The Reverb Thread

[zebra]

are there any favorite open-source software reverbs out there?
(as alternatives to Zita, which is presently the only builtin option on norns)

[smutek]

I pulled my Verbtronic out of my main case again. I feel like I go through this pattern regularly where I love the Verbtronic reverb for a while and then feel like the sound is too distinct for my taste.

I have an ADDAC Audio Integrator that I put in place of it, with the thought that I’d run Eventide Blackhole on an iOS device but found that not to be reliable. After a while whatever iOS plugin I am running at the time will crash and emit a loud buzzing sound, so my lush reverb turns into a horrendous BZZZZZZZZZZZZZ. I should clarify, it’s not the ADDAC that’s causing trouble, it’s an iOS bug. Here’s a summary someone posted on the AUM forums, for the curious.

AUM Buzz!!! help....

So, I used to have clouds but sold it recently when I realized I’d only been using it as a reverb. I enjoyed it for that purpose but it just seemed like a waste of resources, so I sold it. I went ahead and ordered myself a UBurst this week, it’s out for delivery today and I’m going to put the Parasite firmware on it and use Oliverb as my regular reverb.

Yeah, I’m pretty happy with this as a solution, especially considering I snagged the uBurst for $150!

[mrspiral]

I have two Wedges and am only using one. Let me know via DM if you’d like to try it for yourself. It’s not as “magical” as some other reverbs of the era (that cost ten times as much) but it really is a sweet box, well worth the tiny amount they generally cost when you find one used. YMMV.

[mrspiral]

I have a Midiverb you could analyze if you want, Randy. It’s technically not for sale, but this is you we’re talking about, so if you wanted me to loan it to you, I’d be happy to.

ALSO:

By the way, the one unsung-hero hardware reverb that nobody seems to have mentioned yet is the Specular Reverb from GFI System. They’re a young and hungry gang of DSP coders and hardware dudes in Jakarta who are making some pretty damn amazing boxes for the money. The Specular Tempus is IMO just a bit of an overreach in terms of trying to pack too much into too little space, but the actual Specular Reverb (either rev 2 or rev 3) is amazing. They created their own reverb algorithm that isn’t an imitation of anything else, that they call “Spatium”, and all the different reverb effects in the box are based on it. It sounds amazing. Just sayin’.

[karol]

Just out of curiosity do you know which midiverb is wedge based on? Or is it its own unique thing? I saw mentions that it is based on midiverb4 but nothing official.

[mrspiral]

It’s its own thing. All of the Midiverbs sound a little bit alike, from the Picoverb on up and the soapdish on forward. I suppose the Wedge would be considered closer to the higher-end rackmount programmable Alesis reverbs than any of the preset-only models, but they were really big on making it a standalone beast.

The problem with it* was that it was intended to be used like a LARC, at the mix position… but unlike a LARC, which (a) had a single cable leading to the brains in the rack and (b) was usually used in studios with mixers that had a LARC holster, a fully-connected Wedge had seven cables coming out of the back: four audio, two MIDI, and a thick multipin power cable to the wall wart. Using it in a home studio was a real pain in the butt, because you were dragging all these cables around, bumping things with them, turning knobs on your console with them, and even unplugging them without meaning to.

Alesis did release a snake for it so you could have only one cable running to it, but it was as thick as a horse’s leg – and having the MIDI and power cables running next to the audio lines didn’t do the sound any favors. (The wall wart was 9V AC, not DC.) If they’d put it in a rack box and made the actual gizmo a remote, I think it would be remembered today as the poor man’s 480L, which is really what it was.

If you put it somewhere near your mixer or rack, run short audio cables to it, keep it clear of nearby RFI sources, and don’t yank it around, it’s a dead-brilliant reverb. I had one dedicated to my Oberheim Xpander for over 15 years, with all its programs customized and MIDI mapped to Single Patches in the Xpander, and the pairing was so powerful that I did one album with only those two boxes and nothing else, played live. I love it, just not enough to keep two of them around.

*I pointed this out in my review in RECORDING in 1997, which a contact at Alesis later told me in private helped to kill the Wedge in the marketplace – a damn shame, and definitely not what I’d intended to happen.

