More room in a small space: reverbs & multi-fx
Endorphin.es Milky Way
Verdict
16 effects are offered, including eight reverbs from plate to spring, two delays (pingpong and tape), one chorus and flanger each, as well as a ring modulator, overdrive, compressor and freezer. Mono signals can be provided with stereo effects. Although the eight reverbs already make up half of all effects, each has its own individual sound. From small room to stereo reverb to utopian large reverb with endless plume, everything is there. We especially liked the plate reverb, because with certain control settings of dry/wet and length of the reverberation, the effect creates almost melodic artefacts.
Techno producers will be pleased, because with a kick and a clap alone, incredibly massive walls of sound can be conjured up. The Ring Modulator shows its strengths especially with vocals, drums and basses. If you are looking for harsh sounds, you will find them in the Overdrive and the Freezer. Especially the latter offers real live potential, since short phrases or grains can be sampled from the audio input, looped and played back faster or slower, both forward and backward.
To go completely crazy, Milky Way offers a so-called meta function. This allows all eight effects in a bank to be run through live via CV modulation. We found the VCA section very good, because the last quarter of the controller‘s travel contains a very pleasant overdrive effect, which can be used to create pleasant overdrives. This makes deep drums and basses pretty scratchy.
For the price almost unbeatable. Only the multiple assignment of the knobs needs a lot of practice to be able to keep the modes apart. Apart from that, a hammer both in terms of price and sound!
Tiptop Audio Z5000
Verdict
With effects modules alone, you could easily fill several racks to create the ultimate sound design monster. If you prefer to start small but still want a choice of several effects, you‘ll want to look for a multi-effect.
The Z5000 is such a candidate with delay, reverb, and pitch shifter, though the three modes aren‘t available simultaneously, but only one at a time. Each of them offers eight effects, such as reverb, plate verb, room reverb or shimmer, mono delay, ping-pong and tape delay, or chorus, flanger, ensemble, pitch shifter and the like. Four knobs can be used to influence the effects. Depending on the operating mode, they control corresponding parameters, such as low-pass or band-pass filters, as well as modulations or feedback. Switching is easy and the effects of the few parameters are quickly internalized.
And the sound? It‘s pretty cool! The delays can do everything from simple repeats to endless tape echoes, including fluctuating pitches. The reverbs simulate everything from small bathrooms to large arenas and fantasy rooms, while the pitch shifter section provides all sorts of metallic sounds or typical chorus doubling. At extreme settings, it bubbles out of the speakers so wonderfully that you feel like you‘re underwater. And low fidelity provides crisp bitcrusher aesthetics.
Let‘s make it short: The Z5000 can do a lot, sounds great and is a lot of fun. While it doesn‘t have a lush amp like the Milky Way module, it‘s less cryptic to use. A no-brainer, especially at this low price.
Qu-Bit Electronix Aurora
Those who go modular usually also have a certain affinity for sound design, far away from traditional techniques and common methods. Thinking outside the box is the order of the day.
Unconventional techniques are exactly the right thing.
With Aurora, manufacturer Qu-Bit serves exactly this demand. The module is officially a spectral reverb at heart, but its „reverb“is generated by the Fast Fourier Transform synthesis. Signals are - to put it simply - cut into different frequencies and their length and pitch are modified. This is also how timestretch effects are created, accordingly Aurora‘s output turns out metallic or „sawing“, but not only.
Concretely speaking: The module never sounds like a normal reverb à la Lexicon or Eventide. Instead, it sounds like endlessly long, gigantic tunnels or thin, small tubes in which the sound gets caught. Some settings give the impression that whales are singing to it. If I had to capture the Transformers, a shooting star, UFOs hovering threateningly above the earth or a diamond ghost castle in sounds, I would quickly find what I was looking for here. In general, the results often have a science fiction touch, but always something powerful, unreal, intangible and otherworldly.
Verdict
Aurora is not a reverb, but a sound design tool. The results are unpredictable at first, but with practice you‘ll internalize the effects of the various controls. If you like drones and soundscapes that create images in the listener‘s mind, you will enjoy this module for a long time. Top! Don‘t forget to listen to our audio demo (see QR code).