Stereo Reverb Pedal Shootout for Synths (Strymon Big Sky, Empress Reverb, Death By Audio ROOMS)
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- Äas pĆidĂĄn 16. 07. 2024
- Join me as I take my first foray into the world of hardware reverb pedals for synthesizers and do a shootout of 3 of the best reverbs on the market: the Strymon Big Sky, the Empress Reverb, and the Death By Audio ROOMS. Which one will be the winner?
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Miles Away - beacons.ai/milesaway
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Detailed videos on each pedal I trust:
ROOMS - âą Death By Audio ROOMS S...
Empress Reverb - âą Empress Reverb - Best ...
Big Sky - âą Why I bought a STRYMON...
Intro - 0:00
Pedal Montage - 2:08
Overview of each pedal - 2:54
Tests: Synths/Drums - 4:52
Tests: Ambient - 19:52
Tests: Full Track Send - 27:21
Winner? - 31:42
#milesaway #reverbpedals #musichardware - Hudba
Had a great time jumping into all these reverb pedals, hope you enjoy! â€
I already own the 'BigSky' and purchased 'Empress Reverb' and 'Death by Audio - Rooms' based on your video (well a good friend owns ROOMS and I love it, so it was not only this video).
For the EMPRESS REVERB - it was this video which sent me to the physical shop. Just a few hours with it (Vs. BigSky and numerous VSTs) and my mind is blown away. It really sounds on a different league. It takes a simple synthetic arpeggio and turns it into music, at the press of a button.
Seriously, I've never been impressed with a pedal this much.
I guess it fits my sound and my gear - but, it really "hammers the nail on it's head" from my point of view.
Thanks for your channel. It makes a difference !
Thanks so much for the great comment and congrats! They really are all 3 incredible reverbs, but I'm with you, Empress is like studio rack gear quality - it's crazy. I use it on all my vocals too, it's so natural. Look out for my next synth video, I use the Empress Reverb a lot in it!
Awesome Video, thank u so much, blown away by the character added by the impress and room
Thank you! I agree the ROOMS is just the most amazing for character, and the Empress is fantastic!
love the strymon - thanks for this video Devin!
Good choice Nate!
Useful, impressive, great sound. Thank you!
Glad it was helpful! I'm doing an updated version of this video for 2024 with my new favourite reverb pedals, and doing an analog delay one, so stay tuned over the next couple months!
Amazing comparison. A million thanks
My pleasure! Make sure you also check out my video on Walrus Sloer and my upcoming Meris MercuryX video. Those should definitely be on your radar too!
Great video, these are 3 pedals I am trying to choose between, thanks for putting it together.
No worries thanks for watching! Which one are you thinking of?
@@MilesAwayOfficial Still can't decide. How has your experience been with Empress and Rooms now you've had them for a while? Seriously tempted by Rooms!
@@mmckmusic I love them both but if you only have 1 pedal and you want to use it on synths at all, definitely the Empress.
The ROOMS sounds so good, but like I mention:
- It cuts the high end even on 0% wet, which makes it have a really warm character and vibe, but it's not good always for example if you want a really punchy bright sound.
- It is more limited than the Empress. For example, Rooms can't do spring reverb or shimmer reverb, if you want to use either of those 2 common features.
If neither of these matter to you, then get the ROOMS it is amazing!!! Modes 1 and 3 are my favourite sounding reverb algorithms I've ever used and make up for the lack of versatility.
Great video. Really get a flavor of these different pedals with synths. I am deciding between the Rooms/Big Sky so this was helpful! Was surprised you went with the Empress in the end because for the first two tests it seemed you had it clearly behind the Rooms & the Big Sky.
Thanks for watching! I'm doing a Delay Pedal version of this vid in February so stick around :D and good observation. My reasoning is
1. I pretty much only use the Cloud algo on the Big Sky, the other ones are inferior to the Empress shot for shot. But I kept it just for the cloud with how great it sounds on literally any synth haha.
2. Rooms is a total vibe and has my favourite "sound" overall, but its not that versatile cause it cuts the top end of your dry frequency no matter what like I mention, and it clips really easily, meaning it's hard to gain stage loud synth patches or drums into it.
