Looping Delay
Looping Delay
4ms Company
User Manual 1.0 – June 11, 2023
The Looping Delay is a clock-based delay for creative synthesis. Not a tape or analog
emulation, but a modern crystal-clear digital delay, the Looping Delay combines features of
delay, looping, and sample-tight synchronization for powerful and dynamic sound capture and
modification. Based on the Dual Looping Delay, the Looping Delay offers the same high-
quality sound in a smaller, single-channel format.
• Stereo or mono mode (Return/Send becomes right channel In/Out in stereo mode)
• 87 seconds maximum delay/loop time in mono, or 43 seconds in stereo.
• 48kHz/24-bit sampling rate, loop recorded at 16-bit
• Extremely quiet, low noise, low jitter design
• Delay and loop time is sync-able to a clock, or a division or multiplication of a clock
• Infinite Hold mode for looping and windowing
• Reverse feature for toggling direction of playback
• Feedback ranges from 0% to 110%
• 1V/octave tracking for Resonant Delays (Karplus-Strong)
• Wet/Dry mix output, as well as dedicated Send/Return for feedback loop
• CV and trigger inputs for all features
Table of Contents
Setting up your Looping Delay ..............................................................................2
Basic features: .......................................................................................................3
Controls and Jacks ................................................................................................3
Infinite Hold vs. 100% Feedback ...........................................................................7
Why do I hear something I played a long time ago? .............................................7
Signal Routing: Using Send and Return ................................................................8
Advanced Usage 8
Loop start and stop points: Trimming the loop......................................................8
Windowing (aka Scrolling or Scrubbing) ................................................................8
Using CV with Windowing ...............................................................................9
Unquantized Time Mode and 1V/Oct CV ..............................................................9
Stereo and Mono Modes .....................................................................................10
Octave Up/Down When changing Modes .....................................................10
Memory Clear ......................................................................................................10
Quantized Change Mode .....................................................................................11
Using External Clocks..........................................................................................11
Patch Ideas 12
Resonant Delay (Waveguide, Karplus-Strong) .....................................................12
Basic Resonant Delay ....................................................................................12
Playing Resonance with a keyboard or sequencer ........................................12
Sound on Sound Looping #1: Creating and Removing Layers ...........................12
Peeling off Layers ..........................................................................................13
Sound on Sound Looping #2: External Control ...................................................13
Sound on Sound Looping #3: More External Control..........................................13
Granular Scrubbing ..............................................................................................14
Special Features 15
Bus Clock Jumper ...............................................................................................15
System Settings Mode ........................................................................................15
Audio Bootloader .................................................................................................18
Firmware Version .................................................................................................18
Hardware Test Mode ............................................................................................19
Factory Reset .......................................................................................................19
Technical Specifications ......................................................................................19
Note: The Looping Delay is reverse-polarity protected, but incorrectly connecting any module in any
system can damage other modules on the power bus.
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Basic features:
• 87 seconds of delay/loop time in mono mode, 43 seconds in stereo mode
• 48kHz/24-bit sampling rate, loop is stored at 16-bit
• Extremely quiet, low-noise and low-jitter design
• Ping button and external clock jack set the timing for one "beat"
• Delay/loop time set as a number of musical beats (or fractions of beats) using the Time knob,
switch, and CV jack
• Sample-accurate master clock output for perfect synchronization
• Loop clock output
• Time switches change range of Time knob from 1/8th notes up to 32 bars
• Digital feedback, up to 110%
• Delay Feed control, independent of dry/wet signal mix
• Infinite Hold mode disables recording and plays a loop
• Start and End points of loop can be modified in real-time for “scrubbing” or “windowing”
• Reverse mode plays memory contents backwards
• Resonant Delays (ala Karplus-Strong)
• Delay time can be as short as 650uS
• Time CV jack can respond at 1V/octave in Unquantized Time Mode
• Trigger inputs for toggling Infinite Hold and Reverse
• Send and Return for feedback with external modules
• Send and Return function as right channel In and Out in stereo mode
• CV jacks to control Time, Feedback, Delay Feed (record level), and Mix
• Various algorithms can be selected interfacing with jittery external clocks (External Clock De-
jitter)
• Quantized Change Mode quantizes toggling of Infinite Hold and Reverse
• 16HP Eurorack module
The Looping Delay requires a base time, which is referred to as a “beat” in this
manual. The delay/loop time is mathematically related to the length of one beat. If
you are familiar with other 4ms modules, you may be familiar with the concept of
“Ping”. In the Looping Delay, the beat is the Ping.
