diff --git a/vm/bytepatch.go b/vm/bytepatch.go
index eeddf62..3e6dea8 100644
--- a/vm/bytepatch.go
+++ b/vm/bytepatch.go
@@ -42,6 +42,11 @@ func Encode(patch sointu.Patch, featureSet FeatureSet) (*BytePatch, error) {
 	globalAddrs := map[int]uint16{}
 	globalFixups := map[int]([]int){}
 	voiceNo := 0
+	delayTable, delayIndices := constructDelayTimeTable(patch)
+	c.DelayTimes = make([]uint16, len(delayTable))
+	for i := range delayTable {
+		c.DelayTimes[i] = uint16(delayTable[i])
+	}
 	for instrIndex, instr := range patch {
 		if len(instr.Units) > 63 {
 			return nil, errors.New("An instrument can have a maximum of 63 units")
@@ -52,7 +57,7 @@ func Encode(patch sointu.Patch, featureSet FeatureSet) (*BytePatch, error) {
 		localAddrs := map[int]uint16{}
 		localFixups := map[int]([]int){}
 		localUnitNo := 0
-		for _, unit := range instr.Units {
+		for unitIndex, unit := range instr.Units {
 			if unit.Type == "" { // empty units are just ignored & skipped
 				continue
 			}
@@ -167,28 +172,7 @@ func Encode(patch sointu.Patch, featureSet FeatureSet) (*BytePatch, error) {
 					continue // skip encoding delays without any delay lines
 				}
 				countTrack := count*2 - 1 + unit.Parameters["notetracking"] // 1 means no note tracking and 1 delay, 2 means notetracking with 1 delay, 3 means no note tracking and 2 delays etc.
-				matchIndex := -1
-				for i := 0; i <= len(c.DelayTimes)-len(unit.VarArgs); i++ {
-					match := true
-					for j, v := range unit.VarArgs {
-						if uint16(v) != c.DelayTimes[i+j] {
-							match = false
-							break
-						}
-					}
-					if match {
-						matchIndex = i
-						break
-					}
-				}
-				if matchIndex > -1 {
-					values = append(values, byte(matchIndex), byte(countTrack))
-				} else {
-					values = append(values, byte(len(c.DelayTimes)), byte(countTrack))
-					for _, v := range unit.VarArgs {
-						c.DelayTimes = append(c.DelayTimes, uint16(v))
-					}
-				}
+				values = append(values, byte(delayIndices[instrIndex][unitIndex]), byte(countTrack))
 			}
 			c.Commands = append(c.Commands, byte(opcode+unit.Parameters["stereo"]))
 			c.Values = append(c.Values, values...)
diff --git a/vm/delaytable.go b/vm/delaytable.go
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..afed1d9
--- /dev/null
+++ b/vm/delaytable.go
@@ -0,0 +1,143 @@
+package vm
+
+import "github.com/vsariola/sointu"
+
+// findSuperIntArray finds a small super array containing all
+// the subarrays passed to it. Returns the super array and indices where
+// the subarrays can be found. For example:
+//   FindSuperIntArray([][]int{{4,5,6},{1,2,3},{3,4}})
+// returns {1,2,3,4,5,6},{3,0,2}
+// Implemented using a greedy search, so does not necessarily find
+// the true optimal (the problem is NP-hard and analogous to traveling
+// salesman problem).
+//
+// Used to construct a small delay time table without unnecessary repetition
+// of delay times.
+func findSuperIntArray(arrays [][]int) ([]int, []int) {
+	// If we go past MAX_MERGES, the algorithm could get slow and hang the computer
+	// So this is a safety limit: after this problem size, just merge any arrays
+	// until we get into more manageable range
+	const maxMerges = 1000
+	min := func(a int, b int) int {
+		if a < b {
+			return a
+		}
+		return b
+	}
+	overlap := func(a []int, b []int) (int, int) {
+		minShift := len(a)
+		for shift := len(a) - 1; shift >= 0; shift-- {
+			overlapping := true
+			for k := shift; k < min(len(a), len(b)+shift); k++ {
+				if a[k] != b[k-shift] {
+					overlapping = false
+					break
+				}
+			}
+			if overlapping {
+				minShift = shift
+			}
+		}
+		overlap := min(len(a)-minShift, len(b))
+		return overlap, minShift
+	}
+	sliceNumbers := make([]int, len(arrays))
+	startIndices := make([]int, len(arrays))
+	var processedArrays [][]int
+	for i := range arrays {
+		if len(arrays[i]) == 0 {
+			// Zero length arrays do not need to be processed at all
+			// They will 'start' at index 0 always as they have no length.
