Reverse Reflect: 80s rack-style early reflections for guitar
A stereo early-reflections patch in the spirit of the classic late-80s digital rack algorithm (the Yamaha SPX90 “Early Reflections” and “Reverse Gate” programs) and of two pedals built around that sound: the JMA Early Reflections and the staticdweller Reverie.
Instead of a smooth reverb tail you get 12 discrete reflections you can actually hear. They can fall away like a room, or swell backwards and cut off like a reverse gate. A footswitch adds a darker, wetter, bigger “KS” voice aimed at the shoegaze glide-guitar sound associated with Kevin Shields.
This is an independent patch built from scratch with stock ZOIA modules. It is inspired by those units, not a copy of them, and it is not affiliated with or endorsed by Yamaha, JMA or staticdweller.
QUICK START
1. Copy 000_zoia_Reverse_Reflect.bin to your SD card (change the 000 prefix to the slot you want), then Config > Patches from SD.
2. Guitar into input L. Use both outputs: the reflections alternate between left and right. In mono, use output L and you will hear 6 of the 12 reflections.
3. Play. The default is a bright, rack/pedal-style reverse: the reflections swell up and stop.
4. Stomp the LEFT footswitch to toggle the KS voice. A red pixel lights up on page 0 while it is on.
5. Tweak the 7 knobs on page 0, or press Star with nothing selected to reach them from any page.
PAGE 0 LAYOUT
row 2: SIZE SHAPE MIX
row 3: PRE TONE TYPE
row 4: DENSITY KS footswitch + pixel
Each control takes two buttons: press the left one and turn the encoder. Hold the encoder down while turning for fine steps.
CONTROLS
SIZE (SPX: Room Size)
Spacing of the reflections. All 12 move together and keep their proportions.
0 = 3-59 ms (tight, fused) · 0.5 = 13-227 ms · 1 = 51-879 ms (clearly separated, close to a multi-tap delay).
Default 0.60 (17-297 ms).
SHAPE (SPX: Liveness + Reverse)
Level envelope across the reflections.
0 = Hall (first reflection loudest, then falling) · 0.5 = both ends strong · 1 = Reverse (rising, then a hard cut).
Default 1.00.
TYPE (SPX: Type)
Timing pattern of the reflections.
0 = Reverse/Random (dense at the start, sparser at the end) · 1 = Hall (sparse at the start, denser toward the end, like a real room).
Default 0.00.
DENSITY (SPX: ER 1 vs ER 2)
0 = 6 reflections (ER1-style, open) · 1 = 12 reflections (ER2-style, dense). Values in between fade the extra six.
Default 1.00.
PRE (SPX: Delay)
Pre-delay before the first reflection: 1 ms (0) · 12 ms (0.5) · 149 ms (1).
Default 0.20 (about 3 ms).
TONE (SPX: LPF)
Low-pass on the reflections only, from 2 kHz (0) to 10 kHz (1). A fixed 150 Hz high-pass keeps the low end of the reflections clean.
Default 0.70 (about 6.2 kHz).
MIX
A crossfade, not a wet level: 0 = dry only · 0.5 = equal · 1 = reflections only. Higher settings get closer to the pedals.
Default 0.60.
KS FOOTSWITCH (left, latching)
Adds TONE -0.25, MIX +0.15 and SIZE +0.15 on top of wherever the knobs are. With the defaults that gives a 4.1 kHz low-pass, MIX 0.75 and reflections at 26-446 ms. The knobs keep working in both modes.
STARTING POINTS
SIZE SHAPE TYPE DENS PRE TONE MIX
Rack reverse (def.) 0.60 1.00 0.00 1.00 0.20 0.70 0.60
Glide default settings + KS on, fuzz before the ZOIA, slow whammy bends
Open reverse (ER1) 0.75 1.00 0.00 0.00 0.20 0.70 0.65
Dense swell 0.65 1.00 1.00 1.00 0.10 0.60 0.70
Natural hall 0.60 0.00 1.00 1.00 0.40 0.75 0.40
Separated taps 0.90 0.40 0.00 0.00 0.30 0.75 0.50
TIPS
– To hear the pattern clearly: MIX 1, PRE 0, clean tone, one short muted note.
– Moving SIZE or PRE, or stomping KS, makes the reflections glide in pitch for a moment. That is the delay interpolation and is expected.
– A very small SIZE with PRE near 0 can sound flanger-like, because the first reflections comb-filter against the dry signal. Raise PRE or SIZE.
– The left footswitch is free in Scroll mode (the ZOIA default). In Bank mode it selects patches.
– Press Save after tweaking to keep your settings as the patch defaults.
UNDER THE HOOD
IN > HPF 150 Hz > TONE low-pass > pre-delay > 12 delay lines (6 left, 6 right, alternating, irregular spacing). Six of them pass through a VCA for DENSITY. Each reflection feeds two level buses, a falling “Hall” bus and a rising “Reverse” bus; one Audio Balance crossfades them for SHAPE and a second one mixes dry and wet for MIX. SIZE and TYPE drive all delay times in exponential CV mode, so every reflection scales by the same ratio. There is no feedback and no diffusion, which keeps the reflections audible and the reverse cut clean.
SPECS
4 pages · 30 modules · 79 connections
CPU about 60% on hardware, no dropouts in testing (ZoE estimates 54.7%)
Mono in (L), stereo out
Use a recent ZOIA firmware
CREDITS
Built and checked with ZoE, the visual patch editor by alh (rawmedium.org/ZoE).
Inspired by the Yamaha SPX90, the JMA Early Reflections and the staticdweller Reverie.
v1.0: first release.
