Episode 4 – Eventide Blackhole plugin & Collision Devices Black Hole Symmetry guitar pedal
Today we’re circling the edge of the void, ready to go where no man has gone before with Collision Devices Black Hole Symmetry. This pedal combines several effects, including modulated delay, pitch-shifting reverb, and finally a big old fuzz knob in the center. It can make sounds ranging from melodic ambient to shoegazey wall of noise, but I particularly think it excels at trippy, psychedelic and, well, spacey sounds. To me, this is space rock in a box.
We’re also going to be looking at the Eventide Blackhole plugin, which features the same airy, supermassive reverb as the pedal of the same name. What happens when a black hole enters a black hole? Let’s find out.
The Black Hole Symmetry is a large, hefty – I guess you could say supermassive? – pedal made by Collision Devices in France. It basically has three different sections to it.
Ergosphere
The Ergosphere is a modulated delay component, and its parameters are controlled by the medium-sized knobs around the perimeter. In my opinion, this is the most unique and defining feature of the pedal, between the modulation and the feedback that can be dialed in to create an oscillating blanket of sound.
Without the Singularity fuzz on, the signal level really needs to be boosted for this, so I use my Wampler MiniEgo compressor to provide volume and sustain heading into this effect. In fact, I find that a compressor is really a great pairing with the Black Hole Symmetry… and, in fact, it’s the only other pedal I think is really worth using with it. Otherwise, I use it as its own stand-alone anomaly.
On my Squier Affinity Stratocaster, it seems to work best with the middle pickup, so I will keep it on that setting while we try each section separately and then combine them.
Event Horizon
Event Horizon controls a combination of pitch shifting and reverb. Cranking the Echo up creates a very long, drawn out spacey reverb, and that thin, airless vacuum can be given a little more presence by turning up the pitch, up to an octave higher, and possibly using the Radiance knob to add pitch-shifting into the wet background trails. The Radiance can be a strong presence, so I tend to minimize it.
Singularity
True to its name, singularity is one single large knob in the middle of the pedal that controls fuzz. The fuzz is definitely a silicon one, but beyond that, I don’t have much to say and it doesn’t seem very noteworthy.
Combined
Any of the three sections by themselves might not seem like much to write home about. But combining these effects creates something greater than the sum of its parts. All of these murky, airy, crunchy, and oscillating effects merge together to create a cosmic soup of sound. That’s the main thing I love about this pedal, I especially love it to just make these long, drawn out, nebulous blankets of sound. If nothing else, it can make a nice textured backdrop to play more clear or chimey melody notes over.
12-String & Sitar
I also tested out my Danelectro 59×12 and my acoustic-electric sitar, and I really liked the results. The chimey 12-string notes rang through, over the background blanket of sound created by the Black Hole Symmetry, and my sitar’s spiritual, psychedelic, head-space sounds really paired nicely with the modulation and reverb of Ergosphere and Event Horizon.
Song Recording & Eventide Blackhole Plugin – Elton John’s Rocket Man
In the second part of the video, I outline the composition and recording/production process I used for doing my own spacey cover of Rocket Man by Elton John. You can see the finished music video for my song created entirely with just a few components:
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