Strymon BigSky PLUGIN | Is it worth it?

[@LeonTodd]

Is this an instant yes for you, or more of a "try and see" plugin?

[@BrianFerracci]

Too many other free or cheap options that work just as well if not better. If it was 1/3 the price it would be a no brainer.

[@voidabstraction]

Yeah I commend them for releasing a plugin version of their pedal and other companies should be getting on board with this because there is a market here that is not going to replace the physical versions. But for $199 USD... Eventide Blackhole, Valhalla Shimmer, Neunanber Wet Reverb etc are all beautiful reverbs much cheaper on top of the ones that likely come with DAW or are free.

[@piperdaniel]

@Manley156 Plugin Boutique has it right now for $29 (October 2022). The only price I would pay, hahaha

[@miquelbiggs5721]

@Manley156 link?

[@Havanacuba1985]

I’ve got the Valhalla supermassive & also an eventide H plugin I got in a sale for about £29 - £39 that are both amazing

[@clayteasouth]

Strymon stuff always fantastic! I own the hardware unit and love it. Would be nice to see a loyalty offering from strymon for hardware owners.

[@savanaviolenta]

Definitely it's worth it It's a BigSky after all. But at that price, more rich producers and studio owners may own it.If it drops at $99 I'm in.

[@metatron333ascension]

the price though is crazy. i got a similar one from joey sturgis tones for $19. the straymon plugin has some things the jst version does but vice versa as well. the Joey sturgis tone version is called skybox

[@clawfoot8400]

Perfect guitar colour 👌

[@lundsweden]

I think this plug sounds so good, great for ambient and a creative tool. But yeah, there are other even more expensive plugs that may edge this, like the Lexicon one.

[@M80-]

The ending jam is massive and the plugin sounds awesome!

[@alexreis3615]

Totally addicted to this KZbin channel. Greetings from Brazil brother

[@eds4754]

Been after some of these sounds for so long that I’ve found alternatives (Valhalla, Audiority). Adding in the fact I already have so many other reverb plugins, the only reason I can think of paying £200 for this would be to accurately match the real pedal if I ever need a specific preset. Sure it sounds great though and it’s so good they’ve released it as a plugin.

[@kevinmusso2397]

Bought it seconds after it dropped. $199 well spent. I fully expect the Timeline will be next in short order.

[@kennbart]

Love this method of "try before you buy."

[@LeonTodd]

Totally!

[@BeanieBeanTX]

Excellent demo, Leon! I may wait to see if there is sale pricing on this, but from what I could tell from the demo, it sounds really great out of the box (ha!)

[@LeonTodd]

Good call!

[@DerekJones]

Nice plugin for sure. Price is out of my range for now though. I have other plugins that can approximate this anyways. Great playing as always.

[@ZAYAZOfficial]

Love the pedal. Thanks for the heads up Leon. How taxing is it on your CPU?

[@LeonTodd]

I'm running a Mac Studio so CPU isn't really a big issue with anything anymore

[@Tvaroh]

Uses 1% of CPU core on M1 MacBook Pro.

[@stefanozurich]

I like the sounds and I think the presets sound great, but many other plugins also do this for a fraction of the price. If it’s on offer for $70 I’d probably get it but no way would I spend $200 on this.

[@lukather1]

Just buy the Vallhalla shimmer or a few Valhalla plug-ins

[@BobGuido]

I love your outro Jam. While listening I was thinking... "NEON LEON" would be an apt song title. I can't believe how good that Dulla Han Solo guitar sounds all things considered. How's the action on it Leon? Can you get it setup so it plays as nicely as your PRS across the entire roasty toasty fingerboard? Or, does it suffer from launch ramp action - low near the nut and unmovable high action in the second octave of the fingerboard? Does the truss rod move smoothly or does it feel like you're trying to pull Excalibur from the stone? (Not to say you're not a King Leon and wouldn't be able to pull Excalibur from the stone) I've been using the Big Sky pedal since it came out. I was a beta tester for the Big Sky plugin and can say that the plugin is ace. Of course, it is super convenient. What I like best about the plugin is that the visual feedback from the plugin's superior user interface clues you into everything the pedal can do so when you go back to the pedal, you find yourself having a little bit more expertise.

