BBD4A Bucket Brigade Device

BBD-4A captures the warm, saturated character of classic bucket brigade delay hardware, reimagined as a versatile creative tool.

Four cascaded delay taps and six unique spacing modes open up a world of delay effects; from tight flanging, wide chorus and hard slapback to the sprawling rhythmic echos of multi-tap patterns. Each mode has its own musical feel; even spacing, Space Echo-inspired ratios, dense chorus clusters, and more.

Hit Hold to freeze the buffer and capture a moment in time. Loop it, pitch-shift it with Repitch modulation, or layer new material on top.

Each of the four taps has its own stereo output, perfect for quadraphonic setups, parallel processing, or feeding separate effects with naturally staggered timing.

Shape the input through soft saturation drive and a resonant state-variable filter. Add movement with dual-target LFO modulation. Color the repeats with two-band tone control. Widen the image with ping-pong stereo. Insert your favorite rack effects into the feedback path to create uniquely flavoured effects!

Delay

• Free time (10.24–409.6 ms per “chip” - up to 1638.4ms in total)
• Tempo-synced time (1/128 to 3/16)
• 4 BBD taps with 13 output combinations: single, pairs, triples, or all four
• 6 tap spacing modes (A–F): even, Space Echo-style, dense chorus, geometric, sparse, and late cluster
• Selectable feedback tap (BBD1–4) for short or long repeat spacing
• Ping-pong with mode-aware stereo tap placement
• Hold — freezes the buffer into an infinite loop, blocks new input, CV gate triggerable

Drive & Filter

• Input drive with soft saturation, from silence through unity to +12 dB
• 12 dB/oct state-variable filter (LP / BP / HP), 50 Hz – 20 kHz
• Resonance control for emphasis at the cutoff frequency
• Fully transparent when set to LP with frequency at maximum

Modulation

• Single LFO with independent depth controls for filter frequency and delay time
• Triangle, random (sample-and-hold), and square waveforms
• Free rate (0.1–10 Hz) or host-synced with 16 tempo divisions (2/1 to 1/16)
• Unipolar depth, bipolar range — modulates above or below the base setting
• Repitch mode: shifts pitch up to one octave while keeping echo timing intact
• FB Repitch: Apply repitching also to feedback (on/off)

Tone

• Two-band treble/bass EQ, up to ±12 dB
• In Feedback: tone accumulates with each repeat, progressively darkening or brightening
• Post Feedback: consistent EQ across all repeats regardless of feedback amount

I/O & CV

• Stereo audio in/out (main mix with output level and width controls)
• 4 individual stereo tap outputs (pre-mix, pre-output level)
• Stereo feedback send/return for external effect processing in the feedback loop
• 7 CV inputs: filter freq, delay time, feedback, mix, treble, bass, hold (gate)
• 2 CV outputs: filter mod and time mod LFO signals for syncing other devices