OtherDesertCities

Other Desert Cities, named for a famous sign on the I-10 highway leaving Los Angeles, is a workshop for creativity. As its namesake implies, there are many strange and wonderful things lurking inside. With six delay algorithms, each with its own personality, and extensive modulation, Other Desert Cities covers everything from basic stereo dual delays to never-before-heard granular pitch-shifting chaos.

ALGORITHMS

01 Desert Shores Stereo Delay. A standard dual delay, with basic EQ, saturation, crossfeed, and spread.

02 Mecca Reverse Delay. A normal dual delay, except the repeats play backwards, with smooth crossfading and an optional Reflect mode that alternates direction on each repeat.

03 Cactus Dual-Delta Delay. More like a pair of tape decks in use, with individual speed controls from zero to 2x in either direction, and pitch quantizing to octaves, fifths, or semitones.

04 Thermal Multi-Tap Delay. A dual multi-tap with sixteen taps per side, spread, crossfeed, and basic EQ.

05 Mirage Multi-Head Delay. Imagine a tape delay, but the head is the rotating head of a VCR. Experimental, strange, and wonderful.

06 Sky Valley Granular Delay. A pitch-shifting granular delay, with control over grain size and scatter, and EQ.

TEMPO

Sync to your host, or don't: set the sync source to Tap and everything synced follows the tap button instead. Tap on screen, or assign a MIDI note or CC and tap from your controller; the AUv3 accepts MIDI input directly.

MODULATION

Other Desert Cities includes a full suite of modulation. Two tempo-synced variable-waveshape LFOs and an envelope follower, sourced from the main input or a sidechain, can modulate nearly every control in the user interface.

DIFFUSOR

A built-in diffusor smears the feedback path, pushing Other Desert Cities toward reverb territory, especially with the Thermal algorithm.

LEVELS

The secret superpower is I/O control. Every aspect of the signal chain's gain structure can be controlled and modulated: ducked, panned, oscillated, and enveloped to your heart's content. Mute and Input Level feed only the delay block, not the dry signal, so you get natural tails and send-style behavior from an insert.

PRESETS

A full factory bank, plus designer presets from Matthew Lyon, Red Means Recording, and Time Rival. Presets are cross-platform (patches made on the desktop version work on iOS, and vice versa) and appear in your host's own preset list, so you can change sounds without opening the UI.

FEATURES

- AUv3 plugin and standalone app
- Delay times up to 2 seconds free, 10 seconds tempo-synced
- Tap tempo from the screen or MIDI
- Resizable, scrolling user interface
- Cross-platform XML preset manager

Also available for macOS, Windows, and Linux in CLAP, VST3, AAX, AudioUnit, and LV2 formats at audiodamage.com.