Noise Engineering Desmodus Versio Stereo Reverb / DSP Platform

Desmodus Versio is Noise Engineering’s long anticipated take on a reverb. This is a true stereo in/stereo out or mono in/stereo out effect. Less of a room simulator and more of a synthetic tail generator with features designed for sound design and performance, the parameters on DV allow you to take the effect from a delay to a beautiful reverb to an uncanny, nightmarish atmosphere in the twist of a few knobs. Not only is DV a unique reverb, it’s a stereo DSP platform.

A simple USB connection will allow you to update DV to a variety of future effects firmwares. Open-source support will be released near the end of the year, too, which will allow you to write your own firmware!

Input and output voltages

All CV inputs expect 0-5v. All pots act as offsets and sum with the input CV. The FSU gate input responds to signals above +2 V.

The audio inputs clip around 16 V peak to peak.

Interface

Blend: Dry/wet balance control. When turned fully left, the unmodified input signal is passed through. Fully right, only the processed signal is heard. Points in the middle give you a mix of both.

A good way to hear Blend is with high Regen values and Tone and Index set to 12 o’clock.

Tone: A filter in the reverb tank. This is a bipolar control: turning the knob to the left controls a lowpass filter, and to the right controls a highpass filter. In the center, the filter is disabled.

A good way to hear Tone is with high Regen values, and Blend and Index at 12 o’clock

Regen: Amount of feedback in the reverb tank. Regen controls a wide range of tones and behaviors. All the way to the left, feedback is minimized. As you turn up to about 12 o’clock, DV generates shorter reverbs, emulating smaller synthetic spaces. Past this point, the reverb reaches 100% feedback, creating spaces with an infinite tail. Past 3 o’clock, the infinite reverbs are ducked by new sounds at the input, creating sidechain-type effects.

Speed: The speed of the internal LFO. The LFO can modulate the delay lines, and modulation amount is controlled by the Index parameter. A good way to hear Speed is with a low Size setting, Density and Index fully clockwise, and a high Regen setting.

Index: The amount of LFO sent to the delay lines that make up the reverb. This is a bipolar control: in the center the LFO is disabled. To the left, the LFO modulates the delay lines randomly. To the right, the LFO modulates the delay lines with a sine wave. The Speed parameter controls the rate of the LFO.

Size: The delay time of the reverb.

Dense: The spacing of the delay lines. To the left, the effect sounds more like a delay; to the right, the delays are smeared into reverb.

FSU: This control maxes out the Regen control and mutes the input to the reverb when the button is pressed, or when a high gate is sent to its input.

In L/In R: Audio input. If R is not patched, the signal from L is normaled to both inputs.

Out L/Out R: Stereo output pair.

LIM/DST/SHM: Reverb style.

• LIM (Limit): A clean reverb, using limiting within the reverb tank to contain feedback.
• DST (Distort): Similar to LIM, but instead of limiting within the reverb tank, slight saturation is applied for a more distorted sound.
• SHM (Shimmer): A demonic pitch-shifting algorithm. Adds a one octave pitch shift that feeds back into the input. 

BND/LRP/JMP: Changes how the delay lines respond when the panel controls are modulated. To hear each mode clearly, turn Regen fully clockwise and modulate the Size parameter.

• BND (Blend): Crossfades the delay times for smoother changes.
• LRP (Interpolate): Slowly changes delay line length, has audible pitch shift effects due to the delay lines changing length. 4
• JMP (Jump): Quickly changes delay line length, for audible and fast changes.