The Particle can be used at a standard delay pedal.  It will act as a clean digital delay with any of these modes:

  • DELAY + LFO mode with the PARAM knob set to precisely 12:00.

    • PARAM sets time stretch/compress amount, 12:00 is 1:1 or normal time

    • This setting is hard to dial in, but being slightly off 12:00 will give subtle and interesting changes

  • DELAY + REV (reverse) mode with the PARAM knob set to 5:00

    • PARAM sets the probability of each grain playing forward or backwards, 5:00 means it will always play forward

  • DELAY + PITCH mode with the PARAM knob set to 7:00

    • PARAM sets the range of random detuning, 7:00 is none.

  • DELAY + RND mode with the PARAM knob set to 7:00
    • PARAM sets the range of delay time randomization, 7:00 is off
The CHOP knob will set the size of each grain.  The main effect here will be the character when you change the delay time, but it will also will change the frequency of the glitches that are described below.  Setting CHOP between 9:00-10:30 is a good starting point.

In any of those modes, the BLEND, DELAY, and FDBK knobs will act like a three knob delay.  However, since it is a granular delay, it won't behave the same as typical analog or digital delay when you adjust the delay time.  Also, you can adjust the tone of the repeats, but the first repeat will not be filtered.  If you want a more conventional delay that still can get weird, check out our Raster 2.

The advantage of doing normal delay sounds with the Particle is that you can easily depart from normal delay to something unique:

  • DELAY + LFO mode with the PARAM knob set to precisely 12:00

    • Turn PARAM left for time stretching, right for time compression

    •  At CHOP settings closer to 12:00, it will stutter or skip

  • DELAY + REV (reverse) mode with the PARAM knob set to 5:00

    • Decreasing the PARAM knob will cause slices to occasionally be played in reverse

  • DELAY + PITCH mode with the PARAM knob set to 7:00

    • Increasing the PARAM knob will cause the repeats to be sliced and randomly pitch shifted up and down

  • DELAY + RND mode with the PARAM knob set to 7:00
    • Increasing the PARAM knob will blur the repeats (similar to chorus) and then randomly jump around the delay buffer
If you explore the "modeless" setting described in the owner's manual, you can combine the different effects.