NORTHFX / LISTENING REVERB

HALO

The reverb that listens to the song.

Reverb is the fastest way to make a mix muddy: it sits under the voice, the S sounds hiss in the tail and the tail runs into the next line. HALO fixes that while it plays, so your vocal gets all the space and none of the mud.

Fits the tempo and the pauses

The tail fades before the next line, on the song's grid.

Steps back while you sing

Only where the voice is, blooming back in the pauses.

Big pop moments, live

Reverse swells into each phrase, throws on the last word.

Enquire to buy HALO

14-day free trial. Full version, no licence key needed. Buy when you are ready.

Windows 64-bit · VST3 · Contact NORTHFX for pricing and delivery.

NORTHFX HALO listening reverb: the reverb that listens to the song.

HALO / BEFORE AND AFTER

Hear the difference.

Rendered with HALO 1.0. In the first two, both sides are the same reverb at the same mix: once as a normal reverb, once with FIT, SPACE and CLEAN TAIL listening. Switch while it plays.

Sung vocal · Vocal Hall

A normal hall covers the words and runs into the next line. With HALO the voice stays in front, the hall opens up in the pauses and the S sounds stay out of the tail.

Rap vocal · Rap Room

A rap needs space without losing a single word. The room steps back while the words come and is there between the lines.

Sung vocal · Bloom & Throw

The dry vocal against the preset Bloom & Throw: a swell rises into each phrase, the last words fly off into the space.

A tail that fits the song.

FIT measures the real pauses between your lines and sets the length so the tail has faded by the time the next line starts. Pre-delay and decay land on the song's tempo. As a new line begins, the rest of the old tail clears in a tenth of a second, so it never runs into the words.

Room for the voice.

Ducking the whole reverb makes it pump. SPACE compares voice and reverb in six frequency ranges and pulls the reverb back only where the voice is louder, and only while it sings. In the pauses the space blooms back.

A clean tail.

CLEAN TAIL keeps S sounds and plosives out of the reverb without touching the dry voice, tames mud in the low mids and finds up to three ringing resonances in the tail and notches them, live.

Bloom and throw, live.

BLOOM is the reverse reverb of big pop records, a swell that rises into the first word of each phrase, made live instead of printed and reversed. THROW gives the last word of every phrase a big tail that makes way when the next line starts.

In the key of the song.

Shimmer lets an octave, a fifth or an octave down rise out of the tail. The Harmonic Halo lets the space ring softly on the notes of the song's key, detected from the input or set by hand.

Match any room.

Drop a reference vocal on HALO and MATCH SPACE measures how long and how bright its room is and how loud against the voice, then sets HALO to it. DISTANCE moves the voice back in the room, FREEZE holds the space forever.

THE INTERFACE

See the space breathe.

The aurora shows the last six seconds of the reverb: bright where it sounds, dark where SPACE makes room for the voice, with the pauses FIT measured, the blooms and the throws. The SPACE panel says what HALO is doing right now.

Vocal Hall: FIT at 4 beats, SPACE at work, CLEAN TAIL taming two resonances.

Technical specifications

HALO compatibility and processing
Format / system	VST3 · Windows 10 / 11, 64-bit
Audio / sidechain	Mono and stereo · optional stereo sidechain for SPACE and FIT
Sample rates	44.1 to 192 kHz
Latency	None · 0.75 s while BLOOM or THROW is on (reported to the host)
Reverb	16-line modulated feedback delay network · early reflections · three-band decay · six spaces
Listening	Phrase and pause detection · key detection · six-band SPACE · dynamic CLEAN filters · resonance tracking
Presets	23 factory presets (vocal, send, creative, instruments) · user presets
Licence	One person, up to two computers · 14-day full trial

Enquire to buy HALO

HALO / FAQ

Questions, answered.

What is a listening reverb?

A reverb that hears the song it is on. HALO measures the tempo and the pauses between your lines and fits the length of the tail to them, lets the reverb step back where and while the voice sings, and keeps S sounds and plosives out of the tail. The result is a reverb that never gets in the way, so you can use more of it.

Is HALO only for vocals?

HALO is built around the voice, but it is a complete reverb with six spaces: Room, Chamber, Plate, Hall, Cathedral and Aurora. There are presets for drums, snare, keys and guitar, send presets for a reverb bus and creative presets with shimmer and freeze.

Can I use HALO on a send / aux track?

Yes. Load a Send preset (100% wet). If several tracks feed the bus, set SPACE to listen to the sidechain and route the lead vocal to it, so the reverb makes room for the lead only.

Does HALO add latency?

No, except while BLOOM or THROW is on: then HALO looks 0.75 s ahead and reports it to your DAW, which compensates it. Switch them off while you record through HALO.

Which DAWs does HALO work in?

Any VST3 host on Windows 10 or 11 (64-bit), for example FL Studio, Ableton Live, Cubase, Studio One, Reaper, Bitwig and NORTHFX Studio. A Lite version of HALO is built into NORTHFX Studio, the free DAW.

Can I try HALO before I buy?

Yes. HALO runs as the full version for 14 days. After buying, activate it with your licence key; one licence covers one person on up to two computers.