Strymon’s Cloudburst pedal (reviewed in SOS April 23) won a lot of friends amongst fans of ambient, shoegaze and cinematic‑style composing. Now it’s available as a plug‑in, which should make life a lot easier for many of them! It’s authorised via iLok, and it supports VST3, AU, and AAX hosts on Mac and Windows platforms. It has a low CPU usage and very low latency, making it practical for live as well as studio use.
Both the Cloudburst pedal and its new plug‑in sibling are based on an algorithmic reverb effect that doesn’t set out to emulate a real space, but rather to create harmonically rich, bloomy reverb textures. As with most algorithmic reverbs, the core algorithm utilises a series of interconnected delay lines with complex feedback paths, filtering and some time‑based modulation to avoid the metallic ringing artefacts that beset some simpler digital reverbs. The signal path handles any permutation of stereo or mono in and out, with the left and right signals mixed to mono before hitting the reverb engine. The reverb algorithm then creates the wide, spacious effect users of the pedal will find familiar.
Ensemble Mode: The Secret Sauce
While that approach to reverb generation is not unique, the Ensemble mode makes Cloudburst very different from the norm. Strymon explain that it works by splitting the incoming audio into multiple frequency bands, and then resynthesizing a new harmonically rich signal — which has an almost orchestral texture — from the divided input. It’s this signal that’s fed into the reverb engine. Strymon are keen to point out that it’s much more than the usual ‘octave up’ shimmer effect, and say it’s more akin to polyphonic additive synthesis, which tracks the dry input signal’s pitch and reacts dynamically to the input. The outcome is that the harmonically related layers evolve with the input audio in a very natural way.
An adjustable pre‑delay feeds into the reverb engine, which on the pedal version offers three Ensemble settings: off, and two preset depths. On the plug‑in, the Ensemble effect is fully adjustable courtesy of the large Amount knob, placed between the two harmonic displays, and the level of reverb is set using the Mix control. The Decay time control can go from short reverbs to huge sustaining clouds of washy loveliness, and there’s a Tone control that affects only the reverb sound. Modulation is a key element of the Cloudburst’s sound too: the modulations within the reverb algorithm are controlled by low‑frequency oscillators that are subtly randomised in phase and rate, independently for each channel. The Mod knob allows users to control this modulation, which becomes clearly audible as an effect at higher settings, adding both pitch drift and, when used in stereo, spatial movement within the reverb tail. The Mod control functions as a modulation depth control up to the mid point, then from there onwards it increases the modulation speed. Small input and output gain controls, with metering, are located at the top left of the GUI.
There’s even a Hold button with two modes, for infinite decay time or freeze. Infinite allows the reverbs to sustain indefinitely while each new note played adds to the reverb signal. Freeze provides infinite sustain, but allows new (unprocessed) notes to be played on top of the sustained signal without adding to it. While the plug‑in retains the straightforward operational paradigm of the pedal, it also benefits from useful enhancements, including MIDI parameter control, DAW tempo sync for the pre‑delay, host‑based preset management and host parameter automation. A Dry Kill button makes it easy to set up as an aux send effect.
Dialling down the adjustable Ensemble effect allows the plug‑in to be used as a straightforward reverb when necessary, but its real strength is in creating harmonic washes of sound. As with the pedal, the wonderfully lush harmonic reverb tail is unique amongst reverb effects and it feels very liberating to be able to use it within the plug‑in environment. I’ve spent many a happy hour trying to recreate the sound using combinations of other plug‑ins but nothing really comes close in creating that ‘Do I hear a string synth in the background?’ reverb character. Cloudburst also has that uncanny ability to really lay on large amounts of reverb without obscuring the original sound.
Cloudburst delivers a genuinely unique alternative to shimmer reverb that exudes class.
I already own and use a Cloudburst pedal for live use, but I write a lot of ambient music these days, and I can see the plug‑in getting a lot of use in my forthcoming ‘music to soak lentils by’ projects. The plug‑in costs just over a third of the pedal’s asking price, but it sports some genuine enhancements, such as fully variable Ensemble and the two Hold modes, and in the studio it’s often just more convenient to use the plug‑in. So it is definitely going into my favourites folder. This won’t appeal only to ambient composers, though — Cloudburst delivers a genuinely unique alternative to shimmer reverb that exudes class and could fit into any genre where a bit of textural magic is needed.