Strymon unveils the BigSky pedal, featuring twelve studio-quality reverb effects produced via SHARC DSP.
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The twelve reverb effects include Room, Hall, Plate, Spring, Swell, Bloom, Cloud, Chorale, Shimmer, Magneto, Nonlinear and Reflections.
Although it is just one stompbox, BigSky is actually a multi-effect pedal that focuses on providing quality reverb effects. At the core of this unit is a powerful DSP (digital sound processor) called SHARC, this allows for high-quality emulations and in-depth tone shaping. The digital signal is then brought back to the analog domain through the pedal’s analog input and output circuitry.
Each of the twelve reverb effects have controllable parameters for tone shaping. The pedal provides 7 knobs to get this done, featuring controls for Decay, Tone, Pre-Delay, Mix, Param1, Param2 and Mod. Param1 and Param2 knobs are fully assignable to whatever parameter you prefer. The functionality of these knobs change depending on the type of reverb you are using.
Here are the different reverb effects and their descriptions:
- Room: A tweakable room reverb effect that gives you small room ambiances to larger night club acoustics
- Hall: Concert and Arena size reverbs with diffused reflections and slower-building density
- Plate: Fast building emulation of plate reverb
- Spring: Based on the spring based reverb machines of the ’60s
- Swell: Adding subtle texture variations and swelling to your reverb
- Bloom: Slowly building envelope that “blooms” into a big ambient reverb
- Cloud: A big ambient reverb that makes full use of the pedal’s powerful DSP
- Chorale: Emulates a vocal choir with tweakable vowel and intensity
- Shimmer: Adds pitch-shifted tones to the reverb signal for a unique effect
- Magneto: An emulation of a multi-head echo that behaves like a delay
- Nonlinear Provides unique reverb effects like backwards, gating and more.
- Reflections: Emulates a vocal choir with tweakable vowel and intensity
To help get you started quickly, the pedal comes with 300 built-in presets. You can use these presets as starting points to finding your own sound, or overwrite them with something that you have made from scratch. The pedal provides convenient bank up and down foot switches.
In contrast to the pedal’s analog sound, BigSky comes with modern connectivity options including stereo input/output, expression pedal control and extensive MIDI support. This allows for even more real-time control over the effect. Another nifty feature of this pedal is the Infinite Sustain/Freeze switch. Infinite Sustain lets you add notes to a reverb that loops infinitely, while Freeze lets you play on top of the infinite looping reverb without adding or changing it.
Here is the official video demo. Strymon also put up multiple videos to showcase each of the twelve reverb types.
Like other Strymon products, the BigSky pedal is build in Los Angeles, California. It is said that they apply strict quality control over the entire manufacturing process, with every part undergoing tests, to ensure consistency.
Pricing information is soon to be announced. You can visit Strymon for more information.
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