We looked at Strymon’s digital NightSky pedal back in SOS April 2021, and reviewer Simon Small rightly described it as “no ordinary reverb unit”. The pedal is all about special reverb effects, rather than conventional room and plate emulations, and it has since won lots of devotees. And now, those who prefer to stay in the box can get NightSky as a DAW plug‑in. The NightSky plug‑in supports all the mainstream formats for macOS and Windows hosts. It’s protected via iLok and you get two authorisations — you can choose a physical iLok or to register it to your computer, as you prefer.
The plug‑in is set out a little differently from the pedal version, with seven vertical rows for the various sections (Decay, Core, Tone, Mod, Shimmer, Glimmer and Drive), and separate controls for the wet and dry levels. This layout makes good sense, as it means no searching is required to access what, on the hardware, are secondary control functions — all you might need to access is in plain sight. However, the sequencer feature Simon discussed in his review has been omitted from the plug‑in — obviously, within a DAW environment, you can use automation instead.
The Decay section offers three reverb density settings, decay time and pre‑delay and, below, options for the Infinite or Freeze modes that are triggered by the Hold button. Freeze sustains the current state of the reverb tail, allowing you to play over it, while Infinite adds to the held reverb as you play. Decay can go from a short ambience to a hugely long ambient wash, where the decay time is affected both by the Decay control and the Size/Pitch knob in the next section. Size/Pitch increases the size of the reverb core, essentially by controlling the speed of the process, and if adjusted during play it also affects the pitch, which can be quantised to a choice of musical scales or set to Smooth or Half Step. Tone includes low‑ and high‑pass filters in the feedback path — switch to low‑pass, and you’re given a resonance control for creating more synth‑style filtering.
The simple‑looking Mod section is actually an important and powerful part of NightSky: it adds movement to the reverb tail. There’s a choice of six waveform shapes that can be used to target Verb, Pitch or Filter, with controls for Speed and Depth. The Envelope option responds to the input dynamics, with Depth essentially controlling the sensitivity.
The last three sections add more ‘flavour’ to the reverb, with Shimmer being selectable to process either the input to the reverb engine or its feedback path. Pitch‑shift may be selected as musical intervals within ±1 octave (in most cases, I’d suggest that octave and fifth are the safest if you wish to avoid clashes). Glimmer enhances the input signal’s harmonics, and enhancement can be based on low or high frequencies. This isn’t the same thing as the orchestral‑style enhancement of Strymon’s CloudBurst, but it does add a pleasing texture when switched to High, and some interesting low‑end reinforcement when switched to Low. Drive can be set pre or post the reverb engine, and is used to add warmth and saturation.
A hallmark of a really good reverb is that the effected sound seems to blend with the dry sound, rather than sounding like something separate. NightSky definitely passes this test.
We have so many options for reverb now, but they’re not all of equal quality, and a hallmark of a really good reverb is that the effected sound seems to blend with the dry sound, rather than sounding like something separate. NightSky definitely passes this test. I tried setting up a long reverb with Shimmer and Glimmer to enhance a sparse piano part, and although my own keyboard chops are more Eric Morecambe than Eric Satie, I have to say that the result sounded wonderful.
NightSky demands relatively little of your CPU compared with some reverbs, and its clear layout feels even more immediate than that of its hardware counterpart — there are no hidden layers, so operation is very intuitive. All relevant functions can be automated, and clicking the eye icon helpfully adds numeric values to all the rotary controls. There’s also control over input and output levels with metering. The Mod, Shimmer, Glimmer and Drive sections all have on/off power buttons, and where there are options, such as for Mod Waveforms or Quantise Scales, these menus are always visible.
When it comes to the effects on offer, I have to agree with Simon that NightSky is all about less‑usual reverb effects, and while it can do ‘conventional’, that isn’t really its strength. If you’re a fan of ambient washes, glittery shimmers and shifting textures, this plug‑in is most definitely worth considering, and to ensure that you know what you are buying, it can be downloaded as a seven‑day demo, so be prepared to be convinced! As with the hardware the effects are seriously top‑tier, but unlike the pedal you can use it on multiple tracks should you wish.