Reverb Plugin Sound Demos

[Julio Di Benedetto]

After the thread I started on other options than my Eventide Eclipse the software comments got me curious so I downloaded these demos to hear whats happening in the plugin world.  At this point Ive been listing for several days and I have not formed an opinion about any preference one over the other.  They are all good!

To keep it as even a playing filed as possible I used factory patches for Medium Hall or as close to what was available.  Only tweaking I did was to low the output from the plugin on a few as they were too loud compared to the majority . The graphics are not the actual setting I used just pictures I found on the web.

An interesting note is that the algorithm designer for the Exponential Audio Plugins R2 & Phoenix Revreb is the same man who designed the Lexicon Hardware PCM96 & PCM Native Reverbs...Michael Carnes.

Lexicon, the company impressed me as the demo of the PCM Native plugins expired before my iLok 2 arrived. In a day they had deposited a new 3 month trial to my iLok account.

The Verb I found most intuitive was the Softubes TSAR 1...very easy to get what I wanted quickly and with not much tweaking.....the opposite would be Aether, way to many parameters and not easy to see whereas the Sonnox verb is deep but makes more sense when editing IMHO.

All reverbs have some sort of tone shaping / eq but none have the scope that the Sonnox Reverb offers...handles like a scaled down Sonnox Eq.  I found it very handy for shaping.  Sure you can drop in Eq plugin before a reverb but this is all in one and cuts down on cpu usage.

Most  plugins did not work the cpu much on my 17" Macbook Pro 2.4 ghz Intel i7 with 8gb ram, except the Relab LX480.  Its a liitle bit more hungry then the others.

Ive left out alot but these are some of the best I found after a good deal of researching.

The patch from the Matrix 12 is an evolving buzzy 1 minute recording completely dry with no eq, compression or limiting.  Personally I can't stand listing to the patch anymore after days of auditioning...going to delete the thing from the synth .  The patch does show off the verbs well as its quite dynamic.  The recording is 44.1k @ 16 bits

All demos are ilok based except Aether & the Valhalla verbs which cut out after 45 seconds.

Please suggest plugins you think should be included.

The differences are subtle so careful auditioning with headphones recommended.

Enjoy

Added a Guitar Recording kindly provided By Pete Kelly / Igneous Flame....http://www.luminasounds.com

Same preset was used as on the Synth patch except I change the wet dry mix to 60% wet as most plugins washed out the guitar at around 100% which the Synths mix level is set at.



Oberheim Matrix 12 Dry Patch



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Here is a link to the Synth reverb demo wav files for those who wish to load them up in their daws for closer auditioning.....https://www.dropbox.com/sh/osj98tu6mv4xcnq/dC7C_gjBSQ

[Ekstasis]

it is hard to do the "ultimate" test and comparison test, what we have here is basicually a comparision with different preset ,  different presets can sound completely different.  Sure certain characteristics can be found but they can also been changed with different settings.  I use mostly the the PCM Random hall I always open up the filter completely to now have the reverb to "cut" anything especially the high  frequencies, it is only then the Lexicon reverb sounds good and "open" for me atleast for ambient music..   these LP filters that seem to be present in many presets in the test , it is for me what makes them sound "cheap" and not open and clear...

From this test I can see no clear winner..I would love to try the Phoenix reverb myself.. heard good things about it, and it is "true stereo" unlike for instance the Lexicon reverb...which is it's main criticism .

Sure we all love soundcloud cause it is fast and easy to share links, but Also I would be careful to judge a test done from Soundcloud the sound quality is not representative.

[petekelly]

Great post Julio,

Will give it some serious 'ears' ASAP, I've done similiar tests myself, to find the 'best' reverb.

[Julio Di Benedetto]

Sure we all love soundcloud cause it is fast and easy to share links, but Also I would be careful to judge a test done from Soundcloud the sound quality is not representative.

Hi Immersion, the possible audio degradation from sound cloud processing happened to all files so it does not invalidate the test or better put the "experience".  This is definitely not scientific.  Perhaps different sounds like piano or vocals would be more telling but I mostly use synths.

After some thought, well days of thinking my personal favorites are the R2, TSAR 1 & Lexicon Random Hall.  Still need to track down which Reverb lends itself best for that "Lost in Space" sound. 

Heres a long gearslutz thread where the designers of LexiconPCM native, Exponential Audio & Valhalla talk about their verbs.  The link drops you in at page 14 where it starts to get interesting  http://www.gearslutz.com/board/music-computers/717515-2012-best-reverb-plug-ins-until-now-14.html

[Ekstasis]

Sure we all love soundcloud cause it is fast and easy to share links, but Also I would be careful to judge a test done from Soundcloud the sound quality is not representative.

