Late Replies €129

This labyrinthine multieffects plugin from Parisian developers Blue Cat Audio uses an eight-tap stereo delay with two independent feedback loops as the foundation for an almost limitless modular processing architecture. The delay is fantastic: in the Pattern and Feedback Loops editors, every tap and each feedback loop can be freely positioned on its own lane in relation to the Base Delay time, levelled and panned, while the Inertia control sets how long it takes for delay time changes to happen, from instant to slow and tape-like. There’s also a Ducker for decluttering, and a Freeze function that allows for mixing of the buffered feedback with the input and crossfeed signals.

It’s in the pre, post and ‘during’ processing of the delay, however, that Late Replies reveals its transcendent depth and power. You see, as if being a first-class delay wasn’t enough, the plugin also includes a collection of 30 effects modules and utilities, including reverbs, delays (the full Late Replies itself being one of them), EQ, filters, dynamics, pitchshifters, harmonisers, chorus, phaser, etc, each one boasting a fully formed (if rather drab) GUI and sounding great. Up to four of these can be inserted into the Pre FX and Post FX sections… as well as every single delay tap and both feedback loops! And that’s not all: each and every insert point can, alternatively, host an external VST/AU plugin. Starting to get the picture?

Quite honestly, even without the effects modules and plugin hosting, we’d still have had no hesitation in recommending Late Replies as one of the tastiest delays around. Factor those in, though, and you have… well, the best creative effect plugin of 2018! As we said in our review, Late Replies is “nothing short of essential”.

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