Efx AMBIENT Review

Arturia sent me a copy of their newest effect Efx Ambient, a spectral reverb and ambient processor. Efx Ambient uses an intricate feedback network with spectral processing to create unique some unique reverbs, these various reverb modes also contain additional tonal processing to shape your signal in subtle ways.

Each of the six modes imparts a different characteristic on the sound with various pitch shifting and glitching and lo-fi processing to explore. The advanced mode adds four modulators that can be set to either step sequencer, LFO, function generator, or envelope follower modes. While each effect mode gets four unique controls, there are not many controls within the whole of EFX ambient to modulate anyways, so four total modulators is quite excessive.

Each preset comes with two macros mapped to various controls, these can be adjusted via the on screen XY grid. I enjoy playful macro interfaces such as this for effects, I think it gives a solid starting ground for users to explore presets. XY macros also allow a bit more play expression rather than having to adjust separate knob based macros.

This one is definitely on the simpler side, there’s some odd effects in here but I think this one is best suited for preset exploration. This is a cool simple processor worth throwing on an instrument just to try out, click through a few presets and play with the XY macro. I wouldn’t put to much thought into it, just see if it sounds good, if not, move on and try some other effects with more depth. It can give your sounds a nice vibe shift and is perfect when that particular vibe is called for.