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Blue Cat's Late Replies
Blue Cat's Late Replies
"The Creative Delay & Reverb Workstation"
Price: 129€ or $129 (tax incl.)
Blue Cat's Late Replies - Creative Delay & Reverb / Multi FX Plug-In & Host (VST, AU, AAX, VST3)

Blue Cat's Late Replies is a powerful delay, reverb and multi effects plug-in that can be indefinitely extended by hosting third party VST, VST3 or AU plug-ins anywhere in the signal path.

MacOSUniversal BinaryWindows Vista or newerWindows x64 (64-bit)VSTVST3AAX64-bit AAXAudio Unit
Also in Bundles: All Plugins Pack / Axe Pack

With its unique topology, the plug-in is a full-featured delay machine with unlimited powers: both the 8 taps pattern module and the two nested feedback loops include plug-in slots that can host built-in effects or third party plug-ins.

So it's not just about delays! The plug-in includes 29 built-in effects to further manipulate the delay lines: modulation effects, EQ and filters, dynamics processors, pitch and frequency shifters, wave shaper...

With the integrated ducker and its side chain input, ducking delays or reverbs has never been so easy.

Blue Cat's Late Replies is delivered with hundreds of presets producing many kinds of audio effects: classic delays, rhythmic or melodic patterns, reverbs, vintage echoes, shimmer effects, sci-fi sounds... Browse and edit them quickly with only a few parameters in "easy mode", or expand the user interface to "full edit" mode to create your own creative delays, reverbs and effects, with complete control over the entire signal chain.

Main Features

  • Powerful delay with built-in effects and third party plug-ins support.
  • 8 taps pattern section with integrated mixer and plug-ins slots.
  • 2 feedback loops with crossfeed and plug-ins slots.
  • 30 built-in effects: EQ, filters, pitch & frequency shifter, delays, modulation effects, compressor, gate, bit crusher, wave shaper and more.
  • Dual user interface: browse and quick-edit presets in easy mode, or create your own delays and reverb with the full editor.
  • Supports third party VST, VST3 and Audio Unit plug-ins, with latency compensation.
  • Tempo/Host Synchronization.
  • Global stereo spread control.
  • Several hundreds of fully editable presets.
  • Integrated ducking, with internal and external side chain.
  • Comprehensive visual feedback with detailed impulse response display.
  • Protect your ears with the included feedback and output brickwall limiters.
  • No latency.

Blue Cat Audio Standards:

  • Available in most plug-in formats for Mac and Windows.
  • Full MIDI control and automation support, MIDI Learn.
  • No CPU load on idle: processing shuts down when fed with silence (optimal CPU usage).
  • Customizable user interface with transparency & zoom.
  • Smooth Bypass: noiseless plug-in activation / deactivation.
  • Undo/Redo.
  • Full featured integrated presets manager.
  • Copy/paste the state of the plug-in between instances.
  • Any sample rate supported.

Typical applications: Delays with built-in effects, rhythmic patterns, melodic patterns, third party plug-ins hosting, reverbs, shimmer, drones, creative effects, pitch shifting, modulation effects, looper, tape delays...

Credits: this plug-in includes several factory presets created by Sink and Hans Van Even.

User's GuideOn The BlogPresetsTutorialsNewsletter

Blue Cat's Late Replies - Browse and quick-edit presets with only a few parameters in easy mode. Blue Cat's Late Replies - The plug-in includes 25 built-in premium audio plug-ins that can be inserted anywhere in the signal path. Blue Cat's Late Replies - Creative Delay & Reverb / Multi FX Plug-In & Host (VST, AU, AAX, VST3) Blue Cat's Late Replies - Creative Delay & Reverb / Multi FX Plug-In & Host (VST, AU, AAX, VST3) Blue Cat's Late Replies - Buit-in EQ, fully resizable, with premium audio analysis.