[@LeonTodd]

Action on the Dullahan is just little higher than my main PRS but it's very consistent and there's none of that launch ramp thing going on. Gigged it last night with a smooth r'n'b band so I was on position 4 with a compressor and Fender Twin model on the FM3 for 90% of the night and it was silky. One of my students has a Sterling Jason Richardson and the truss rod on that is very much an Excalibur kinda thing whereas this one does what you want. Honestly so impressed with it. Strymon would do well to get a computer editor for all their pedals IMO, especially those with presets. I loved tweaking on this.

[@BobGuido]

Thanks for the good info Leon! Agreed on the Strymon editor for all preset based pedals. Sterling guitars have awful truss rods. I've hurt myself trying to move a few of them. Music Man need to address some of the shortcomings of the Sterling brand. If PRS can make an excellent guitar overseas, surely Music Man can too.

[@paulbradshawguitar]

pricing is definitely an issue given the amount of alternatives (valhalla stuff is absolutely killer) the way i see it the pricing is essentially for certain sounds/presets that you demonstrated here as well , with the more 'exotic' algos, there are certainly people prepared to pay that kind of money for that this'll most likely be picked up by a lot of people during a 99 USD black friday/cyber monday etc.. sale

[@wildmilne]

Don’t forget Valhalla had a separate plugin for each type that would add up to the same price.

[@JayTheLane]

@@wildmilne I think Vintage Verb would cover for you for everything bar the Shimmer. You could buy that and Vintage Verb for $100. However, I do see you point.

[@ampspedalspickups]

Best colour choice guitar for the video 😆

[@LeonTodd]

I think so too!

[@stratpuppy]

Thank you for this review .. helped me make up my mind .. Any chance I can get that backing track at the end ?

[@rsvette123]

Awesome Leon

[@frequency_sequencer]

sounds sick man

[@carlroberge7535]

Yesss! The synth with the 2290! 😍🙌

[@DW-zw2xp]

I agree! Thanks

[@Particle67]

Sound great. For sure i'll give a try

[@calvinnelms9052]

What effect did you throw on at 15:45? Sounds killer! Great playing and demo as always!

[@LeonTodd]

Cheers! that's one of the synth sounds from the BOSS GS-1 guitar i'm playing there

[@calvinnelms9052]

@@LeonTodd Thats it! I just listened to your demo of that guitar. Do you think it's possible to squeeze that sound out of the Axe FX III? I'm listening to demos of the Boss SY-1 as well, which would probably get me there.

[@LeonTodd]

@@calvinnelms9052 check out my SY1 and SY200 demos, it's pretty similar. Axe-Fx synth block isn't polyphonic but can get some great sounds

[@drewscs]

The price is worth it. It's the already saturated market that's the problem. We can't 'unbuy' all the other ones! And I own the pedal too!

[@TrumpetsInMy4x12]

That Room reverb sounds GREAT! As basic as it might be compared to some of the other algos. Very nice!

[@LeonTodd]

It's easy to forget how good the basic room, plate and hall are on this.

[@Dannys.channel]

Note: The best solos are done in the upper mid neck on the fourth third and second string. With a bit of the first. In case anyone is trying to figure out a formula to make a good solo.

[@rohbaert4062]

Nice demo and playing. Also interesting to see that you have the single locking nut (I guess the Apollo one) on your guitar. I can't wait until this is stock on the Dullahans and they release the version with the roasted fretboard in a few more sensible colors...then it's an instant buy ;)

[@LeonTodd]

Big improvement, I hope they make it standard issue!

