From signal-muddying modulation effects, ideastirring delays to veritable arenas of sonic colour, 2023 has been a red letter year for creative effects

The creative effects category is an expansive one, taking in distortions, delays, choruses, reverbs and more – it’s a tough one to narrow down. As our ethos this year is all about sharing the love, and not attributing one singular award to a central winner, it’s made the job slightly easier. But still, there’s quite a bit of ground to cover. One release that we can universally agree exceeded expectations was Erica Synths’ Zen Delay Virtual. Nothing was sacrificed when building the modern classic hardware Zen Delay hardware unit in the software domain. Retaining the simple, knob-based UI of its parent, the ‘ZDV’ makes crafting captivating delays incredibly easy, while further subtle tweaks of the Drive, Feedback and Resonance knobs yield expansive flavours that few software-based delays can generate. The expanded modulation and routing controls within the software version led us to proclaim that the ZDV represented “a fluid transition of a modern hardware classic into a versatile software delay. We’ll be keeping ZDV close”. And, we have.