Strymon BigSky Reverb Offers Immersive Sound

The Strymon BigSky Reverb is a new hardware effects pedal designed to create immersive ‘lush, glorious, radiant reverbs’.

Here’s what they have to say about the BigSky Reverb:

Using the fundamentals of acoustical science as our beacon, we carefully studied and scientifically analyzed reverb technology from the past fifty years. We faithfully captured the essence of these classic sounds, and forged ahead to dream up our vision of reverbs from the future.

Feel the mechanical tension of the Spring reverbs. Hear the floating particles of the Cloud machine. Defy the laws of physics with the Nonlinear reverbs. Unleash the multi-head reverberations of the Magneto machine. BigSky gives you twelve studio-class reverb machines, each with simple yet powerful controls.

We knew we must take reverb to a whole new level. With careful attention to detail, innovative analog circuitry design, an insanely powerful SHARC processor, and the utilization of top-shelf components, we’ve developed a reverb pedal that fits on your pedal board yet has better audio quality than many rack reverb units. This fusion of science with art has just one goal. To provide you with the most musically inspirational reverb experiences possible.


Features:

  • Sound Design:
    • Hand crafted, studio-class reverb algorithms deliver lush, gorgeous, and musically inspiring reverb experiences
    • Twelve reverb machines to choose from: Room, Hall, Plate, Spring, Swell, Bloom, Cloud, Chorale, Shimmer, Magneto, Nonlinear, Reflections
    • Seven front-panel tone shaping knobs: Decay, Pre-Delay, Mix, Tone, Mod, Param 1, Param 2 (Param knobs assignable per preset)
    • Additional menu parameters allow for easy customization of reverb sounds
    • 300 easily accessible and namable presets
    • Press-and-hold Infinite Sustain and Freeze functions, saveable per preset
    • Spillover and Reverb Persist modes, saveable per preset
    • Selectable Speaker Cabinet emulation for direct-to-PA gigs or recording applications
  • Hardware:
    • Three rugged metal footswitches for preset selection and effect bypass
    • LED display for preset info, reverb decay time, and extended parameter control
    • Multi-color preset LEDs (green for active preset, amber for edited preset)
    • Full MIDI implementation allows extended control for those with more complex rigs
    • Sturdy and lightweight light blue anodized aluminum chassis, with laser-etched artwork
    • Durable black anodized aluminum knobs
    • Studio-grade audio input and output jacks
  • Connections:
    • Stereo input and output
    • Expression pedal input with selectable control over any knob or combination of knobs, saveable per preset (also configurable as external tap input)
    • MIDI input and output
    • Included 9V center-negative power supply (300mA minimum required)
  • Audio Quality:
    • Analog dry path for a zero latency dry signal that is never converted to digital
    • Premium analog front end and output section
    • Ultra low noise, high performance 24-bit 96kHz A/D and D/A converters
    • 115dB typical signal to noise at 50% wet mix (120db at 100% dry mix, 109dB at 100% wet mix)
    • 20Hz to 20kHz frequency response
    • +8dBu maximum input level easily handles instrument and line signals
  • Processor:
    • Super high performance DSP in a compact form factor
    • 32-bit floating point processing
    • 333MHz SIMD SHARC processor core, capable of 2.4 Gigaflops peak performance
  • Misc:
    • True Bypass (electromechanical relay switching)
    • High quality, tranparent Analog Buffered Bypass mode
    • +/- 3dB Boost/Cut, saveable per preset
    • Optional Kill Dry mode mutes dry signal, for use in parallel effects loops
    • Dimensions: 6.75″ (171mm) wide, 5.1″ (130mm) deep
    • Designed and Built in the USA

The Strymon BigSky Reverb is available for $479.

If you’ve used the BigSky Reverb, leave a comment and share your thoughts on it!

16 thoughts on “Strymon BigSky Reverb Offers Immersive Sound

  1. This reverb sounds outstanding, better than anything else including the Eventide stuff. Their El Capistan tape delay pedal is better than the real thing, with control over every imaginable aspect of the delay – including tape age!

    I’d like to see them issue desktop units (no stomp switches, 1:1 control to feature) – might make more sense for knobtweakers. A combo tape delay/reverb unit would be a flagship studio effect!

    1. ya i wish they would make products (or versions of their products) that weren’t stomp boxes too.

      I own the El Capistan..and it’s fantastic..but i hate the foot switch…i always just leave it on anyway ;oP

      j

      0=0

  2. The reverbs on this thing are stunning .I have tried lexicons, I have had many reverbs, I have a TC .
    My favourite reverb is my midiverb two, but this STRYMON thing really does sound stunning.
    Can’t wait to get my hands on this. I hope it;s in the uk soon.

  3. Looks/sounds like a solid product, thoughtful design, great specs and made in the U.S.A.

    The features & controls look logical. And it seems like it has some unique tones in there.

    I heard a few reverbs that seemed “old school” (and maybe not in a good way), but later in the demo it was clear that it has enough different types of reverb to be usable in many contexts.

    Based on what I’ve heard here, it doesn’t seem better than my higher end lexicon reverb, however, it does have different tricks up it’s sleeve. And the interface on the lexicon is much more complicated.

  4. I very much like the sound of this. In any case, big ups to them for doing demos with synthesizers, I wish more stompbox manufacturers would do the same. (I’m looking at you, EHX)

    1. I get why you like that you are hearing the reverb in potentially “real world” applications. However, those kinds of sounds don’t really put a reverb to the test the way percussive sounds do. In other words, you can play long sustaining sounds through most reverbs and get a decent sound. The inherent graininess or ringing is often revealed by more transient attacks (claps, hats, claves, and snares).

  5. This Reverb seems to sound very Good ……. What is the diferences with the space Eventide which is very good too?????……..
    I laugh when I read that Midiverb II sounds good for someone………….. Midiverb II is a very very bad reverb unit with High Noise ratio and a bad reverb……..I think the man never listen to a lexicon 480 or an M6000

    1. By the way Axl…..do you own a Lexicon 480 and a TC M6000?
      I am quite sure you don’t.
      How the hell can you comparish a Midiverb II with those two reverbs.
      I think you are a kind of guy who reads everything in a magazine bot owns nothing himself

  6. this thing sounds amazing, I listened to a demo the other day and was blown away. Its out of my price range for an effect right now, but it sounds like it is worth every penny.

  7. The Sunrise patch on the DX21 is to die for! Just amazing. I love it how the keyboards were progressively getting less and less professional in the demo, until they messed it up with Ableton at the end. I think they could have at least thrown in a First Act keyboard into the mix:)

  8. This thing is incredible!!!
    is there any vsts/plugins that would approach this level of sound?

    How could I utilise this pedal when my studio is made up of vsts? I assume feed the outputs of my audio interface into this unit and the outputs of this unit back into the inputs of my audio interface?

    Thanks!
    Carl

  9. I never comment on gear sites until now. This unit is absolutely stunning. I swear I could hear angel voices on some setting it is so sweet.

  10. Had this before and thought I could get by with something else. Wrong! This has the best algorithms and tones of anything on the market, still. This one will never leave. Ever. It’s that good.

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