Looking for a reverb unit and/or multi effect box

MOFO Pro said:
My own experience is that equipment reviews in "for profit" publications generally run from Incredible (for the price) all the way up to just plain Incredible (but pricey)... These guys make there money selling advertising to the same companies whose products they review.

Honestly... when's the last time you read a review where the auther came out and said a product just plain "sucked"... They focus on the strengths, and bury the weaknesses... dancing around the real quality of the unit. You gotta take it with a grain of salt...
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The fact is budget gear has come along way and much of it just doesn't suck these days. I read plenty of gear reviews that are not at all glowing. You'll often read things like "not recommended" or "there are better products out there in this price range" or "the reverbs sound harsh and ringy" or "Don't by it for the reverbs!"

Oh, those are just comments I picked out of two recent magazines laying in front of me.

BTW, I just went to the soundonsound website, take a look in the archives and you'll find plenty of bad reviews.
 
Okay, I read the reviews too. Plus, I write reviews from time to time. But *quoting* them on message boards is really kind of lame in my opinion. I mean, link to the review if you want to, that is a nice courtesy I always appreciate. But quoting from the review like the author is personally supporting your position is just not what these boards are about in my opinion.

The thing is, the best posts are when people who actually use the gear are writing about it. Like when you talk about the V-Verb based on your own personal usage. I see that as totally cool and interesting. Except then you go into quoting reviews, as if that somehow supports or justifies your position. I don't need that. If you like the V-Verb then tell me why in detail and leave it at that, third party quotes just seem really out of place.

I wouldn't mind hearing a V-Verb, but whenever I've bought Behringer gear in the past it is either not working right, so flimsy I worry that it won't work right soon, or it just doesn't sound good. Which is to say that I keep giving them a chance and I keep end up being dissapointed. It recently got to the point where I told the sales manager at my gear store: "Friends don't let friends buy Behringer. Next time I call up to order a Behringer piece of gear please talk me out of it". He seemed to find that pretty amusing.

I do agree with you that the Kurzweil Rumour is the best of the bunch in the $500 price range.
 
Seeker of Rock said:
...but the Alesis Midiverb IV I have I still swear by. The unit sounds great. In all fairness, I haven't heard the Midiverb I, II, or III, nor any of the Microverbs....only the Midiverb IV.
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I agree the Midiverb 4 is very well put together. I've owned all the Midiverbs at one time or another... the original, II, III and 4. I still have the Midiverb II I bought in the 80's. It's a keeper, but the Midiverb 4 sounds the sweetest and the Leslie simulation is something you just have to hear.

There is an editing program called PowerMidiverb4 by Jambient Software. The two make a powerful system. IMO, the $20.00 price for the editor is worth every penny.

When it comes down to it I'm basically a Lexicon guy, but Alesis has managed to give us some respectable devices over the years.

I don't believe the price tags of some of the mega-buck units necessarily translate into a strikingly superior sound. I rather enjoy working with so-called budget devices and have had great results doing so. I’ve never owned a 480L or PCM70, etc, and don’t really care to.

One can accomplish great things with fairly modest equipment. Anyway, that’s been my experience over the last 25 plus years.

Tim,
:)
 
Funnily enough the most used effects unit for me lately has been my Virus TI.

I often pass other instruments through it's effects and use the virus to process them :D

It really has got a great effects section ;) not that im suggesting you run out and buy a virus for this purpose :D
 
EDAN said:
"Don't by it for the reverbs!"
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Honest Candid Reviewer said:
"Don't by it!"
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I don't completely trust publication gear reviews... I'm also skeptical of some opinions expressed in this forum (and others), I sometimes get the feeling that a lot of recommendations posted here are based purely on ownership... whatever anyone owns is the absolute best in it's price class... even with no experience with other similar units... but after reading several opinions, from numerous posters, of which some have quietly earned my respect... I get a feel for the quality of the piece... then make some purchasing decisions... Much in the way I might take a second (honestly a first) look at the behringer unit you rave about...

You're very passionate in you opinions EDAN... sometimes less is more...

