v1.0.0 · VST3 + Standalone · Windows / macOS / Linux

DRIFT

a hybrid analog/digital echo — in the spirit of the $999 Chase Bliss × EAE Big Time. Six motorised faders, four feedback states, infinite hold, and a shared-memory link to SP·L.

Big Time hardware
$999
USD · pedalboard
vs
DRIFT plugin
$0
free · open source · GPL−3.0
↓ Download v1.0.0 ★ Star on GitHub ♥ Support → How to install
Built on JUCE 8 · C++17 · ships VST3 (Win/Linux) and AU+VST3 (macOS)
Origin

The pedal that does the impossible — in a plugin.

DRIFT (file name: DF-T) is an open-source take on the Chase Bliss × Electronic Audio Experiments Big Time — a $999 boutique echo pedal beloved for its dreamy ambience, sabotaged feedback character, and the way its six motorised faders snap to recalled presets.

Why a clone?

Big Time inverted the usual delay-pedal hierarchy: instead of one knob per parameter, six full-travel faders for the things you actually move — COLOR, TIME, CLUSTER, TILT, FEEDBACK, WET — plus a SHIFT alt-menu hiding another six. The result reads more like a vintage rack delay than a pedal, and it sounds like one too.

The pedal is hard to buy and expensive when you find one. DRIFT is a faithful software replication of the control surface, feedback engine, and signal flow — reimagined for VST3 + standalone use on a modern DAW.

The character.

Under the chassis: four delay-time ranges (MOD / SHORT / LONG / LOOP), four feedback-character states (DIGITAL / COMPRESSED / SATURATED / BIAS), four fixed voicings (HIFI / FOCUS / WARM / ANALOG), three motion shapes (sine / square / envelope-stepped), four interval scales for the TIME fader (chromatic, octave+4+5, octave), and three stereo spread modes including ping-pong.

Each combination behaves like a different pedal. SATURATED+ANALOG gives you BBD tape feel. DIGITAL+HIFI is a clean PCM-style delay. BIAS+WARM at high feedback degenerates into a beautifully crumbling wash. CLUSTER scatters synced & unsynced taps for 3-zone ambience.

And one new thing — LINQ.

DRIFT ships with a Windows shared-memory link to its sibling plugin SP·L. Run them as two standalones, click the green LINQ pill in each chassis, and audio streams from SP·L directly into DRIFT with about one audio-block of latency — no virtual audio cable, no DAW required. Two plugins, one signal path.

Feature surface

Six faders. Five buttons. Four modes. One signal-flow rabbit hole.

DRIFT's feel comes from the way every control affects the loop. TILT darkens the tail across passes. CLUSTER scatters taps. STATE reshapes the limiter. MOTION modulates the read-head. All while you reach for the faders and they snap to a preset.

Six motorised faders

COLOR / TIME / CLUSTER / TILT / FEEDBACK / WET. Each fader holds a SHIFT-alt assignment: TEXTURE, RATE, DEPTH, CROSSOVER, DIFFUSE, DRY. Twelve audible parameters from six physical lanes.

Four time ranges

MOD (3–46 ms chorus-y mods) · SHORT (46–736 ms slapbacks) · LONG (0.7–12 s washes) · LOOP (multi-second phrase looper with carry-over from LONG).

Four feedback states

DIGITAL (clean, no limiter), COMPRESSED (snappy sag), SATURATED (asymmetric tanh shaper, the default Big-Time sound), BIAS (creeping DC misbias for slow degradation).

Four voicings

HIFI (open and clear) · FOCUS (band-pass-y mid lift) · WARM (PCM-style elliptical-ripple) · ANALOG (BBD-dark with low-shelf cut).

MOTION + SCALE

SINE / SQUARE / ENV (transient-stepped) modulation of the delay tap, optionally quantised by SCALE to CHROMATIC, OCTAVE+4+5, or pure OCTAVE intervals.

CLUSTER 3-zone

One fader, three reverbs. 0–25% synced multi-tap, 25–75% scattered ambience, 75–100% drifting diffusion layered on top. The "hold a chord and walk away" mode.

Schroeder DIFFUSE

Two-pole allpass diffuser smearing each repeat. DIFFUSE TYPE alt toggle doubles its strength. CHURCH and CHURCH-like presets live here.

OVERLOAD + HOLD gestures

Dedicated HOLD button (keyboard H). In MOD mode ramps COLOR + FEEDBACK to max for momentary chaos. In SHORT/LONG freezes the buffer and forces infinite feedback. In LOOP wipes the loop.

