EarthQuaker Devices Releases the Divine Astral Destiny Octal Octave Reverberation Unit

Upon first seeing this pedal it calls to mind both the Strymon NightSky and Walrus Audio Slö to a degree - both of which offer somewhat similar Octave and Shimmery Reverb delights. The Astral Destiny is very obviously very much dedicated towards adding in floaty textures above and below the baseline. It’s actually a pretty straightforward and elegant reverb by and large - and extremely successful in delivering those floaty cosmic / ambient tones.

The Control Topology could not be simpler, you have 3 large knobs - Preset (x8), Length (Decay), 8 x Modes (as below), then 4 mini knobs - Depth (Intensity of Chorus Effect), Rate (Rate of Chorus Effect), Tone (Treble Boost/Cut), and Mix (Wet Level Control).

The left Stretch footswitch doubles the length of the Reverb effect, while adding a temporary change in pitch, the right-hand Activate footswitch is the bypass, and you press down and hold both to save presets. Would be nice to be able to scroll through presets using quick double footswitch press - possibly something for later.

The 8 Modes / Algorithms are as follows :

• Abyss : Huge reverb with no octave effect : I’ve indicated this with an Ø in the legend
• Shimmer : Adds an upper octave to the reverb tail : +1 in legend
• Sub : Adds a lower octave to the reverb tail : -1 in legend
• Sub Shimmer : Adds an upper and lower octave to the reverb tail : -1 +1 in legend
• Astral : Adds an upper and lower octave combined with a regenerating tail : indicated -1 +1 (feedback loop)
• Ascend : Upward pitch bending : ▲
• Descend : Downward pitch bending : ▼
• Cosmos : Adds a regenerating fifth to the reverb tail : +5th (feedback loop)

This Astral Destiny provides and interesting quandary for me as it sounds pretty stellar too - we really don’t seem to be lacking fantastic Reverbs these days. Overall I still kind of prefer the Walrus Audio Mako R1 for my own needs and preferences as that is Stereo too - but this Astral Destiny is pretty fantastic proposition in its own way - and will surely be many players’ first choice. Obviously very much a character Reverb and mining a very specific furrow largely - but really well done. Some great tones available here - really compelling and good value at $199 / £199.