Skip to main content

OK, phew, after searching for what seems like for ever I am really struggling guys.

I am at heart an old skewl analog boy, so with that in mind, I am used to things like Yamaha SPX 1000, rev 500, Roland SRV and the like.

Now what I can find is lots of plugs with endless early reflection and other features (which is fine) but what I am really struggling to find is something simple and usable, that just inherently has that classic Yamaha warmth and instant usability!.

Being able to tweak things to death is great, really it is, but sometimes I just wanna crack on and get going!. I have the redline Reverb and I literally can't find one good reverb in there!. Maybe this is just me and my taste, and it is considered to be one of the top ten, but I am just not getting on with it!. I also have the little TC electronics one and that is literally NOTHING like what I am looking for!.

I also have true verb in the Wavesbundle, now to be fair, I have just upgraded mu PC and when I tried to use that on my last PC it either spluttered so much that it just wouldn't work due to lack of system, or it really is crap. Aether way, I shall be trying that again.

But I just wanted to ask... where are the simple to use, instantly warm reverbs, like the ones Yamaha where making and still do!.

That's what I want, where is it lol.

Peace.

Comments

RemyRAD Fri, 04/20/2012 - 01:41

With a lot of the current digital reverb programs that are even just built into a multitrack software program, many of those have the ability to vary high and low frequency decay times. In that way, you could create very warm reverbs or reverbs that sound more like EMT plates which had a great sizzlingly high frequency decay. While even Lexicon offered warm halls as opposed to bright halls as opposed to plate emulations.

I'm a reverb nut
Mx. Remy Ann David

RemyRAD Fri, 04/20/2012 - 12:07

I'm not saying that it requires anybody's third-party plug-in. It's a matter of how you adjust your onboard software reverb program more than anything else. And that varies with every manufacturers particular software and what is included and how it works. I really don't use anyone's third-party plug-ins for reverb. Though I do have the Timeworks, 4080 designed to somewhat mimic the Lexicon 480 which gives one the ability with a software knob to adjust the coloration of the reverb. And deeper within that plug-in lies the ability to adjust separate low & high frequency decay settings if you just don't want to use the simple knob. It even gives you a choice of whether you want a 32-bit or 64-bit style algorithm and I can't recommend anything there either because it depends on what you want. Only you can decide that by experimentation, trial and error. I generally enjoy and most frequently go to the more brighter Plate reverb sound as opposed to the more muddier warm halls. Which is probably because I have owned 2 actual EMT & Studio Technologies actual plate reverb units from the 1970s through to the mid-1980s. And I like the sizzle that those plate reverbs had. I miss them dearly. But unfortunately, they are impractical to have in a Remote Truck.

When I want a nice muddy sounding reverb, I go for my hardware Yamaha SPX 90 units which I really don't care much for when it comes to reverb. But even in programs like Adobe Audition, it has numerous different types of reverbs in which to choose from. Some require more CPU resources and some require less CPU resources and with that difference, comes different sounding algorithmic reverbs. Some sound like crap and some come closer to the more refined sounding plates. So that's about the only help I can provide for you. Most of the software I am currently using is not what we would call state of the art. But it works just fine for me as I know how to tweak reverb programs to get most of what I want out of them. And I generally just utilize the Adobe Audition built-in reverb selections. Then I generally choose which one I like the sound of and then go ahead and start tweaking it. These are not what we would call convolution reverb programs but algorithmic reverb programs. I'm not into that convolution stuff because I really haven't found what I like to hear most. I've even tried making my own convolution samples in the National Presbyterian Church right next door to NBC-TV in Washington DC. And then also the National Episcopal Cathedral a little further down the road on Wisconsin Avenue just above Georgetown, DC. And this was experimenting with a convolution reverb program trial which I deemed an unnecessary expenditure and so, I don't have it and I don't use that. Other people swear by them. So you might want to look into one of those convolution reverb plug-ins? And generally, they ain't cheap.