User Comments & Reviews

"A fantastic, creative delay plug-in that enables a wide range of flexibility and experimental scope to your tracks." - MusicTech Magazine, September 2019. 10/10 - Excellence Award [read full review]

"Reaching far beyond its central remit as a multitap feedback delay, this epic-scale effect invites your whole plugins folder to the party. [...] Blue Cat have knocked it out of the park [...] Late Replies is their best plugin yet, and is an indisputable must-have!" - Computer Music Magazine, January 2018. 10/10, Editor's Choice.

"One of the best delay plug-ins on this planet, and probably other planets as well. [...] Is there such a thing as a gourmet delay? If so, this would be the equivalent of boeuf bourguignon, with a Chateau Lafite Rothschild." - Craig Anderton - [Axiom review].

"This plugin-hosting delay effect is as cool and fun to use as you'd expect, taking your echoes to experimental new heights." - Future Music, January 2018 - [read full review].

"I really like it - it's different. [...] In 2016 Blue Cat Audio released Destructor, a very clever amp/distortion plug-in, and that changed things for me.[...] I've got the feeling that this is going to change the way I work with delays. [...] This is a plug-in that can be as simple a you want it to be, or as complicated, which is quite nice. " - Pro Tools Expert Editor's Choice, August 2017 - [full video review].

"Needless to say, this elevates Late Replies way above your workaday delays, but when it comes to the basics, the brilliantly graphical interaction with its taps and feedback loops makes it a quick, easy and powerful solution for echo generation at the most fundamental level, too. It’s an amazing plugin from any angle, well deserving of our 2018 Product of the Year award!" - Pro Tools Expert, January 2024.

"Offering a host of interesting delay effects split into 8 distinct chains with the additional ability to internally host external plugins, Late Replies is so intensely powerful that it almost becomes an instrument unto itself." - Richard Chycki - Rush, Dream Theater, Aerosmith. Alice Cooper, Skillet.

"Be aware it's probably the most powerful delay you've ever seen.[...] If there were a best-FX-of-the-year award, Late Replies would be in serious competition for that prize, it's that inspired, innovative, flexible, powerful and ground-breaking." - SoundBytes music magazine - [read full review].

"Late Replies is one of the greatest delays in the world. [...] Late Replies can be as simple or as complex as you want to make it. That is what I love about it, everything is up to the user." - Blayne Stone - [read full review].

To add your own comment about this product, please contact us.

Demo Limitations:

  • 5 instances of the plug-in allowed per session.
  • The effect is bypassed for half a second every minute.

System Requirements

MacOS

  • An Intel or Apple Silicon processor.
  • Mac OS 10.9 or newer.
  • Any VST / Audio Unit / AAX compatible application (64-bit) .

Windows

  • An SSE2-enabled processor (Pentium 4 or newer).
  • Microsoft Windows Vista, Windows 7, 8 or 10.
  • Any VST / AAX compatible host software (32 or 64 bit).

For more information about supported platforms, see our Knowledge Base.

Versions History

V1.65 (2023/06/13)

  • Plug-ins oversampling: it is now possible to oversample processing for every plug-in (up to 16x).
  • Custom Colors: Each individual plug-in instance can now be assigned a custom color.
  • Updated hundreds of factory presets and all built-in plug-ins with custom colors.
  • Late Replies can now use its own parameters in macros, mixed together with loaded plug-ins parameters.
  • Macro Parameters & params assignments can now be saved and copied/pasted.
  • Drag and drop macro parameters to change order / insert / copy.
  • The "Remove" command now removes the selected macro parameter instead of the last one in the list.
  • Added pre-delay macros to some reverb presets.
  • Graphical user interface refresh performance improvements, especially on Mac.
  • Fixed custom tone maps presets not properly saved for some built-in plug-ins (Reverb, Chorus, Flanger, Phaser, Sweep Filter, Wave Shaper, Freq Shifter, Wah, EQ).
  • Fixed plug-in slot menu issues when loading plug-ins with more than 22380 parameters on Windows.
  • Updated parameters layout for GUI-less plug-ins to accomodate plug-ins with multiple parameters.
  • GUI-less plug-ins generic editor now follows Late Replies's zoom level.
  • Fixed a crash when opening the editor of a VST2 GUI-less plug-in that uses non-unicode encoding in its parameters (piz-midi plug-ins).
  • Fixed delay ramping up when first unbypassed after being loaded from bypass state.
  • LEARN mode is now disabled automatically when the Params Map Editor is closed.
  • AAX plug-in now reports the recording status to hosted plug-ins (in recent versions of Pro Tools that support it).
  • Ableton Live 11: Fixed Late Replies's VST3 MIDI input not detected.