[blacklodgeal]

Any recommendations for a true stereo hardware reverb pedal to be used live and in the studio for an analog poly? My Prophet Rev2 really needs to be in stereo to sound it’s best, and while I love the various sonic possibilities of the Big Sky I’ve been using more than I even expected, I’m wondering if I’m better off with a reverb that doesn’t sum the wet signal to mono before the stereo outputs for this particular synth. The Rev2 does have built in effects, but I personally need something more flexible in a reverb in particular for my purposes. I will still probably keep the Big Sky for my guitar and monosynths, but I want to start saving for an alternative eventually for the Rev2. For example, is the OTO BAM true stereo in the dry and wet signal? I see a lot of people using it here. Also very interested in the Empress, but open to any recommendations. Thanks in advance!

[Jonny]

If you put it somewhere near your mixer or rack, run short audio cables to it, keep it clear of nearby RFI sources, and don’t yank it around, it’s a dead-brilliant reverb

I’ve also noticed that it has balanced input/output too, so that’s another thing to help the noise.

[randy]

Thanks for the offer. I’m just talking about stuff here for fun and probably won’t get into analyzing any reverb units (or making any new ones) soon.

[randy]

Freeverb is the only canonical open-source one I can think of. It’s pretty primitive sounding.

I’ve just updated the madronalib source with a couple of new sound examples based on RtAudio. One of these is an Aaltoverb example. If anyone’s interested in porting it to norns (or anywhere), feel free to ask me any questions you have.

[equipoise]

I’ve said it a few times already in this thread and elsewhere, but if you’re looking for an incredible-sounding and incredibly versatile companion to your synth, I can’t recommend the Eventide stuff enough, especially the H9. One of mine lives on my Nord Lead 3 permanently and the other floats around between my Rev2 and my various other synths. Eventide’s algorithms complement the Rev2 beautifully, IMO. Not to mention they’ve got a very very good MIDI implementation (which I’ve taken advantage of in an M4L plugin). I’ve got a friend with an Eventide Space and it’s another lovely pedal if you like having all the knobs at your hands at once, but the H9 does so much more that it’s worth using the external app or MIDI mappings to control, honestly.

[mdoudoroff]

I love how my H9 sounds. I hate its physical design. The iPad app is nice, but I don’t want to have to whip out my iPad to find presets and settings. I’d pay $$$ for a larger, elaborated physical pedal with a proper screen and, preferably, an assignable CV jack.

[desolationjones]

Have you tried augmenting your H9 with the EvenMIDI or equivalent Northern Light modules?

[equipoise]

The Pedal input on the H9 is a 5V CV input and is already fully multi-mappable. And you can use any midi controller with knobs or faders to control it. I use a MIDI fighter twister with mine, and a beatstep or microcontrol would also work finest kind.

[mdoudoroff]

Indeed, yes. I nabbed one of the last euEM. It’s fine for adding CV control, but it doesn’t add much value in terms of finding and selecting presets or grokking the parameters. I suppose the EvenMIDI is better at the latter than the euEM, but there’s really no substitute for dynamic labeling when you’re dealing with that many different algorithms.

The Pedal input on the H9 is a 5V CV input and is already fully multi-mappable.

Technically true! And yet…

And you can use any midi controller with knobs or faders to control it

Yes, but I’d rather just have a full interface on the H9 to begin with, thank you. I respect there’s a market for a smaller stompbox. I’m suggesting there’s a market for a larger one, too (or maybe a desktop fx unit, rather than a “stompbox”). Would fit in perfectly with their H9 algorithm licensing setup, too. (One thing I do NOT want is an H9 Eurorack module!)

[jasonrostko]

I bought an OTO Bam Box a few months ago and am extremely happy with it. I’ve had a bunch of mix projects come up since getting it and it has been amazing. I often use it in tandem with a Bricasti m7 and it’s a killer combo!

Haven’t been had the chance to use the OTO with my eurorack yet, but I am very excited for when it happens!

[mrspiral]

I had an H9 MAX for a while thanks to my position at the magazine as reviewer of new algorithms, but returned it when I left. I find myself missing it much more than I thought I would, even though I never ever used its built-in controls and had to dedicate an iPad to being a permanent control surface for it (and said iPad is now much more useful elsewhere in my studio as a virtual synth platform). I’m not quite to the point of going out and buying myself a new one, but I may be getting there.

[desolationjones]

Has anyone been hands-on with the new Poly Digit’s convolution reverb? Seems powerful but I can’t find how big of IRs it allows.

[apeirophobe]

I’m interested in learning more about this too. Hadn’t heard of it until Perfect Circuit’s promo email today.

[Hovercraft]

Looks interesting, but are you sure you can load your own IRs? If possible, I’d guess they have to be fairly short.