Another way of setting the timing is by jumpering the Clock Bus header to RECV
and using a Clock Bus master (such as the 4ms QCD or MiniPEG) to send the
clock over the power distribution board. See the Bus Clock Jumper section on
page 15.
The Looping Delay’s clock is extremely stable and jitter-free. It's highly
recommended to use the internal Looping Delay clock (tap clock) if possible,
because it's quantized to the sample clock and has less jitter than most
commercially available clock sources. Using the Looping Delay as a master clock
will provide the tightest timing possible. However, if it's not possible to use the
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Looping Delay as a master clock, you can sync to an external clock by patching it
into the Ping jack. The Looping Delay will quantize the external clock to its own
sample rate and output quantized clocks on the Loop Clk Out jack. If there is any
jitter or drift in the external clock, the Looping Delay will track and follow these
discontinuities, which can result in interesting (or noisy!) artifacts. See section on
Using External Clocks section on page 11 for more information.
The Reverse CV jack toggles the reverse state on the rising edge of the trigger.
Reverse has slightly different effects depending on whether you are in Infinite
Hold mode or not. In normal mode (Inf. Hold off), toggling Reverse causes
playback and record to reverse direction. The read and write positions are also
swapped. This means that any audio that's already been recorded will be played
backwards, but any new audio will be played forwards (since it's recorded
backwards and played backwards, it comes out sounding forwards). Note that
when Time is very fast, Reverse will seem to have little effect because it only
reverses what's already recorded (which has a short duration when Time is fast).
The Time knob sets the loop time in number of beats, ranging from 1 to 16.
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• Up (+16): 16 beats are added to whatever the Time knob shows. So if the
knob is pointing to 5, the delay or loop time will be 5+16 = 21 beats. Loop/
delay time will range from 17 to 32 beats.
• Down (1/8): The Time knob is divided by 8, making the delay/loop time 8
times as fast (eighth notes). For example, if the knob is pointing at 5, then
the output will echo in 5/8th notes, or eight loops for every five beats. Loop /
delay time will range from 1/8 to 16/8 (2 beats)
The Time CV jack accepts signals from -5V to +5V. Using CV will modify the Time
knob's setting by multiplying or dividing the knob's value. Positive CV makes the
delay time longer, negative CV makes it shorter.
Taken together, the Time knob, switch and CV jack set the length of the loop or
amount of delay time. This period of time is relative to a beat (or base time), which
is set by tapping the Ping button or patching an external clock into the Ping jack.
For example, tap a tempo of 0.5 second. This makes one beat be ½ second
(120BPM).
Set the Time knob to 8, and center the Time switch. If there is no CV plugged in,
the delay time will be 8 beats, or 4 seconds.
Now flip the Time switch down to 1/8, the delay time will be eight 1/8th notes, or
½ second.
Now turn the Time knob down to 2, the delay time will be two 1/8th notes or 0.125
seconds.
Now flip the Time switch up to +16 and the delay time will be 18 beats, or 9
seconds.
Now apply some CV, the Time will get slower as you apply positive CV, and faster
as you apply negative CV.
The Feedback CV jack accepts signals from 0V to +5V. Negative voltage on the
CV jack is ignored. The knob and CV jack are added together, and have a
maximum combined value of 110%. However, if the knob is set to 0%, then
applying a voltage of +5V or greater will cause a Feedback amount of exactly
100%. This allows you to easily access the 100% Feedback setting using CV.
Normally, Feedback has no effect in Infinite Hold mode. See the Windowing
section on page 8 for special usage of the Feedback knob and jack while holding
down the Inf. Hold button.
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Delay Feed Knob and CV Jack
Delay Feed is the amount of signal from the In jack that's recorded in memory.
You can think of it as “Record Level” or “Input Level”, but there is one important
detail to remember: Delay Feed doesn't effect the Dry signal (which is what's
present on the Audio Out jack when the Mix knob is turned all the way down). It
just effects how much signal is laid down or recorded. This detail is intentional
because when doing sound-on-sound techniques, you can play a sound
continuously in the Dry channel while modulating Delay Feed to fade in portions
of the signal onto the loop.
The Delay Feed CV jack accepts signals from 0V to +5V. Negative voltage on the
CV jack is ignored.
The knob jack are added together and have a maximum combined value of 100%.
