Strymon Big Sky Plugin

[Funkybot's Evil Twin]

I get why they did it, but a rotary control for reverb type choice is silly for software.

You can click on the labels too. So no need to use the rotary.

That's nice to know. That's actually great because it's more efficient than a dropdown menu or prev/next buttons with just a single click to jump between algos.

[VitaminD]

I get why they did it, but a rotary control for reverb type choice is silly for software.

You can click on the labels too. So no need to use the rotary.

That's nice to know. That's actually great because it's more efficient than a dropdown menu or prev/next buttons with just a single click to jump between algos.

Yes indeed. It was a happy discovery when I went click happy on the GUI.

Batman still thinks you shouldn't buy it on a payment plan.

[Funkybot's Evil Twin]

Batman still thinks you shouldn't buy it on a payment plan.

I didn't and probably won't. It's not an issue of being able to afford a $200 plugin. It's more of a question, do I want to spend $200 on a Big Sky plugin right now? The answer is currently no.

Will I eventually buy it? Maybe. Probably if there's a sale. I do want to see more Strymon plugins, so I don't want this to flop because people can't get over the price, sales are low, and Strymon decides it's not worth the reputational harm from all the negativity on the net combined with relatively low revenue in terms of sales.

I'll also go out on a limb say I don't think the price is as unreasonable as the internet makes it out to be. It's high. Don't get me wrong. But people saying it should be $99 are ignoring the fact that doing so would tank hardware sales, which is their bread and butter. They've got to balance the price between "not so cheap that no one will buy the hardware, and not so expensive that no one will buy the plugin." They could offer hardware owners a discount but then they need to create an infrastructure to track who owns the hardware, deal with transfer of ownership when the hardware is sold, then also deal from complaints from people who don't own the Big Sky, but own some of the algorithms via the Blue Sky or Flint. They'll complain they want a cheaper price too (I'm a Blue Sky owner for example, give me a discount!). So that's not an easy problem to solve for and just could cose more headaches.

I think $149 would've been the right price personally, but $199 isn't that far off.

I'll give the plugin a demo soon. If I love it, I might buy it. But I probably won't right now.

[aMUSEd]

Very tempting but will wait for sale or for PA to assimilate them

[chk071]

I'll also go out on a limb say I don't think the price is as unreasonable as the internet makes it out to be.

No price is unreasonable if there are people who are buying.

The plugin is even more expensive for buyers in the EU, by the way: https://www.thomann.de/de/strymon_big_sky_plugin.htm

There's a note on Strymon's website that buyers out side of the U.S. can't purchase it directly from them, if I got that right. Not sure what the reason is. Maybe they don't use a payment provider which takes VAT into account.

[VitaminD]

Batman still thinks you shouldn't buy it on a payment plan.

I didn't and probably won't. It's not an issue of being able to afford a $200 plugin. It's more of a question, do I want to spend $200 on a Big Sky plugin right now? The answer is currently no.

That's thinking of which Batman approves.

Not to diminish this reverb. I find it sounds very nice. But Batman is a big saver and only buys what he needs, splurging only when the product is on discount and doesn't overlap with other already-owned products.

[Vortifex]

Edited

[vertibration]

I reached out to Strymon about their price point. I offered them comparisons to Valhalla, and their answer to me was that their Big Sky Plugin comes with multiple algorithms, while Valhalla at $50 per plugin is only one algorithm per plugin......I almost spit my coffee out. Like, how out of touch can you be when you dont research your market competition. Valhalla Supermassive comes with 16 different algorithms, and the damn plugin is free and sounds better than the Big Sky plugin. SMH.

[SLiC]

well - I would say this has 12 algos and its very very good and underrated...
https://www.audiority.com/shop/xenoverb/
45$

not happy with Strymon choice but what can I say...
they make amazing stuff.

I posted this earlier- it's on sale at the moment audio deluxe- I just paid £22 for it and V1.4 is CLAP.