Tap tempo + MIDI Clock

TAP footswitch (or Space) sets the delay centre. MIDI Clock in and out (24 PPQ). Program Change recalls presets 0–34. CC maps to every fader and cycle button.

30 factory presets

Hand-tuned starting points covering every state / mode / motion / voicing combination. Save your own over any slot — user edits persist between sessions.

Options menu

TRAILS (echoes fade after bypass) · DRY KILL (wet-only out) · DRY CLEAN (preamp bypassed on dry) · SCALE IGNORE · STEP · MIDI CLOCK OUT.

LINQ to SP·L

Click the green LINQ pill in DRIFT and the matching pill in SP·L — audio streams directly between the two standalones via Windows shared memory. More →

The connection

LINQ — one chain, two plugins.

DRIFT and SP·L share a custom Windows shared-memory ring buffer. Enable LINQ in both standalones and audio flows from SP·L's output straight into DRIFT's input — no virtual audio cable, no DAW, ~one audio-block of latency.

SP·L
SPOOL
Sampler / looper /
field recorder.
Producer.
LINQ →→→
DF-T
DRIFT
Big-Time-style
echo + ambience.
Consumer.

DRIFT subscribes to a named shared-memory mapping. SP·L writes its output buffer into the same mapping. A heartbeat in the header lets each side detect whether its partner is alive. Under the hood it's standard Win32 file mapping plus a single-producer / single- consumer lock-free ring buffer — the trick is no other plugin suite is doing it.

01
Run both SPOOL.exe and DRIFT.exe as standalones.
02
Click the LINQ pill in each (next to the wordmark).
03
Both pills turn green — audio is flowing.
04
Now DRIFT's input is SP·L's output. Play one, echo the other.
off — LINQ disabled amber — waiting for partner green — linked, audio flowing red — sample-rate mismatch (DRIFT only)
Manual

Every control on the faceplate.

The chassis is dense by design — six faders, five cycle buttons, a SHIFT alt-menu, two footswitches, a HOLD button, and an Options menu. Here's what each does. Hotkeys in brackets work in standalone mode (and most VST3 hosts that forward keys to the editor).

Faders — main

COLOR
Preamp gain: JFET-style soft clip + low-shelf body boost. At 0 = clean; at 1 = saturated with HF rolloff and 2nd-harmonic enrichment.
TIME
Delay-time clock. Range depends on MODE. With SCALE on, snaps to musical intervals. Snaps to centre on TAP or loop DELETE.
CLUSTER
Three zones: 0–25% synced multi-tap, 25–75% scattered taps, 75–100% drifting diffusion stacked on top.
TILT EQ
Centre = neutral. Up = brighter tail (less LF, more HF). Down = mellower tail. Also controls how the fb-damp LP closes in the feedback path.
FEEDBACK
Loop gain. State-dependent: SAT caps at .92, DIGITAL allows .985, LOOP forces ≥ .92 for near-infinite hold.
WET
Wet/dry crossfade. Equal-power. At 0 the dry path is the preamp output (unless DRY CLEAN is toggled in Options).

Faders — SHIFT alts

COLOR → TEXTURE
State-character knob. DIGITAL: aliasing + bit-depth crush. COMPRESSED: squeeze amount. SATURATED: clip symmetry. BIAS: creep speed.
TIME → RATE
MOTION speed (~0.2–15 Hz exponential). For ENV motion, controls the glide time between steps.
CLUSTER → DEPTH
MOTION amplitude — how far the modulator pushes the delay tap. With SCALE on, also controls harmonic interval count.
TILT → CROSSOVER
Sets the LF/HF split frequency for TILT. ~200 Hz at 0, ~800 Hz centre, ~4 kHz at 1.
FEEDBACK → DIFFUSE
Schroeder allpass diffusion network on the wet tap. Smears each repeat into the next. DIFFUSE TYPE alt toggle doubles strength.
WET → DRY
Standalone dry-signal output level (multiplies the dry path independently of WET).

Cycle buttons

SCALE
Off · CHROMATIC (12-step) · OCT·4·5 (9-step) · OCTAVE (5-step). Quantises TIME.
MOTION
Off · SINE · SQUARE · ENV (transient-triggered step sequence). Hold 2s = reset.
MODE
MOD · SHORT · LONG · LOOP. Hold 2s = simple-delay reset. LONG→LOOP carries the buffer over as the initial loop.
VOICING
HIFI · FOCUS · WARM · ANALOG. Fixed filter chain on the wet tap.
STATE
DIGITAL · COMPRESSED · SATURATED · BIAS. Limiter / feedback shaper personality.
SHIFT
Toggles the Alt Menu — six faders + four cycle buttons swap to their alt assignments.