Note that in Infinite Hold mode, Delay Feed has no effect since there is no
recording.
The Mix knob crossfades between signals on the In jack (dry) and signals read
from memory (wet). Turning the knob all the way to the left will yield a completely
dry signal. Turning the knob all the way to the right will yield a completely wet
signal.
The Mix CV jack accepts signals from 0V to +5V. Negative voltage is ignored. The
knob and jack are added together to produce the amount of dry/wet signal.
The Return jack has a different function in mono mode versus stereo mode (See
Stereo and Mono Modes, page 10). In mono mode, it’s the audio input from the
external feedback loop. Typically you will patch the Send jack (or a copy of the
main audio input) into an effect, and then patch the output of the effect into
Return. The signal on this jack will be mixed with the main audio input signal and
the internal feedback signal (controlled by the Feedback knob and jack) and then
recorded into memory. Note that the signal on Return jack will be written to
memory at 100% volume, without any attenuation. Therefore it’s recommended to
use an external attenuator to control the amount of external effect.
In stereo mode, the In jack is the left audio input, and the Return jack is the right
audio input. There is no effects loop capability in stereo mode.
Both jacks accept signals from -10V to +10V and are AC-coupled.
The Send jack has a different function in mono mode versus stereo mode (See
Stereo and Mono Modes, page 10). In mono mode it outputs the delay signal only.
This is typically used with the Return jack to create an external effects loop. Note
that since the Return jack outputs the signal read from memory, the very first
echo will not be effected by the external effects loop.
In stereo mode, the Audio Out jack is the left audio input, and the Return jack is
the right audio input.
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Both jacks output signals from -10V to +10V and are DC-coupled.
The Loop Clk Out jack outputs a clock that’s in sync with the the loop/delay time.
All the clock outputs are quantized to the sample-rate. This insures they are jitter-
free (assuming your external clock has low jitter). The Looping Delay clocks are
some of the lowest jitter clocks available using Eurorack modules and should be
used whenever possible as a master clock.
The high voltage of the clock outputs is 8V. At fast clock speeds (audio rate), the
jacks output square waves.
In Inf. Hold mode, the clock goes high when the loop starts. This can be used to
trigger an envelope that VCA's the loop, for example.
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Signal Routing: Using Send and Return
The Send and Return jacks are simple but offer a wealth of possibilities for creative patching. The
Send jack simply carries the delayed signal, unmixed with the input. It’s the same as the main Audio
Out jack if the Mix control is set fully clockwise. The Return input is summed with the main In.
However, it does not appear in the “dry” signal and is not attenuated by the Delay Feed knob and CV.
In patches involving externally processed feedback, the gain of the processing chain is always a
concern. In the case of filters in particular, the gain may be suitable overall, but not at the frequencies
you want to recirculate. If the filter is resonant, runaway feedback may occur even when the overall
gain is low.
Advanced Usage
Windowing Tutorial
Let's try it. First get set up: Set Time so you have a loop length that's a few seconds long. Remember,
the red loop light will flash once per loop. Set Feedback low (25 - 50% perhaps) to keep things simple
for now. Play some sounds for 10-20 seconds and then turn on Inf. Hold to lock them in.
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Listen to your loop, pay attention to what sounds the loop starts with, and what sounds it plays right
before it repeats. These are your loop start and stop points. Now, we're going to change those start and
stop points by Windowing:
1. Turn Feedback knob all the way up (the sound will not change).
2. Hold down Inf. Hold while you turn Feedback to 0%.
You just shifted the loop backwards by one whole loop length. Let it play for a bit as you listen to the
new start and stop points. Hear it? The loop is the same length (same timing/tempo), but now it will be
playing the sounds you recorded a few seconds earlier. Play with this some more: Press and hold Inf.
Hold again and turn Feedback back half a turn. Hear how the loop now starts in the middle?
Remember that turning Feedback while in Inf. Hold mode has no effect unless you're holding down
Inf. Hold. This is critical for the next tip:
Tip #1: If you want to scroll more than one loop length, do this maneuver:
1. Turn Feedback to 100%.
2. Depress the Inf. Hold button while you turn Feedback to 0%.
3. Release Inf. Hold button.
4. Repeat as needed (turn Feedback to 100%, then press button and turn Feedback back to 0,
release button...)
Tip #2: If you want to scroll back very far even more quickly than Tip #1, change the Time parameter to
very long (perhaps flip the time switch up to +16). Since turning Feedback + Inf. Hold scrolls by one
loop size, making the loop size enormous lets you scroll by enormous amounts with just one knob twist!