I would definitely advise demoing first. It does cover similar ground to Big Sky, with formant, spring and shimmer algos along with the usual ones, but it is very oldschool lofi in character and not necessarily a goto in the way that the Strymon would be.

I agree but I love it on synths (as I do Polaris my go to for analogue synths) but there is also a lot of low cost more 'modern' reverbs...Arturia Rev INTENSITY is I think very underrated but as other have said, Valhalla Room and Shimmer will pretty much get you there.

[vurt]

Batman still thinks you shouldn't buy it on a payment plan.

I didn't and probably won't. It's not an issue of being able to afford a $200 plugin. It's more of a question, do I want to spend $200 on a Big Sky plugin right now? The answer is currently no.

That's thinking of which Batman approves.

Not to diminish this reverb. I find it sounds very nice. But Batman is a big saver and only buys what he needs, splurging only when the product is on discount and doesn't overlap with other already-owned products.

errr you don't know much about batman do you?
he's the kind of guy, that rather than use your average off the shelf shark sharp repellent spray, he has specially packaged "bat-shark repellent spray" made up at double the cost.
and its not just bat-shark repellent spray, it's everything from bat rope to bat contact lens cleaner. total spendbug!!!

[chk071]

I reached out to Strymon about their price point. I offered them comparisons to Valhalla, and their answer to me was that their Big Sky Plugin comes with multiple algorithms, while Valhalla at $50 per plugin is only one algorithm per plugin......I almost spit my coffee out. Like, how out of touch can you be when you dont research your market competition.

I wasn't aware that Valhalla was their market competition. I thought more on the lines of Eventide, Soundtoys, Exponential Audio, 2CAudio... which are all more expensive than Valhalla. Valhalla is rather the exception, which is nice, of course, for those who want their reverbs. But, again, more of an exception. Reverbs are expensive for the most part.

And, it's highly unlikely that Strymon will change their pricing, just because someone approaches them and says that they should. They surely know better what they can charge.

[simmo75]

I reached out to Strymon about their price point. I offered them comparisons to Valhalla, and their answer to me was that their Big Sky Plugin comes with multiple algorithms, while Valhalla at $50 per plugin is only one algorithm per plugin......I almost spit my coffee out. Like, how out of touch can you be when you dont research your market competition. Valhalla Supermassive comes with 16 different algorithms, and the damn plugin is free and sounds better than the Big Sky plugin. SMH.

Sorry man, it doesn’t sound better than Big Sky in the studio I work in. I think you’re pissed because of it price.
Not looking for an argument, I wouldn’t justify the price either. But claiming Supermassive sounds better is not true, it’s subjective.

[chk071]

Should Big Sky be free just because some reverbs are released for free?

That kind of argumentation doesn't make sense. Vote with your wallet. If you think that Big Sky is too expensive, just don't buy it. But, don't pretend that you're some kind of justice warrior, trying to change their pricing policy.

[zvenx]

I haven't demoed it yet but would be shocked if supermassive sounds better.
I have always found valhalla stuff sounds good for the price.
rsp

[vurt]

I reached out to Strymon about their price point. I offered them comparisons to Valhalla, and their answer to me was that their Big Sky Plugin comes with multiple algorithms, while Valhalla at $50 per plugin is only one algorithm per plugin......I almost spit my coffee out. Like, how out of touch can you be when you dont research your market competition. Valhalla Supermassive comes with 16 different algorithms, and the damn plugin is free and sounds better than the Big Sky plugin. SMH.

it's a nice reverb, the only thing that really makes it different is the chorale algo, ive not heard anything else quite the same.
but it's also one of those sounds, that while it does sound great to play a guitar through nice and loud, it's a far too specific sound to get a great deal of use from in tracks.
this is what put me off the pedal in the end, as much it wowed me at first, every demo started to sound exactly the same!!

maybe if i didn't already have reverbs, the rest of the algos would have been more tempting as they do sound nice, just nothing to add to my previous stuff.