It's really hard for me to believe that Erica Synths started from a successful DIY kit of the Polivoks filter. Did anyone see them growing from that beginning into the company that now makes an incredible array of killer synth modules, the SYNTRX, Perkons HD-01, not to mention their collaborations with Richie Hawtin (Bullfrog), Sonic Potions (LXR-02), the Ninja Tune record label (Zen Delay), Moritz Klein (EDU DIY kits), Dr. Shalom D. Ruben (EDU DIY Labor), and even giving new life to classic Hex Inverter modules that had been discontinued? Not I. They even make a vest and cat socks. Their excellence seemingly knows no bounds (though that vest…) and their Nightverb desktop reverb synth unit, an ultra-playable instrument, is testament to that.
Another collaboration, this time with Utrecht-based plugin maestros 112dB, who they've paired with on effects modules before, Nightverb is sturdy, black, kinda sexy, and has what looks to be a Lymantria dispar dispar (aka spongy moth) image on top. While the spongy moth doesn't have the greatest reputation, it looks cool here, and if anything, Nightverb might help this much maligned insect with its image by association.
A stereo reverb, Nightverb features fourteen knobs, a couple of buttons, and an attractive and easy-to-read screen. It has MIDI and USB connectivity, an external user configurable footswitch input, and stereo ins and outs.
Nightverb at its core is a tape delay emulation reverb, with an alternate "dirty" mode that transforms it to a BBD emulation reverb. While there are a number of desktop reverbs that are similar in function and form factor, Nightverb, with its one-knob-per-functionality, minimal menu diving (there is some, but it is 100% painless, I guarantee!), and generous sized controls is aimed at performability. The controls let you dial in and control every main function that you would want to on a reverb unit; input and output level, wet/dry level, room/space size, feedback, predelay, and even high/low EQ (which you can cut or boost each separately.) There are a couple of less commonly seen controls, namely Spin, which increases turbulence in the reverb space, Early/Late, a reflection control (Early is closer to the sound source, Late is further away), and Shape, which alters the ratio between the early and late reflections. As a final way to control or shape the reverb itself (as opposed to the EQ), there's also a Hi-Damp and Lo-Damp control, helpful for keeping the reverb in check—or not. I commend Erica Synths for not just keeping menu scrolling to a minimum, but making Nightverb so unfussy. It really is about exploring the reverb space, and that space is massive and endless. Sometimes. Other times, you blink and you miss it. And that is one of Nightverb's greatest strengths—its versatility.
From short bathroom slap reverbs to cavernous spacey drones, Nightverb can do it all, and sounds excellent doing so. I was really impressed with the relative warmth of the sound and how responsive and musical tweaking the room shaping parameters were. And this tweaking is what really won me over for Nightverb, because when I first saw and heard it, it was unmistakable how good it sounded (and looked), but it was the changing of the space; sometimes to explore, others to hone in, even others to tame or control the tone, that revealed how valuable Nightverb can be. On one hand, you can do a lot of this in a DAW, and I think in some applications, like those where I want to dial in my reverb and forget about it, I might do just that, but when's the last time you played your verb plugin like an angelic vocal choir? Something that sounds like the ghost of a piano? Every time I power on Nightverb and turn a few knobs I feel like I'm discovering something new, and it's interesting that with fewer controls, fewer options than a lot of other digital reverb units or plugins, that this invites discovery. Everything I ran through it—vocals, modular, piano, random room noise—sounded beautiful. I am surprised that there aren't alternate parameters for each control, it just seems like Nightverb is ripe for that (whether you use it that way or not), but I get it too; it's easy to learn, easy to play, and easy to explore because of how it's designed. I love the fact that there are decent EQ controls as well as low and high filtering; something about that feels powerful.
And yes, while there is filtering to be had on Nightverb, unlike on a subtractive monosynth or VCF module, that's not the star here—the size of the reverb space is, and that is what is reserved for the biggest knob on Nightverb. I gotta say that playing with it is just as fun as sweeping the frequency of a LPF.
I remember the days of glitchy digital changes, when it took time for a processor to catch up with a delay time change or something of the like. Kinda fun, but also kind of sad. Those days are long gone, and because of this, Nightverb lets you play the size of the space like an instrument, changing pitch when the room changes size, like a delay would when there's a delay time change. There's also a Freeze button, which is also fun to play with, like putting down a layer of carpet before putting your finely woven tapestry on top of that, and one of the great things Nightverb has that most others (do any others?) don't is the ability to play the Freeze as a sound. You can do this by changing the Size control, or you can do this via MIDI. This means that you can do something like sing into Nightverb, freeze your vocal tail, and then play it, turning Nightverb into a sampler, more or less. Any signal you put into Nightverb can be played this way, and even though you can't save the input signal as part of a preset as you would on a sampler, this is good fun, and in a live setting, having a MIDI keyboard hooked up to do just that is nothing short of spectacular. You can freeze, play that delay tail for a bit, maybe some delay tail 8-bit hi-hat reverb Blue Train or something, then unfreeze and go back to your doom slosh. Another interesting feature on Nightverb is preset morphing where you're able to set a morph time when switching between presets. The morphing between settings can be pretty interesting and can be another effect in and of itself, as those in-between spots, those transitions can produce some truly beautiful and interesting moments. There's even a "Magic" feature whereupon Nightverb makes random parameter settings and makes it a preset.
Erica Synths makes it clear that Nightverb is to be a main reverb unit and not something to sit in the background. There are no CV inputs on it; you're not going to modulate this thing with your Eurorack rig (well, there is the MIDI connectivity…). As part of a live setup, I can't think of a better reverb unit to incorporate as an instrument with its combination of spacious playability, ease of use, great sounds, and, of course, cool looks. And while putting such an extremely destructive and invasive insect on the cover of their manual and the instrument itself (coincidentally, in the manual, it seems to be tweaking the Size parameter; even the Lymantria dispar dispar knows…), Nightverb is more constructive than destructive, and brings much beauty into the world, not destroying it as the much maligned moth tends to do.

Price: $599

ericasynths.lv