Blackhole – The Extraterrestrial Reverb! “Blackhole” is a reverb plugin like no other, the epic, evolving soundscapes, haunting drones and sinuous ambiences that it spits out have to be heard to be believed! It’s many amazing features include: Incredibly easy to use with over 50 presets; many created by Eventide artists.; Unique “Gravity” control reverses the arrow of time.

Blackhole Reverb by Eventide Buy and get FREE. DriveShaper Dubstation 2 'The huge reverb would lend itself perfectly to cavernous echoes on dubstep snares, for example. More subtle settings sound exceptional on soft pad sounds, classic deep house Rhodes chords and even on percussion parts.' Attack Magazine. Attack is an electronic music magazine.
A guitar pick bearing the Eventide name is even included. The connectivity options found on the back of the Blackhole are comprehensive. Being primarily a producer and mixer, it’s more likely this pedal will be used in a re-amping or hardware insert context in my studio rather than on a pedalboard, and to that end, the Blackhole delivers.

Eventide has finally released a dedicated guitar pedal for their renowned Blackhole reverb algorithm. The Blackhole reverb has been a mainstay in many of their hardware and software products since its debut in the Ultra-Harmonizer DSP4000. The expansive reverb certainly lives up to its namesake with an enormous, dense sound that’s not for the faint of heart. Four of our reviewers put the Blackhole pedal through a long-term test to see how it performed in each of their unique workflows. Their comments in quotes below.

Otherworldly Reverb

For those who are unfamiliar with the Blackhole reverb, please note, this is not your typical, plate, small room, hall or even cathedral reverb, this is, as Eventide describes it, “otherworldly” and “an alternate dimension of ambience.” Our reviewers agreed. “While this reverb is not for everyone, Eventide has captured what makes the Blackhole so special and adroitly translated it into a pedal with plenty of tricks up its sleeve.”

Eventide Blackhole Review

What precisely makes the Blackhole reverb algorithm so special? It’s not easy to do big reverbs. Many sound grainy, granulated and polluted, or worse, thin and tinny. Not the Blackhole. Our reviewers pushed guitars, synthesizers, drum machines, drone machines, experimental acoustic instruments (Waterphone!) through the Blackhole and came away impressed. “It’s really dense, but it possesses a soft charisma that can enhance all the right qualities of your source material, if you have the patience to work your way through the parameters.” It’s these controls which set the Blackhole pedal apart from past products and allow you to “precisely shape and fine tune every part of the reverb,” observed one evaluator.

Ground Control To Major Tom

Let’s take a look at the Blackhole pedal’s controls. On the top of the pedal, there are six knobs, two foot switches and three buttons. Mix sets the degree of dry/wet signal to the output. The Gravity knob determines the amount of decay, allowing you to shape the reverb’s tail. More accurately it acts like an envelope affecting the density and character of the reverb. Clockwise from the 12:00 o’clock Off Position is Normal decay, while counter-clockwise provides an Inverse decay. “Gravity is where a lot of the Blackhole’s magic occurs,” noted one evaluator, “and moving it into the Inverse territory is where things can go beautifully wrong. I love using it on more experimental analog synths, like the Soma Labs Lyra8.” Pressing the down arrow button to the right of the top row of knows acts as Shift giving you access to each knob’s secondary parameter. In the case of the Gravity, the secondary function is Delay, or more accurately Pre-Delay (0 – 2000ms), which is the time between the incoming signal and the onset of the Blackhole’s processing.

The Feedback knob has several dynamic functions. Rotating it completely clockwise makes the Blackhole “Freeze” the current reverb and allows you to play a dry signal on top of it. Dialing the knob back a bit, provides Infinite Decay, extending the reverb, but also affecting any additional signal that you input. This can get “sloppy pretty quickly,” so “additional thought and care is required so you don’t leave the gas on and light a match.”

You can also access the Freeze function using the right footswitch. The secondary function is Q, the resonance of the Lo/Hi filters. The Lo filter is a shelf type operating at 350 Hz and Hi is a shelf at 2000 Hz. The filters come at the end of the reverb chain, providing the ability to reign in unwanted muddiness or smooth out the tails for even more sound sculpting. It is also worth noting that turning up the Feedback control also significantly influences the Pre-Delay, which then becomes more of a regular delay, but with a longer attack for a pumping effect.

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Size Matters

The Size knob defines the reverb’s space, anything from a small room to, well, a galaxy. Although the Blackhole algorithm is known for its expansive environments, it can do small spaces as well. Secondary functions under the Size and Lo knobs are depth and rate modulation controls. This performs almost like a Chorus while adding some subtle motion to the reverb’s tail. The secondary feature of the Hi knob is Output Level, which sets the pedal’s overall output level. The Left Switch marked Active is your basic on/off switch to activate or deactivate the effect. However, pushing the small button above it, turning off the LED, transforms the Active Switch’s function to a momentary on/off effect. This is also utilized for stepping through the five onboard presets in conjunction with the Freeze switch. It sounds a bit wonky, but it’s quite easy once you get the hang of it.

Although Eventide designed the pedal so the user has complete control over all the parameters, you can also dive under the hood with the Eventide Device Manager software available for both Mac and PC. It wasn’t as intuitive as one of our evaluators would have desired, but it works as advertised, simply connect the Mini USB to your computer, launch the Eventide Device Manager and you can update the firmware, import/export/restore the presets, backup the entire device and more. Users of the software, including our reviewers, would certainly benefit from an update to “round off the edges,” including the ability to drag and drop.

Eventide Blackhole Pedal Features:

Control the Size of your space from a small room to a limitless universe
Use Pre-Delay to offset the onset of the reverb
Turn up Feedback to go beyond the event horizon
Tap the Freeze Footswitch to instantly ‘freeze’ your sound
Dual action Active Footswitch is latching or momentary
Rear panel Guitar/Line Level switch for selecting use with guitar, synths, FX loop or DAW interface
Map any combination of parameters to an Expression Pedal
Eventide Device Manager for PC and Mac included
Use a single Aux switch to Tap Tempo or a triple Aux switch for easy preset changing (up/down/load)
Five presets loaded at your feet with dozens more available with Eventide Device Manager (EDM) software
MIDI capability over TRS (use with a MIDI to TRS cable or converter box) or USB
Multiple Bypass options: Buffered, Relay, DSP+FX or Kill dry
Catch-up mode helps dial in your sound when toggling between presets/parameters
Fine-tune your tone with Lo, Hi and Q (resonance) controls. Use the tone controls to add airiness or clear up the low-end. Map the EQ controls to an expression pedal to add movement to the reverb tail
Gravity control to custom-tailor the reverb tail in two realms — normal or inverse decay.

Is The Eventide Blackhole Pedal For You?

Good question. Regarding the multitude of reverb guitar pedals on the market, will adding the Blackhole to your quiver make a $300 impact on your sound? Our reviewe