MATRIXSYNTH: Astronaut reverb & delay: All 22 effects on synth (no talk)


Thursday, August 24, 2023

Astronaut reverb & delay: All 22 effects on synth (no talk)


video upload by Richard DeHove

"Astronaut by Shiftline isn't a standard reverb or delay pedal. It can certainly do 'standard' reverb and delay but with one or two knob turns you'll find yourself deep into ambience, noise and droneland. There's 22 effect algorithms and here I noodle extensively with each one. As usual I thought it best to show the pedal by itself with no other effects and with minimal cuts to give a clear idea of what it's like to twiddle the knobs.

I bought the Astronaut used on a bit of a whim: It looked good, had a good name and promised weirdness - all excellent reasons. In many ways it reminds me of a Strymon, except way more extreme. Originally I was going to do extensive blabbing about this pedal since there's a lot to talk about, but after almost an hour just of noodling I thought the blab should wait for another day.

Just a couple of things of note: The center knob selects the algorithm, while the four outer knobs all have primary and secondary functions. From left to right the secondary functions are: Volume, HPF, LPF and stereo field. You access the secondary functions by holding down the right-side switch. During the noodling you'll mainly see me adjusting the filters. Otherwise the primary four knob controls are: Character (which changes depending on the algorithm), delay/decay, mix (from dry to 100% wet) and time/speed. If that's a bit murkey then the manual is excellent:

The full manual: https://shiftline-shared.s3.amazonaws...

One aspect that's particularly interesting. There's no save function here. Instead whatever state you happen to leave the algorithm in when you switch to the next one is what you'll get when you come back. This is both incredibly convenient and dangerous: One knob twiddle and your favorite sound is now modified. OTOH there are also 11 user slots where you can easily copy any sound so you could use that as your "don't touch" zone. Those two factors make this one of the best pedals I've used in terms of saving sounds. Often preset management on pedals is painful.

Finally there are all sorts of ways Astronaut can be configured. If you want you can even change the parameter range of the knobs! There's options for MIDI CC control, analog triggers, MIDI clock, line and instrument input. You can even change the beat switch time divisions to your own exotic time signatures. So there's a lot to like.

EFFECTS
0:00 (1) Paradox delay
5:27 (2) Reverse delay
9:19 (3) Reverdox reverb & delay
11:47 (4) Major arp reverb
13:40 (5) Minor arp reverb
16:35 (6) Octave arp reverb
17:50 (7) Random arp reverb
19:46 (8) Universe 1
22:48 (9) Universe 2
24:22 (11) Force microsampler
26:00 (10) Force Roar*
REVERBS:
26:13 (1) Spring reverb
28:27 (2) Plate reverb
31:14 (3) Room reverb
33:12 (4) Modulated
36:42 (5) Skynet 1
40:20 (6) Skynet 2
42:59 (7) Mechanics
45:07 (8) Shimmer up 2
46:55 (9) Shimmer up 1
49:07 (10) Shimmer up-down
51:56 (11) Shimmer down

* Oops accidently deleted most of effects demo 10. I blame my subconscious. I was struggling with this one.

Lots of downloads for supporters on Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/richarddehove
Many thanks to my kind patrons who keep this channel ad-free
My website: https://richarddehove.com/"

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