Using Outboard Reverb

A

Absolutepower

New member
I'm new to the world of using outboard effects, and just picked up my first one, a behringer v-verb. After doing a lot of research on how to actually apply this piece of equipment, I'm back to square one, and still have no clue how to approach this. I have a couple of questions.
1. Do I need to set it up as a send where I send out the track I've recorded out to the v-verb, and then back into my laptop in order to process a track with it? Should I use Spdif for this?

2. I'm assuming that this can't be used in the same way as a plugin where you just select the track and apply it, right?
If that's the case I can really see how plugins are a lot more practical and easier to use.

One last question. I would like to try using this as an effect while tracking. The problem is I use the preamps in my interface, so I don't see how I could put the signal through the v-verb seeing as it goes right from the mic to the preamp in the interface, and then to the a/d converter to my usb port. Is there any way around all this?
Sorry for all the questions. I'm starting to wish I had never bought this thing.
 
What kind of interface are you using? If the interface doesn't have an insert jack after the mic preamp, you would need to use an external preamp to the reverb to a line input on the interface.
 
I'm starting to wish I had never bought this thing.
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Unless you're using it for live use, that's probably best. You certainly don't want to track through it and I'd be absolutely shocked if the algorithms were better than the typical reverb plug.

Using it wouldn't be any different than anything else though - Output goes to input. You'd set up your aux buss (just as you would with a plugin verb) but the output of the buss would go to an output on your interface (as opposed to inserting a reverb plug on the aux buss).

The output of the verb would come back to a stereo input on the interface (possibly on a different channel if your DAW doesn't support hardware sends). Then just aux-send whatever you want to go to the verb to the same aux buss (obviously the verb would be 100% wet) and Bob's your uncle.
 
I deny being his uncle. I've never even met his mother's sister!

Anyhow, to use the external reverb on pre-recorded tracks, yes, you have to take an output from your DAW (via your interface, obviously), process it then bring it back in and record it to another track. You can either try to get the wet/dry balance right on the V-verb or just record the full wet signal and then mix between the two tracks to set the balance later. I prefer the second method.

Yes, S/PDIF would be a good way to do this if all your gear supports it--it would eliminate some latency issues caused by the extra D-A, A-D conversions and it'll give you stereo without using two outputs and two inputs.

For live reverb, you should be able to take the line output of your mic pre amp into the V Verb then the 'verb output into your interface. However, I strongly recommend against recording with the verb there already--it cuts a lot of options later. If you just want to add reverb for monitoring then you'll have to set it up in the monitor output, though exactly how to do this depends on what gear you have.

Bob
 
There's nothing in the V-Verb that would make me go through the hassle of using it instead of a plugin reverb unless I was seriously short on CPU power.

Yes, you need to set up a loop in order to use the unit, and yes, you should use S/Pdif if you can.
 
bouldersoundguy said:
There's nothing in the V-Verb that would make me go through the hassle of using it instead of a plugin reverb unless I was seriously short on CPU power.
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Agreed. The V-verb is surpisingly good live (compared to earlier Behringer effects stuff that I never liked at all) but, compared to some of the excellent plug in reverbs you can get, it's certainly not worth a lot of hassle.
 
Massive Master said:
Unless you're using it for live use, that's probably best. You certainly don't want to track through it and I'd be absolutely shocked if the algorithms were better than the typical reverb plug.
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I haven't tried every reverb plug-in out there, but the V-Verb beats many I have heard. I do like Lexicon's LXP/PCM plug-ins and Breverb.

As to the OP, the SPIF would be the way to go to send the signal out and then back into your computer. What DAW are you using?
 
I just made a recording yesterday, so I'm going to test out how it sounds compared my plugins. I'll report back the results here. The reason I bought it was because I read a lot of great reviews on sites like this, so we'll see if it is deserved. At worst, I can use it as a live reverb if it can't beat the plugins.
 
I owned one. It sounded great, but it doesn't beat the good plug-in reverbs. For studio work, it's just a hassle. For live work it would be a great box. I do only studio work, so I sold mine.
 
Absolutepower said:
I just made a recording yesterday, so I'm going to test out how it sounds compared my plugins. I'll report back the results here. The reason I bought it was because I read a lot of great reviews on sites like this, so we'll see if it is deserved. At worst, I can use it as a live reverb if it can't beat the plugins.
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It will beat the plugins every time.
 
Surely it depends WHAT plugins we're talking about. I agree the V-Verb is darn good live--but there are some absolutely excellent plug ins out there.
 
Ok still haven't gotten the loop thing to work. My setup is I'm sending the audio out through a spdif cable out the headphone jack of my macbook as a digital out. I'm trying to send that to the spdif input on the v-verb, and then out through the 1/4 inch analog output on the v-verb, into my interface.
I'm trying to record the signal on a new track, and I am getting something, but its only a bunch of crackling. Any help/suggestions?:eek::drunk:
 
Absolutepower said:
Ok still haven't gotten the loop thing to work. My setup is I'm sending the audio out through a spdif cable out the headphone jack of my macbook as a digital out. I'm trying to send that to the spdif input on the v-verb, and then out through the 1/4 inch analog output on the v-verb, into my interface.
I'm trying to record the signal on a new track, and I am getting something, but its only a bunch of crackling. Any help/suggestions?:eek::drunk:
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It sounds like you don't have your clock setup correctly on your V-Verb.
 
Absolutepower said:
...I'm sending the audio out through a spdif cable out the headphone jack of my macbook as a digital out.
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You lost me here, I'm surprised you even have audio to be crackly... but since you did get that much, I'm assuming Fishmed,s onto something with the clock suggestion
 
Absolutepower said:
Ok still haven't gotten the loop thing to work. My setup is I'm sending the audio out through a spdif cable out the headphone jack of my macbook as a digital out. I'm trying to send that to the spdif input on the v-verb, and then out through the 1/4 inch analog output on the v-verb, into my interface.
I'm trying to record the signal on a new track, and I am getting something, but its only a bunch of crackling. Any help/suggestions?:eek::drunk:
Click to expand...

I just reread your post this morning, is the headphone jack out of your laptop analog (you can use regular headphones) or a real digital out? If it is not a SPIF digital out, you r idea will not work.
 
does the mb/mbp not have some kind of headphone/digital out combo port?
AFAIK it's digital stereo, but can also carry encoded ac3 etc for dolby output to a receiver.
 
Fishmed said:
I just reread your post this morning, is the headphone jack out of your laptop analog (you can use regular headphones) or a real digital out? If it is not a SPIF digital out, you r idea will not work.
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I was told it can work as a digital out by the guy at the store. In the my computer's audio preferences there is an option for digital out, which I selected. As far as the clock thing, I was never really even aware of what that did, so I'll look into it. Thanks for the advice.
 
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