Strymon Nightsky plugin

[laxu]

https://www.strymon.net/product/nightsky-plugin/

Not sure if this belongs to D&M or Recording, but Strymon has released a plugin version of their Nightsky pedal.

I really liked the Nightsky pedal so this is worth exploring for all kinds of ambient reverb and delay-ish tones.

 

[BROCKSTAR]

Maybe we need a plugin category here?

Nightsky was nice, but can pretty much do that sort of thing with fractal these days or polyend mess, or any alternate sequencer with pedals.

 

[metropolis_4]

Maybe we need a plugin category here?

Nightsky was nice, but can pretty much do that sort of thing with fractal these days or polyend mess, or any alternate sequencer with pedals.

But also…

Nightsky is way easier to fit on a pedalboard than a Fractal

Nightsky is $180 less than the Polyend Mess

Nightsky is one pedal compared to the complication and size of alternate sequencers with pedals

 

[BROCKSTAR]

But also…

Nightsky is way easier to fit on a pedalboard than a Fractal

Nightsky is $180 less than the Polyend Mess

Nightsky is one pedal compared to the complication and size of alternate sequencers with pedals

VP4 isn't too much bigger? Yes maybe a bit more expensive, but you can do more with it obviously.

 

[mikah912]

VP4 isn't too much bigger? Yes maybe a bit more expensive, but you can do more with it obviously.

Isn't this thread about a $200 plugin rather than a $700 hardware unit?

 

[Mongillo19]

Isn't this thread about a $200 plugin rather than a $700 hardware unit?

All roads lead to Fractal™

 

[Jynx]

Isn't this thread about a $200 plugin rather than a $700 hardware unit?

200?

99 on Sweetwater.

 

[mikah912]

200?

99 on Sweetwater.

I stand corrected, but that's even more to my point.

 

[AlbertA]

I didn’t even realize Strymon did plugins

 

[BROCKSTAR]

Isn't this thread about a $200 plugin rather than a $700 hardware unit?

Well obviously, but I was talking about nightwish hardware....

 

[MirrorProfiles]

always stoked to see things like this ported to plugins. I didn’t really like Big Sky as much as I thought I would, but this could be more interesting….

 

[laxu]

VP4 isn't too much bigger? Yes maybe a bit more expensive, but you can do more with it obviously.

Quite a lot bigger. Fractal reverbs are IMO better, but you can't experiment with them in the way you can with the Nightsky. I found it pretty good at getting into unexpected, but inspiring places.

I only sold mine because I needed more "meat and potatoes" reverbs more often.

 

[BROCKSTAR]

View attachment 58523

Quite a lot bigger. Fractal reverbs are IMO better, but you can't experiment with them in the way you can with the Nightsky. I found it pretty good at getting into unexpected, but inspiring places.

I only sold mine because I needed more "meat and potatoes" reverbs more often.

Been awhile since I had the nightsky even thought I did enjoy it but i thought it was a little bigger, oh well. As for experimenting. I think you get more out of VP4. You can add 4 different plex delays to make all sorts of cool things, or add 2 pitch blocks and 2 plex delays, or plex delays and reverb blocks and pitch block and a modulation block etc.. Add in all of the sequencer, lfo's, adsr etc. Add in series / parallel routing etc. I'd wager the VP4 would be more powerful and more experimental than nightksy hardware.

 

[metropolis_4]

VP4 isn't too much bigger? Yes maybe a bit more expensive, but you can do more with it obviously.

Your post essentially said “Nightsky is nice, but you could easily do the same thing with something bigger and more expensive”

Which begs the question: why choose bigger and more expensive instead of smaller and cheaper?

 

[laxu]

Been awhile since I had the nightsky even thought I did enjoy it but i thought it was a little bigger, oh well. As for experimenting. I think you get more out of VP4. You can add 4 different plex delays to make all sorts of cool things, or add 2 pitch blocks and 2 plex delays, or plex delays and reverb blocks and pitch block and a modulation block etc.. Add in all of the sequencer, lfo's, adsr etc. Add in series / parallel routing etc. I'd wager the VP4 would be more powerful and more experimental than nightksy hardware.

Yes the VP4 can do a million things more, but the point was that for experimentation it's not a pure "turn knobs" experience where almost everything you can do with the effect has its own knob or switch a button press away.

That's the beauty of a curated UI like the Nightsky, it's just very fast to try stuff to craft your own sounds rather than use something already made.

 

[Aleksi]

A) VP4 is absolutely frigging gigantic
B) It's not a plugin
C) You don't exactly just throw a pile of plex verbs into a preset and assign modulators to stuff to replicate a Nightsky

 

[LP59]

This might be a tough sell. It's a very different arena for Strymon to compete in. There are already many excellent ambient reverb plugins.

 

[[Nathan]]

I didn’t even realize Strymon did plugins

No one did

 

[MirrorProfiles]

Checking this out now.

Some cool sounds in there. I like it a lot more than the Blue Sky plugin, which was solid for Bloom/Cloud/Magneto and quite underwhelming for everything else. If it was sub $100 I'd have gone for it but for $200 it really needs to knock everything out the park IMO, rather than having a couple of solid sounds.

I'll probably pick Night Sky up because the price is right for what it is. It feels in that ballpark of Soundtoys Effect Rack or H3000 where you can combine various FX to come up with weird/creative sounds.

My main issues are the GUI being a bit crap, and the preset list being way, way too small for a plugin like this. It should really be the type of plugin with a proper preset manager, sub categories, organisation, favourites. It feels a little like a half assed port, where the sounds are 100% there and it looks close enough to the HW for people not to ask questions. I feel like there was mileage here for them to still stay true to the HW but just open up a few visual possibilities with things that are easy in software. It is what it is, I think pedals are their focus and money maker and the plugins are some low hanging fruit to make money in other areas (rather than being a primary focus).

While I was at it, I also demo'd DIG and El Capistan. I'm coming at this as someone who's never used the pedals of each.

I started with DIG, and honestly, it sounded killer. If I didnt have a bazillion digital delay plugins this would probably be an insta-buy. Didnt even really need to spend much time with it, it's just right. GUI is a bit crap too, but the concept is simple enough that it doesn't get in the way of things too much.

El Capistan, I didn't like so much. It feels more like an average digital delay than a proper tape and spring emulation. I could use it, but for these types of sounds there are a ton that I already own that I'd reach over it. It does sound better when you crank things up a bit but I'd still reach for other things first. Spring reverb was nothing to write home about either. GUI again feels like a stock Avid/Bomb Factory plugin from 2006. Both, again could have used better preset browsers and management. Having a mix knob that goes from 0-255 is a.......choice.

And a small but annoying thing was the default size was absolutely tiny, and to resize, you have to hunt around tiny areas to click/read. Fine after a bit of squinting, but again, it feels more like something made quickly rather than with care and attention.

 

[MirrorProfiles]

They justified the omission of the sequencer in the plugin because “you can just do it with automation”, but I think they’ve missed a massive trick here. Not least because of the dumb ass 0-255 control ranges which isn’t a particularly intuitive way to program pitch information.

They could have done some really cool things with a proper sequencer+macro programming. IMO that needs to be added down the line.