You can scroll back a maximum of 87 seconds in mono mode, or 43 seconds in stereo mode.
Tip #3: Set Time to a very short period and window around a loop with CV for a sort of granular effect.
In Unquantized mode, the Time knob behaves as usual, except it does not snap to the whole numbers
between 1 and 16. So you can sweep a slowly changing tempo, or set an exact tempo in between two
integer amounts. To adjust the Time knob in Unquantized mode, hold down the Inf. Hold button while
turning the Time knob.
The Time CV jack behaves differently in Unquantized mode: It responds over a 1V/octave curve for
positive CV (5 octave range). Applying up to +5V will multiply the Time knob's setting in an exponential
curve relative to the voltage. That is, for every additional volt on the CV jack, the Time period will halve.
This response is opposite to Quantized mode, where additional voltage makes the period increase. The
1V/octave response in Unquantized mode is very useful for resonant delays.
Note that if the Time switch is up, the 1V/oct response will be altered by the addition of the extra 16
beats. For a more accurate 1V/oct response, keep the Time switch centered or down.
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Stereo and Mono Modes
Normally, the Looping Delay operates in Mono Mode, where a mono signal
Hold 2 sec. is input in the In jack, and the echoes, loops, and delayed signal is taken out
of the Audio Out jack. In this mode, the Send and Return jacks function as
+ additional inputs and outputs, but the delay signal path remains mono.
The Looping Delay can also function as a stereo delay by using the Return
and Send jacks as right channel input and output, and the In and Audio Out
jacks as left channel input and output. In Stereo Mode, there are two
isolated signal paths (left and right channels), whose parameters are always the same. That is, the
Time, Feedback, Delay Feed, and Mix amounts are always the same for both channels, being
controlled by the knobs and CV jacks. In Stereo Mode, the maximum delay time is exactly half of the
amount in Mono Mode.
To change between Mono and Stereo Modes, hold down the Reverse and Inf. Hold buttons for about 2
seconds. The Reverse and Inf. Hold lights will flash to indicate which mode is now active: rapidly
alternating means Stereo Mode, and more slowly flashing together means Mono Mode. Release the
buttons when you see the lights flash. There may be a discontinuity, click, or some unwanted sounds
when changing modes.
Max Echo/ In jack Audio Out jack Return jack Send jack
Loop Time
Mono Mode 87.4 seconds Mono input Mono output FX Return FX Send
Stereo Mode 43.7 seconds Left input Left output Right input Right output
Memory Clear
When using the Looping Delay with Feedback up
Hold all buttons 2 seconds… with Time down and long loop times, it can take a while for the
or center sound to die out after the input signal is muted.
This is, of course, a very nice and useful effect, but
+ + if you find yourself needing to clear the memory
more quickly you can do so by making sure the
Time switch is down or centered, and holding down
all three buttons (Reverse, Ping, and Inf. Hold) for
about three seconds. The lights will flash once and you may hear a beeping sound briefly while the
memory is cleared. Let go of the buttons and the buffer will be cleared. Note that if the Time switch is
flipped up, this button combination will enter System Mode. If you accidentally do this, press and
release all three buttons quickly to return to Normal mode.
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Quantized Change Mode
Hold… and tap Normally Reverse, Inf. Hold, and Time work as you would expect: changes to
the control take effect immediately, no matter when they occur. In the Quantized
Change Mode (or QCM), any change to these parameters will be delayed until
the next pulse of the Ping clock.
This means that if your press the Reverse and Inf. Hold buttons, turn the Time
knob, flip the Time switch, or apply CV or gates to the Time, Reverse and Hold
jacks, no change will be made until the next Ping clock. If the Ping clock changes (due to tapping the
Ping button or a change in the tempo of an external clock patched into the Ping jack), then any queued
changes to parameters will immediately take effect.
The factory default setting for QCM is off. To enter QCM, hold down the Reverse button and tap the
Ping button once. The Ping and Reverse lights will flash three times evenly to show entry into QCM.
Exit QCM with the same procedure, in which case the same lights will flash six times in a staggered
pattern.
QCM is best explored with a rhythmic patch, sequencer, or drum unit locked with the Looping Delay
clock. Asynchronous modulations and triggers can be used freely, since they will be forced to quantize
with the Ping clock. In this sense, QCM might be thought of as a kind Sample and Hold that locks
modulation sources with the fundamental time. Go ahead, experiment! It can be addicting.