[@peterharvin2775]

It sounds great. But like a lot of other commenters, I just can't see paying that much when there are so many wonderful but cheaper alternatives. Maybe if you had or had used the pedal and were happy and familiar with it, the plug-in makes sense. Great demo, though.

[@tendingtropic7778]

very cool that this exists now, price a bit steep, hope they do a black friday deal of some sorts

[@giancarlopaolini7529]

It must be a kinda devil combination....my last time in NYC I heard about lightnings striking suddenly even without clouds in the sky and as a poor Italian traveller I couldn't believe it. Three days later I could witness it in a small remote village in Pennsylvanya. Last week I was pondering how beatiful would have been to have around a Strymon plugin, even though I was honestly thinking about the Timeline, et-voilà we have now the BigSky plugin :-) yes, mine is an instant yes....just downloaded the demo and tested all its presets for a couple of hours. Yes, definitely it's much easier than struggling with knobs on the pedal so worth to consider its purchase.

[@giancarlopaolini7529]

After pondering on it for a few months I decided to have it today. The plugin version is way too cool for what it can offer. Valhalla ? ahahahah ....and if I tell you that I run the BigSky into the Supermassive ? ....Immense ...fun guys .....

[@Tone-Quest]

Great video LT! The sound of the plug-in is great but the price is too high. For that type of money, I’ll just look for a used one. Cheers

[@hoosierdaddy2308]

That thing sounds great. Styman stuff is always great from what I've seen. Always. Some of those presets are sweet. ♥️🤘♥️ I dig that guitar big time. I might have to look into one. We live in a great time for gear. Be well sir ♥️🤘♥️

[@hansgrayman4809]

It's good. But $199 good, compared to all the other reverbs out there? Not for me. It depends on what a person has in their studio in plugins already I'd say though. But once you have some good reverbs, there isn't that much difference between them I feel. Of course some people just want more. More plugins, more guitars, more amps, more mics, more compressors and pre's,...etc. I look at do I have what I need to do what I want to do. And the answer is yes in most ways. And more reverbs for $199 aren't one of the thing I need more of. They ask way too much for plugins these days. All the while if they paid attention to what the worlds economies are doing. People are tightening their belts. If this was $49, it would be more appealing to many people I think.

[@onesandzeros]

Thanks for the demo Leon. I wonder how much work is involved in getting the programming that's flashed on to the pedal's DSP chip into the software plug-in format.

[@LeonTodd]

likewise. I imagine it's not trivial, especially since coding for a DSP chip means you need it to work on that chip alone vs writing for various operating systems and plugin formats.

[@wolfsdenmusic9404]

Once again...yes, I know...I miss the point. Goes without saying the Big Sky sounds truly fantastic. But...that ending jam...you know just how to get me. lol Now I need to put on something like The Midnight because now I'm in that mood. :D

[@joejohnson8966]

A dream come true

[@MrSpike7590]

This is great for the Musician that is only working at home to save nearly half on the cost of the pedal. My only question is Where is the Timeline and Mobius Plug In??

[@LeonTodd]

Yeah it's a little weird they didn't drop all 3 to me, but the BigSky is probably the most popular of those 3 as a piece of outboard gear.

[@MrSpike7590]

@@LeonTodd I have a feeling the others will be coming in the near future.

[@Larry30102]

If I was a developer and read all the whining comments about the price I’d be dissuaded.

[@kendallivy8922]

Sounds pristine. Worth every penny. Are you playing through an amp/Axe FX/direct?

[@LeonTodd]

Axe-Fx

[@DavidBeebee]

Yeyeye that blue guitar man, every time I watch your vids i think I really should tune a guitar in drip C again! Ods-clean is my absolute go to, and live function gigging preset. Btw. Did you have any crashing issues with the plug-in?

