Tapped Delay Line (TDL)

A tapped delay line (TDL) is a delay line with at least one ``tap''. A delay-line tap extracts a signal output from somewhere within the delay line, optionally scales it, and usually sums with other taps for form an output signal. A tap may be interpolating or non-interpolating. A non-interpolating tap extracts the signal at some fixed integer delay relative to the input. Thus, a tap implements a shorter delay line within a larger one, as shown in Fig. 1.12.

Figure 1.12: A delay line with one tap.

Tapped delay lines efficiently simulate multiple echoes from the same source signal. As a result, they are extensively used in the field of artificial reverberation.