Valhalla Super MassivePlug-In Review: Forge Celestial Soundscapes And More Completely For Free

Founded by brother-sister innovators Sean and Kristin Costello, Valhalla has become a top-tier plug-in electronic music distributor. While Kristin handles Valhalla’s vision, design, and operational duties, Sean is the core algorithm engineer with over 15 years of experience. Proving the vast capabilities of their plug-ins, Sean has used them to make his infectious music which can be found here.

Valhalla Super Massive is one of the more recently released plug-ins on the platform. Molded from the ground up, Valhalla Super Massive fully resembles its name. Looking at the plug-in’s description and the fact that it is entirely free, we knew we had to download it for ourselves.

Check out our review of Valhalla Super Massive below.

What’s Included In Valhalla Super Massive

Valhalla Super Massive is dense with 18 different reality-distorting reverb and delay modes:

• Gemini: Fast attack, shorter decay, high echo density.
• Hydra: Fast-ish attack, shorter decay, low to high echo density (depending on the DENSITY control setting)
• Centaurus: Medium attack, longer decay, medium to high echo density (depending on the DENSITY control setting)
• Sagittarius: Slow attack, longer decay, high echo density
• Great Annihilator: Medium attack, very long decay, medium to high echo density (depending on the DENSITY control setting)
• Andromeda: Slowest attack, very long decay, very high echo density
• Lyra: Fast attack, shorter decay, low echo density
• Capricorn: Fast attack, shorter decay, medium echo density
• Large Magellanic Cloud: Long reverb, LOOOONG repeating echoes, long decay, medium attack
• Triangulum: Long reverb, VERY LONG repeating echoes, long decay, slow attack
• Cirrus Major: Low/medium echo density, strange repeating patterns, fast attack
• Cirrus Minor: Low echo density, strange repeating patterns, fast attack, smaller than Cirrus Major
• Cassiopeia: Initially low echo density that quickly builds to long and lush reverbs, mysterious repeating patterns, fast attack
• Orion: the much bigger version of Cassiopeia. Low echo density can build to enormous reverbs, fast attack, strange resonances, and repeating patterns.
• Aquarius: a dedicated EchoVerb algorithm with a strong audible echo/de;au that can morph into a lush reverb with higher DENSITY settings
• Pisces: the bigger sibling of Aquarius. EchoVerb, with even denser and lusher, reverbs on tap than Aquarius.
• Scorpio (new in 2.5.0): Fast attack, shorter decay, high echo density, cross-channel feedback, and filtering in the feedback loop for more natural reverb decay.
• Libra (new in 2.5.0): Medium attack, long decay, high echo density, lush balanced modulation, and filtering in the feedback loop for more natural reverb decay.

In addition to these modes, Valhalla Super Massive is structured around feedback delay networks. With a maximum of 2 seconds for the individual delays, I had full control over how long each delay was, how I overlapped delays together, the modulation rate and depth of each delay, and the feedback. These lengthy delays can be merged with features like soothing echoes, exceptional WARP control, and even reverbs that take minutes to decay.

Click to see all Valhalla’s plug-ins (Super Massive is at the bottom)

The delays and reverbs are not the only things that Valhalla Super Massive offers. It has all the basic necessities such as EQ High and Low Cut, Density for echoing, MIX (controlling the wet-to-dry ratio), and WIDTH (for the reverb and delay outputs).

Our Experience With Using Valhalla Super Massive

First off, I don’t want to pretend that I’ve had years and years of production experience under my belt. Although I have DJed for the past three years, I only recently got into production towards the second half of 2022. I mainly make simple mashups, so I rarely need to use comprehensive plug-ins and get by easily with just Ableton Live.

That said, I was pretty shocked by all the capabilities Valhalla Super Massive has, and it’s completely free. Its tooltips feature helped me a lot because you can move your cursor over a control, and it will explain exactly what that control does in detail.

I started with the Centaurus Mode, which was great for what I’ve been working on lately. This mode has a shorter decay time and slower attack time, which allows for the reverb to fade in and out slowly. I used it during an instrumentals buildup that I layered with an acapella. Overall, it helped blend the two as the drop for the track approached.

Another one that I tried out was Valhalla Super Massive’s Hydra Mode. Hydra Mode is designed to produce a more extended and lusher decay by embodying a decently fast attack time. Honestly, this one was a little difficult for me to use because the density parameter is extremely sensitive. However, I think it just takes some practice and experimentation with it.

Favorite Features And Takeaways From Valhalla Super Massive

After playing around with Valhalla Super Massive for a couple of hours, I am more excited to start implementing it in the future. My favorite modes were the previously mentioned Centaurus Mode and Lyra Mode. The latter is based on a long decay, quick attack, and substantially low echo density. I have to dedicate some more time to working on that one, but it created some cool spacey echoes that gradually diluted.

I also liked utilizing the EQ High Cut. It enabled me to reduce the number of high frequencies in the single and create more polished soundscapes. As a whole, I had a blast using Valhalla Super Massive and its various applications. I truly believe this will allow me to sharpen up my mashups in the future, giving them a stronger professional appearance when played in my sets.