[@LeonTodd]

All for the chunk! Plugin hasn't crashed on my yet, but I'm using one of the new mac studios which is pretty powerful

[@DavidBeebee]

@@LeonTodd 🤟🏻🤟🏻 rawk, love the chug, I just lose all ability to visualise the fretboard out of standard tuning 😹 ahh cool ok that’s interesting. The Mac Studio is running apple silicon. it has been mostly stable for me too really, I just moved a project from an Intel iMac to an M1 MacBook which caused the main problem.

[@LeonTodd]

@@DavidBeebee it could be worse - you could be tuned in all 4ths :p

[@DavidBeebee]

@@LeonTodd haha that’s cheat code tuning! 🫢😹 but yea I can’t do that either. I’m a standard basic boy all day.

[@LeonTodd]

@@DavidBeebee I wrote a song using that Fripp 5ths tuning he uses and then had to relearn it in standard which was one of those "never again" things for me. I basically never use the low string for soloing in Drop C anyway, unless it's to really throw something weird in there.

[@PerryCodes]

Would have liked to hear something a little more "Explosions in the Sky" for that Cloud algo...

[@peterjessop1878]

I haven't bought the pedal as the only algo I have ever been interested in was clouds and I have a bunch of other pedals/rack gear/VSTs that do all the other algos as well or better. $200 seems alot but goes along with Strymon's general pricing policy. I've also managed to create something similar to Clouds on Zoia. Personally therefore a no buy unless on a steep sale.

[@louderthangod]

Sounds good but not uniquely amazing compared to my other reverbs and for $200 I think they’ve priced themselves into the wrong market.

[@bruwallbillich]

Hi Leon, Since this isn't one of UAudio's plugins how are you avoiding latency? I also use the same interface but usually have to limit myself to their reverb plugins unless I replace the reverb after I record. Am I missing something?

[@LeonTodd]

Direct monitoring in pro-tools with this either as an insert or on an aux send

[@hummer222]

Big question for me is how this compares to the pedal. I've compared my Helix Rack to their Native plugin and the richness / depth is not quite there on the plugin.

[@ShreddingFinn]

Now all we need is a pedal that can load VSTs

[@PerryCodes]

Muse Research comeback? LOL. We'll be waiting a long time for this one...

[@6stringstandard136]

Nice demo...what pickups do you have in that Harley Benton?

[@LeonTodd]

They're the stock Roswell humbuckers, sounds great!

[@6stringstandard136]

@@LeonTodd They do sound great, but I bet a lot of that is because of the player.

[@KevinSparksatx]

I liked it when you played the Doogie Howser theme

[@JayTheLane]

Tried and it's decent but the market has so many great verbs, some of which are better and cheaper. Valhalla DSP make amazing stuff, you could bag Vintage Verb for $50 and their free Supermassive delay for ambient stuff. Valhalla also make their Shimmer Verb for $50. As also stated here Audiority make Xenoveeb which has a broad number of verbs including shimmer.

[@LeonTodd]

Supermassive is incredible! I have vintage verb and Room too, so worth it. The Fractal Reverb plugin is great and 50 bucks as well.

[@JayTheLane]

@@LeonTodd Nice one, didn't know Fractal make a reverb plug. Will have to check it out 👍🏼

[@TungstenCarlbide]

I've been needing to buy some plugins. My pedal addiction is going rampant

[@crossroadguitars]

cool looking lock nut you got on that Dullahan mate LOl

[@LeonTodd]

I know a guy who can sort you out :p

[@andycharles2353]

How much of this can you recreate on your FM9?

[@LeonTodd]

The FM9 verb will do all the vanilla stuff and the shimmers while the plex, megatap and multitap delays will handle the non-lin, magneto and bloom stuff. You could probably run reverb-formant and cop a bit of chorale too

[@je7647]

Waiting for a 400 dollar chase bliss vst at this rate

[@LeonTodd]

That only runs on Windows 95 machines, you know, for the vibe

[@Lamarro]

not sure if i want that plugin or spend 130 bucks more and get a dullahan xD

[@LeonTodd]

Priorities :D

[@joeyvega01]

Sounds great, but I agree it is priced too high.