I'm already personally convoluted
Mx. Remy Ann David

BobRogers Thu, 04/26/2012 - 04:58

I have three reverb plugins that I use regularly: The Sonnox Reverb, The UAD EMT-140 Plate Reverb, and the UAD Lexicon 224. The Sonnox is the "surgical" tool with specific control of early reflections and eq. The UAD plugins are emulations of classic tools. Unfortunately, to demo any UAD plugin you need a piece of DSP hardware. The UAD plugins are some of my favorites.

ouzo77 Fri, 05/04/2012 - 03:12

I've recently got two great reverb plugs.
Softube TSAR-1R (currently $66) - nice for believable rooms
ValhallaRoom ($50) - great for bigger-than-life reverbs

I use both together and they sound great, especially for that price.

There are demo versions available. You should check those. They can definitely compete with much more expensive ones.

RemyRAD Sun, 05/06/2012 - 02:11

I've been trying to find a EMT 240 to put in my CROWmobile Truck. I just can't get the sound out of my head for a plate reverb. Digital imitations/emulations just don't sound like the real deal. They're not dense enough for me. It would require faster processing than anything available today. We don't need no stinking digital computers anymore, we need analog computers. Quantum technology might work? But today, unfortunately, they are still rackmount concept devices. So I guess we'll just have to wait another year?

I know what I want for Christmas. A quantum laptop!
Mx. Remy Ann David

RemyRAD Tue, 05/08/2012 - 20:30

I can assure you that while that is pleasant sounding reverb, it sounds nothing like a real EMT plate. Not even close. It's sort of like telling me that Twiggy was a really S E X Y model. Or maybe Karen Carpenter? Sounds more like Mama Cass to me. I also used to run an octave equalizer along with analog tape are digital delay on the send to the plate. I rarely used a plate without an octave graphic on the send. It's out of sight sounding. The EMT 240 was a gold foil and sounded damn nice is well. A lot smaller and built with better acoustical isolation in its enclosure. I haven't seen any of those for years. Not even used ones. The EMT 250/251's came lots closer to their electromechanical type. And you could use those as space heaters in cold control rooms LOL.

Every plate sounded different from each other. No two sounded alike. And then you also had to tune them. I found EMT's tuning procedure to be rather awkward. I established a slightly different way to tune them. The tuning clips utilized a small metal tab but the actual tensioning was from something more akin to a piano string in the midrange of the piano. So my tuning procedure was to actually pluck that piano string and to tune each one of the eight tensioners to the same pitch at the highest level before they would break. EMT's procedure was not as well refined. Which I found rather queer from the Germans? And it was EMT that informed me that they had a 60% rejection ratio of their cold rolled steel plates. Which was also one of the reasons why they were so costly. Another reason why no two sounded alike. Some were definitely sweeter sounding than others. The best studios were able to obtain the brightest and sweetest sounding units because they could. Some studio engineers would discover that their their plate had a sticky, gooey substance on them when they went to tune them. So they would mindlessly clean off the linseed oil and they would rust out. But even some of those sounded better than the ones that didn't have the linseed oil removed from them. EMT plates also had on their electronics a 2:1 compressor which UA didn't seem to indicate nor did they duplicate. I don't know why? Sometimes we would turn that on or off depending upon the session and/or mix we were doing. And you would get yet another completely different sound. So the UA is still just another algorithmic approximation. And that's why I still miss my plate.

I still have all my own teeth.
Mx. Remy Ann David

RemyRAD Sun, 07/01/2012 - 16:30

Short decay digital reverberation is still a staple of creating artificial room acoustics. It doesn't matter if they are too wet when you are trying to create an ambient environment. And you don't have to overuse that whether it's a Plate, BX 20 or a Lexicon PCM 60/70, etc.. Speeds of computers along with more sophisticated algorithms allow for more variety in the creation of said ambience and/or reverb. I was just saying that the density of even these old electro-mechanical devices can still outperform the speed and mathematical capabilities of the best software.

It's hard not to love a real plate once you've heard one. Even my BX 20 could run rings around the finest software reverbs you find today. Alas, due to my downsizing, I must now also sacrifice and sell my BX 20. The last quality reverb I had sitting in my basement when I still had a basement. They don't travel well so it's not going into the truck either. But that's almost like saying that your car ran better on leaded gas. Whoops... too bad. Although in some cases, you can still locate non-ethanol gasoline and if you are willing to pay dearly for it.

Two plates & a BX 20 and life will never be the same again without them.
Mx. Remy Ann David

x

User login