Which Reverb?
So many to choose from.
I did some A/B comparisons of different reverbs and here are some of my conclusions:
I tested each reverb with a snare hit, vocals, acoustic steel string guitar, electric guitar, and acoustic piano
Tested (in order of preference)
1. Perfectspace convolution (comes with sonar)
2. SIR 1010
3.
Spinaudio Roomverb
4.
PSP Easyverb
5.Waves trueverb
6.TC works native reverb
7. Sonitus FX Reverb (comes with sonar)
8.
Waves renaissance reverb
9. Lexicon Pantheon (comes with sonar)
10. Ambience
11. Anwidasoft DX reverb
Most natural Sounding Reverb with the smoothest tails:
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Perfectspace and SIR 1010 were by far the best. I would put perfectspace ahead of SIR in terms of features but SIR is FREE! I think convolution rules in terms of realism and smoothness. These 2 are definitely the best verbs around that I've tested, they sound beautiful. High latency though, and high CPU load if used in real time. You need DAW software with latency compensation. These reverbs work brilliantly on any acoustic instruments, including percussion and vocals. Not so good for electric guitar, where a little colour is preferable.
Second - best
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Spinaudio Roomverb is an amazing reverb, by far the best native plugin non-convolution reverb I've heard to date. Works well on both long and short reverbs.
Easyverb from PSP would be up there with Roomverb, has some lovely plate reverbs, very smooth, realistic and usable.
Both have very natural smooth reverb trails, they can be used on anything, but both are hungry on CPU
Good reverbs
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I would prefer the convolution reverbs over these any time for acoustic instruments (including vocals) but for anything else these are great.
Waves reverbs: are pretty good, as long as you don't need long smooth reverb tails. When compared to any of the above reverbs I could hear the tails were not smooth. For medium and short reverbs, I would use the Waves reverbs, they are truly excellent, my preference is trueverb over renaissance reverb.
The TCworks native reverb plus: gives nice reverb which is more suited for mid to short verbs, not great for long reverbs. Is great for electric guitar reverb!
Sonitus FX reverb: The best kept little secret from sonitus (bundled with sonar 5): A nice little reverb, mainly useful for short reverbs, fails miserably for long reverbs, but has a very clean usable sound when you want a short plate like verb.
The Rest
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What's left over?
Sonar (Lexicon Pantheon): It's ok, very digital sounding, not great, but Perfectspace has superseeded this in sonar, so who cares.
Freeverb 2: not very realistic compared to the above, but great for electric guitar and it's free.
Ambience : Disappointing to say the least, a lot of hype about this one all over the place. When compared to the 4 best verbs above, it doesn't even come close. And it's very CPU hungry for what it does. Sounds very digital / coloured unless you are careful about setting it correctly.
Anwidasoft DX reverb: I think this was a free demo that I downloaded from their site a few years back. Sounds very sweet on it's own, but haven't really found a way of using it in a mix, the reverb sound just seems to vanish when it's mixed with other things.
Conclusions
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These are just my opinions, and many people would probably disagree or have other "best" reverbs which I have not tested, and I know there are some great plugins out there.
I would certainly recommend any of the first 4 verbs. The convolution reverbs are by far the most realistic and have glassy smooth reverb tails (excellent for acoustic instruments).
The general purpose reverbs like waves, sonitus, TCworks native reverb are great too, but don't give the realism of the convolution reverbs, it's really obvious when you put them side by side, but in isolation they sound very good.
The Free non-convolution reverbs like Ambience, freeverb 2, are great because they are free, and allow you to get reverb into your mixes and play around with it.
I have to say I think SIR is the best deal that money can't buy, if you get a free reverb, that's the one to go for and download some impulses (free) from the noisevault and you're away. You can get some truly exceptional sounds with SIR, and I've used it quite extensively on certain songs.
Nowdays I tend to use Perfectspace, which came with Sonar 5 and is absolutely brilliant.
Hope this is useful, not all that scientific in the analysis, but then neither is writing music.
Cheers
Theo C
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http://www.theoc.co.nz