Since we plan to review many Eventide products from their Anthology XI collection over the coming months, we’ll dispense with that infamous Jon Anderson lyric quote we used when reviewing Fission and UltraTap. With that housekeeping out of the way, our focus shifts to MangledVerb, an excellent mashup between a reverb and distortion effect. This is an effect especially useful for giving your beats a sense of space and doom simultaneously.
Eventide MangledVerb Features
- Combines Classic Eventide Reverb with Distortion
- Ported from the H9 Harmonizer
- Familiar Eventide User Interface
- Morph between Two Effect Settings in Real Time
- Over 180 Presets serve to Inspire your own Creations
- Mono-In/Mono-Out, Mono-In/Stereo-Out, Stereo-In/Stereo-Out
- Tap Tempo and MIDI Tempo Sync
- Supports Most Popular Plugin Formats
- Available at a Street Price of $79
- Also Part of Eventide’s Anthology XI Collection
If you like your reverb with a measure of fire and brimstone, MangledVerb belongs in your effects library. It is another winner from the folks at Eventide.
A Familiar and Comforting User Interface
Any familiarity with Eventide’s recent effects plugins makes MangledVerb’s interface feel like an old friend. In fact, you probably won’t need to read the manual before diving right in. The knobs are intuitive and pretty self-explanatory, even the dual-function Softclip/Overdrive knob.
MangledVerb in action. Check out that Guy Evans beat. Photo by author.
The Ribbon control is welcome, providing the means to perform real-time morphing between two effects settings across multiple parameters. The Hotswitch button offers similar functionality but in an instantaneous manner. Input and output level faders and meters, a typical patch management section, and tap tempo and sync functionality round out the interface.
Grungy Reverb and More
As noted earlier, diving right into MangledVerb’s functionality is the way to go. I conjured up a quick 6/8 beat, reminiscent of Guy Evans, and immediately began mangling it. The effect’s reverb functionality is self-explanatory; the same rule applies to the distortion.
The dual-function Softclip/Overdrive knob switches from the former to the latter when cranked up. Both work in concert with the Level knob to offer an array of interesting sonic mayhem. The Wobble knob serves to modulate the reverb, adding an extra layer of freakishness to the proceedings.
In addition to drum beats, MangledVerb also works great on a variety of synth patches. It turns dreamy pads into nightmares, while adding some extra bite to leads. Check out the copious amount of included presets to get some ideas for your own experiments.
If you love reverb, but want an extra measure of industrial strength sonics, MangledVerb belongs on your shortlist. Eventide fans, or anyone else looking for an inexpensive effects plugin, need to check this one out. We give it a strong recommendation.
[…] for a fully-fledged library of effects, this needs to be on your short list. We previously reviewed MangledVerb, UltraTap, and Fission (now known as Physion); all three are included in Anthology […]