Effects such as delays can be constituent parts of sound creation, not just post-processing

Reid’s closing instalments argue that effects can play just as important a role in sound creation as the elements in a synth’s signal path, provided you have access to their constituent parts. A delay is not only an echo: short feedback delays produce comb filtering that reshapes timbre, and creatively routed delays can build up harmonic content, so the delay becomes a synthesis element rather than a finishing effect. The general principle is that any signal-transforming device can be patched into the synthesis chain to shape a sound rather than merely decorate it.

Examples

A short feedback delay used as a comb filter to colour a raw waveform; delays routed to add harmonics rather than audible echoes.

Assessment

Give two ways a delay can act as a synthesis element rather than an echo effect, and state the principle that unifies effects-as-synthesis.