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The effects work out at around $25 apiece, which is a bit of a bargain.

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From the same stable as the stonking Zebra line of soft synths comes this set of eight effects, referred to both collectively and individually as Uhbik.

Like the Philip K Dick sci-fi novel from which the name is derived, the pack offers a collection of diverse characters. And what's more, u-he has promised that there'll be more Uhbiks to come free of charge for existing customers.

The website alludes to an upcoming Uhbik-X, a sort of rack system for Uhbiks with expanded signal routing, and we've also heard rumours of a pitchshifter named Uhbik-G.

Reverb and delay

So what do you get? Approaching the effects in (almost) alphabetical order, Uhbik-A is an algorithmic reverb, with modulation of the tail and all the usual controls. There are three switchable algorithms: Small, Direct and Open.

As the manual states, the latter is the subtlest, and it's great for adding space without cluttering your mix. Uhbik-A sounds consistently good, and it's not hard to imagine a reverb of this calibre costing as much as the entire Uhbik pack.

Uhbik-D is the multitap delay unit in the set. You can set the time, pan and volume for each of the five taps, although you only get an on/off switch for feedback (there's one main knob for setting the feedback level of all taps). The delay time is set fractionally in 16ths, so you can dial in 4 for an on-beat echo, or 4.1 for a slightly offbeat repeat. However, it would be handy to be able to type in precise values, or snap to whole ones.

Adjustable low-pass, high-pass and clipping are built into the feedback path, and there's slick modulation, too, which makes Uhbik-D perfect for spaced-out dub echoes, especially with the Speed control, which can be manipulated in real time.

Actually, there's a crucial point to make here: just about all knob-based parameters of each Uhbik can be tweaked and automated with no glitching or dropouts, and this can lead to some truly creative and bizarre sounds, not to mention a ton of hands-on fun.

Flanger, phaser and, tremolo

Modulation effects are offered in the form of a flanger (Uhbik-F), a phaser (Uhbik-P) and a pumped-up tremolo (Uhbik-T). All of these share an identical set of modulation controls, with knobs for Times and Phase, along with Smoothing and Symmetry for waveform shaping.

The Times knob has a manual mode, so you can use automation or a MIDI controller to scan through the LFO waveform instead – very cool! The Channel Offset knob, meanwhile, yields an LFO phase offset between channels.

Sound-wise, the flanger and phaser are both fantastic, with all of the swirl and throb of vintage hardware. Uhbik-F is the more advanced of the two, with its overdrive and mixing controls, and it can also manage chorus effects and even through-zero flanging, where one virtual tapehead overtakes another. Far out!

Uhbik-T goes far beyond mere tremolo and auto panning, with the inclusion of a pattern sequencer. You can define up to 11 patterns, then fade between them using the Wave knob, and there's also a mode for applying a pattern per channel (ie, up to eight channels in surround!).

Other treats include LFO-controlled low-pass filtering and a stereo-bolstering Haas delay.