STRYMON BigSky MX Big Sky Next Generation Reverb Workstation

The new pinnacle of what a reverb pedal can be has arrived. In BigSky MX, raw computational power meets innovative design and consummate sonic craftsmanship to give you positively sublime reverbs with stunning new levels of richness and complexity. These are sounds to inspire new creative works and endless hours of playing

One Verb To Rule Them All

BigSky packs a remarkable amount of premium features into a single pedal.

• 12 world-class reverb machines that encompass seven brand-new algorithms in addition to significant enhancements to the other classics.
• Two reverbs at once with Series, Parallel and Split audio routing, and a new pan control per engine.
• 10s impulse response playback with full editing capability, and custom long IR captures of classic studio gear.
• Stereo inputs and outputs using our discrete Class A JFET input preamps.
• Dedicated Infinite/Freeze footswitch for creating lush pads to play over, a crisp OLED display, DIN and TRS MIDI I/O, USB-C, expression pedal and more, all in a robust, easy-to-use and elegant pedal

With Great Power Comes Great Reverberation

BigSky MX features a staggering amount of computing power — it uses a high performance tri-core 800 MHz ARM processor — all dedicated to producing truly breathtaking reverbs.

Our new reverb algorithms were meticulously created by hand, and then a state-of-the-art gradient descent optimization algorithm was used to dial out any undesirable ringing or artifacts.

This type of neural fine-tuning is based upon the same techniques that have enabled the recent AI revolution, and the result is springs that drip and splash, physical spaces you can really feel yourself in, and the sweetest possible musical response to every note you play.

800 MHz Tri-Core ARM Processor / 32-Bit Floating Point Processing

Two Reverbs At Once

BigSky MX allows you to use two reverbs at once, for powerful sound sculpting and expansive reverb sounds that evolve organically over time.

You can switch between reverb engines with a single button press while editing, and easily see the Series, Parallel or Split audio routing state clearly displayed onscreen.

For a more interactive experience, you can dedicate a footswitch to control each reverb’s on/ off state if you desire.

Something New At Every Position On The Dial

BigSky MX features seven brand new reverb algorithms built from the ground up, plus new features and enhancements for the classic BigSky algorithms.

Impulse and Chamber were created specifically for BigSky MX, and Spring, Plate, Hall, Room and Shimmer boast entirely new handcrafted algorithms while still giving you access to the original BigSky voices for each one.

Within every reverb type on BigSky MX, there are new sounds and features ready for you to explore

Preloaded With Inspiration

BigSky MX comes preloaded with 22 impulse responses, consisting of a number of different types of captures. There are wonderful impulses of a number of different natural spaces in the collection, but we also wanted to give you some IR’s that were unique to MX.

As a result we spent days in studios creating our very own long captures of classic analog studio gear, as well as some oddball units owned and restored by one of our analog engineers.

The result is a bunch of super-inspiring sounds, from real analog plate and unobtanium mainframe reverb units to wacky forgotten spring reverb tanks and tape echoes. There is a wealth of creativity waiting in the Impulse bank!

Unprecedented IR Control

BigSky MX gives you powerful editing tools to intuitively manipulate impulse responses in real time.

Set decay envelopes, gate the reverb tail, reverse the entire IR, resample on the fly to shorten or stretch the impulse, and create infinitely sustaining granular pads at the press of the Infinite footswitch.

Any compatible audio file can be loaded, allowing you to use IRs for everything from hyper realistic spaces to wacky experimentation. BigSky MX comes preloaded with 22 unique impulse responses, including a collection of our very own meticulous captures of legendary analog studio gear that are addictively inspiring.

Shimmer

The MX Shimmer is an all-new take on a classic effect. This new algorithm is frequency-based, and unlike other pitch shifting effects is optimized to work great even at the end of your signal chain (where your reverb is most likely to be placed).

This is a fast and modern Shimmer with finesse that works beautifully in front of a second reverb. For the classic time-based ambient shimmer sound pioneered by Brian Eno, select the Classic shimmer voice.

We love both sounds, so experiment and see which one works best for the atmosphere you wish to create.

Cloud

Cloud is our gorgeously voluminous ambient reverb that draws from techniques developed in the late ‘70s.

The Ensemble feature can create lush synthesized string section swells under your guitar playing, or add harmonic enrichment to the reverb when used more subtly.

Thanks to the additional processing power available in BigSky MX, Ensemble now features significantly improved dynamic response, further enhancing the organic and musical way it reacts to your playing

Bloom

Newly added to the Bloom machine in BigSky MX is the Harmonics engine, which lends crystalline polyphonic wind instrument accompaniment to the overall sound.

The core Bloom reverb features a slowly building envelope resulting in huge ambient sounds that sit nicely with the dry signal even at high Mix levels.

In addition to Harmonics, Bloom features a unique Feedback parameter for additional harmonic movement and a wide variety of ear-catching and inspiring sounds.

Chorale

The Chorale machine creates intriguingly lifelike vowel sounds in its reverberations, and new in BigSky MX is the addition of a new Choir engine, which enables you to add a tenor or baritone vocal section for even more powerful vocal pads.

In addition, the Mod knob is powerfully effective for adding realism to the chorale effect —- as Mod is turned up, randomization is added to pitch and timbre to create an increasing number of singers that have distinct voices

Magneto

More than just a reverb, Magneto is capable of old school magnetic drum delay, slapback, patterned repeats, and even chorus effects.

