Old Blood Noise Dark Star Stereo

The Old Blood Noise Dark Star Stereo is a digital reverb pedal built around a simple idea: the reverb is not the end of the sound, it is the raw material. Old Blood Noise describes it as "a characterful lo-fi reverb, ideal for slow attack and pad generation," and says it is "a reverb for anywhere in your signal chain, and almost an instrument of its own"¹. On top of the reverb tail sit a high/low-pass filter, two pitch shifters each with a two-octave range in each direction, bit-crushing and distortion².

It is an evolution of the company's original Dark Star circuit, a mono pad reverb that became a go-to for ambient players, and it follows both the mono Dark Star and Dark Star V2²³. The Stereo version, released in 2024, greatly expands the original's palette by letting the three original algorithms (Pitch, Delay and Crush) interact with each other instead of being chosen one at a time with a mode toggle³⁴. Premier Guitar's reviewer went as far as calling it "a reverb-based synthesizer, where reverb is the jumping-off point for sonic creation"².

Reverb as a synthesizer

Where a conventional reverb pedal adds space around your dry signal, the Dark Star Stereo processes the reverb tail itself. The signal path starts with reverb, then applies a high/low-pass filter, two pitch shifters with a two-octave range in each direction, bit-crushing and distortion². The original Dark Star shone "in creating long and cavernous reverbs, with an optional lo-fi character," and that character carries over⁶.

The maker's own framing is that this is a pedal for slow attack and pad generation: hold a chord, let the tail bloom, and the pitch shifters, filter and crush controls reshape it into something closer to a synth pad than a room sound¹. Because the three algorithms can now interact rather than being selected one at a time, the combinations are much wider than on the mono versions³.

The controls

The knob layout splits into two rows. A left-positioned row of smaller knobs handles Mix, Volume and Stereo Spread, while the main controls are dedicated to Pitch (two knobs), Lag, Crush and Filter³. Old Blood Noise lists Volume as the overall level control and Lag as a way to introduce additional delay to the reverb¹. The Multiply control adds feedback to the whole system, which enhances effects like rising and falling pitch shifts¹³. Guitar.com's review also notes a decay control that sets the length of the reverb⁵.

There are two footswitches. The soft-touch Bypass footswitch gives true bypass with minimal switch noise¹. The second, the Aux switch, triggers a momentary effect of choice: it can indefinitely sustain the trails, close the low pass filter, or set the pitches to +1 octave, depending on the setting¹³. Guitar.com's reviewer found it could also be assigned to preset toggling⁵.

Stereo, presets and MIDI

The Dark Star Stereo adds the three things Delicious Audio says "every modern, ambient guitarist wants in a reverb pedal: stereo, presets and" MIDI integration³. Old Blood Noise's own list is presets, expression control over every knob, and MIDI control over every element¹. Premier Guitar's review confirms the control features: "Additional control features include presets, MIDI functionality, plus expression and aux control"².

Routing is flexible: mono, stereo, or mono-in/stereo-out, with both input and output on single TRS jacks². The pedal keeps analog dry through and offers a choice of trails or true bypass switching¹.

Versions and where it came from

The Dark Star line began as a compact mono pad reverb from Old Blood Noise Endeavors, a 3-algorithm design with Pitch, Delay and Crush modes selected one at a time³⁷. Guitar Pedal X describes the Stereo version as Old Blood Noise having "souped up its former compact Dark Star Pad Reverb" into the stereo Dark Star Soundscape⁸. The mono Dark Star is no longer in production through Old Blood Noise, though it is still available through dealers⁷.

The Stereo version arrived in 2024⁴, and Guitar Pedal X reported it available via the OBNE webstore and imminently at leading dealers in November 2024⁸.

What reviewers said

Premier Guitar's reviewer came away impressed with the balance of depth and playability²:

The same review framed the pedal as "a reverb-based synthesizer, where reverb is the jumping-off point for sonic creation," and noted that "this iteration of the Dark Star, which follows the mono Dark Star and Dark Star V2, really comes alive"². Guitar.com's Richard Purvis found "plenty of control over the reverb's tonality and texture"⁵.

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