Note that continually toggling Reverse in this mode can lead to quite a lot of “memory scraps” that
come back at surprising times, especially when the Reverse switching continues after an input source
is killed. This can be a real plus (as well as a real surprise) as these bits and pieces will remain locked
to the clock. If it gets out of hand, you can use the Memory Clear function, or discontinue triggers to
Reverse so that the “scraps” eventually clear themselves out.
• Use the least jittery device as the clock source. Try to use the Looping Delay, or some other
high-end gear that guarantees a low-jitter clock. Analog devices generally drift over time. Digital
devices can also have jitter due to rounding errors and processor lag or latency. If you're using
something else as the clock source, try running it directly into the Looping Delay and then using the
Looping Delay’s Clock Out jack as the clock source for other gear.
• Try running the clock source into a clock divider before into the Looping Delay. This will
average out some jitter, and slow down how often the Looping Delay’s ping time is updated. You
may wish to configure your clock source equipment to generate a faster clock (such as 24ppq or
48ppq) and then divide it down with a Rotating Clock Divider or some other clock divider module.
• Try the Looping Delay’s five different External Clock De-Jitter modes (see System Settings
Mode section). One mode in particular may work best with your equipment. Analog clock sources
tend to drift, so Linear Average of 4 is best (or use a clock divider, see above). Digital clock sources
with Inf. Hold on the Looping Delay might prefer a Moving Average of 2, or Ignore 1%. Digital clock
sources without Inf. Hold on the Looping Delay might prefer Ignore 1% or Ignore 0.2ms if you are
concerned with phasing between the layers.
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Patch Ideas
Tap a tempo on the Ping jack of about one second. Turn the Time knob to 8, and flip the Time switch
to = (center). This creates a loop of about eight seconds (or eight “bars", if you consider the Ping clock
to be one bar). Make sure Inf. Hold is off.
Start with Feedback at 90-100%, Delay Feed at 100%, and Mix at center.
Play a sound into the In jack. It can be a short burst, a drone, random noises, anything. Since you’ll be
layering more things on top, try to keep it under 8 seconds when you do this the first time. After you
finish, press Inf. Hold to lock the loop in. If you want all your layers to be 8 bars each, then only turn
Inf. Hold on or off when you see the red light go from off to on.
Tip: Enabling Quantized Change Mode will force enabling/disabling Inf. Hold to happen exactly on the
Ping clock (which happens every second). You also could wait until the red light goes off, patch Loop
Clk Out into the Hold jack, and then unpatch it after the red light goes on.
You should now be hearing the sound repeating every eight seconds.
Next, prepare to play a different sound. If this is your first time doing this patch, try to make this sound
distinct from the first so you’ll recognize it easily. When you’re ready to play the second sound, turn off
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Inf. Hold and play the sound. When you’re done, turn Inf. Hold back on, either by just pressing the
button or using any of techniques mentioned above.
Repeat this process to add more and more layers: turn Inf. Hold off, play the sound, turn Inf. Hold on.
You can control the level of each layer by adjusting the Delay Feed knob. Turning it down will make the
new layer more quiet. If your sound is a constant tone or drone, consider turning Delay Feed to 0
before turning off Inf. Hold. Then fade Delay Feed. When you’re done, turn Delay Feed back down to 0.
This will make the new layer fade in and out.
You also can control the level of the previous layers by adjusting Feedback. Turning Feedback down
will make older layers fade out each time they’re played.
To peel off another layer, turn Feedback back to 110%, then hold Inf. Hold while you turn it back to 0%.
If you want to restore the layer, do the opposite motion: turn Feedback to 0%, hold Inf. Hold while you
turn it to 110%.
You also can pull of parts of a loop by turning Feedback less than a full turn. For example, if you turn
Feedback from fully up to center, only the previous four seconds will be removed.
Another technique is to turn the Time knob. The amount Inf. Hold + Feedback shifts the loop is relative
to the Time parameter. If you turn the Time knob down to 1, then a full turn of Feedback will only shift
the loop by 1 bar.
Patch a manual CV source into the Delay Feed CV jack. It can be anything that generates CV when
you activate it: a keyboard with velocity or pressure output, a manual CV knob (from the 4ms SISM),
or perhaps an envelope output that's triggered manually (by quickly tapping the Cycle button twice on
the 4ms MiniPEG or EnvVCA). When you apply CV, you will bring up the Delay Feed parameter
which causes audio to be recorded onto the loop.