V1.61 (2022/12/12)

  • Added Apple Silicon support for AAX Plug-in Format.

V1.6 (2022/10/17)

  • New macro controls editor to edit plug-in parameters mapping and create your own delay/reverb effects with their own controls.
  • Assign multiple parameters from multiple effects to a single macro control, and adjust the range for each parameter.
  • Assign a name to each macro control, that is now displayed in automation lanes in most host applications (may require a session reload in some cases).
  • Parameters names for existing sessions will be automatically updated upon load.
  • Select macro knobs appearance among 18 predefined styles.
  • Updated hundreds of presets with macro parameters: you can now keep Late Replies in "EZ" mode and have access to main sub-plug-ins parameters without having to dig into the structure of the preset.
  • New learn modes to quickly assign plug-in parameters.
  • Added an option in global & preset input settings to send MIDI events when MIDI-enabled parameters are modified in the plug-in (to update control surfaces accordingly).
  • You can now tap tempo when using the "manual tempo" sync mode.
  • In most plug-in formats, internal audio I/O configuration can now be selected regardless of the configuration defined by the host.
  • Improved VST parameter value display in some host applications.
  • Fixed bypass that did not let MIDI messages go thru for some MIDI plug-ins.
  • Fixed some GUI resizing issues with some VST3 plug-ins.
  • The installer has been notarized to avoid security warnings on Mac.
Warning: presets and sessions saved with this new version will not reload properly with older versions (params maps will be lost).

V1.52 (2022/03/28)

  • Native Apple Silicon (M1) version can now load 64-bit Audio Units that are not compatible with Apple Silicon (via the MacOS bridge).
  • Presets can now be loaded via MIDI even when the user interface is closed.
  • Fixed MPC Beat plug-in not loading.
  • Fixed VST3 version not always loading properly in Ableton Live 11.
  • Fixed latency compensation changes not always picked up by host applications.
  • VST3: Fixed parameters update issues in Studio One when bouncing tracks.
  • Fixed VST & VST3 automation not recording properly in some hosts (Cubase 11, Ableton Live).

V1.51 (2021/11/18)

  • Single Installer on Mac (all plug-ins formats).
  • Improved MIDI & automation control settings with lock, reset and "save as global setting" capabilities.
  • Fixed issues with Wah and Pitch Bender effects when using cheap MIDI controllers not updating values fast enough.
  • VST3: fixed random crash in Ableton Live 11 upon load.
  • VST3: fixed parameters update issues in Studio One when bouncing tracks.
  • Fixed a crash when loading some VST3 plug-ins that define a bypass parameter beyond the last automatable parameter.
  • AAX: Fixed erratic mouse behavior in Pro Tools on Mac.

V1.5 (2021/05/25)

New Features & Improvements:
  • New dual user interface: browse and quick-edit presets with the new easy mode, or create your own delays and reverb with the full editor.
  • Up to 8 times more processing power with the new multicore engine that can process each reply on a separate core.
  • New echoes and ping pong delay presets with effects.
  • New DSP workload meter that displays the DSP activity and CPU load.
  • Added MIDI control support (MIDI CC messages) for Next and Previous Preset commands, with MIDI learn.
  • Reduced time to load Late Replies, or any built-in plug-in.
  • Multiple DSP performance improvements.
  • Level meters and spectrum analyzers are not updated anymore when the user interface is closed, reducing CPU usage.
  • Reduced the number of threads used by the plug-in.
  • Improved global and preset settings window loading time on Windows.
  • Added ability to select the plug-in to load when a shell plug-in file is dragged and dropped onto a slot.
  • Full unicode support.
  • Preset files can now be dropped onto the preset LCD area to be loaded.
  • Smoother loops Freeze when quickly switched from 0 to 100%.
Compatibility:
  • Native Apple Silicon (M1 processor) support.
  • Dropped 32-bit support on Mac.
  • Now requires MacOS 10.9 and newer.
Fixes:
  • Fixed host loop end value not properly passed to hosted plug-ins, for the VST2 version.
  • Fixed several crashes upon load for multiple third party plug-ins (mostly VST3).
  • Fixed MIDI control for hosted plug-ins not always working when fed with silence.
  • Fixed VST3 (and sometimes VST) version freezing Ableton Live upon save on Windows.
  • Fixed harmonizer and Pitch Shifter built-in plug-ins that did not always flush their buffer upon bypass (short sounds could be heard when getting out of bypass)