3. Empress is a bit tough to mix in because the reverbs are so full but they are the most realistic, and the sheer variety is insane. Each of the colours on Ghost, Mod, Reverse, Room, Hall and Ambience are all fantastic and get used over and over. Side note that the Empress has the best sounding VCA for boosting signal of the 3 and a sick built in looper. Hope that helps!
@@MilesAwayOfficial Thanks. Look forward to the delay pedal video. It really is kind of hard nitpicking these different pedals--all have some terrific qualities to them. The more you watch online, the harder it is to make a decision on which one to get!
Great review mate, thanks. Iâm a bit clearer now on which way to go.đđ»
Thanks so much, glad I could help!
Love this Dev!
Thanks guys!
Phenomenal review
Thanks so much! :) stay tuned for my delay pedal shootout coming this month!
I had the empress and absolutely loved it. But after delving into modular and needing the cash I sold it. Blackhole gets me the results I want most of the time, but the empress is instantly recognizable. Such a gem of a pedal
Yea itâs so good! I really wanted to try the eventide as well as Iâve heard itâs great. Thanks for watching!
@@MilesAwayOfficial Yeah tbh, try the plugin. It honestly sounds the best out of all the Blackhole variants and costs a fraction of the hardware units. Def a nice thing to have in your sonic arsenal! :)
And you're welcome! Fantastic vid as ususal
@@lefunghi6151 good recommendation! Iâll take a look! And thank you !
YOU ARE AWESOME!! :)
Sadly, zero budget to ever effort these, but love the content :D
Lol ya it aint cheap that's fair, thanks for supporting bro â€ïž
very nice melodic music! â€
Thanks!
At around 25 minutes, I literally had trouble catching my breath, completely fell into a cloudbank of memories so beautiful, yet gone and so far away. And then you said, "it makes me think about life and death". Wow. This is a phenomenal review; I really appreciate it. Your analyses are spot on. So much to each one of these products - they all have strengths in different areas. Thanks a lot for this post. (keyboard player from WV here) For my interests, Rooms may have the edge. They're all amazing, though. Have you ever checked out Eventide Space?
Thanks so much for the nice comment Brent! I totally agree ROOMS is special :) never tried anything Eventide! Maybe Iâll see about trying one. Check out my brand new Delay Pedal Shoutout if you liked this!
@@MilesAwayOfficial Awesome! I will!
The bit of high cut that comes from the DBA might be a blessing in disguise if youâre trying to mix in prestine vocals!
Great point! Yea it rarely bugs me but I thought it was important to mention! Check out my Best Delay Pedals shootout video if you liked this one!
thank you!!!!
Glad it helped!
@@MilesAwayOfficial Im looking at my new Eventide SPACE pedal right now. Im beside myself on how incredible it sounds. How do these compare to it?
It doesnât pull at my heart strings and make me think about death comment made me laugh and then I wasâŠyea thatâs actually right. Thanks for the review sir. Keep it up.
Thanks so much :) glad you got what I meant there, ha
This sounds amazing! Do you mind telling what synths you used to create this track?
thanks! the intro track is made using the Sequential OB6 and Novation Summit, I have videos on both those synths on my channel :)
The Strymon nightsky is really geared towards synths!
Iâm doing a 2024 update of this video and the Night Sky is in it! Incredible pedal
Just got the rooms and this made me more excited on it. What are those patch cables?
Congrats! Great purchase! I've got my rooms set up on my desk right now actually! Patch cables are just from Amazon.ca. Can't remember the name.
how about specular tempus by GFI system, inthink that is extraordinary reverb, Sorry if i out off topic
I put that as an honourable mention! Looks like an amazing reverb, do you have it?
Interesting, thanks. I'm also on this question, these pedals (and Oceans 12, etc), but for Electro-Shoegaze. It's complicated!
All three are great but for shoegaze I'd personally get ROOMS! :) you can't go wrong
@@MilesAwayOfficial Thanks. đ
Big Sky is beautiful and clean and transparent, but Rooms has the most character.
Fully agree here, Rooms rocks so hard! Stay tuned for my DELAY comparison Coming in March!
Great demo!
Appreciate it Andy!
