I just checked out Cloudburst, the brand-new ambient reverb plugin from the same team behind Big Sky, and honestly, it might become my new go-to. It has a beautifully lush character, with controls for pre-delay, tone, mode modulation, and an ensemble section that really adds rich harmonics. I love the infinite freeze feature and the ability to kill the dry signal for those fully wet textures.

 

I always failed to get why Strymon is so highly regarded.

I understand why it's a great pedal to have (so many good algos in a small box) but as someone who only uses amp sims and plugins, there are sooooo many alternatives (some much better IMO)

This new plugin is good, but it doesn't blow my mind tbh.

 

I recently got the BigSky and I’m loving it. I was torn between the Cloudburst and the BigSky, but ended up going with the latter for its insane harmonies and overall versatility. It fits my setup perfectly. I know I probably shouldn’t be buying yet another delay/reverb plugin—I’ve already got a ton—but hey, whatever.

 

Good algos in a small package and good conversion and preamp for the price. If you don't have a preamp and dawless is in your vocabulary it's pretty tough to better dollar for dollar. Same if you need a box for performances.

If you do have standalone preamp(s) and just about any last gen or two interface if it was budget friendly or any not so budget friendly interface, then yeah... the algos wrapped in vst head to head against others in vst form probably aren't taking home the blue ribbon in a number of match ups. Conversely, I could see some of those vsts costing considerably more than the strymon if implemented in hardware format. Lexicon has a 10x difference between hardware and software price, for example.

 

Yes I totally agree with your assessment. For a dawless setup I would buy it no hesitation, but even with my semi modular synths I go into the daw for effects

 

Yeah, I'm fairly digital on processing side with plugins but full hardware on instruments too. I have it set so all synths/instruments have dedicated i/o so I can A- monitor/process as if audio but work with midi, B- not give a hoot about routing or what project file is open cause the routing is essentially hardwired. Not much anyway, the drum machines share a bank of i/o, but I also have them all submixed via patchbays and linemixers, so their stereo outs are always connected at least. The cost to replicate it all analog (and preserve the unique channels and fx structure for those channels) would be... um... like a stupid high 'fuck you money' kinda number. Already glutenous enough as is. The trick is to justify buying 2 for 1 deals... oh, this synth has an analog fx section *and* a line in for processing? What a bargain, I'll take 3!

 

I agree, get a MPX Lexicon and you are set for life

 

I haven't tested the plugin yet.

I have the pedal. It is a nice reverb for sure. In combination with a volume pedal you can get quite impressive string section sounds out of it and some out of the world pompous things. It has a place on my guitar board. On the other hand I have mixed feelings about the character every Strymon pedal (except the Deco and some Mobius sounds) gives me: they sound always so rounded and "on top of it". Everything sounds like I'm playing worship music through them. OK, I'm exaggerating a bit. They are just too sterile for being my go-tos. Sterile in a good way, though. You got to get the dirt somewhere else.

 

Or, you know, just get a synth that is a quirky effect pedal itself, like the Make Noise Strega

 

Right? Like when I bought my analog stereo bucket brigade device. Imagine my surprise when I opened it up and found a 4 voice paraphonic semi modular attached! How Moog crammed all that into an effect pedal is just a marvel...

 

I think releasing plugins with the names of their pedals is a misstep by Strymon because the circuitry in the pedals is what makes them special. People are going to try the plugins and think they're just average, which to be fair they are because there are so many great plugins out there. They should have done this differently.

 

Yes, but which version?
MPX 100,200, G2,110, 550?
And for what purpose?

 

Analog is going digital. I think Strymon has discovered a new niche in the market to make some extra money. Whether this will pay off for the company, investment - cost of software programming - we'll never know anyway.

 

I always assumed they were just a fpga in a box, is there actually something special going on?

edit: yeah, it all looks quality but I'm not seeing any magic that is hard to reproduce in a plugin

 

Last edited: Jun 28, 2025

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Last edited: Jul 24, 2025

isn't there a way to achieve a similar result with the Eventide H3000 ?