V1.42 (2020/10/05)

New Features & Improvements:
  • Tail spillover: activate tail spillover from the toolbar to play effects tail when bypassed (available for Late Replies itself or built-in delays and reverbs). Also applies to sub sections (Pattern & Feedback Loops).
  • Arrow keys can now be used to navigate presets, in the main view or in the presets browser.
  • The opacity of the tone map window can now be adjusted for built-in effects.
  • Smoother presets switching.
  • Improved smooth plug-in bypass (faster and smoother transition).
  • New high resolution graphics for knobs and sliders.
  • Reduced disk footprint.
Fixes:
  • Fixed: the state of some VST2 plug-ins (which do not save their state as chunks) were not be restored properly if their number of parameters had been changed (e.g. FabFilter Pro-Q's latest update).
  • Fixed: several issues with hosted plug-ins bypass (graphical glitches, untriggered bypass...).
  • Mac: fixed GUI performance issues on native P3 displays and improved performance on other displays.
  • Mac: fixed mouse wheel that required large movements to change parameter values.
  • Mac: fixed mouse cursor flickering issues.
  • Mac: fixed Esc key not closing fine edit parameter dialog.
  • Mac: fixed keyboard not responding in registration panel in some host applications (LUNA, Garage Band...).
  • Mac: fixed demo version that could hang Logic when reloading projects using the plug-in.
  • Mac Audio Unit: fixed plug-in listing in some host applications (Plogue Bidule...).

V1.41 (2020/01/06)

New Features & Improvements:
  • Navigate presets and create new tones easily with "Tone Maps" for 9 built-in effects: Chorus, Flanger, Phaser, Wah, Sweep Filter, EQ, Freq Shifter, Reverb and Waveshaper.
  • New presets for the built-in wah plug-in.
  • Built-in EQ: improved impulse response convolution performance (long reverb tails are now supported, with low CPU usage).
  • Mac: faster GUI rendering on recent Mac OS systems (up to 5x faster).
Fixes:
  • Mac: fixed user interface not properly shown on retina displays in some applications built with the 10.14 Mac OS SDK (Cubase 10.5 for example).
  • Mac: fixed settings panel rendering issues in dark mode on Mac OS Mojave and newer.
  • Fixed issue with some VST3 plug-ins that failed to initialize when loaded (Roland Cloud VST3)
  • Fixed built-in Wah plug-in that could exceed selected range in reverse mode.

V1.4 (2019/07/01)

