Eventide
The second in Eventide’s H9 Plug-In Series
sees the MangledVerb algorithm from the H9
Harmonizer stompbox – previously found in the
Eclipse rackmount efects unit – reborn as a VST/
AU/AAX plugin. Being part of the same family, it
shares its GUI styling and certain functional
elements with the UltraTap delay (9/10,
249),
as well as the venerable Blackhole (9/10,
181).
At irst glance, MangledVerb appears to be a
fairly unremarkable reverb with the intriguing
addition of a distortion control. As soon as you
start using it, though, it becomes apparent that
said distortion is utterly intrinsic to the overall
direction and sound of the efect.
The lie of the land
The irst thing that needs to be said about
MangledVerb is that the signal path isn’t at all
well represented by the layout of the interface,
which has the controls for each section
positioned in a bizarrely haphazard fashion.
Despite appearances, then, the input signal irst
enters the reverb section, the output of which is
shaped by a three-band EQ and modulation
stage, before inally being hurled through the
distortion section. The dry/wet blend is set with
the Mix control, and Eventide’s brilliant Ribbon
and Hotswitch parameter morphing and
switching controllers bring a powerful
performance angle – see Hot to trot.
The reverb Size and Decay knobs set the
distance and length of the relections and tail.
Size ranges from intimately tiny to massively
epic, while Decay (which is scaled from 0100,
rather than in milliseconds) governs the attack
level of the reverb as well as the tail length. At
low Decay settings, the attack drops far enough
to generate reverse reverb-style efects well
suited to MangledVerb’s sound design-
orientated remit. Up to 1500ms of predelay is on
tap, too, set freely or tempo-synced.
The EQ consists of High and Low shelves, and
a sweepable mid-band (3002000Hz). Like the
Decay time, the EQ gain knobs aren’t
representatively scaled in decibels, ranging
instead from -100 to 100.
The Wobble knob governs both the rate and
depth of reverb pitch modulation, from totally
straight at 0 to seriously quavering at 100.
Distorted view
At last we come to the distortion, as controlled
by the Softclip/Overdrive knob and gain-
compensated for with the Level knob. Softclip/
Overdrive applies soft clipping from fully
anticlockwise to the centre detent, then
switches to dialling in overdrive from centre to
fully clockwise. The jump from one to the other
in the middle is presumably as smooth as
Eventide could make it, but there’s still a very
noticeable drop in intensity that needs to be
borne in mind when automating the knob.
Most importantly, both styles of distortion
sound glorious, with the pre-distortion EQ
making it easy to tailor the response to the
source material, correctively or creatively.
Anything but polite (once you get past the lower
end of soft clipping), the distortion merges with
the reverb to often dazzling efect, adding bite,
sizzle and space to regular instrumentation (or
savagely decimating it), and delivering a wealth
of harmonically interesting colours for sound
and soundscape design.
A unique textural spatialising and saturation
toolbox, MangledVerb is a ilthy treat.
Web www.eventideaudio.com
E v e n t i d e
MangledVerb $79
What happens when reverb and distortion collide? Great things, it
would seem, if this innovative hybrid plugin is anything to go by…
Verdict
For Wholly successful combination of
reverb and distortion
Ribbon and Hotswitch controllers
Creative Decay parameter behaviour
Excellent presets
Against Unintuitive layout
Uninformative EQ gain and decay scales
It might look a bit thrown together, but
MangledVerb makes for a powerful
weapon in any sound design armoury
8 / 1 0
Alternatively
D16 Group Toraverb 2
253 » 10/10 » €69
No distortion, but one of the best
algorithmic reverbs available at this
price point nonetheless.
ValhallaDSP ValhallaRoom
166 » 8/10 » $50
Again, not really the same kind of
reverb, but with four superb
algorithms onboard, it’s a beauty.
Eventide’s proprietary Ribbon and Hotswitch
performance controllers feel every bit as at
home built into MangledVerb as they are
UltraTap and Blackhole, opening the plugin
up to highly expressive macro automation
and A/B state switching.
The Ribbon is a MIDI-controllable slider
that interpolates every control between two
user-deined endpoint states as the “electric
arc” is dragged left and right or clicked to any
discrete point along its horizontal length. The
‘left’ and ‘right’ states of each knob are set by
dragging the two dots collaring it, or
activating the Learn mode button at either
end of the Ribbon.
The Hotswitch, meanwhile, is used to jump
any or all parameters instantly between two
further states. Hold the Hotswitch button
down until it lashes, set the knobs as
required, then click the button repeatedly to
toggle all knobs between the original state
and the newly set state.
Hot to trot
MangledVerb
$79
April 2018 / COMPUTER MUSIC / 99
eventide mangledverb / reviews <
CMU254.rev_mangledverb.indd 99 06/02/2018 13:13