wonderful spaces with it, I use it along side the Lexicon reverbs and some UAD reverbs and it holds its own.. lovely little plugin to have in your FX arsenal.
Keith.
Simple delay with budget friendly price. Even though it's simple, there's enough depth when you want more than basic pong pong.
My go to -delay for basic delay needs.