Delay CHOP: Max Delay removed and Reset added in recent builds?

TouchDesigner Documentation
1

Hello all,

I’m using the latest version (Build 2025.32050) of TouchDesigner and noticed that some parameters of the Delay CHOP have changed.

Specifically, it seems that “Max Delay” has been removed and a new “Reset” parameter has been added.

This change is mentioned in the release notes, so I understand it is an official update.

However, the documentation page for the Delay CHOP still has “Max Delay”:
https://docs.derivative.ca/Delay_CHOP

I didn’t use Max Delay very often, so I’m not fully sure what the practical impact of its removal is.

My current understanding is that, since Reset allows us to clear the delay buffer at an arbitrary timing, Max Delay may no longer be necessary.
Is this interpretation correct?

Are there any potential side effects or limitations caused by the removal of Max Delay, especially for long-delay setups?
(I’m currently building a long-delay network, so this caught my attention…)

Thanks in advance for any clarification.

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Hi @Peachman.

the Max Delay parameter was removed as the delay buffer is now auto-growing to 2x the delay setting. Maybe @rob could shed a bit more light on this?

the added functionality of being able to reset the buffer was a separate RFE and not connected to the Max Delay parameter removal.

Thank you for pointing out the parameter still being in the docs, I’ve amended this now.

cheers
Markus

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Thanks for your quick reply, @snaut
(And Max Delay was removed from the documentation even faster than my reply… :slightly_smiling_face:)

I think I understand the intention behind this change now.

By the way, for achieving long delays similar to a Roland-style tape echo, I found that a setup using Trail CHOP + Shift CHOP + Time Slice CHOP, as mentioned in other threads on this forum, works better than using Delay CHOP.

One thing I noticed is that any small frame drop immediately introduces click noise, so for stable real-time operation, it seems that running this inside an Engine COMP (or otherwise isolating it from UI-related frame drops) may be necessary.

As always, I really appreciate how active and precise the responses are in the TouchDesigner community.
Thanks again!

4

Hi Peachman, please have a look at this file for a really nice way of making an audio delay network with variable pitch etc. Many other time-based effects can be derived from it. Using an engine COMP for this task is gonna be a headache and introduces undesirable signal delay.

How-To Audio in TouchDesigner | Derivative

edit: I just noticed that the file is missing a few of the things I learned since then. Notably, in the delay example I use an analyze CHOP and use the channel information to cook a transparent pixel but all that can be removed by placing a null CHOP with cook set to “always” at the end of your delay line.

Hope it helps!

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