Since Feedback is at 100%, the loop is infinite and everything you lay down will remain (but take care
to keep your levels not too hot or else you will eventually get clipping). A variation is to use the Send
jack for the loop output. Then set the Mix knob to center and use the Audio Out jack to monitor the
incoming audio.
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Now you can activate the “record” CV like in the previous patch to lay down new material, but you can
also activate the “clear” CV to fade out material from the loop. You can even activate both pads at the
same time to replace loop material with new material.
What's happening in this patch is that the SISM is turning the 0V to 5V (or 8V or whatever the
maximum) signal from the pad module into a 5V to 0V signal. So, the SISM will output around 5V if you
are not pressing on the manual pressure pad (no CV signal). This means the Looping Delay’s
Feedback will be 100%. As you press on the pad and increase the voltage from the pad module, the
SISM will decrease its output voltage, which decreases the Feedback parameter. When Feedback is
low, material from the loop fades away.
Note that if your loop is not looping at 100%, then the SISM's Shift knob needs to be turned up a bit.
This insures at least 5V is coming out of SISM when nothing is being input.
Granular Scrubbing
A really neat effect can be obtained by changing the Reverse jack to respond to gates, and patching a
PWM pulse wave into the Reverse jack. This allows you to scrub across “grains” in an audio loop at
variable playback speed without changing the pitch.
First, enter System Setting Mode and set the Reverse jack to Gate mode (See System Settings Mode,
page 15). Then patch audio into the In jack and take the output from the Audio Out jack. Tap a slow
tempo, maybe one second, and set Time so the loop time is a couple seconds. Turn Feedback down
and Delay Feed up. Play some audio, perhaps a drum loop, a vocal sample, or a melody line. Let the
audio play through (make sure Mix is set at least 50/50), and then press Inf. Hold to lock in the loop.
Listen to the loop play once or twice to get a feel for what it sounds like normally.
Now the trick! Patch a pulse wave with variable pulse width (sometimes called PWM) from your favorite
LFO or clock module to the Reverse jack. The 4ms QCD with the QCD Expander works nicely by
using the Gate PW knob to adjust pulse width. You also can use the EOR or EOF output from the any
of the 4ms EnvVCA modules and use the ratio of Rise and Fall sliders to set the pulse width. The
frequency should be between about 2Hz and about 20Hz.
At first, set the pulse width to about 60-70% or so. You should see the Reverse light flicker, and the
loop should immediately start playing slowly forward or backwards. Tap the Reverse button to make it
play the other direction. Change the LFO’s pulse width to adjust the playback rate. As you approach
50%, the loop will slow down, until it hovers at 50% and then starts playing back in the opposite
direction.
The frequency of the VCO changes the “grain” size. At 2Hz there is a noticeable “stutter”, and at 20Hz it
sounds like a medium/low fidelity granular effect. If the VCO is too fast or if the pulse width is too
extreme, the effect will be lost.
The reason this effect works is because it plays forward when the pulse is low and backwards when the
pulse is high (or vice-versa if you toggled Reverse with the button). So, a pulse width of 50% will
effectively hover on a single grain because it plays forward and backwards equally. But, a pulse width
of 60% will play forward for 60% of the time and backwards 40% of the time, thus slowly moving
forward at 20% speed. The makes the audio slow down to 1/5 speed without any pitch shifting.
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Special Features
It's recommended that new users get familiar with the Looping Delay operation using default system
settings before making changes!
To enter System Settings Mode, flip the Time switch up and hold down all three buttons for two
seconds. Release the buttons when you see all the buttons lights turn off.
To exit System Settings Mode, repeat the process (hold down all three buttons while Time is flipped
up). If you just briefly press the buttons (releasing them in less then two seconds), any changes you
made will stay in effect until you power the module down. The next time you power the module on, the
previous settings will be restored.
If you wish to save your changes such that they will persist even after powering down, hold down the
three buttons while Time is flipped up for at least two seconds. Release them when you see the lights
flash rapidly.
Note: In order to keep your tap tempo Ping time when entering System Settings Mode, depress either
of the other two buttons before pressing the Ping button. If you press the Ping button first before the
other buttons, the Looping Delay will register that as a tap and the tempo will change.
Proceed carefully and take the time to understand what you are doing before pressing any
buttons, turning any knobs, or flipping any switches. Changing a System Setting without realizing
what you changed can cause confusion. You can always do a Factory Reset if you want to revert to
safe settings (see Factory Reset section below).