Hi Immersion, the possible audio degradation from sound cloud processing happened to all files so it does not invalidate the test or better put the "experience".  This is definitely not scientific.  Perhaps different sounds like piano or vocals would be more telling but I mostly use synths.

After some thought, well days of thinking my personal favorites are the R2, TSAR 1 & Lexicon Random Hall.  Still need to track down which Reverb lends itself best for that "Lost in Space" sound. 

Heres a long gearslutz thread where the designers of LexiconPCM native, Exponential Audio & Valhalla talk about their verbs.  The link drops you in at page 14 where it starts to get interesting  http://www.gearslutz.com/board/music-computers/717515-2012-best-reverb-plug-ins-until-now-14.html

Yeah the main problem with soundcloud is when you upload mp3 files since the file will be converted two times. But I assume you uploaded the wav files.

Valhalla shimmer reverb is the only one I have used, of valhalla family, to me it was very good to create big modulation reverb tails for pads.
But I still prefer to use my lexicon reverb for transperecy. But the shimmer reverb was really greate to create "high energy" modulated reverb soundscapes..

I recorded this little improvisation with valhalla shimmer  on keyboard.
http://picosong.com/YZFt/

[Ekstasis]

X-verb seem always to come in the complete shadow for some reason it is one of the better reverbs.if you want to test all revberb demos out there..you could maybe give it a chance..

http://www.solid-state-logic.com/music/duende/x-verb/

[Julio Di Benedetto]

That music sounds very lush...nice improvisation Immersion.  Thanks!

The X-Verb was on my list but I back off it because of a strange demo download procedure...Will try it again. 

[Ekstasis]

That music sounds very lush...nice improvisation Immersion.  Thanks!

The X-Verb was on my list but I back off it because of a strange demo download procedure...Will try it again.

Thank you very much!

Yes X-verb deserve a spot with the "big boys" in software reverb land.
But PCM native was released about the same time so I did suddenly loose interest in it (among others)
and I guess most people forgot about it too, the timing was not the best one from SSL, since it's main goal was to finally release a reverb that could replace the hardware boxes.

[petekelly]

Julio,
Would it be possible to download these demos (as a zip file) ?. I find it difficult to really hear the differences without being able to load them all into a DAW and solo / mute them individually.

I have a favourite reverb (currently) for a long-ish verb sound, but I've been through endless comparisons myself ! 

[Julio Di Benedetto]

Sure Pete.....I would be happy to zip them to you.  To the Luminasounds address.   Can I load them Here?

If you want send my a minutes worth of sound from your system, guitar, synth, whatever and I will process the dry file with these Medium Hall presets on the plugins listed here.  That way you will be more familiar with the end results.

[petekelly]

Hi Julio,

Here's a dropbox link to 3 wav files: (43.07MB)

https://db.tt/2USz0etQ

'verbshootout raw'- a 'raw' snip of clean guitar (47 seconds),
'verbshootout mysteryverb 1' - a 'mystery verb' of the above, for your interest
'verbshootout mysteryverb 1_2' - another 'mystery verb'

Hope they are of some use to you.

Can your synth demos be downloaded from Soundcloud ? - I can't figure out the new soundcloud like I could with the old one, regarding some things

[Julio Di Benedetto]

Got them Pete....thanks.  The dry guitar really shows off the reverbs especially in the tail. Also interesting how the reverbs that worked for my synth file are good with the guitar but the ones that where not spectacular with the synth sound so good with the guitar.  Love those sleepers

Wont be able to do much today with them but as soon as Im done I will get them to you for auditioning.

I could not get soundcloud to open up any parameters to download a file...perhaps someone may know more.

I also like the the mystery verbs very much.

Once Im done perhaps I can load up the guitar files beneath the synth files for each verb plugin, with your permission.  Will make the story more complete.

[petekelly]

Glad they were of some use, feel free to add them to your soundcloud page.

I'II keep quiet about the 'mysteryverbs' for the time being, suffice to say, one of them isn't an actual dedicated 'reverb' plug-in as such...

[Crossing_The_Threshold]

It's easy, the more expensive is the best

[Julio Di Benedetto]

I wish it was that simple....the most expensive is the Lexicon Native and I do like it but there are others that cost 1/2 its ticket price that are as good and some of those are here in this thread.

The Valhalla verbs @ $50 are really very good to my ears regardless of price.

