Just grabbed a Nanoverb used, but I see they're still selling new

[junplugged]

It looks like these have been around for a long time, not sure how long, but I was surprised to see that they are still available new. It has a nice sound, no noticeable noise, and some adjustments.

What's the consensus on this thing, and what compares or is better?

I think I got a good deal for $45, about half of new cost.

[Tim Brown]

It's a piece of crap, just like anything that has Alesis on it.

Personally, you should have spent about $60 more and gotten a Behringer multi-effect unit. They are much better pieces of crap.

[diogo]

i beg to difer...alesis aint around for almost more than 20 years for nothing..their quadra 2 is still a landmark for shoegaze sounds..those opinions seem more like behringer lobby kind of thing.

i hear pretty good stuff coming from a picoverb for example..everything has its place..if u cant afford a decent unit, but want something better than plug ins, and want to tweak knobs, then by all means..alesis is far from the worse u can do in terms of verbs, everybody knows that.

[SonicAlbert]

Originally Posted by junplugged

It looks like these have been around for a long time, not sure how long, but I was surprised to see that they are still available new. It has a nice sound, no noticeable noise, and some adjustments.

What's the consensus on this thing, and what compares or is better?

I think I got a good deal for $45, about half of new cost.

The Nanoverb is okay, I used to have one. At around the $45 price I personally prefer the Alesis Wedge, as it is much more programmable and also sounds a bit better in my opinion.

The Nanoverb has a small sweet spot, and if you push it too hard it gets a bit noisy. But if you can keep it in the narrow little area where it sounds good, it actually does sound decent. There are some simple delay/echo presets on it that I like very much. Many fx boxes go a little nuts with fancy multi-tap delays and it can actually be a little annoying when all you want is a simple delay. The Nanoverb is nice that way, easy to use and no fuss no muss. I used mine as a quick monitoring reverb on my keyboard rig for quite a while.

[gordone]

I use my Nanoverb to add reverb to my headphone mix so the singer (usually me!) can hear reverb in the cans during tracking. I don't print with it though.

[Strryder]

Originally Posted by gordone

I use my Nanoverb to add reverb to my headphone mix so the singer (usually me!) can hear reverb in the cans during tracking. I don't print with it though.

I use one the same way, it's just for monitoring so why spend more?

[DefenderOfRock]

That is cool that you have gotten sounds that you like with the Nano. Have you used it in any of your nowhereradio demos? It'd be cool to hear what other Nano users are doing with them.

For me, I am having the hardest time getting good sounds to tape with the Nanoverb. No matter how much I experiment with the adjustment, the verbs just sound way too fake and digital. The chorus and delay are decent. The rotating speaker effect gives some sweet SRV tones with my guitar amp. It also sucks when you use it in mono. It was prolly intended to be used in stereo for the best "effect" (haha, pun FULLY indended)

I think that this unit is intended for more of a live guitar/keyboard rig than for recording. I use it with my electric rig to make weird freaky pinkfloydy sounds (the only thing I have found the verb to be good for...) and I use the chorus/reverb patch when I play acoustic gigs. I am happy with it in this regard, 45 bucks well spent.

As far as altrnate units, I wish that I wouldnt have been so cheap, and held out a bit longer for the Alesis Midiverb 3/4 or microverb 4, or one of the similar Lexicon units. They are much more flexible and have better sounds as well. Oh well. A good operator can make anything sound decent, so I guess Im gonna have to get some sweet nanoverb skills!

Carl

[SonicAlbert]

There's really only so much you can do with the Nanoverb. As I mentioned, I think the Alesis Wedge is the best of that budget Alesis bunch. I just saw another person from homerecording.com get a Wedge for $40 on eBay. It's a much better unit than the Nanoverb, and you could almost do an even trade on eBay.

[Tim Brown]

Originally Posted by diogo

i beg to difer...alesis aint around for almost more than 20 years for nothing..their quadra 2 is still a landmark for shoegaze sounds..those opinions seem more like behringer lobby kind of thing.

i hear pretty good stuff coming from a picoverb for example..everything has its place..if u cant afford a decent unit, but want something better than plug ins, and want to tweak knobs, then by all means..alesis is far from the worse u can do in terms of verbs, everybody knows that.

I had a Midiverb II. The problem I had with Alesis gear, is that We were averaging a $30 Alesis Power Supply every couple of months. After 18 months, we had spent almost as much on the Power SUpplies as we had on the actual Midiverb II!

On top of that, there were only two reverbs on it that I found worth a crap - #7 and #11. The rest of the Reverbs were so fake sounding it wasn't funny.

These days - if it says Alesis on it - I have no use for it other than as an electronic Doorstop.



Tim

[robin watson]

Originally Posted by Tim Brown

I had a Midiverb II. The problem I had with Alesis gear, is that We were averaging a $30 Alesis Power Supply every couple of months. After 18 months, we had spent almost as much on the Power SUpplies as we had on the actual Midiverb II!

On top of that, there were only two reverbs on it that I found worth a crap - #7 and #11. The rest of the Reverbs were so fake sounding it wasn't funny.

These days - if it says Alesis on it - I have no use for it other than as an electronic Doorstop.



Tim

Unless it says 'ALESIS HD24' on it perhaps?

[junplugged]

Originally Posted by SonicAlbert

The Nanoverb is okay, I used to have one. At around the $45 price I personally prefer the Alesis Wedge, as it is much more programmable and also sounds a bit better in my opinion.

The Nanoverb has a small sweet spot, and if you push it too hard it gets a bit noisy. But if you can keep it in the narrow little area where it sounds good, it actually does sound decent. There are some simple delay/echo presets on it that I like very much. Many fx boxes go a little nuts with fancy multi-tap delays and it can actually be a little annoying when all you want is a simple delay. The Nanoverb is nice that way, easy to use and no fuss no muss. I used mine as a quick monitoring reverb on my keyboard rig for quite a while.

I noticed that I can't feed it with a hot signal or it gives digi crackle on the peaks, nasty. But after figuring out where that was coming from, it is usable - I first suspected my Tube ultra-Q b/c it's Behringer.... but it was the nano.

So after using it for a while it is better reverb than coming from my Korg D1600 which sounds to me like a repetitive noise factor in stead of reverb. Is there any analog reverb instead of this digital crap? Actually my Boss digital delay pedal sounds the best.

[SonicAlbert]

When you get into analog reverbs you are talking about springs, plates or chambers. You can put a speaker in any reverberant room or stairway and then mic the space. Then you run whatever tracks you want reverb on into that space and then feed the result back into your fx returns like any digital box.