Footswitches + HOLD

BYPASS · B
Toggle wet engine on/off. With TRAILS enabled (Options), echoes fade naturally instead of cutting.
TAP · Space
Tap 2–4 times to lock delay centre. In LOOP mode, advances the looper: STOPPED → RECORDING → PLAYING → OVERDUBBING.
HOLD · H
Sticky toggle. MOD: OVERLOAD (ramps COLOR + FEEDBACK to max while held). SHORT/LONG: freezes buffer + infinite feedback. LOOP: one-shot DELETE (wipes loop, snaps TIME to centre).
RESET
Restores all faders + MODE/STATE to default passthrough. Does NOT clear bypass or LINQ.

Cycle-button SHIFT alts

SCALE → SPREAD
Off · SUBTLE widen (mid-side cluster) · PING-PONG (main taps swap L/R).
MOTION → 0.5X
Halves the converter rate and drops bit depth to 12 — full PCM-42 territory regardless of MODE.
MODE → DIFFUSE TYPE
Doubles the DIFFUSE strength. For maximum ambient smear.
VOICING → +12 dB
Quadruples the preamp drive scale (≈ +12 dB). For quiet inputs or extra-blown effects.

Presets

‹ / › chevrons
Cycle presets under the PRESET OLED. The 7-seg shows slot 01–35.
1 … 9, 0
Direct-load slots 1–10 (shift+0 = slot 10).
Shift+S
Save current state to the active slot. User edits persist.
Dashes (- -)
Shown in the PRESET OLED when you've tweaked away from a saved preset.

Modes (TIME range)

ModeRange
MOD 3 – 46 ms
SHORT 46 – 736 ms
LONG 0.7 – 12.2 s
LOOP 1 – 29.5 s

States

StateLimiter behaviour
DIGITAL None — clean. TEXTURE adds aliasing + bit crush.
COMPRESSED Soft compressor with sag. TEXTURE morphs squeeze → ducking.
SATURATED Static tanh waveshaper. TEXTURE adds asymmetry.
BIAS Creeping DC misbias. TEXTURE = creep speed + clip depth.

Voicings

VoicingCharacter
HIFI ~5 kHz LP. Clean & open.
FOCUS ~6k LP + ~380 Hz HP. Mid-forward, focused.
WARM ~4 kHz LP. PCM-style elliptical-ripple.
ANALOG ~2 kHz LP + 150 Hz HP. BBD-dark.

Scales

ScaleSnap-to
OFF Smooth fader, classic delay-time.
CHROMATIC 25 steps, ±12 semitones around centre.
OCT·4·5 9 steps: ±2 oct, ±5th, ±4th, unison.
OCTAVE 5 steps: −2, −1, 0, +1, +2 octaves.

Motion

MotionModulator
OFF No modulation.
SINE Continuous, slewed.
SQUARE Step-jumps, ≈ 3 ms slew to avoid clicks.
ENV Transient-triggered, 8-step sine sequence.

Spread (alt of SCALE)

SpreadStereo behaviour
OFF Stereo pass-through.
SUBTLE 30% mid-side widen on the cluster taps.
PING-PONG Main taps swap L/R; cluster stays normal.

Options menu — O

ToggleEffect
TRAILS Echoes fade naturally after bypass.
DRY KILL Wet-only output (zeros the dry path).
DRY CLEAN Dry skips the preamp (raw passthrough).
SCALE IGNORE Motion modulator ignores SCALE quantisation.
STEP TAP creates momentary movement (advances ENV step).
CLOCK OUT Emits MIDI Clock at 24 PPQ from the host BPM.

MIDI map

SourceMapping
PC 0–34 Recall preset slot 1–35.
Clock 0xF8 Lock to host tempo for tap-tempo math.
CC 14–19 Faders: COLOR / TIME / CLUSTER / TILT / FEEDBACK / WET.
CC 20–24 Cycle: SCALE / MOTION / MODE / VOICING / STATE.
CC 25–32 Alt params + TAP/BYPASS.
Factory bank

35 starting points.

Every state, mode, voicing, motion and scale represented. Cycle them with the chevron buttons under the PRESET OLED, or number keys 1–9 / 0. Save your own over any slot.

