Madrona Labs has introduced Aaltoverb, a audio effect that they describe as a ‘performance reverb’.

Aaltoverb is a reverberator that’s designed for smooth tweakability. Any of its controls, including the reverb size, can be adjusted in realtime, without making clicks. They say “this can bring fresh sounds to a mix, and particularly shines in a live performance setup.”

With Aaltoverb, you can smoothly change the size of the virtual space that the sound is reverberating in. This results in in pitch shifting that is reminiscent of what tape delays do when the speed changes. But instead of a single speed, the shift applies to the whole acoustic space, vibrating “air” and all.

So a giant room can turn smoothly into a small and natural sounding chamber, and then into a tiny and very unnatural resonator.

The video, embedded above, demonstrates using Aaltoverb to gate and mangle a few free-running instances of Aalto.

Pricing and Availability

Aaltoverb is available now, for Mac & Windows, for US $35.