How to create the "shimmer effect"
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- KVRer
- 6 posts since 21 Aug, 2022
Which plugins should I use, I know about several reverbs, but am interseted in creating sounds with only a pitch up and a normal reverb.
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- KVRAF
- 2066 posts since 11 Aug, 2012 from omfr morf form romf frmo
Source material makes a huge difference. On guitars people often fade in their strums with a volume pedal or similar. You generally want the pitch shifting feedback to bloom and a transient works against that. If you're using a synth lengthen the attack envelopes.
Another way to handle that is to add some transient shaping ahead of the reverb, or use a reverb that can reduce transients before the reverb line. It's a common enough reverb technique outside of shimmer.
As for what reverb. You generally want something that builds up density with a long modulated tail; Blackhole is a really good candidate since it's thicc and already kind of blooms. Blackhole's tails are huge by default so I usually dial it back.
If you don't have Blackhole then think about the hardware available at the time. Valhalla DSP has an excellent article about the Eno/Lanois shimmer employing an AMS 1580 delay and a Lexicon 224 reverb: https://valhalladsp.com/2010/05/11/enol ... t-is-made/.
Note the part about the 224 Concert Hall algorithm increasing density. So an emulation like Native Instruments RC24, or Valhalla VintageVerb or anything capable of that style of reverb. You don't want a clean and transparent reverb here, but if that's all you got, consider adding a chorus FX to provide the thickening and modulation. But feel free to experiment! Once you set up routing you can swap reverbs.
I highly suggest massaging the reverb. With Blackhole I put a compressor ahead of it. This accomplishes a couple things. First, it evens out the signal for the reverb to create a more consistent wash. Second, it glues the shimmer every time it feeds back. Finally, it helps keep the feedback from running away. So I use Presswerk with a fast attack and slow release, fairly high ratio (~5:1) and a bit of soft knee. Make sure to turn off Auto Makeup.
For pitch shifting I use Kilohearts' set to 1 octave in the example. It has an auto-correlation option so it deglitches like the AMS RMX and H949 did, as described in the article. Short grain sizes ~20-30 ms works well on guitar and synths for this purpose. In the example I use the send level to control how fast the pitch shifter pitches up.
Another way to handle that is to add some transient shaping ahead of the reverb, or use a reverb that can reduce transients before the reverb line. It's a common enough reverb technique outside of shimmer.
As for what reverb. You generally want something that builds up density with a long modulated tail; Blackhole is a really good candidate since it's thicc and already kind of blooms. Blackhole's tails are huge by default so I usually dial it back.
If you don't have Blackhole then think about the hardware available at the time. Valhalla DSP has an excellent article about the Eno/Lanois shimmer employing an AMS 1580 delay and a Lexicon 224 reverb: https://valhalladsp.com/2010/05/11/enol ... t-is-made/.
Note the part about the 224 Concert Hall algorithm increasing density. So an emulation like Native Instruments RC24, or Valhalla VintageVerb or anything capable of that style of reverb. You don't want a clean and transparent reverb here, but if that's all you got, consider adding a chorus FX to provide the thickening and modulation. But feel free to experiment! Once you set up routing you can swap reverbs.
I highly suggest massaging the reverb. With Blackhole I put a compressor ahead of it. This accomplishes a couple things. First, it evens out the signal for the reverb to create a more consistent wash. Second, it glues the shimmer every time it feeds back. Finally, it helps keep the feedback from running away. So I use Presswerk with a fast attack and slow release, fairly high ratio (~5:1) and a bit of soft knee. Make sure to turn off Auto Makeup.
For pitch shifting I use Kilohearts' set to 1 octave in the example. It has an auto-correlation option so it deglitches like the AMS RMX and H949 did, as described in the article. Short grain sizes ~20-30 ms works well on guitar and synths for this purpose. In the example I use the send level to control how fast the pitch shifter pitches up.
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- Banned
- 356 posts since 2 Mar, 2016
You can get BLEASS Shimmer for only $9.50 at pluginboutique.com.
https://www.pluginboutique.com/products/7534
Very nice shimmer plugin.
https://www.pluginboutique.com/products/7534
Very nice shimmer plugin.
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- KVRer
- 15 posts since 10 Jul, 2022
If you are a Reaper user -Abyss Reverb, and Lava Reverb... JSFX plugins by Saike / Joepvanlier.
If not a Reaper user... get YSFX to load those JSFX plugins in your daw/host of choice.
https://github.com/JoepVanlier
https://github.com/jpcima/ysfx
If not a Reaper user... get YSFX to load those JSFX plugins in your daw/host of choice.
https://github.com/JoepVanlier
https://github.com/jpcima/ysfx