And just for the record... and back to the topic of the post... Kurzweil Rumour!!!
 
cortexx said:
cool lots of very strong opinions , always makes for interesting reading :D

I use the Lexicon MX200 , it also works as a VST plugin for cubase etc through a USB interface and it sounds great , i use it all the time ;)

http://www.lexiconpro.com/ProductIndex.aspx?ProductID=12

can also use midi to time the effects too :p

and its pretty cheap too

anodized blue rack , even cooler looking than the red fostex mr-8 :D
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I've been playing around with one of these as well and it has been a pleasant surprise. The best part about this thing is the software interface/control. I haven't used it for a plug-in and most likely won't but it may work for those who work in the box; I guess I'm just old school.

I will say I'm not a fan of the new color scheme but its the sound, not the color that's important. ;)
 
As far as Alesis, the Wedge is a nice sounding reverb that goes for really cheap used. It has a great user interface, is easy to use, and sounds good. I like it much better than the Midiverb 4. The Wedge actually has twice the processing power of the Midiverb 4.

I make recommendations based on what I've used and heard, not necessarily on what I own, although certainly I own reverbs that I like and would therefore recommend them to others. This is why quoting reviews seems so pointless to me, as it does not reflect the user's direct experience with the gear. This is the advantage of a board homerecording.com, we can talk directly to those that have used the gear.
 
I've been playing around with one of these as well and it has been a pleasant surprise. The best part about this thing is the software interface/control. I haven't used it for a plug-in and most likely won't but it may work for those who work in the box; I guess I'm just old school.
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I dont use much plugin software , I have Native Instruments battery VST , Access virus TI VST and the lexicon rack VST loaded but thats it.

Most of my gear is outboard including my keyboards , racks , soundcraft mixer, i do however use a MOTU 828 firewire interface and everything ends up as a track in cubase eventually ;)
 
Having met so many "endorsed" artists and engineers, I have learned to virtually ignore most all endorsement reviews. Edan however seems to live for these. My experience with actually dealing with artists engineers and producers has shown me that not only is Edan stretching things incredibly, but he is actaully just plain old wrong which is pretty tought to do in the audio industry since there are very few things that are actually "wrong".
 
Oh, Xstatic my friend
:rolleyes:

Reviews are of course useless, everyone doing them is lying, and none of them have a shred of intergrity. Even people who give a product a bad review are currupt as the competition is no doubt lining their pockets.
 
About a week ago I bought the Behringer REV2496 V-VERB PRO.

I bought it after stumbling across a couple old reviews. One from SOS which claims it competes with units that cost a lot more.

I currently use two Lexicon PCM91 & MPX500.
I never really used the MPX500. I should of sold it years ago.
It gets no where near the PCM quality.

To check it out, we threw the unit on our B room console.
To my surprise, the V-VERB sounds great!.
It's apparent that Behringer really did their homework on this one!

Some of the algorithms sound hauntingly close to the high end Lexicons.
It also has a lot of parameters for adjustment.

The Ambience 960 , Church 960, V-VERB, & Gold Plate, algorithms sound great! It appears the captured the 960 algorithms form a Lexicon 960.
I'm not saying these are one for one for the real thing, but I can tell you they sound good.

I can't believe we paid $150 USD new for one.
I just ordered 4 more!
 
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vx2000 said:
About a week ago I bought the Behringer REV2496 V-VERB PRO.

I bought it after stumbling across a couple old reviews. One from SOS which claims it competes with units that cost a lot more.

I currently use two Lexicon PCM91 & MPX500.
I never really used the MPX500. I should of sold it years ago.
It gets no where near the PCM quality.

To check it out, we threw the unit on our B room console.
To my surprise, the V-VERB sounds great!.
It's apparent that Behringer really did their homework on this one!

Some of the algorithms sound hauntingly close to the high end Lexicons.
It also has a lot of parameters for adjustment.

The Ambience 960 , Church 960, V-VERB, & Gold Plate, algorithms sound great! It appears the captured the 960 algorithms form a Lexicon 960.
I'm not saying these are one for one for the real thing, but I can tell you they sound good.

I can't believe we paid $150 USD new for one.
I just ordered 4 more!
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Well at this price, it might be worth a roll... I write Dark Spacey, Ambient music, and am looking for an inexpensive verb that can give me a deep, rich spacey sound. In your opinion how does the V-VERB fit these verb requirements?

FYI: I used to own a TC MOne XL but sold it because it was too normal or neutral sounding to me. I need a verb that is more lush, or rich sounding. I'm actually thinking of getting a Lexicon PCM80 or PCM70, but the V-VERB sounds interesting.

Thanks in advance,
Dennis
 
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