The PSP 285 is a stereo delay plug-in based on PSP's 84/85 plug-ins and gets you into the endless possibilities of a pair of variable sample rate delay lines that run from 50% to 200% of the session sample rate. With up to 10 seconds of delay time available, you may produce any delay-based effect easily—anything from slap-back echoes to complex rhythmic patterns to pitch-shifted and/or resonant filter "throws" to modulated and panned returns.
I gravitated towards inserting special stereo effects on lead vocal tracks to arrive at very specific sonic "characters"—identifiable artistic trademarks. There is pre-delay available for the Left and Right delays plus a reverb module you can mix in a plate, room, halls, or even a reverse reverb. Everything is ready to add and mix in for endless experimentation including: stereo (L/R) or mid-side (M/S) operating modes, wet signal ducking and a modulation section with a tempo-synced LFO and envelope follower.
As complicated as PSP 285 looks when I first launched it, it is laid out in a very organized way, although I thought some of the text boxes could be a little bigger on this large plug-in GUI. But it is CPU efficient and it all works well—there is even a Panic button for killing an inadvertent feedback loop.
Each preset can store specific mixer parameters for each section and I liked all the visual feedback of the controls and displays—there are generous mouse-over tool tips for every control. Almost 400 presets come with this first release and PSP 285 supports sample rates up to 384kHz plus an iLok manager is installed but a dongle is not required!
PSP 285 sells for $99 as download and PSP 85 users can cross-grade to PSP 285 for $28.50. A little time learning this one will pay off big time!
