Best reverb that won't alter the sound

G

gongli

New member
I tried good reverb plugins like Tal, Ambient, Valhalla room and they all altered the original sound in an artificial say - making it thin and un-pleasant. Is there a reverb plugin that won't do that?

How about the hardware versions, are they better at that? If yes, is there an old one I can hunt down on ebay for cheap?

Thanks million in advance...

I need to figure this out - we are making a demo, and I am unhappy with the sound so far...

Can't fall asleep tonight over this.
 
Could be the way you are using the plug-ins. Reverb should not alter the original (although it will sound different). If you are applying the reverb directly to the track, try parallel processing (make a duplicate track with 100% wet and run the original and duplicate into a bus. You then can blend to your heart's content and the original cannot be made thin and unpleasant. Same should work by putting the reverb on a bus@100% wet and running the aux for that bus up and down on the channel in question. Hope that helps. You'll be getting enough suggestions for reverbs from others here to keep you busy for weeks trying them all out, so I'll leave that alone.

Okay, I lied. Try Ambience, Wollo Spacer, OldSkool from Voxengo...all FREE!
 
It's almost certainly user error. It sounds like you have the reverb on a bus but don't have it set properly. As Mr. H said, when using it on a bus set it to 100% wet.
 
If you don't set it to 100% wet when using it as an aux send, and your daw doesn't have delay compensation, you will get phase cancellation. That will make it sound thin. But again, that's user error.
 
Thanks everyone! I tried that, and sounds 100% better.
I am just wondering, if I get a hardware reverb unit like Lexicon or Sony R7 or something, would I do better than Lexicon Valhalla that I am using now?
 
If you're mixing ITB...just stay ITB with the reverb, it's much easier and there are TONS of soft verbs out there.
 
gongli said:
Thanks everyone! I tried that, and sounds 100% better.
I am just wondering, if I get a hardware reverb unit like Lexicon or Sony R7 or something, would I do better than Lexicon Valhalla that I am using now?
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The Lexicon plug in is the same algorithm as the high end lexicons. If you buy the $200 hardware, you will only get the cheaper programs AND you will only be able to use one instance of it at a time. With the plugin you will be able to use multiple versions of it in the same session.

Also, when using hardware with a daw, you need more inputs and outputs to hook the unit up, you need to write down the preset and the parameters you've changed (so you can recall the mix) and it will take up space.

You have some of the better reverb plug in studio already. If you can't find the sound you are looking for, you just might need to dig deeper into learning to use what you have.

There is no inherent thing that makes hardware verbs better than plugins. Hardware verbs are just computers running the same algorithms as the plugins, just with their own set of add a converters in their own box.
 
the Lexicon PCM native reverb to my ears is equal to the best hardware reverbs out there, that's why I bought it.

Also don't forget to use EQ on the reverb fx send channel. Thesedays it's common for me to do some pretty brutal high and low pass filtering and remove low mids, I didn't used to do this when I first started mixing.
 
miroslav said:
If you're mixing ITB...just stay ITB with the reverb, it's much easier and there are TONS of soft verbs out there.
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In addition to what Farview said, using an external digital reverb with analog I/O means at least four additional passes through converters, D/A when going out of the interface, A/D going into the reverb, D/A going out of the reverb and A/D going back into the interface. That's not ever going to be as good, objectively speaking, as using the same algorithm ITB.
 
bouldersoundguy said:
In addition to what Farview said, using an external digital reverb with analog I/O means at least four additional passes through converters, D/A when going out of the interface, A/D going into the reverb, D/A going out of the reverb and A/D going back into the interface. That's not ever going to be as good, objectively speaking, as using the same algorithm ITB.
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Analog is typical, but there is also SPDIF and AES I/O.
 
mixsit said:
Analog is typical, but there is also SPDIF and AES I/O.
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Then you have to have the session at the sample rate that the hardware reverb works at, which is usually 48k. That sort of thing brings us right back to the turn of the century, when everyone was having problems syncing up all their digital equipment, running wordclock everywhere, etc...
 
Farview said:
Then you have to have the session at the sample rate that the hardware reverb works at, which is usually 48k. That sort of thing brings us right back to the turn of the century, when everyone was having problems syncing up all their digital equipment, running wordclock everywhere, etc...
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I'll defer then if it's ..normally? that much trouble as the only time I did it is with my pcm80 and 90 and it was just dial it in for 'external (probably had to set it for 44' I guess) and clock is via the SPDIF connections. For the most part I just ran analog though.
 
It just can be a pain. Some hardware units will only work at one sample rate. If that isn't the sample rate of the session, goofy things start happening. It just isn't worth the potential troubleshooting hassle.
 
Farview said:
It just can be a pain. Some hardware units will only work at one sample rate. If that isn't the sample rate of the session, goofy things start happening. It just isn't worth the potential troubleshooting hassle.
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Cool :) As I say, a sample of one' doesn't count for much.
 
I would stay with the ones you have and that phase cancellation tip is spot on. I still keep some of my old trusty box reverbs around for live work but they're such a hassle to hook up and get the right tone in my DAW. I've also started to here the a bit of metallic sound from a really top notch unit like the Quantec Yardstick. Digital seems to expose flaws that were hidden when it was designed.

Some of the least intrusive plug reverbs are made by Exponential (ex-Lexicon developer).
 
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