Wooo đđ
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Swapped my big sky for a basic GFI specular reverb, which is awesome in so many ways, most of its algos sound excellent (and doesn't have a screen). Over the years I've accumulated a few pedals; Meris Mercury, Neunaber Immerse II, both sound great, a mad Pladask Draume which is very characterful, but mono, and a Valhalla reverb in a eurorack which again is gorgeous. They are all excellent, but overall, if I could only have one I'd probably choose the GFI, though maybe the bigger brothers.....
I've heard so many things about the GFI! Sadly its discontinued and there are not any local listings here in BC but if they make a mark II I will buy or review one!
The ST is back, at least in Europe :)
Thanks for the brilliant video! Watching this demo a few times caused me to buy the ROOMS. Exactly what I was looking for; more organic and unique than the Strymon, smaller footprint, cost ,and learning curve than the Empress, and no screen! If this pedal had the preset system of my Cusack Resound it would be perfect, it's a very intuitive and inspirational pedal.
Thanks for the comment! I agree, ROOMS is just unbeatable for character. You won't regret your purchase!
Epic Epic Epic đ đ
Thank you! Glad you enjoyed :)
I love ya song Walls
Thanks so much!
@@MilesAwayOfficial yw
12:12 This kinda sums it ups, Gonna get myself a DBA Rooms
Great choice enjoy! Consider using my affiliate link if you haven't purchased yet :)
link.perfectcircuit.com/t/v1/S0BERUlFSUBFSEpDR0lATEpITA?url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.perfectcircuit.com%2Fdeath-by-audio-rooms.html
@@MilesAwayOfficial I wish I could buy it for that price, in europe it cost's like 530⏠going to pick up a second hand next week. I shared you're video on the Dutch Synth forum tho,, spreading the love
Hello, very interesting video. Recently I found such a reverb Astronaut 5 Shift line You can test it with a synthesizer and compare it to the ventris dual reverb. If it's possible. Bartek
Never heard of that one! Is it new?
I got the ROOMS, but it has a lot of loud pops, and such. How do you deal with that? It seems muddy, for me. I'm mainly looking at Reverbs for my synth setup, right now, that doesn't cost a fortune. I probably should have spent the $300, and gotten the Big Sky. I'm going to have to get something else, for the Shimmer, etc.. I'm looking at getting the EQD Astral Destiny, to go next to the ROOMS..I'm hoping that will help. Thanks!
Your ROOMS shouldn't have lots of loud pops! You might be running too hot of a signal in, go quiet in and then use the wet knob as a VCA to turn up the volume, it can go really loud. If that still happens I'd contact DBA support, cause mine doesn't pop like that ever!
I tried to replay the sounds on my synth. Learning. Where can I find the first song? (Minute 8 ongoing)
Thank you very much.
I just made these up as on the spot improvised demos! What synth do you have? I am working on new synth preset packs for sale.
What track is the last one you played? Available on sound cloud? Loved it
That is one of my unreleased copy right free jams called Deluge House, I add 2 or 3 of them to my patreon every month! Feel free to check it out, I'll be adding that one for April's content drop :)
@@MilesAwayOfficial Thanks I definitely will. I watched your vid to help me decide which reverb to get for my bass guitar solo work. Still a hard decision!
I have all three... The Empress is good for capabilities, but Rooms and BigSky are better quality... I judge on full wet...and surprisingly, Ventris seems to have the "cleanest" algorythms...
Thanks for the analysis! I agree on the cleanness of the strymon for sure! I would love to try the Ventris. Stay tuned for my Delay comparison video , it's my biggest one yet with 5 pedals!
Can you do a video on the GFI Specular Tempus...
Sadly probably not as it's discontinued!
I loved the sound of the Big Sky, but hated using it so I sold it. Looking to get something more instant to use.
I have a video on Walrus Audio LORE coming this week, you might like that one! Really hands on and fun to use. Stay tuned to the channel!
Did you like how the ROOMS sounded here? It's really hands on too.
@@MilesAwayOfficial Look forward to that. I came here for the Empress, that's still under consideration. I do like the ROOMS, and also considering the Eventide Space (also "moody") and possibly some Eurorack options
@@metalboxhead did you see my lore video or blue sky v2 ones? Both those are very knob per function with no screen!
