Name: Echo Thing
Brand: Desert Moon Audio
Price: 54.00 USD
Availability: InStock

Echo Thing

Lo-Fi Analog Echo Processor

Echoes upon echoes

Echo Thing is a delay built around the behaviour of a vintage echo chip — one whose clock rate falls as you ask for more time, so long settings darken, grain up and eventually fall apart. That collapse is the instrument, not a defect.

Works with all major DAWs

AU / VST3 / AAX for Mac · VST3 for PC

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The Echo Thing panel with the Time knob sweeping from 60 ms up into the Red Zone and back

About Echo Thing

Echo Thing is a delay built around the behaviour of a vintage echo chip — one whose clock rate falls as you ask for more time. Short settings are clean and tight. Push past roughly 250 milliseconds into the Red Zone marked on the Time knob and the repeats start to darken, grain up and eventually fall apart. That collapse is the instrument, not a defect.

In front of it sits a mic-preamp stage you can drive into saturation, so the echoes can be clean and glassy or pushed until they smear. It is built for vocals above all — the Mix control tops out at an even 50/50 blend rather than going fully wet, so the repeats sit behind the take instead of swallowing it.

Key features

Time — 30 to 620 ms. The Red Zone past ~250 ms is where the chip starts to struggle, and that is the sound most people come here for.

F-Back. A single slap all the way through to runaway self-oscillation.

Mix. Dry through to an even 50/50 blend — deliberately capped so vocals stay intelligible.

Tempo sync. 1/32 to 1/2, including triplets and dotted values, locked to your host.

Character — Clean, Tape or Broken. Three states of repair for the echo path, from serviced yesterday to found in a barn.

Ping-Pong. Dual mono at zero; at full, the two delay lines feed each other and repeats alternate left and right.

Input and Output. Input drives the preamp into saturation (−12 to +24 dB); Output is clean make-up gain (−24 to +12 dB).

The panel section. Tap tempo, low and high cut on the repeats, and metered input and output — the studio conveniences the pedal never had, drawn smaller because they are additions.

The panel section with tempo sync engaged, divisions stepping and Ping-Pong rising

F-Back climbing toward runaway while the Character switch steps through Clean, Tape and Broken

Quickstart tips

Start with Time in the clean zone. Anywhere under 250 ms gives tight, articulate repeats. Set the rhythm first, then decide how dirty you want it.

Then push into the Red Zone. Take Time past 250 ms and listen to the repeats degrade. The footer readout turns red so you always know which side of the line you are on.

Use Input as a tone control. It is not a level match — it drives the preamp. Low is glassy and clean, high is thick and saturated. Trim the difference back with Output.

Keep Mix low on vocals. 15–30% is usually plenty. The control tops out at a 50/50 blend on purpose.

Two shortcuts worth knowing. Right-click Time, F-Back or Mix to type an exact value. Double-click any knob to return it to its default.

More details

Yes. It's a one-off purchase, not a subscription, and there's nothing to renew. Updates to a plugin you own are free — download the current installer and run it over the top.

Every plugin is sold on its own, so you can buy just the one you want. If you'd rather have all of them, the Everything Bundle collects the whole line for 30% less than buying them separately.

Each license can be active on all machines you personally own you own — a studio desktop, a laptop and a couple of spares. Moving to a new computer? Deactivate the plugin on the old one and the seat frees up; if that machine is gone, contact us and we'll release it.

A purchase covers you, not a studio full of people. If colleagues need it, they need their own copy — that's what keeps a small company like this able to keep building plugins.

Your download link is in the order confirmation email sent at purchase, and in your account under Order history.

Your license key is in the same email. Run the installer, open the plugin, enter the key once and you're done — one key activates up to 4 of your machines.

Can't find the email? Check spam, then search for "Desert Moon Audio". If it still isn't there, get in touch with the address you ordered with and we'll resend it.

Yes — after activation. Entering your license key needs an internet connection once; from then on the plugin runs fully offline and doesn't phone home.

If a studio machine never goes online, get in touch and we'll sort out an activation for it.