+			sliceNumbers[i] = -1
+		} else {
+			sliceNumbers[i] = len(processedArrays)
+			processedArrays = append(processedArrays, arrays[i])
+		}
+	}
+	if len(processedArrays) == 0 {
+		return []int{}, startIndices // no arrays with len>0 to process, just return empty array and all indices as 0
+	}
+	for len(processedArrays) > 1 { // there's at least two candidates that could be be merged
+		maxO, maxI, maxJ, maxS := -1, -1, -1, -1
+		if len(processedArrays) < maxMerges {
+			// find the pair i,j that results in the largest overlap with array i coming first, followed by potentially overlapping array j
+			for i := range processedArrays {
+				for j := range processedArrays {
+					if i == j {
+						continue
+					}
+					overlap, shift := overlap(processedArrays[i], processedArrays[j])
+					if overlap > maxO {
+						maxI, maxJ, maxO, maxS = i, j, overlap, shift
+					}
+				}
+			}
+		} else {
+			// The task is daunting, we have over MAX_MERGES overlaps to test. Just merge two first ones until the task is more manageable size
+			overlap, shift := overlap(processedArrays[0], processedArrays[1])
+			maxI, maxJ, maxO, maxS = 0, 1, overlap, shift
+		}
+		for k := range sliceNumbers {
+			if sliceNumbers[k] == maxJ {
+				// update slice pointers to point maxI instead of maxJ (maxJ will  be appended to maxI, taking overlap into account)
+				sliceNumbers[k] = maxI
+				startIndices[k] += maxS // the array j starts at index maxS in array i
+			}
+			if sliceNumbers[k] > maxJ {
+				// pointers maxJ reduced by 1 as maxJ will be deleted
+				sliceNumbers[k]--
+			}
+		}
+		// if array j was not entirely included within array j
+		if maxO < len(processedArrays[maxJ]) {
+			// append array maxJ to array maxI, without duplicating the overlapping part
+			processedArrays[maxI] = append(processedArrays[maxI], processedArrays[maxJ][maxO:]...)
+		}
+		// finally, remove element maxJ from processedArrays
+		processedArrays = append(processedArrays[:maxJ], processedArrays[maxJ+1:]...)
+	}
+	return processedArrays[0], startIndices // there should be only one slice left in the arrays after the loop
+}
+
+// constructDelayTimeTable tries to construct the delay times table abusing
+// overlapping between different delay times tables as much as possible.
+// Especially: if two delay units use exactly the same delay times, they appear
+// in the table only once.
+//
+// Returns the delay time table and two dimensional array of integers where
+// element [i][u] is the index for instrument i / unit u in the delay table if
+// the unit was a delay unit. For non-delay untis, the element is just 0.
+func constructDelayTimeTable(patch sointu.Patch) ([]int, [][]int) {
+	ind := make([][]int, len(patch))
+	var subarrays [][]int
+	// flatten the delay times into one array of arrays
+	// saving the indices where they were placed
+	for i, instr := range patch {
+		ind[i] = make([]int, len(instr.Units))
+		for j, unit := range instr.Units {
+			// only include delay times for delays. Only delays
+			// should use delay times
+			if unit.Type == "delay" {
+				ind[i][j] = len(subarrays)
+				end := unit.Parameters["count"]
+				if unit.Parameters["stereo"] > 0 {
+					end *= 2
+				}
+				subarrays = append(subarrays, unit.VarArgs)
+			}
+		}
+	}
+	delayTable, indices := findSuperIntArray(subarrays)
+	// cancel the flattening, so unitindices can be used to
+	// to find the index of each delay in the delay table
+	unitindices := make([][]int, len(patch))
+	for i, instr := range patch {
+		unitindices[i] = make([]int, len(instr.Units))
+		for j, unit := range instr.Units {
+			if unit.Type == "delay" {
+				unitindices[i][j] = indices[ind[i][j]]
+			}
+		}
+	}
+	return delayTable, unitindices
+}