RECORDING May 2023 - 64

for the source and song " controls on the
Cloudburst, going from gentle and undulating
to obvious, swishy and swimmy.
Ensemble
According
to
Strymon,
Ensemble
" works by continuously analyzing 48
different frequency bands as you play,
generating upper harmonic partials of
what it finds in each frequency band. "
Ensemble adds sparse (mp) or thick
(forte) layers of harmonic voices, turning
your guitar, synth, voice, cello, kazoo,
etc., into a pad-like sound.
This is not your typical multilayer
pitch-shifted delay effect that we typically
know as " crystals " or " ice, " nor is
it like the formant-based vowel tones in
other Strymon offerings. The " orchestral
inspired " Ensemble is less hard-edged
than those effects, being more organic,
fluid and soft (regarding its overall envelope
and layering). The sound of Ensemble
is also significantly informed by
your source instrument, its tonal range
and how hard and loud you play. The
result is again quite pad-like and has a
string section or choral quality.
In the Mix
While the Cloudburst is a guitar-centric
stompbox-great for adding liquid washes,
textural drones and ghost-like trails to
your six-string passages, it is equally great
as a studio effect on analog synths, strings,
backing vocals, and even sparse atmospheric
sequence and percussion parts.
Used as a studio effect, the Cloudburst
is clean and quiet, rivaling, if not beating,
the noise floor and the sonic quality
of many high-end classic outboard reverb
units.
This is Ambient
The Cloudburst indeed does what it
says it does. This is, first and foremost, an
ambient reverb and all that it implies. If
you want springs, plates, halls and rooms,
Strymon makes other pedals better suited
to said tasks. That said, the Cloudburst
can create some fantastic small rooms,
echoey ambiance, and even short chorus
and chorale-like doubling effects.
The Cloudburst is currently hooked up
to my reissue rev 4 Sequential Prophet-5
(mono in/stereo out). I have been having
a blast crafting expansive, deep textural
drones and tones with this combo. It's an
outstanding balance of set-it-and-forgetit
simplicity, and small dial turns yield
significant changes.
The USB-C MIDI function (also found
in all V2 Strymon offerings) is well implemented.
Writing and automating every
parameter on the pedal in a MIDI track
in my DAW (Cubase 12) is painless and
super-creative as I play and tweak in real-time,
which makes for some tremendous
morphing soundscape textures.
It's a Wrap...
or Maybe it's a Warp
The Cloudburst is a great addition
not only to the Strymon pedal line but
to the world of guitar pedals in general.
It's creatively focused, easy to use, affordable
(barely more than many highend
reverb plugins), and, most of all, it
sounds fantastic. If you are after deep
ensemble textures for your guitar, synth
or mix, let the Cloudburst wash over
your ambient desires.
Price: $279
More From: strymon.com
http://strymon.com https://www.usefulartsaudio.com
RECORDING May 2023

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