Enchanting Instruments 105 - U-he COLOUR COPY - Delay Review

u-he COLOUR COPY is a delay plug-in that emulates a BBD (bucket-brigade device). It’s relatively easy to use, but I have the impression that it has a lot of depth. Even though it’s based on delay, it also covers chorus, flanger, and even comb filters, making a lot of possibilities in the ways to use it.

The COLOUR COPY was released in 2018 and has been upgraded for 2024. u-he will continue to upgrade it free of charge, even for plug-ins that are over 20 years old! The core is programmed by analog emulation expert Sascha Eversmeier, who has also worked on a tape emulator called Satin and a compressor called Presswerk.

Here, I would like to close in on the tone of COLOUR COPY's BBD.

What is a BBD (bucket-brigade device)?

The actual BBD is IC-ized as shown below. In the 1980s, BBDs were widely used for effects such as analog delays and electronic instruments. The photo below shows a Matsushita MN3204 and MN3102 used in a 1980s electronic piano that I own. The MN3200 series has 512 stages, which is equivalent to a bucket.

Internally, as the name suggests, it is a bucket relay system. The bucket is actually a capacitor, which stores potential and passes it to the next capacitor. The buckets are discrete, and their quality deteriorates with each passing to the next capacitor. The output is then passed through all the buckets. Quality degradation used to be considered a drawback, but nowadays people go to great lengths to reproduce this. Especially for delays, moderate degradation makes the sound rounder and easier to use.

The circuit of the MN3200 series is shown below.

*Taken from the Matsushita MN3000 series data sheet

In COLOUR COPY, the stage length can be set as shown below, and the output point can be set arbitrarily. The following settings are for a stage length of 500 ms, with L output at 250 ms and R output at 500 ms. The sound that leaves the stage is returned to the beginning of the stage again by the feedback setting. I thought the UI was very easy to understand, which is unusual for u-he. The waveform display and note display are also intuitive.

Delay Wet

The wet tone of a delay is very important. It is like making the shadow (wet) lighter in comparison to the original sound (dry). If the color of the shadow is the same as that of the original sound, it will sound like a duet. If the shadow is so thin that you do not notice it, the original sound will seem to float a little. The picture below shows how this can be done. If the same picture is displaced, it looks weird. If you make it like a shadow, the foremost picture will float a little and it will look natural.

The following sound sample shows the difference between wet without filter and with low-pass filter. Without the filter, the high-frequency component of the transient is audible. This component often gets in the way of complex sounds. If the high-frequency component is removed with a low-pass filter, only the dry will stand out, while the others will be pulled back like shadows.

Sample by color

Although the name “COLOUR COPY” insists on the colors unique to BBD, it is not intended to emulate them perfectly, but rather they are a highly versatile adjustment. Five colors are set in advance, and they can be morphed seamlessly. Brightness, saturation, modulation are also possible, and the parameters for sound creation are abundant. Depending on the adjustments, you can create sounds ranging from tape delay-like sounds to very special sounds.

Below I have made two sound samples for each color. The first is the sound from silence to maximum feedback, which causes feedback and saturation. These characteristics are directly reflected in the wet sound. The frequency spectrum is at maximum feedback.

The second sample is the wet sound through an electric piano, which gradually degrades with a 250 ms delay. The differences are subtle to start with, but as they accumulate, you can see that they become larger and larger.

1. RESO

Gentle low-pass and mild distortion with resonance up to 5 kHz, ensuring high frequencies.

2. SPARKLE

Low-pass and high-pass, with a tendency toward slow response and feedback noise buildup.

3. FUZZ

Has strong resonance and the cutoff frequency of the filter depends on the rate. The color is similar to the delay on u-he's Synth Repro.

4. SNAP

High-pass and low-pass are set to a steep curve and have a wide, flat characteristic. Compression and Expansion timing offsets emphasize signal transients.

5. DUSK

A color focused on low frequencies that loses high frequencies early, softens transients, and has low distortion.

Real-time nature

I would like to touch on a few other features besides BBD. The concept of this plug-in also emphasizes real-time nature, and the control system is ingenious. In particular, the sound follows pleasantly even when changing Rate or moving the output head in real time. I made a simple sample using such real-time nature.

The sample below is a type of use that deviates from the normal delay. It is an infinite delay of a snare sound that has no pitch, and the pitch is forcefully tweaked.

COLOUR COPY is made to be easy to handle as a general delay and has practical functions such as ducking. It can also be used in a variety of other ways, which I will explain more in detail on my personal homepage.

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