Eventide Blackhole is for people who THINK BIG. Here, we’re going for wide open spaces and lush atmospheres. But there are other reverbs out there more specifically tailored for that purpose. Like I said from the start, Backhole is not for mix engineers who want to put a little air into their drums, even though small spaces are attainable. I can use up to four instances of Blackhole and stay within a quarter of processing capacity.īut enough about stability. Of course, you’re probably thinking I must have a big fancy computer if I can afford to run several instances of Blackhole in tandem, but I assure you, the CPU hit is jaw-droppingly dirt cheap. I was also pleased to find out that the Ribbon Control is fully automatable, which is really exciting because you can use several instances of Blackhole and then link each of their Ribbon Controls to a single automation lane or external MIDI hardware, giving you control over several dozens of real-time parameters all mapped to a single mod source! Obviously, the “Kill” switch is somewhat self-explanatory, disconnecting the reverb’s input however, I was surprised to find out that you can actually modulate this control with a gate signal or a step LFO, which can be used to create expressive and dynamic alterations to an otherwise static reverb tail. Of course, I was a little confused about this before I learned how it works…īefore you can program alternate settings, you must first press and hold the Hot Switch until its surrounding blue ring starts to blink, and then you can program alternate settings for knobs – but be sure to finalize everything with one last left-click on the Hot Switch and you’re in business. A “Hot Switch” enables you to program alternate settings for knobs, switching back to their default position when the Hot Switch is depressed. It knows what it is: a high quality spatial processor ideal for HUGE spaces, and one of few reverbs suited for live performance.Ī “Ribbon Control” enables you to morph between two programmable states for any combination of knobs, all of which have two bright blue dots indicating start & stop points that move (both clockwise and counterclockwise) in accordance with the Ribbon Control as you move it from left to right.Īlso, you can toggle between these two points with the “In” and “Out” buttons, snapping the Ribbon Control to its far left or right positions. Blackhole is not that reverb, but hey, it’s not trying to be. I’ve used dozens of VST plugins in pursuit of the perfect reverb, and even though I’ve managed to nail down a few softwares I’ve become very attached to, none of them have yet to pull the sword out of the stone. Of course, I don’t have any first-hand experience with this equipment, but I’ve listened to a fair share of professionally recorded demos and, in my honest opinion, Blackhole’s incredibly dense and diffuse sound is surprisingly true to that of its siblings. That being said, if you’re still reading this, I’m assuming you’re the sort of experimental audionaut who spends a considerable amount of time on the dark side of the moon – even though an EMT-140 plate reverb was used on that album – but anyway, you get the idea.īlackhole ($199) is based on an algorithm that was originally used in Eventide’s DSP-4000 and H-8000 Ultra-Harmonizer rack mount units and later implemented in their Space Reverb guitar effects pedal. Of course, if you’re a starry-eyed ambient shoegazer like me, then subtlety probably isn’t a very high priority. If its title is any indication, Blackhole is not very good at dialing in small, subtle spaces.
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