More than just an echo machine

The rainmaker lets us work with chorus, flanging, comb effects, Karplus-Strong synthesis and loads more. Patch cables at the ready!

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As with most things it makes most sense to start with the basics. Take a simple synth riff into the audio input and take the output to your mixer. Add smooth and stepped modulation to the delay parameters to push and pull your delays around.

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Once you’ve explored the initial panel settings, it’s time to delve deeper. Editing is very simple – start with the granular Pitch Shift and experiment with the number of grains and grain size to create different ringing or fluttering shifts on your delay taps.

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The delay can have its own delay rate, time slip (a timing offset) and also a groove template. Take a simple 16th-note delay and then apply one of the early reflection grooves – it’s magic! Groove templates for your delays is a first for us.

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The Trigger button and input can do many things. Start with a basic delay playing over your riffs and try using a random gate into the trigger input to switch in and out of reverse delay mode. It adds variety and interest to simple patches.

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The trigger can freeze the delay buffer, which is great for drones and creating stuttering beats. The trigger can also create pulses and noise bursts to excite the comb filter. With no audio input, try exciting the comb resonator with a triggered pulse.

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Turning off the delay, let’s explore the comb resonator. Set Comb Size and Feedback to suit your patch, and adjust the Feedback type through guitar, sitar, clarinet and raw settings. These change the feedback filtering and linearity for new tones from the same comb settings.