New features:
  • New presets (and sub-presets) browser with built-in search.
  • Added more than 100 presets and sub-presets including reverbs, modulation effects, vintage delays & reverbs, special effects...
  • PRE and POST effects strips now have their own presets.
  • MIDI Program Change preference is now saved into session instead of global preferences, so each instance can now use different MIDI channels. It is also saved in the user default preset.
  • VST3: added program change support for VST3 plug-in format.
  • VST3: added MIDI output support for VST3 plug-in format.
Built-in plug-ins:
  • New Level (volume control) and Micro EQ built-in plug-ins.
  • Added a gain parameter to several built-in plug-ins to avoid volume changes when switched on/off (pitch and frequency shifters, modulation effects, delays).
  • Increased knobs precision for pitch shifter and waveshaper built-in plug-ins for smoother control.
Third party plug-ins host:
  • VST and VST3 plug-ins previously displayed as missing because of name changes are now relocated automatically (Waves major updates, 32 and 64-bit plug-ins with different names etc.)
  • Improved auto-relocation performance when a large number of plug-ins have moved.
  • VST3 Host: added MIDI output and program change support for recenlty updated VST3 plug-ins.
Other fixes and improvements:
  • Fixed an issue with hosted plug-ins editors not always restored in the right position in Cubase on Windows.
  • VST: the user interface is now properly resized in Cubase on Windows.
  • Mac: fixed issue with Magic Mouse that could trigger drag and drop instead of mouse click.
  • Spectrum analyzer display of built-in EQ will not take priority over DAW or other plug-ins user interfaces.
  • Changing the slope of lowpass and highpass filters in the built-in EQ is now smoother.
  • Miscellaneous user interface performance improvements.

V1.31 (2018/12/06)

  • Spectrum analysis is now performed in the background and does not affect audio performance (built-in EQ).
  • Improved convolution performance for the impulse response loader on multicore processors (built-in EQ).
  • Fixed modulation plug-ins that did not always properly set rate when used in host sync mode (sweep filter, flanger, tremolo).

V1.3 (2018/11/12)

  • Drag and drop support (same as in our video for PatchWork):
    • drag and drop plug-ins between slots.
    • hold the alt key on Mac and Ctrl key on windows to copy (duplicate) a plug-in instead of moving it.
    • drop the plug-in before another to insert it in the chain.
    • drag and drop plug-ins between several instances of Late Replies or accross plug-ins (compatible with the latest preview of PatchWork, MB-7 Mixer and Axiom).
    • drag and drop .dll, .vst, .vst3, or .component files directly from the Finder or Explorer onto plug-in slots.
    • drag and drop .plgnfo files (previously saved from the software) directly from the Finder or Explorer onto plug-in slots.
  • Built-in EQ plug-in can now load and manipulate impulse responses (IR).
  • Fixed: effect tail not processed anymore when just inserted on a track (avoids using CPU when not necessary).
  • Fixed: built-in multitap delay plug-in could get out of sync in some host applications.
  • Improved performance of the built-in EQ plug-in.
  • Improved performance when saving preset/session with many built-in plug-ins.

V1.21 (2018/06/07)

  • Fixed missing files for new reverb and wah built-in plug-ins introduced in v1.2.

V1.2 (2018/06/05)

  • New built-in plug-ins borrowed from Axiom: harmonizer, wah, reverb, mute.
  • 40 New presets using the new effects.
  • Fixed bitcrusher plug-in that sometimes still applied anti-aliasing when set to "none".

V1.1 (2018/04/05)

  • The GUI can now be zoomed from 70% to 200%.
  • Input and output effects strips can now be locked.
  • Last loaded preset is now remembered in session and displayed in the presets menu.
  • Plug-in state can now be reverted to the last loaded preset.
  • Default preset now also saves the state of locks (when using "save as user default").
  • Major presets loading improvements: hosted plug-ins are now reloaded only when changed, and updated otherwise. Improves performance and audio rendering when loading presets using the same plug-ins.
  • Faster GUI loading / instantaneous GUI display after it has been opened once.
  • Limiter on/off state is now independent from presets ("always locked").
  • New option to keep plug-ins windows always on top.
  • Performance and memory usage improvements.
  • Improved Pitch Shifter built-in plug-in (fixed aliasing artefacts and added new modes).
  • VST3: factory presets are not exposed to the host application anymore.
  • Fixed minor compatibility issues with Mac OS High Sierra.
  • Fixed: changing bypass in the Audio Unit version did not update host application's bypass state.
  • Fixed: bypass buttons are now in sync with the hosted plug-ins' state.
  • Mac: fixed presets directory not properly created for built-in plug-ins, breaking the save preset feature.
  • Win: fixed copy/paste that sometimes stopped working until next app restart.

V1.0 (2017/08/24)

First release.