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The Time switch is used to determine what parameters you are editing. The buttons and knobs edit
parameters.
Auto Mute:
Tap Inf. Hold to toggle Auto Mute on and off. When the light is on, Auto Mute is enabled.
Auto Mute is a noise gate that silences the input when a signal is very low. This prevents runaway
feedback if Feedback is turned up and the module is allowed to run for a long time with no input
signal. Turning it off will introduce extra noise, including small amounts of clicking when the gate
output jacks fire. It’s highly recommended to leave Auto Mute.
Soft Clipping:
Tap Ping to toggle Soft Clipping on and off. When the light is on, Soft Clipping is enabled.
Soft Clipping enables compression when the output signal exceeds 75% of the clipping point. Below
this point, the signal is unaffected. This saturation distortion is often more pleasing than harsh
clipping.
Crossfade Time:
Hold down Reverse while turning Time to 1, 4, 6, 8, 10, 12, or 16 to set the Crossfade Time (CFT).
Time at 1: CFT will be 0ms (cross-fading disabled). Reverse will periodically flash once.
Time at 4: CFT will be 2ms. Reverse will periodically flash twice.
Time at 6: CFT will be 4ms. Reverse will periodically flash three times.
Time at 8: CFT will be 8ms. Reverse will periodically flash four times.
Time at 10: CFT will be 25ms. Reverse will periodically flash five times.
Time at 12: CFT will be 100ms. Reverse will periodically flash six times.
Time at 16: CFT will be 250ms. Reverse will periodically flash seven times.
Any time the Looping Delay’s read and write “heads” jump from one address to another, there is a
short cross fade created in order to smooth out the splice. This occurs whenever the Time setting is
changed and whenever Reverse or Inf. Hold is toggled. Also, in Inf. Hold mode, when the audio
reaches the end of the loop it cross-fades back to the start. In most cases, the default timing (8ms)
of the cross fade is sufficient and will make the module operate seamlessly. However, advanced
users may wish to experiment with other settings.
Disabling Crossfade Time allows for instant movement between points, at the expense of creating
clicks and pops. This can be ameliorated by enabling Quantized Change Mode (see section page
11) because QCM forces the clicks to only occur on the beat. On the other hand, using a longer
Crossfade Time makes all transitions very smooth and natural sounding, while limiting how quickly
the parameters can change. In any setting of CFT and when Inf. Hold is on, if the loop size is
shorter than the Crossfade Time, then cross-fading will be disabled in order to preserve the loop
size.
Page 16 of 20
Time Down: Reverse/Hold Gate/Trigger and External Clock De-jitter
The input jacks for Reverse and Inf. Hold can be set to toggle the state when they receive gates or
triggers. In Trigger mode, it will toggle every time a trigger is received. For example, the first time
the Reverse jack receives a pulse, Reverse will turn on. The next time it receives a pulse, Reverse
will turn off.
In Gate mode, the feature will toggle states every time the jack toggles states. For example, if you
send a gate into the Reverse jack, Reverse will turn on when the gate goes high and stay on until
the gate goes low (at which point Reverse will turn off). Pressing one of the buttons in either mode
will always toggle the state. Additionally, in Gate mode, pressing the button will toggle between
whether a high gate = On or if a low gate = On. This effectively inverts the gate signal.
The Looping Delay has a very precise and jitter-free internal clock (less than 0.0001% at
120BPM). If ever possible, it's recommended to use the Looping Delay as the master clock.
However, using external gear to clock the Looping Delay is also possible. One problem with using
external clocks is that lots of equipment generates clocks with a lot of jitter. Sometimes the tempo
may vary by as much as 2-3BPM. Since the Looping Delay is always recording things to be played
back in the future, if the tempo changes from when the audio was recorded to when it plays back, it
will sound out of time. In order to compensate for this, the Looping Delay has five algorithms that
each work with different types of external clock jitter.
If you need to use an external clock that has jitter, it's recommended you patch a simple patch and
try each of the five algorithms to see which one suits the particular type of jitter and your patch.
Note that in the case of the two Averaging ECD settings, adjusting the external clock speed will
cause the Looping Delay to slowly “catch-up” before “locking-on”.
The default setting is Ignore 1% deviation. With drifting analog clock sources, Linear Average of 4 is
recommended.
