ValhallaShimmer, Meet Korg Monotron. Korg Monotron, Meet ValhallaShimmer.

My old friend David Hopper gave me a Korg Monotron yesterday. I’ve had an insane amount of fun getting R2D2 noises, FM drones, and rhythmic beats out of this little battery operated analog synth.

Today, I recorded a few short Monotron drones through ValhallaShimmer. I’m using 4 series instances of Shimmer, with 2 of the instances pitch shifting the feedback by +/- 12 semitones and +/- semitones. Here’s what came out:

For reference, here is the original Monotron track with no instances of ValhallaShimmer enabled:

ValhallaShimmer was designed to create a huge amount of sonic complexity out of any sound source. By using a simple sound source such as the Monotron and controlling only a few parameters (Pitch, VCF Cutoff, VCF Peak), you can make big sounds that are responsive to subtle sonic gestures.

In other ValhallaShimmer news, I ported the plugin to Windows VST and RTAS late last week. I need to add some optimizations to the Windows code, but this should allow me to release the Windows and OS X versions of the plugin at the same time. (UPDATE: Windows VST, and OSX VST/AU/RTAS released. Go to http://www.valhalladsp.com/shimmer.html to get yourself a copy.)

Comments (16)

  • bleen

    INSANE! i’m so looking forward to getting this in my grubby little mits. i use EOS and FreqEcho on many of my mixes and i can see this getting the same kind of use.

    Reply
  • Nooo! Forget about Windows users. I want the OSX version now! Now, you hear me! Now!

    Serious, this is cool stuff.

    Reply
  • I’m really looking forward to trying this. It could completely change what I’m planning to do at Different Skies this year.

    Reply
  • David Teren

    Wow Sean, you really are stepping into Eventide territory with Shimmer. The pitch tracking seems pretty good from what I can tell as well. Can’t wait to get my grubby hands on it.

    Reply
  • Raffa

    🙂
    Sean, I really need this plugin. Tomorrow I’m starting some mixes that would be shining with your fantastic sounding plug… so… WHEN????? WHEN????

    Reply
  • Antti

    Woah. I want this in a hw box! You think a 200 MHz SHARC could run an instance or two with a bit being left for other fx?

    Reply
  • bomji232

    Excellent!

    Reply
  • Scott

    This is amazing! like they say, if the filter is good enough, it doesn’t even matter wht the input signal is! I can see this being really usefull is a lot of places. looking forward to trying it out.

    Reply
    • I take it that the “they” in “like they say” is a pretty small subset of people out there. 😉 You and I probably know a lot of “they.”

  • Scott

    could be… my observation may not resonate with everyone. I guess it can’t hurt to keep practicing, and improve that input signal.

    Reply
  • impressive

    Reply
  • Gregor

    Where is it? It’s late September now… 😉

    Reply
    • I’m coding away here. Finishing up the copy protection method today.

  • Nathan

    Wow. Sounding absolutely fantastic! Nice work!

    Reply
  • snafu

    I can only say epic! like the movie prometeus! will there be any updates for shimmer in the future?

    Reply
  • vvw

    INCREDIBLE… this sounds like none other reverb out there i ever heard – this should have its own FX category – DREAM SPACE CREATOR – instant cinematic miracle – Blade Runner, Dune, Alien soundtracks in a box (ehm algorithm plugin 🙂 – you should get this sound patented man !! seriously… i never heard anything so beautifull made from simple sinewave audio input… you captured the EMOTION of the god’s hardware Lexicon 224… you know this algorithm is now worth millions – its there – the magic… and that counts… i can listen to the” MonotronShimmerDrones.mp” over and over and i still get goose bumps from the space… you are one of hell algorithm programmer man… focus on this plugin because you are really close (almost there) – it captures the emotion not found in any VST today and lost with the hardware units of the 80s…

    Reply

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