Strymon Bigsky User Manual

USER MANUAL

®

BigSky - User Manual	®

Front Panel Controls

VALUE: Turn for fine adjustment of			DECAY: Controls the		PRE-DELAY: Adjusts the time
Decay time when time is displayed.			Decay time of the		between the dry signal and the
Scrolls through presets when bank			reverberated signal.		onset of the reverb, from 0 to 1.5
or name is displayed. Push to access			The range can depend		seconds. For the Nonlinear and
the PARAMETER menu, hold to			on the selected		Magneto machines, this knob
access the GLOBAL menu.			reverb machine.		controls the amount of Feedback.
TYPE: Turn to select
desired reverb
machine. Push to
toggle the display
to show Decay time
or the current bank.
Hold to save current
preset.
TONE: Adjusts the
high end content of
the reverb. Lower
settings create
darker, warmer
reverberation, higher
settings are bright
and crisp. Set at 12:00
for a nicely balanced
top end.
A, B, & C LEDS:
Green if active.
Amber if the preset		A, B, & C FOOTSWITCHES: Press to engage or bypass preset of the current
has been edited. Off if
		bank. Hold for Infinite Sustain or Freeze (selectable via PARAMETER menu).
bypassed.
		Press A & B to select a lower bank. Press B & C to select a higher bank.

MIX: Controls the balance of your analog dry signal and your wet signal, from 100% dry at minimum to 100% wet at maximum. 50/50 mix occurs when the Mix knob is set to 3:00.

MOD: Adds modulation to the reverberated signal. Lower settings modulate the delay lines lightly for a subtle and natural movement, higher settings tastefully add stronger modulation.

PARAM 1 & 2:

Assignable to parameters for the current reverb

machine. To assign, choose the desired parameter, press and hold value encoder while turning a PARAM knob.

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BigSky - User Manual	®

Rear Panel

INPUTS: High	OUTPUTS: Use		MIDI: Full				POWER: Never
			featured MIDI				plug into voltage
impedance inputs.	LEFT output for
			input and output				higher than 9V DC.
Use LEFT input for	mono.
		CAB FILTER	supporting CCs,				Requires at least
mono.
		SWITCH: Set	Program changes,				300mA of available
		switch to ON for	etc. See MIDI				current. 9V DC
	EXP: Connect an	a sophisticated	Specification				center negative
		speaker	section.				polarity.
	expression pedal. See
		response curve.
	EXP Connections
		See Cab Filter.

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BigSky - User Manual	®

In Depth: PARAM 1 & 2 controls

The PARAM 1 & PARAM 2 knobs allow you quick access to any desired menu parameter of the currently active reverb machine. For example, DIFUSN on the Cloud machine can be assigned to one of the parameter knobs to allow for easier control over the reverb diffusion.

Reverb time ranges and Display

			to toggle the display between
push the			BANK, NAME & TIME
TYPE encoder
The displayed Decay time is the Tr60 value, which is the time it takes for the reverberated signal to
decay to -60dB (1/1000th) of its initial value.
Hall, Plate, Swell, Bloom, Chorale, Shimmer						500mS — +20.00S
Spring						800mS — 10.00S
Cloud						1.00S — +50.00S
Magneto						200mS — 1.50mS
Nonlinear						50mS — 2.00S
Reflections						133mS — 400mS
Room						200mS — +20.00S	pg 4

BigSky - User Manual	®

EXP Connections

	Connect an external TAP
	switch for remote control
	of Pre-Delay (or Decay
	time with the Magneto
	and Nonlinear machines).
	Use a standard TRS cable
	to connect the external	TAP
	switch. Set the EXP MD
	global setting to TAP to
	use external tap.

Connect a standard TRS expression pedal for continuous control over any knob. To select the knob(s) controlled by the expression pedal, use the EP SET parameter in each preset. All knobs can be controlled simultaneously. See

Common Parameters for set up instructions.

Connect a Strymon MultiSwitch for external tap, bank, or preset selection. Set the EXP MD global setting to either TAP, BANK, or PRESET.

Please refer to the MultiSwitch user manual for detailed setup information: www.strymon.net/support/ multiswitch

OR

TRS

®

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BigSky - User Manual	®

Banks and Presets

BigSky has 100 banks with A, B, and C presets in each bank. Banks are numbered 00 to 99 on the display.

