The Reverb Thread

[Oootini]

I keep coming back to this IR based open source VST: http://www.balancemastering.com/blog/balance-audio-tools-free-teufelsberg-reverb-plugin/

It just sounds so luush

[mrspiral]

GFI System is a little DSP shop in Jakarta, Indonesia, that builds effect pedals of all kinds and ships them direct worldwide. They’re a great bunch of kids, very open to chatting about their gear and offering stuff with really good build quality. I have to give a huge shout out to their Specular Reverb v2 pedal.

It’s a compact stereo in/out algorithmic reverb that’s simply gorgeous, with the ability to program eight presets. There’s only one algorithm, which is lush, dense, and chewy, not really an emulation of anything in particular. It can do “subtle” but that’s not really its forte (or mine), and you can add “extras” to the reverb like pitch-shifted feedback, tremolo, “infinite” reverb freeze, modulated tails, echo with reverb, etc.

Its only real downside is the UI, which involves a fair bit of “press this button and hold for 2 seconds until that LED changes color and the other LED starts blinking”. That’s because the v1 Specular had only four presets and three effects add-ons, and the v2 doubled everything at the cost of not changing the UI hardware (except to make one LED two-color). It’s essentially got two versions of the OS and parameter RAM under the hood: the original v1, plus another one with four presets of its own and three different add-on modulations. You have to switch back and forth between the two internal OSes, which is kinda fiddly. GFI System was and is painfully aware of this, and they’ve just released the new v3 model, which has a massively simplified UI and a lot more clear visual feedback.

I look forward to trying these out and reviewing them in the magazine, but in the meantime, MAN I love my v2. It’s not as powerful as a BigSky or an Avalanche Run, but it’s the best-sounding reverb on synth tracks that I’ve ever heard, and if you’re into Secret Sauces, pretty much nobody out there is using one for electronica.

[bradfromraleigh]

Anyone have experience with this? Seems to check a lot of boxes for me.

[tsintsi]

my main reverb for the longest time was (and for guitar, still is) the EHX Cathedral, which I don’t think gets a lot of love really. it lacks the kind of crazy modes that you’d prob find on an Eventide Space, but it’s programs are really solid, including a really nice spring reverb emulation. I do wish it had some chorus-y programs aside from the kinda useless flerblbl option.

the only other hardware reverb I have is an Alesis Microverb 2 (that I also circuit bent) that essentially never leaves the “Large 4” setting.

for a sec I was looking at the erbe-verb, but eventually realized that I use reverb really as a set it and forget it kind of thing. Loren Connors I think is the best example of how I really like to use reverb, not only for guitar but for pretty much everything:

[iain]

I’ve gone through a number of reverbs over the years

Boss RV3 - Loved this for its huge reverbs, its wet dry mix control and the weird explosion sounds it would make when you used a battery that was dying. Sold it to fund

EHX Holiest Grail - Had some nice sounds, but way too many controls and far too noisy. Sold it for

Neunaber Wet - Still in use today as my main large reverb, sounds beautiful.

Mooer Shimverb - Not a great reverb, but its cheap. The shimmer sounds awful, and the plate mode adds lots of glitchy artefacts when it’s turned up, but it’ll do for my use which is to smear some dirty synth lines

Industrielectric RM-1N - My other main reverb for shorter reverbs. Has nice pre and post gain controls for getting various overly compressed reverb clouds, infinite trails, that sort of thing. Could have done with a few less controls, the reverb output blend control seems particularly pointless as both the outputs sound identical, and the drone control (on my model at least) never gives a usable noise.

Alesis Midiverb II - Has some really nice patches, but at the moment I’ve not got enough cables to include it in my set up. Should probably get some new cables

Every few days I flip between wanting a big sky and not.

[kirklandish]

How are you still getting along with the Ocean Machine? Is the looper an afterthought or is it useful?

