I’ve tried a lot of free delay plugins over the years, and most of them fall into one of two categories: either they’re solid but predictable, or they’re experimental but clunky. Spirals by Daniel Gergely is neither. It’s something else entirely – a pitch-shifter delay that feels like it was built for dreamers, ambient heads and anyone who loves sculpting evolving soundscapes.
Let’s get one thing straight: Spirals may be labeled as a delay plugin, but it behaves more like a reverb, a shimmer unit and a pitch modulation playground all rolled into one. From the moment I loaded it up, I could tell it wasn’t designed for tight slapbacks or rhythmic echoes. This thing wants to stretch time, bend pitch and turn simple sounds into swirling atmospheres.
Using Spirals for Ambient Pads, Shimmer Effects and Tonal Modulation
I started testing it with a basic pipe organ patch – nothing fancy, just a dry tone to see what Spirals would do. What came out was lush, soulful and surprisingly musical. The shimmer tones added depth and emotion, and the pitch-shifted echoes layered themselves in a way that felt organic, not mechanical. It was like the sound had grown wings.
Then I tried it on tonal percussion – mallets, bells, chimes – and that’s when Spirals really showed off. It wrapped those sounds in a halo of modulated reflections, turning each hit into a miniature universe. If you’re into ambient, new age or cinematic textures, this plugin feels like it was made for you.
Now, it’s worth noting that Spirals isn’t a “thorough” pitch shifter in the traditional sense. You’re not dialing in perfect fifths or harmonic intervals. Instead, it focuses on transpositional modulation using full octave shifts. That might sound limiting, but it’s actually liberating – especially when you’re working with sounds that lack tonal richness. Spirals gives them a foundation, a sense of space and movement.
Blast from the Past
Spirals reminds me a lot of the old REFLEX delay unit from stw-audio, which I covered in my (now updated) free reverb VST roundup. REFLEX had that same lush, effortless vibe, but Spirals takes it further with its tonal modulation and shimmer capabilities. It’s like REFLEX’s more adventurous cousin.
Features, Presets and Sound Design Options
Now, let’s talk features. Spirals has a Shimmer function that freezes tones into ambient pads – perfect for creating drones or evolving textures. The Repeats module builds feedback loops that feel more like reflections than delays, and the Diffusion parameter turns dry signals into wet, reverberant tones. These three alone make it feel more like a reverb unit than a delay.
But there’s more. The dual Speed parameters let you control pitch transposition with precision. Each Speed module has a “Snap Pitch to Octaves” toggle, which locks the pitch to fixed octave intervals. The default value is 1 (your original tone), and you can shift it down to 0 or up to 2 – each quarter increment representing an octave. Want to pitch something four octaves down? Set it to 0. Want reversed playback modulation? Just twist the knob into negative territory. It’s intuitive, and it opens up some wild creative doors.
You also get control over delay timing and stereo imaging. The Time parameter acts as both delay and pre-delay, while Time Offset adjusts the stereo balance. The Spread control lets you choose between independent left/right delays or a ping-pong style stereo bounce. It’s simple, but effective.
Other parameters include dry/wet mix, LFO modulation for tremolo and vibrato effects and a pair of filters (low-pass and resonance) that you control via an XY pad. That pad is a joy to use – especially if you automate it. You can create dynamic sweeps, expressive tonal shifts and animated textures that evolve over time.
There are a handful of factory presets included. Not a massive library, but enough to get a feel for what Spirals can do. If you’re the type who likes to tweak, you’ll be diving into the parameters pretty quickly anyway.
Forget the Grid: Spirals Thrives in Freeform Soundscapes
Now, the free version does come with one noteworthy limitation: no host tempo sync. Honestly? I didn’t miss it. Spirals isn’t about tight BPM-locked delays – it’s about atmosphere, movement and mood. The features you do get more than make up for what’s missing.
In short, Spirals is a gem. It truly is. It’s free, it’s inspiring and it’s built with a clear vision: to help you create evolving, pitch-shifted soundscapes that feel alive. If you’re working in ambient, cinematic or experimental genres, this plugin deserves a spot in your toolkit.
You can grab it right now from Daniel Gergely’s site – no signup, no fuss. Just download it, load it up in your DAW and start bending time.
Spirals is available as a VST3 and AU plugin for both Windows and macOS, including support for Apple Silicon. Installation is straightforward, and it runs smoothly in most major DAWs like Ableton Live, FL Studio, Logic Pro, Reaper and Bitwig.