@@MilesAwayOfficial not but will check them out no. I did buy the Space but am sure will add more in the future!
Nice Video! I made a video with the BlueSky compared with the Empress Reverb myself. Love these pedals.
Just took a look! Nice video! I still feel empress is the champ in yours too :)
If you like the Strymon clarity, build quality and design philosophy, the Empress warmth and the DBA character and hands on control, you would love the NightSky!
Nice demonstration btw! Thanks for sharing
Thanks for watching! I'd love to try out the Nightsky, it looks amazing.
Do u plan to treat delays like this ? Would be really well
Yes! ;) Delay pedal shootout is in the works
@@MilesAwayOfficial Excellent, cannot wait : )
Video about the Deluge?
Itâs in the works for this fall!
@@MilesAwayOfficial Cool! I'd be especially interested in how you incorporate it with your hardware setup. Since there are already good videos out there explaining the Deluge itself (e.g., Loopop's most recent video or Ron C's video series), I think the community would profit a lot from a video focusing more on the practicalities of using the Deluge in a hardware setup.
In particular, one issue I have (and presumably other Deluge users) is that many hardware synths (e.g., Summit) only allow setting one or two (or in the case of Summit: three, i.e., A, B, and Global) midi channels, which are both the respective incoming and outgoing channel (e.g., setting part A on the Summit the channel 2 means it responds to and sends out on that channel). For that reason, once you have, say, two tracks on the Deluge sequencing two parts on a synth (e.g., Summit in Dual mode), you cannot use the synth as a midi controller to play additional gear (because changing a midi channel would then break the sequencing coming in from the Deluge). Do you find yourself using midi controllers or a synth that's more flexible with midi routing (e.g., Digitone keys)?
Disclaimer: As a Deluge, Summit, and Digitone Keys owner, my question is not devoid of conflicts of interest ;-)
@@stefanherzog good suggestion Stefan! I'll make sure to touch on that. To be honest I use the Deluge more as a sketchpad for ideas and then go into Logic after to make the full song with all control but I'll show you all!
@@MilesAwayOfficial Cool, very interesting! Looking forward to it!
Okay next shootout volante, re202, empress :)
I already did an epic delay shootout! Check it here :)
czcams.com/video/NNftUKczYBc/video.html
@@MilesAwayOfficial awesome thanks !
@@mastermachetier5594 comment your fave there, curious to know!
Big Sky Hands down. It has unlimited ability to shape tones and has midi.
Good choice!
any noise issues with the rooms? I got rid of mine for the lack of headroom and constant noise
I did find that on mode 1 only (Room), if I had an input source with any sort of ground noise/hum, the reverb would slowly build up feedback. I would just switch to another mode then switch back to combat this; only realized it was happening about 2 years after owning the pedal. Was that what you were talking about? Any actual noise issues I did not have.
@@MilesAwayOfficialThats great to keep in mind.
My issue, was the noise floor was too high. As soon as the pedal was engaged it would buzz and I couldnt record with it. Maybe its a NZ thing, our power is 240v while USA is 110v. Im going to try to get a converter and give it another shot.
Thanks for reply!
Man that death by audio is vibe bro. I had the bigsky traded it for a empress. I love the bigsky I dig the empress. But I vibe with the death by audio on this video Iâm gonna have to get me one !
You should try boosting the stereo width I found that boosting that extra 2db wider really helped if you wanted that stereo width to come out of course. I know you can do 2db wider or 4db havenât try 4 but i did 2db to kinda feel the verbs behind my guitar like the bigsky
Totally agreed! There's something SO special about the DBA rooms, it has vibe and character just oozing out of it. If you have a chance I fully recommend it! Great tip about the stereo boost after the empress as that's it's only weak spot! On DBA rooms, the Depth Knob on Mode 1 spreads the reverb so insanely wide nothing can come close ;)
Shia Labeouf doppelganger reverb demo! Alright!
Hahaha I get that a lot when the beard or Manbun is grown out đ stick around, I have tons more pedal and synth demos!
:)
:) :)
So much talkâŠ