AudioThing has released Moon Echo, a free delay plugin for macOS, Windows, and Linux.
Despite the name, when I got news of this freebie, I’m not sure I expected it to actually involve echoes from the moon, but it does.
Moon Echo marks the seventh collaboration between AudioThing and the Berlin-based musician Hainbach.
Hainbach reached out to staff at the C.A. Muller Radio Astronomy Station, or CAMRAS for short, to ask if he could use the Dwingeloo (Netherlands) Telescope for a moon bounce.
Despite the enormous cost of the radio telescope, CAMRAS gave the project the green light, and Hainbach began sending test signals.
Hainbach enlisted the help of the award-winning sopranist Johanna Vargas and accomplished double bassist Paul Cannon to send vocal and instrumental test tones.
Armed with a diverse set of samples, Hainbach and AudioThing developed Moon Echo.
The plugin can provide a simple echo, and like a typical delay plugin, you can add feedback and adjust the time. When you adjust the feedback time, the moon will get closer or further away in the little Atari-like graphic display.
Even as a simple echo, the transmission noise (Moon Dust) adds character, especially when you use the noise envelope to only hear noise when the echo is returning.
But things get much more interesting when you use the Doppler knob. The Doppler knob lets you offset the transmitting frequency from the receiving frequency causing a frequency shift.
Overdoing it with the Doppler and Feedback knobs will lead to chaos, and sometimes that other-worldly carnage is just what you need.
But, with just enough feedback and sparse playing, the frequency shift creates a beautifully eerie effect that I imagine will be fantastic for music, film, or games.
If you’re looking for an instrument that might work well with that effect, try Waves Electric 200 Piano (free until July 21st).
Moon Bounce is definitely one to get experimental with, and pretty fitting if you’re working on an atmospheric soundscape.
You can even connect to NASA’s Horizons System to find out the current distance from the Dwingeloo telescope to the moon using the Ping Moon button.
Moon Ech is available in 64-bit AU, VST, VST3, AAX, and CLAP formats for macOS, iOS, Windows, and Linux.
Download: Moon Echo (FREE)