The king of reverb - now as a plugin!

I was so shocked when I saw the release of this one. Strymon very recently released its flagship reverb - the BigSky - as a plugin and it’s incredible!

The BigSky pedal is probably the most famous and sought-after reverb pedal of all time, and now you can have all that power in a plugin. BigSky is a multi-algorithm reverb with 12 different reverb types. From the typical Room, Hall, and Plate to some very unique ones such as Cloud, Chorale, and Magneto the plugin version has the exact same algorithms that you would find in the pedal.

Since Reverb is an effect that 99% of the time is digital, as most of us don’t have a reverb chamber in our basements and there are only a few hardware spring reverbs with actual springs, re-creating it as a plugin is fairly straightforward because the pedal already is a digital effect. So, as we expected the BigSky plugin sounds exactly like the pedal!

If you haven’t used a BigSky before, you’ll be amazed by the endless possibilities that it offers. There are so many options to choose from but not overwhelming. The first thing to do is to choose a mode that will drastically change the effect. The modes are the following:

ROOM: A versatile room algorithm that creates environments ranging from well-tuned studio ambience to larger nightclub acoustics. The Tone knob, Diffusion, and Low-End parameters adjust the damping and scattering effects of room materials, furniture, and people.
HALL: Diffused reflections and slower-building density are the hallmarks of this beautiful and versatile reverb. The Concert size is well-balanced, spacious, and warm, while the Arena size is huge, enveloping, and booming.
PLATE: The Plate machine is a rich, fast-building reverb that creates depth without early reflection cues to a specific environment. The Tone knob and Low-End parameter are simple but powerful frequency-shaping tools.
SPRING: The standalone spring tank became a staple of surf and spaghetti-western music that developed in the ’60s. The Spring machine allows for complete customization from warm and mellow to splashy and dripping with its Tone and Mix Controls, Dwell parameter, and a selectable number of springs.
SWELL: The Swell machine brings in the reverb gradually behind the dry signal for subtle evolving textures, like having a volume pedal on the wet signal. Alternatively, you can choose to have the dry signal swelled into the reverb, for maximum ambience and atmosphere.
BLOOM: In the ‘90s, more diffusion blocks were added to reverbs to ‘smooth out’ the sound. A side effect of this was the tendency of the reverbs to have a slowly building envelope that ‘bloomed’, resulting in big ambient reverbs that sit nicely with the dry signal even at high Mix levels. The Bloom reverb features a ‘bloom generating’ section that feeds into a traditional reverb ‘tank’ and adds a unique Feedback parameter that expands the possibilities exponentially.
CLOUD: A gorgeously big, ambient reverb that draws from techniques developed in the late ’70s. Using processing power not dreamed of in those days, the Cloud reverb machine obscures the distinction between reality and fantasy.
CHORALE: A vocal choir accompanies your music. Choose vowel ranges and intensities to customize your choir as it sings in venues that vary with the Decay knob. As the Modulation is increased, the choir becomes alive with a multitude of voices.
SHIMMER: Two tunable voices add pitch-shifted tones to the reverberated signal, for a resplendent, unearthly ambience. The voices are carefully created from the reverberated signal itself to generate maximum radiance and beauty. The Amount and Mode parameters allow for a range of shimmer effects from laid-back and subtle to full-blown majestic splendor.
MAGNETO: A new style of music emerged in the late ’50s, featuring the guitar as the ‘lead voice’ enhanced by the reverberated wash of a multi-head echo. The Magneto machine sets up a multi-head echo with all heads on, while the PreDelay knob adds feedback. The Diffusion parameter adds a new dimension of ambience, smearing the response of the heads and blurring the line between delay and reverb
NON-LINEAR: A variety of physics-defying reverb shapes are available for special effects and unique textures. Choose from three ‘backwards’ shapes (Swoosh, Reverse, and Ramp), or a Gate and more. Feedback control, Late Reverb, and Diffusion parameters allow for a vast array of time-warped possibilities.
REFLECTIONS: The Reflections machine is a psycho-acoustically accurate small-space reverb that allows you to move your amp anywhere in the room. The Reflections algorithm precisely calculates 250 reflections based on the source position within the chosen room shape. The psycho-acoustic modifiers adjust for human auditory perception to create unparalleled ambient-space realism to dry instrument or vocal tracks.

The best thing about the BigSky reverb plugin is that it can become your one and only reverb plugin. It is one of the most versatile reverbs out there and can be used on any sound and genre. There are all the standard reverb modes you know and use, sounding pristine and beautiful but if you want to experiment, the BigSky has a few weird and experimental modes that I absolutely love.

The Cloud reverb is a massive ambient reverb, the Swell mode is also amazing to create swell sounds and evolving pads, the Chorale mode is weird and, if used right, can sound like nothing else, and the Magneto reverb is warm and sounds like you actually run your signal through a vintage tape delay.

When it comes to hardware gear, I always prefer gear that does one thing and does it excellently. I prefer having a pedal that has no modes, just knobs and I will use it for that specific sound that it has. Hardware effects that do too many things are not my thing, because I constantly have to change modes and parameters when switching instruments and sounds. So, in the case of the BigSky, I’m so excited that it now comes as a plugin. It is that type of effect that I would prefer on any given day as a plugin, and now we have it!

Conclusion

The BigSky plugin sounds amazing and its release was an actual dream come true! While it is not cheap, I think it’s worth the investment for a number of reasons.

You are getting the exact same sounds for less than half of the pedal’s price
You will never have to buy another reverb plugin in your life. The BigSky has the best quality for any reverb type you want so you won’t need any new reverb plugin that comes out every couple of months.
Being a plugin means that you can run as many instances as your system can handle while also automating parameters in your DAW that you wouldn’t be able to do with a pedal.
It sounds rich and lush like no other reverb out there so you’re actually getting what you paid for

It’s so great that a boutique pedal is now accessible to more producers and musicians and that is something that I would love to see more companies do. I certainly didn’t expect that Strymon would release a plugin but here we are! Now we’ll just have to wait for a TimeLine plugin to get released and complete our reverb & delay combo!

BigSky plugin comes at 199$ and you can test it out for a 7-day trial

Buy the BigSky Plugin from Strymon's Website