[@jeffwatson7811]

I don’t have a horse in the race, but purely from a marketing perspective I am amazed by how many folks thinks this is way overpriced. I get the difference in resale value from pedals, but guitarists are paying premium prices for “botique” pedals all day long and rationalizing it away, when there are “cheaper” alternatives that get you most of the way there.

[@LeonTodd]

Relative to the pedal - absolute bargain. Relative to other reverb plugins it's a different proposition, when you have valhalla, FuseAudio etc offering plugins under $50 and even free which can achieve alot of these sounds.

[@3DScanClub]

Hall of the Mountain King? You should have more grey hairs to be rocking that in the background, my friend ;)

[@LeonTodd]

You know it!

[@garymorrison1009]

Its nice but only worth it if there is a 1/2 price sale. Once you pay exchange its damn near 300 bucks … no thanks

[@Simeon_Harris]

yeah, sounds really great but too expensive. keep an eye out for deals, i reckon. if they blow it out over black friday for 30 quid, it'll be a no brainer.

[@LeonTodd]

Black Friday 2023, here I come!

[@SeagoGuitarist]

I don't really understand the cost of this. I can only assume it's aimed for the recording studios market not home use. There are so many other options that provide way more versatility at this price point, especially if you add second hand stuff to that! It does sound awesome, I'll give it that. Strymon do have a reputation for high quality effects. I feel like this is a bit of a cop out/abuse of their reputation imo! Not quite Gibson 50k replica LP bad, but not good either! 😅😝 Would you ever use this live? Fact that it's digital does lessen any reliability concerns. Pros and cons I guess! 👀

[@JayTheLane]

To be honest I think they are cashing in on their name and also the understandable popularity of the Big Sky.

[@SeagoGuitarist]

@@JayTheLane inclined to agree. It's a shame really, they'd probably ironically have more sales at a lower price point. You'd expect it'd either break even compared to it's current cost, or exceed the profit margin! Poor business decision imo.

[@szveszs]

My opinion: the Big Sky: no, the Deco: Yes.

[@mvyper]

Sounds awesome, but not 200 bucks awesome.

[@musicman700]

I guess as with other plugins there will be a sale for sure, give it some time ;)

[@mvyper]

@@musicman700 still, you imagine how much they are trying to charge you when a plug-in that's normally at 200 goes for sale at 30, and they are still making profit?

[@musicman700]

@@mvyper This won't be a waves sale price of 29, don't expect that much. My guess 50-% max.

[@colelewis9940]

Save your money people. Get Valhalla plugins not this.

[@mvyper]

Yeah, totes.

[@LeonTodd]

Supermassive is literally zero dollars

[@JeffHendricks]

@@AzathothsAlarmClock LOL...

[@LeonTodd]

@@AzathothsAlarmClock 😂

[@PerryCodes]

Anyone using the free SuperMassive?

[@RoyChartier]

I'll save you 16 minutes: No.

[@officialpoa3171]

*NOT INTERESTED, IT HAS ZERO MIDI FUCTIONALITY, NO CC, NO PROGRAM CHANGE, NO ABILITY TO SAVE AND CHANGE PRESETS VIA MIDI.... ANOTHER WASTER OF MONEY WHEN THERE ARE FREE PLUGINS OUT HERE THAT CAN BE USED IN THE STUDIO.*

[@PerryCodes]

Is your CAPS LOCK key broke bud?

[@thetoxicnarcissist2466]

So how does ValhallaShimmer stack up against this?

[@deicide100]

This is a quick cash grab by Strymon. Companies either have to legitimately innovate or they'll head towards oblivion with this 'repackaging existing products' model.

[@thetoxicnarcissist2466]

I think Strymon is a little TOO proud of their product. They're making you pay exorbitant prices for the NAME.