SkyVerb

SkyVerb by kelegorm is a virtual effect audio plugin for macOS and Windows. It is available as a VST3 and Audio Unit on macOS, and a VST3 on Windows.

SkyVerb is an ambient, spatial reverb built around two layers instead of one. The first is a wide, continuous stereo wash — the "sky" — designed for long, open tails with movement in them rather than realistic room emulation. The second is a set of small binaural events — the "stars" — placed at real directions around your head using KEMAR HRTF measurements. As you play, the stars answer your notes and flash exactly where you hear them: a spark on the right really is on your right.

It is aimed at ambient, cinematic, downtempo and experimental production, where the point is depth, space and motion rather than a short natural room. On headphones the placement is fully three-dimensional; a speaker mode folds it to a wide, mono-safe image for monitors and laptops.

The stars can answer at once or hold back. RESPONSE delays each one — freely up to three seconds, or locked to the host tempo in steps of one to eight quarter notes — so the answers fall into the gaps between your phrases and your playing stays up front.

Nine knobs sit in one row, in three groups. SKY shapes the space: SIZE (length and scale, from a close room to a ten-second tail), BRIGHTNESS (its colour, dark to glassy), SPACING (how wide it opens) and WIND (movement — the tail breathes and drifts between the channels). STARS shapes the answers: RESPONSE (the delay above), RATE (how often stars appear and how strongly they react to your playing), LEVEL (how loud they sit over the wash) and CHARACTER (their voice, from dark, long and soft to bright, short and sharp). OUT is the wet/dry MIX, with a lock that holds your balance while you audition presets.

The panel across the top of the window is a live view of the sound, not decoration: the haze is the wash itself, the drifting clouds mark where stars can appear, and every spark is a real event firing where you hear it.

Features

• Two-layer engine: a dense stereo reverb bed plus binaural 3D events (KEMAR HRTF), decoupled from the tail.
• Stars that react to your playing and answer at the exact direction you hear them.
• Tempo-synced or free response delay, from instant to three seconds or 1–8 quarter notes.
• Nine controls in three groups (SKY / STARS / OUT), each mapped to one audible result.
• Eight factory presets, each a distinct space: Overcast, Clear, Sky Opening, Cirrus, Aurora, Storm, Vocal Sky, Cinematic Overcast.
• Live "sky view" that shows the sound honestly, and slim output metering in the header.
• Headphones mode for full binaural placement; speaker mode for a wide, mono-safe fold.
• A/B compare to hold two settings side by side and copy one onto the other.
• Save your own presets and mark favorites for quick recall.
• Resizable interface — scale the window to your screen.
• Mix lock to keep your wet level steady across presets.
• Illustrated user manual included, reachable from the plugin's menu.
• MacOS 12+ universal (Intel + Apple Silicon); Windows 10/11 64-bit (also runs on Windows-on-ARM inside x64 hosts). Linux on the roadmap; usable now via yabridge.
• Free, for any music or audio work, commercial or not, with no time limit.