[Castleview]

All of them sound great and I use ValhallaRoom mostly, but I thought the Eventide and Oxford reverbs sounded the best in that comparison, and I've never used them. It was really close though. I was actually expecting to like the Lexicon reverb the most but I was wrong.

[Julio Di Benedetto]

Yes Castleview.....I think the Eventide & Oxford/Sonnox are good and very different from the rest as most of the others seem to be going after that coveted Lexicon sound and as such to my ears the Lexicon plugins still do it better.  I have been going back and forth and if you ask me tomorrow I could well change my mind.  But today or rather tonight the lexicon does itself the best.

I also feel that the Lex verbs are sort of in that category with a big price tag that makes one back away from them when Valhalla verbs and others do the job very well at considerably less the expense, and yet the Lex verbs have something about them to my ears that is just a notch or two above the rest. I does get a bit gray...sort of like listening to different monitor cables and inter connecters.  A good pair of $50 Mogami cables  or a $500 pair of silver wire. Is the difference worth it?  If you can hear the difference then you will be able to make that decision.  For me the Lex verbs fall into this category.

Once I get Pete Kelly's guitar contribution up I think it will be quite revealing....Thanks again Pete.

[Julio Di Benedetto]

Just added a link to the Synth wav files at the bottom of the first post.   Might as well put it here to...https://www.dropbox.com/sh/osj98tu6mv4xcnq/dC7C_gjBSQ

[Paul Vnuk (Ma Ja Le)]

One interesting thing to think about here is that back when hardware reverbs were all that there was, you bought a box, or two and you dove in and made it work for everything, now we have plug-ins, most of them at mere fractions of the cost of the old hardware and we can have one that is better for ambient reverb, one that is better for halls, one for rooms. Its like each plug-in is akin to what would have been a preset on hardware.

That said, I find out of the current crop that you have listed here that I own.

Usually use the Tsar for simulating woody sounding rooms for drums, percussion and acoustic guitar.

I use the Lexicon PCM bundle (which like the PCM 96 which I also own) really is not what most of us old timers would consider "the lexicon sound". The PCM plugs/PCM96 are really closer to a TC M3000/M4000 style of verb as they are very open, pristine and clear. They are great for those types of high quality verbs where you are not sure what the verb is doing to your sound until you take it away.

Spark verb has become my new - recent favorite for both working quick, fast and intuitive editing and more importantly does the big, effecty, cloudy classic bathed in verb, 10 to 20 sec tail thing that we we have
come to equate with classic 90's space music...it actually remenid s me of what I use to get out of my Alesis Wedge (a secret weapon of many space music guys and Alesis' clone of a PCM 70) only cleaner.

Not listed above, I am a sucker for true old school emulation and as such my single most used reverb is UAD's Lexicon 224 emulation. I use it for vocals, space music, drum rooms, you name it. It just has that awesome classic, studio album sound that when you hear it in a mix, your brain tells you that you have heard it before. It is the reverb sound of mid period U2, Daniel Lanois, David Sylvian and more. Plus what I like about the UA plug-ins is that it is the real thing as they went back to the original papers, the original designer and the original parameters and algorithms and put that into the software. This is the vintage Lexicon sound, cuz it just is. UA also did the same with the digital EMT240 and while it sounds great, I find less uses for it in my music.

Lastly if you want a good in the box plate, the UAD EMT 140 is hard to beat.

Also you should check out demo's of PSP Spring reverb its pretty effecty and weird, but great for sound design.

[Julio Di Benedetto]

Thanks for the in depth response Paul.

I found it interesting what you said about the modern verbs......you dont know what they are doing until you bypass them.  I found this to be the case with a lot of the plugins Ive listed.

And I think its true, or Im coming to realize it that you can have several soft verbs for different applications when one hardware box was all you had to do everything as I do with the Eclipse. I am enjoy the variety of sound possibilities having all these verbs to play with which will start ending in a few days as the demos expire.

THe UAD system and plugins like the 224 are really enticing but the buy in to a satellite processor is not when the choice plugins do not come bundled...works out to be expensive for plugins. If I was looking for a new Daw interface the UAD Apollo with core plugin processors included seems a much better deal.  Your description of the UAD 224 has got me very curious.  You describe it with artist and colors close to my heart...perhaps when you consider that the UAD satellite system are really hardware, much like the TC Powercore platform was the sticker shock is subdued because the plugin is just a GUI to a hardware system not the system itself.

Thanks for your insight Paul.....and on that note few seem to be forth coming with their reverb suggestions.     Anyone use Altiverb.

Altiverb 7 guided tour