#NameShowcase
01CLEAN ECHO DIGITAL + HIFI baseline. "Is it working?" reference.
02WARM CHORUS MOD + SINE + COMPRESSED + WARM voicing.
03ROOM SLAP Short SAT slapback for tape-style doubling.
04WIDE TRAILS LONG + COMP + SUBTLE spread. Creamy ambient.
05OCTAVE STEPS SCALE OCTAVE + SQUARE motion. Pitch sequencer.
06DYNAMIC FLEX ENV motion + BIAS + ANALOG. Plays in to the pick attack.
07SMEARY WASH Heavy CLUSTER + DIFFUSE + DIGITAL. Dreamy bloom.
08ANALOG DREAM SAT + ANALOG voicing. Dark BBD-style tape.
09BROKEN TAPE BIAS at high TEXTURE + wet-only. Dissolves.
10INFINITE BLOOM Long sustaining feedback + diffuse. Pad mode.
11DUB ECHO Short PING-PONG + COMP. Classic dub bounce.
12CAVE Dark LONG wash + slow sine + BIAS.
13SHIMMER SCALE OCTAVE + SQUARE motion = octave-jump shimmer.
14PING PONG L/R alternating, no motion, DIGITAL.
15WET DREAM Dense PING-PONG with cluster + diffuse.
16NIGHT FOG Very dark, SQUARE-step motion, ANALOG voicing.
17KORG SDD MOD + SAT + FOCUS. SDD-3000-style chorus echo.
18PCM42 LONG + BIAS + ANALOG + 0.5X. Lexicon territory.
19STUTTER SQUARE + CHROMATIC scale. Glitchy semitone jumps.
20MELODIC CHROMATIC + SINE. Melodic delay-time glide.
21CRYSTAL Clean, bright HIFI with slight cluster sparkle.
22FOREVER Feedback near unity + heavy diffuse. Pad freeze.
23RAINFALL ENV + DIFFUSE TYPE + WARM. Note-triggered raindrops.
24SLAPBACK Very short SAT slap. Sun Records vibe.
25WHISPER Barely-there LONG tail, very low WET.
26HALL Diffuse + cluster + FOCUS. Convolution-hall feel.
27TAPE LOOP LOOP mode + BIAS + ANALOG. Chord-hold pad.
28CHURCH Long delay + max DIFFUSE TYPE. Cathedral.
29EAE BIAS COLOR up + +12 dB boost + BIAS + ANALOG.
30AIR Barely-there bright reverb. "Is it on?" preset.
31OVERLOAD TEST MOD primed for the HOLD-button OVERLOAD ramp.
32INFINITE HOLD SHORT primed for the HOLD-button buffer freeze.
33LONG HOLD LONG primed for the HOLD-button drone freeze.
34CARRY OVER LONG mode — cycle MODE → LOOP to hear the carry-over.
35PREAMP DRY High COLOR, low WET. A/B with DRY CLEAN in Options.
Get it

Install in 60 seconds.

VST3

For DAW use

Ableton, FL Studio, Reaper, Bitwig, Cubase, Studio One — anything VST3-compatible.

1
Grab the build

Download DRIFT.vst3 from the latest GitHub release.

2
Drop it in your VST3 folder 
C:\Program Files\Common Files\VST3\
~/Library/Audio/Plug-Ins/VST3/
~/.vst3/
3
Rescan plugins

In your DAW's plug-in preferences, rescan. DRIFT appears under itselliott. Drop on an audio track.

STANDALONE

For desktop use

No DAW needed. Runs as its own app. Pairs with SP·L via LINQ.

1
Grab the executable

Download DRIFT.exe (Windows) or DRIFT.app (macOS) from the latest release.

2
Run it

Double-click. First launch: the standalone window's Options menu lets you pick your audio device and input channel.

3
(Optional) Click LINQ

If SP·L is running, click the LINQ pill next to the DF-T wordmark — DRIFT pulls its input from SP·L's output instead of the audio device.

BUILD

From source

CMake 3.22+, C++17 toolchain (MSVC, Xcode, GCC, Clang). JUCE 8.0.4 is pulled in via FetchContent.

1
Clone 
git clone https://github.com/itselliott/drift.git
2
Configure & build 
cmake -S . -B build
cmake --build build --config Release
3
Find the artefacts 
build/DRIFT_artefacts/Release/

Contains Standalone/, VST3/, and AU/ on macOS.

DRIFT is free & open source.

If DRIFT (or its sibling SP·L) earned a spot in your toolbox, you can keep development going with a one-off or recurring contribution. Zero pressure — both plugins stay free either way.

♥ Tip on Ko−fi ★ Sponsor on GitHub