Note: BigSky ships from the factory with the first 100 presets (00A-33A) duplicated from 33B-66B, and again from 66C-99C.

Saving Presets

Save a preset to the current location:

	hold the			push the TYPE encoder
TYPE encoder				to save your settings

Save a preset to a new location:

	hold the				turn the
TYPE encoder				VALUE encoder

to select the bank to save to

or

push the TYPE encoder or the A, B, or C footswitch to save your settings

To cancel an in-progress save press the VALUE encoder.

Restoring Factory Presets

CAUTION: This procedure will erase any custom presets saved in your BigSky and restore them to factory

REINIT will be displayed and all factory presets will automatically be restored

POWER UP BigSky while holding A & C.

Keep holding for 5 seconds after BigSky has powered up.

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BigSky - User Manual	®

Editing Parameters

While displaying BANK,

to enter PARAMS

to select the

NAME or TIME

push the

menu

turn the

PARAMETER

VALUE encoder

VALUE encoder

	and turn to edit
push the	the selected
VALUE encoder	PARAMETER

Reverb Machines: Common Parameters

All Reverb Machines share a set of parameters. These parameters are saved with each preset and include:

Boost: +/- 3dB of boost/cut. This can be useful for level matching in your effects chain, or can be used as an effect such as boosting a solo with reverb.

Persist: Turns on reverb persist “trails” which will spill over when the effect is bypassed. Use this if it is desired for reverb decay to continue after the effect has been bypassed. Note that if persist is set to ON, the bypass mode will automatically be set to analog bypass.

Hold: Sets the press-and-hold function for the selected preset switch. Select INFNTE to set as Infinite Sustain, allowing your reverbs to continue infinitely, with each new note you play adding to the reverb signal. Select FREEZE to set as Reverb Freeze, delivering infinite sustain, and allowing for new notes on top of the sustain without adding to the reverb.

Name: Allows editing the 16 character name of the current preset. Use the VALUE encoder to change the selected character. Use the TYPE encoder to select a character. Exit by pressing

the VALUE encoder, then press and hold the TYPE encoder to SAVE the name permanently. note: For the preset name to be displayed the NAMES global must be set to ON or SCROLL.

Expression Pedal ON/OFF: Enables or disables the expression pedal input for each preset.

Expression Pedal Set: Enters the expression pedal setup for each preset. All knobs can be configured to be used with the expression pedal. To set up which knobs are controlled by the expression pedal, push the Value encoder when it displays “EP SET” and it will then display “HEEL”. Turn the knob(s) to the position desired at heel down on the expression pedal. Then, turn the Value encoder right to display”TOE” and set the knobs to their desired values at the toe down position on the expression pedal. An expression pedal can control all of the knobs

simultaneously.	pg 7

BigSky - User Manual	®

Reverb Machines: Room

A versatile room algorithm that creates environments ranging from well-tuned studio ambience to larger night club acoustics. The Tone knob, Diffusion and Low End parameters adjust the damping and scattering effects of room materials, furniture, and people.

PARAMETERS:

Low End: Affects the low frequency content and decay profile. As you turn it up, more low frequencies reverberate creating the impression of longer decay times and a room that is sparsely furnished.

			+	| |	-

Size: Choose Studio for a well-tuned intimate studio environment, or Club for a larger, livelier Night Club experience. The early reflections and reverb decay profile change accordingly.

STUDIO

CLUB

Diffusion: Softens the early reflections to create a thicker, more diffused reverb at the attack portion of the reverb. Sometimes this can be more easily ‘felt’ than heard depending on the input and specific settings.

			+	| |	-

TIPS & TRICKS:

For realistic acoustic spaces, Pre-Delay can be kept at minimum, with Decay values in the 500mS to 2 second range. However, the Room algorithm is designed to be just as adept at long decay times. For great atmospheric reverbs, try Pre-Delay at noon, Decay at 12 seconds or more, and Mod at 1:00. Mix to taste.

The Mod control randomly modulates the reverb’s delay lengths for the first half of the knob travel for subtle natural movement, and then adds modulation to the input of the reverb tank for the 2nd half of the knob travel for a more overt yet tasteful modulation experience.

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