With a desire to achieve something very different with reverberation, we started by creating the variable rate core.

Once that came together, we realized that NightSky would need a suite of complementary tools, which led to a full-featured modulation section, a 4-pole resonant filter and tools to control the reverb’s harmonic structure. 

There are three distinct reverb textures to choose from: Sparse, Dense and Diffuse.

The Sparse texture creates reflections that are far enough apart that they are audibly distinct from one another, so legato notes remain lush and keep the sound field clear, while staccato notes trigger individual echoes in a way that is perfect for sound design and special effects. 

The Dense texture is a smooth reverb with an instantaneous feel to the response, sharing some sonic similarities with a plate reverb. 

The Diffuse texture creates a slow-building atmospheric wash that is perfect for ambient, swell and reverse-like sounds. This texture deconstructs transients and spreads them over time, creating a blooming effect. 

This controls the Size and Pitch of the reverb’s core.

Changing the size and pitch of the reverb changes the density of the reflections and the overall response, all while safeguarding the integrity of the audio being processed. 

As a result you can easily transpose and modulate the reverberated signal, which opens a whole new world of possibilities. 

Shimmer effects were pioneered in the eighties, using digital reverbs and pitch shifters in tandem. NightSky’s Shimmer voice is carefully created from the reverberated signal itself, generating intriguing characteristics and beauty.

Deep and low ambient string sections come to mind when using the octave down setting, while spacey and ethereal textures are created using octave up. There are also other relevant intervals in between the octaves for shifting the harmonic content of the reverb in different ways. 

The Shimmer processing can be applied in two different places: at the reverb input only, or from within the reverb core for ever-ascending or descending pitches as the reverb tail decays. 

Glimmer’s High setting accentuates higher-frequency harmonics, creating a washy and dreamy ambience. 

Switched to the Low setting, Glimmer enhances lower frequency harmonics, altering the perceived harmonic structure and creating mysterious synth-like textures. 

The Drive feature generates saturated and overdriven harmonics that can either react to the core’s input signal, or dynamically distort the reverb’s output in an interactive way. 

When Drive is applied at the input, distorted harmonics are generated based upon the input signal, so you can dynamically “play” the distortion going into the reverb core with the kind of audio that you’re sending to the plugin. 

Placed at the output, Drive acts like a soft-clipped limiter, reacting dynamically with the complex decay of the reverb.

This can introduce interesting distorted stereo panning effects, as reflections on either side of the stereo image can exceed or fall short of the amplitude necessary to generate noticeable distortion.

The harmonic complexity created by the Drive section is perfectly suited for additional sonic sculpting via the low pass filter. 

The NightSky plugin features a beautifully-tuned 4-pole 24dB/octave low pass filter with selectable resonance amount for gorgeous synth-like filter sweeps of the reverb output. 

This filter is highly effective at shaping the distortion characteristics from the Drive section, and when used in conjunction with the Modulation section it reveals the inspiring power of reverberant synthesis. 

The section can also be set to operate as a high cut filter to remove high frequencies from the regenerating core, which can create a reverb that gets darker as it decays. 

The TONE section also includes a separate low cut filter that you can use to remove low end both at the output and within the reverb core. 

NightSky’s Modulation section allows you to add motion to your sounds, allowing you to create evolving textures with an ethereal quality or tread confidently into the waters of experimental sound design. 

A suite of different waveforms can be used to modulate your choice of targets, including Triangle, Square, Ramp, Saw, Random and Envelope. 

Modulate the delay lines within the reverb core, or the size/pitch instead. Or, for very synth-like sounds, you can modulate the resonant low pass filter. 

There are also sidechain options for using an external signal to trigger NightSky’s modulation envelopes.

The Hold button has two modes: Infinite and Freeze. 

Infinite: sets reverb to continue infinitely, with each new note that you play adding to the reverb signal.

Freeze: sets the reverb to deliver infinite sustain and allow new notes on top of the sustain without them being added to the reverb.