[steveoath]

The looper is fiddly to use and isnt where this stands out for me. TC ditto is much simpler to use if you are after a dedicated looper. I had one a few years ago.

It’s nice to have the option there for the looper but I don’t use it. If I did I’d look into the Bluetooth stomp box controller. I think that may make the pedal easier to navigate.

[kirklandish]

The looper isn’t the whole reason, but probably 50% of the reason I’m interested. Looking to play more with just my Nord Wave + delay + reverb + looper and having it all-in-one has a certain appeal to me.

[bobbcorr]

From The Muffs:

THE SPACE CASE TE-2 - Eurorack / Standalone Echo + Tape Unit

…and a prototype photo:

[rmro]

A Plug in reverb worth mentioning imo is the flux verb session - https://fluxhome.com/project/ircam-verb-session-v3/ well worth checking out. I also actually like using the RME Totalmix effects really transparent and mathematical sounding, they’re a useful contrast to all the ‘character’ injected in by lots of other effects.

[photofractal]

I’m a huge fan of Altiverb. I really like natural sounding reverb and the ability to use impulse responses taken directly from classic/rare reverb units is also pretty great.

[Oneven]

Lot’s of Bam appreciation here. I have been on the fence a long time about all the recent OTO boxes. All seem great, but with Empress and Strymon(now especially with Magneto), it’s getting tough to pick one.

[Starthief]

I had the thought this morning: what kind of music would I make if I used no reverb? Definitely nothing like my two albums this year.

Valhalla reverb plugins and FogConvolver are my go-to. I also like delays-as-reverb, like Audio Damage Ratshack Reverb and Sonic Charge Echobode.

My Koma Field Kit FX should be shipping today or tomorrow, which will give me spring reverb among other things; I’ve been waiting for that to decide what else I might want to do with hardware FX.

[rmro]

How does Fog Convolver stack up against the M4L Convolution reverb? Altiverb is by far the best sounding I’ve used in the past but pretty pricey.

[Starthief]

No idea – I don’t use M4L, or Live at all. I run Maschine as a DAW.

Fog Convolver is the first convolution plugin I’ve used that’s stable, doesn’t introduce latency, has a decent GUI, is somewhat tweakable, and is inexpensive. It just lacks feedback, which would be nice for some IRs.

The factory library isn’t that special (I haven’t tried their additional banks) but I had quite a few free and cheap IRs from other sources.

[wselman]

I just picked up a BAM and I love it. To me, it sounds quite similar to an AMS RMS16. If you are going for that kind of reverb sound, it’s fantastic and a lot cheaper. There are not a lot settings you can adjust, but it doesn’t matter because everything is dialed in perfectly to my ears.

I also recommend a used Lexicon PCM80/81. They sound really rich and can be had for < $500.

[kbit]

I’ve been using the Strymon el Capistan as my end of chain verb (I haven’t been using a computer in my synth explorations thus far so no plugins yet). I usually set a really short delay with a touch of wow & flutter and have the onboard spring verb at about 35%. With a fairly low mix in stereo it adds justa touch of stereo ambience that isn’t super perceptible, but my synth sounds significantly more “flat” when I turn it off. It’s maybe not the most practical / versatile solution, but it’s real nice to have that lofi looper ready to go with the flick of a switch.

[enneff]

Maybe a bit pedestrian but I use Eventide Space in Dynaverb mode on pretty much everything I do. It just sounds so lush.

[Starthief]

I bought a used Pittsburgh Verbtronic which should arrive Monday. From demos it seems to be a very artificial sounding thing, almost like the Realistic/Radio Shack “reverbs” and I love that sound.

The saturated reverb algo on Pico DSP is surprisingly nice too.

[fever606]

The saturated reverb algo on Pico DSP is surprisingly nice too.

Have to agree with this… I picked up a Pico DSP just to have a more basic reverb and delay option (alongside uBurst). The reverbs go full wet, which was a nice surprise. Oh and it’s only 3hp, so my Nearness got balanced out!