Eventide Blackhole & MicroPitch Immersive

Eventide’s celebrated reverb and pitch/modulation plug‑ins have been reinvented — with immersive audio applications in mind.

Way back in SOS September 2012, Paul White reviewed the original Eventide Blackhole reverb plug‑in; more recently, in August 2020, he assessed their MicroPitch. Towards the end of last year, Eventide released new versions of both plug‑ins with the multi‑channel capability needed by those working in immersive audio. The plug‑ins come in AAX, AU and VST3 64‑bit formats, for Windows and Mac operating systems. Windows users will need Windows 8 or higher, Mac users OS 10.14 or higher, on either Intel or Silicon machines, and you’ll also need an iLok account. The original stereo‑only versions are still available separately (and more affordably), and if you already own those, Eventide offer a more affordable ‘crossgrade’ option to the immersive versions.

Overview

Both the new plug‑ins are laid out in similar fashion, with the same colour scheme and corresponding controls in the same locations. Those accustomed to the stereo versions will see a lot of familiar controls here, but there are obviously quite a few differences, too — not to mention a bunch of new presets. The multi‑channel output formats supported are LCR, Quadraphonic, 5.0 to 5.1.4, and 7.0 to 7.1.4; following an update in January 2024, mono, stereo and 9.1.6 are now supported too. I was initially unable to get the 7.1.4 option working on Mac/Pro Tools Ultimate 2023.6, but happily the update fixed this. The Immersive plug‑ins will upmix to whichever of those layouts you desire, so you can insert an instance on a mono or stereo channel and route the channel output to a quad bus or 7.1.2 bed, for example.

The plug‑in displays can be resized by dragging from the bottom right corner, and holding down the Command key on Mac or Ctrl key on Windows while changing parameters lets you fine‑tune the settings. Several controls and parameters are common to both plug‑ins too. The input and output level are each adjustable between ‑60 and +12 dB, and along the bottom of each plug‑in are input and output meters, displayed as simple dots, to give you an indication of when signal is present, or if you’re overloading the ins or outs anywhere. Clicking on the mixer icon in this section gives you the option to control the level of the effect going to each output channel. For example, on a 7.1.2 instance you’re given output level control over the front LCR channels, L and R sides, L and R rear, LFE (which also contains a mute option) and L and R top.

The mixer, available in both plug‑ins, allows you to determine how much of the effect output is sent to the different channels in your immersive mix project.

In the centre of each GUI is a very flexible three‑band EQ, with high and low shelves (both switchable to cut filters) and a parametric mid band. This can be used as a general EQ, over the whole effect, but the front, top and rear channels can also be EQ’d independently. Mix is obviously a control that sets the blend of the dry and wet signals. This has a useful lock function, which ensures that your chosen mix blend will remain the same when auditioning different presets. It may seem a simple idea, but it’s so helpful! The Kill Dry button mutes the input signal, and this can be especially useful on the Blackhole reverb plug‑in, as it makes it easier to audition and tweak the reverb sound when you insert this plug‑in on an audio track rather than using it as a send effect. Kill Wet is a momentary button that damps the reverb tail and mutes the effect. Both buttons can be automated, which opens the door to some clever creative effects.

The EQ section on both plug‑ins can operate globally or on individual channels.

Though it’s been renamed Morph, the ribbon control from the stereo version is still here, and operates in exactly the same way. You start by hitting the ‘I’ button on...