Page 17 of 20
Audio Bootloader
The Looping Delay contains a bootloader that is used to update the firmware by playing an audio file
the In jack on the left side of the module. Firmware audio files can be downloaded from the 4ms
website at https://4mscompany.com/ld
1. To enter bootloader mode, power off the Looping Delay and connect a computer or smart
phone audio output to the In jack. Either a stereo or mono cable is fine. Connect the Send jack
to an amp/speakers so you can listen.
2. Set the computer/phone's volume to 50%. You may need to adjust it up or down if this is too
loud or quiet (see step 5a). Unlike other 4ms modules, the Looping Delay’s bootloader is
designed to work with consumer line-level signal (a peak-to-peak voltage of a little under 1V is
ideal, or -10dbV). Turn off all audio notifications that might interrupt playback.
3. Depress the Reverse and Inf. Hold buttons while powering on the Looping Delay. When you
see the either button blink, release the buttons.
4. If Reverse is blinking, press the Reverse button. Inf. Hold will start blinking to indicate the
module is now ready to receive firmware.
5. Begin playing the file. Immediately you should see Inf. Hold and Ping lights flash. Do not
interrupt the process!
6. The Inf. Hold light blinks in a way that tells you if the audio is too loud or quiet. If it blinks
erratically, then the audio is too loud or too quiet. If it blinks regularly with equal times on and
off, then the audio level is ideal. A good way to set the level is to start with the volume all the
way down and notice the the light is off. Then slowly bring it up until it flashes regularly (about
four times per second with equal times on and off).
7. If there’s an error, the Reverse light will start blinking about three times per second, and the
Ping light will be off. The Inf. Hold light will continue to indicate the audio level, so this is a
good time to verify the level is ideal and adjust the output level as needed. Verify the cable is
not loose, all sounds/vibrate/notifications are off, and that you have downloaded the audio file
completely (avoid streaming or playing from the browser). Stop the audio file, reset it back to
the start, and tap the Reverse button to reset. The Inf. Hold button should blink slowly. Play
the file from the beginning again.
8. If the file loads successfully, the Reverse button will blink once every two seconds and the
Ping button will blink every second. Press Inf. Hold to start playing.
The open-source licensed source files (in C++, for compiling with arm-none-eabi-g++) can be found at
https://www.github.com/4ms/looping-delay
Firmware Version
To view the firmware version, hold down Reverse and Ping while powering up. After you release the
buttons the red light will flash to indicate the firmware version. Power off.
Page 18 of 20
Hardware Test Mode
The Hardware Test Mode is a way to verify your hardware is working correctly. This procedure is run
on every unit at the factory. If you built the Looping Delay as a DIY Kit, or if you suspect damage
occurred to your unit, you can run this procedure to verify the module is working properly.
The full procedure is described in the DIY Looping Delay Kit Build Guide found at
https://4mscompany.com/ldkit?manualtab
Factory Reset
A factory reset is not necessary unless you have changed System Settings or recently upgraded
firmware versions.
To perform a factory reset, hold down Reverse and Ping while powering up. After you release the
buttons the red light will flash to indicate the firmwar version. The Ping light will then flash. Hold down
the Ping button for five seconds until it turns on solid.
The Looping Delay has now been reset to its factory default settings. Power off.
Technical Specifications
• 16 HP Eurorack format module
• 0.98” (25mm) maximum depth with power cable
Power consumption:
• +12V rail: 125mA max
• -12V rail: 45mA max
• +5V rail: not used
Audio Inputs
• 20Hz to 20kHz
• 20V peak-to-peak maximum before clipping (when AC coupled)
Audio Outputs
• 0Hz (DC) to 24kHz with maximum -1.7dB difference between input and output
• +10V to -10V maximum output
Clock Out:
• 0V to 8V
• +/- 2.4µs maximum jitter (0.001% at 120 BPM)
• Rise/Fall time (10% to 90%): 350µs
Sampling
• 24-bit sample at 48kHz, 32-bit processing, 16-bit storage in RAM
• 64Mbit volatile SDRAM chip
• Mono mode: Maximum of 87.38 seconds
• Stereo mode: Maximum of 43.69 seconds
Page 19 of 20
Delay Mode: External
feedback
OFF loop
(effects, etc.)
Inf. Hold
Reverses direction of “tape”,
and swaps position of read
and write “heads”
Time
Feedback
Page 20 of 20
Loop only
Inf. Hold/Loop Mode: (no dry signal)
ON
Reverses direction of “tape”
Inf. Hold