The Magneto machine sets up a multi-head echo, allowing you to select any number of heads from one to six, while the Pre-Delay knob adjusts the feedback of the repeats.

The Diffusion parameter provides an additional dimension of ambience, smoothly smearing the response of the heads and blurring the line between delay and reverb.

Optional stereo ping-pong instantly creates a huge stereo field that is especially effective when combined with other reverb types in a Dual scenario.

Room

BigSky MX Room algorithms create intimate environments ranging from well-tuned Studio ambience to larger Nightclub acoustics.

The Tone knob, Diffusion, and Low End parameters adjust the damping and scattering effects of room materials, furniture, and people for heightened realism.

Hall

Diffused reflections and slower-building density are the hallmarks of this beautiful and versatile reverb, built from the ground up for BigSky MX.

The Concert size is well-balanced, spacious and warm, while the Arena size is huge, enveloping, and booming.

The Mid parameter allows for precise EQ tailoring of the reverberated sound to make sure that it fits perfectly in the mix.

Hall also features a Swell parameter which allows you to swell the reverberated signal behind the dry signal, or swell the dry signal into the reverb. At 100% dry, you can use this to swell your dry signal into a second reverb.

Chamber

Chamber is a generous and dense medium room sized reverberation with excellent focus and clarity.

The selectable Color options recreate the result of varying the different speakers, mics and preamps used in the process of capturing the sound of the chamber

Plate

Plate is a rich and fast-building reverb that creates depth without early reflection cues to a specific environment.

Two plate types are available: Small and Large. The MX Small Plate is a warm vintage analog plate with included tube preamp modeling, delivering sweet saturation when pushed by a strong input signal.

The MX Large Plate gives you an ideal digital plate, offering instant response and reverberation over the entire frequency range.

The gorgeous plates from the original BigSky are available by switching the Voice parameter from MX to Classic.

Spring

The standalone spring tank became a staple of surf and spaghetti-western music in the ‘60s.

With its Mix and Tone Controls, Dwell parameter and selectable number of springs, the Spring machine allows for complete customization from warm and mellow to splashy and dripping.

The new MX spring is all about the drip, and is superbly dimensional and realistic. The Classic spring from the original BigSky is available as well, and has been updated to make full use of the extra computational power inside BigSky MX.

New analog tube modeling was created for the Dwell parameter, to give you everything from super clean to driven tube amp and even full-on dirt when you want to trash up your spring sound.

Impulse

This convolution reverb utilizes Impulse Response (IR) files to create mathematically perfect recreations of recorded spaces.

BigSky MX includes a collection of IRs, selectable from the PARAMETER menu. Importing your custom reverb IRs is also possible using the free Nixie 2 app.

BigSky MX includes a varied selection of IRs, including not only natural spaces sourced from 3rd parties, but also a collection of long captures we’ve done in-house of a wide variety of classic studio effects units and wacky analog gear owned and rescued by our own Josh Forbes.

Nonlinear

Various physics-defying reverb shapes are available for special effects and unique textures.

Choose from three “backward” shapes, add CHOP for tremolo, employ a GATE for abrupt cutoff, and more. A vast array of time-warping possibilities await your exploration

Ready To Play

Our most powerful pedal ever is also our most most flexible onstage, combining intuitive operation with features professional musicians will appreciate. The bright OLED screen is easy to read even in harsh conditions, and navigation is user-friendly and clear. You can use the dedicated Infinite/Freeze footswitch to create lush pads to play over, and you can also control each reverb separately in a Dual patch with your feet. Full MIDI control over every relevant parameter and extensive I/O mean BigSky MX can easily integrate into any rig.

Stereo Panning

To offer the most flexible audio routing possible, we’ve added a pan control to the output of each reverb engine. Now you can push Magneto off to the right so that you can hear the repeats even more distinctly in a Dual scenario, or push both machines farther to the sides to leave more space in the middle of the stereo field. It can be a powerful control when used creatively

Real Spaces, Real Movement

The new MX reverb algorithms feature multi-modulation, which varies the delay times of individual reflections. As a result, turning up the Mod knob results in a natural sense of movement, more like the movement of air in a room than an obvious modulation effect. And even with zero modulation, reverb tails are smooth and musical and resolve to silence beautifully — even at the longest decay times.

Nixie 2

Our Nixie 2 software librarian is an integral part of the BigSky MX experience, allowing you to manage uploading and downloading of patches, real time parameter control from the desktop and impulse response loading. At launch the functionality will be limited, but we expect to get full compatibility with all of BigSky MX’s features in the following few months.

SPECS

Ins, Outs, and Switches

• Dedicated INFINITE switch for momentary/latching use of Freeze or Infinite function
• Stereo input & output
• Premium analog front end and output section
• Selectable input level for instrument and line level signals
• Analog dry path for a zero-latency dry signal that is never converted to digital
• True Bypass (electromechanical relay switching)or selectable Buffered Bypass
• EXP input allows the connection of an optional TRS expression pedal, MultiSwitch, MultiSwitch Plus, or TRS MIDI connection
• USB-C jack for performing firmware updates, MIDI I/O, and connection to the Strymon Nixie 2 editor software

Audio Quality

Power Requirements