Eventide Updates Blackhole and MicroPitch Immersive Plug-Ins

Eventide Audio charts new spatial territory with the introduction of immersive audio versions of two distinctly Eventide plug-ins: Blackhole Immersive and Micropitch Immersive. Debuted during the AES NY 2023 Convention, the two plug-ins are designed from the ground up for surround and immersive workflows, including Dolby Atmos. The plug-ins have now been updated to add mono and stereo support; 7.0.6, 7.1.6, 9.0.4, 9.1.4, 9.0.6, and 9.1.6 loudspeaker configuration support; and full upmixing support for 5.0.2, 5.1.2, 5.0.4, 5.1.4, 7.0.4, and 7.1.4 channel configurations (previously these layouts only supported mono and stereo upmixing). New presets have been added to both plug-ins, including artist presets from Scott Michael Smith for Blackhole. These releases have also been made more efficient to reduce overall CPU usage. The updated plug-ins were demonstrated during The NAMM Show 2024 in Anaheim.

Blackhole Immersive expands the signature sound of the stereo version of Eventide’s otherworldly reverb across an entire immersive mix. Eventide’s iconic MicroPitch panned pitch and delay effect is relied upon by legions of engineers for the creation of beautiful and wide stereo soundfields. Now, with MicroPitch Immersive, the proven power of strategically decorrelated sound is pushed into three dimensions.

The clean and intuitive interface of the Eventide Immersive plug-ins seamlessly fits into production, whether the project is mixing music, post-production for film, or sound design for games. With Blackhole Immersive, the enhanced workflow gives full control over the reverb across channels, for an evolving immersive experience – from subtle to radical. MicroPitch Immersive users can spread, tilt and dynamically morph the effect across the width, depth and height of an immersive mix. With both plug-ins, the Front, Top and Rear speakers can be EQ’d separately, and users can smoothly morph between two distinct settings – ideal for sound design.

Used as a send or insert, Blackhole Immersive remains respectful yet reactive to track positioning. Blackhole Immersive’s Gravity, Size and Feedback parameters allow fast, easy tailoring of the reverb to an immersive space while the crossfeed control lets users blend the reverb between speakers – a mono source can become truly immersive with one simple gesture.

“MicroPitch Immersive,” says producer/engineer Andrew Scheps (Red Hot Chili Peppers, Adele, Jay-Z), “is an invaluable tool for spreading sources around in ways from subtle to in your face. You might think it isn’t doing much until you turn it off; then you get sad.”

With up to 12 channels of spatialised, detuned delays, plus modulation, EQ and crossfeed controls, MicroPitch Immersive excels in creating both real and unreal immersive realities with boundaries that reflect, move, diffuse and dissolve. Tilting the Left/Right, Front/Back and Top/Main Detune parameters allow quick and easy asymmetrical detuning and space fine tuning. The plug-in’s enhanced delay and modulation capability can be used to create slapbacks, add movement with pitch modulation, or create exciting motion with patterned Loop Delay.

Both plug-ins feature an easy-to-use UI optimised for immersive workflows with identical core controls for all channel layouts – no menu diving is required. The plug-ins’ transparent signal processing delivers the same sonic effect across all immersive formats and maintain incoming spatial image integrity. Individual speaker levels can be quickly set using the integrated Levels control section whether mixing in the supported LCR, Quadraphonic, or one of the expanded range of immersive multichannel layouts. Kill Dry, Kill Wet and Freeze controls allow the creation of drastic effects, while the Mix Lock function allows for scrolling through presets or settings while keeping the wet/dry mix constant. The intuitive, resizable GUI offers Undo/Redo and A/B comparison. Both the plug-ins come with comprehensive presets libraries.

Both plug-ins are available for immediate download at an MSRP of US$499 each. Owners of the stereo versions save 20% of their purchase. Current users can download the updated versions for free.