Turtlerock Forum

?? wondering - what 'verbs do y'all like?

I always liked the RE-301s....

I'm a bit of a tweaker by nature and like to build spaces for tracks.

I like the verbs in the Sony V77 (I think the same algos as the R7). Dual effect engines can be combined in some interesting ways.

I'm really enjoying working with the Roland R-880, the stock patches aren't amazing but with a bit of time spent building patches it sounds really really nice. Takes a bit of time and careful thought to program though.

I have some other bits and pieces (Yamaha spx90 / Roland rsp550 / Lexicon vortex / etc) that are sometimes the right thing as effect verbs - more often used for modulation stuff.

Loved my Zoom 9200, had a sound all its own - sadly gone to the digital graveyard.

Alesis Wedge is nice for a cheapy, needs to be tweaked to get good sounds.

I've got a Bricasti M7 as my main, pretty awesome my fave. Also use a pcm80, spx990, re501 and a space station but the space station is makin an odd noise at the moment, I think there's an issue with the dram chips so waiting on replacements to try.
I've got an spx90 but that is set on pitch change C all the time for spreading stuff.

Eventide 7600. Man I love that thing.

Masterroom Model C (3 feet stereo spring reverb)... Sounds more like a plate than a spring. Not very versatile, but it sounds like the music i like to make - It sounds the way a record should sound to me.. It's far more versatile when used with a predelay / de-esser / comp - Thanks to Paul Maybury for showing me that trick.

Roland Space Echo Re201 spring verb - sounds totally crap to me when i solo it - yet somehow it just sits in the mix and ends up sounding good on things..

h.a.r.r.y.a.r.v.a.n.i.t.i.s

Eventide H8000 - full of great reverbs
Quadeight RV10 Spring (my fave - sounds like a chamber)
Grampian Type 666 spring (the famous studio1 spring)
Masteroom mono 4' spring (helllloooooooooooo!!!)
Ursa Major Space Station SST-282
Vanamps spring
Sony V77
(and I love the Vallhalla room plug-in....)

Thanks gents,

- the Sony V77 looks interesting - I've had a few of the dual-effect units but haven't tried that one.

- the Bricasti M7 looks like a great unit (and would want to be for those $s).

- I loved the old Eventide harmoniser so it's not surprising their reverb is nice too.

- Wow to the Masterroom C - what a device! Must come 2nd only to EMT for size....


I forgot to add that I really like the TCE 'verbs - it's built in to my console and it is all I've been using since I got it. Other than that I have my drum room (2 double kits) that creates a beautiful acoustic 'verb but doesn't have any adjustment knobs.... ;-)


More favourites anyone?

Ensoniq DP4 - cheap but definitely not nasty.

TC M5000 is really nice.

Wow - Grampian and Ursa Major Chris - can I interest you in some hen's teeth too? Rare doovers indeed

+1 on the TC Glenn - very nice imo

I have a 224 xl ,2 Akg bx springs ,an r7 and a Ursa Major
Stargate
I need to rebuy ams rms 16 and won't be happy
Till I do .. But really ...reverb.. ?
Seems to be a zillion plugins why would you
Want an old crappy outboard box ?
Throw them out .. ( I will catch the ams)

Oh yes I will have a lexicon 960 by the end of
Day .. But that is a whole other story

rick wrote:Oh yes I will have a lexicon 960 by the end of
Day .. But that is a whole other story

aha you have friends far afield ;-)

(I'd hate to think of the freight cost if it was a 960L....)

well pretty sure its a 960L lets see what turns up today

I agree with rick, you absolutely don't want any of those old lexicons... especially 224X/XL, 300 etc.

You also don't want the big AKG spring (BX20) - piece of junk.

If anyone's getting rid of any of these nasty old things, let me know... I'll find room in the dumpster. Just trying to help.

I dunno, at the end of the day it's just sounds and while there are some that have permeated pop music I don't think there's necessarily any sonic reason to invest a lot of money in outboard reverb, depending on what you're recording / mixing (and there's prob some good workflow reasons for not doing so - recall being the most obvious).

Valhall Room is a very interesting little plug and is the first one I've seen in a while that has me excited by the creative potential to shape new / interesting spaces for music.

I think a more interesting question than what h/w verbs are being used is how / why you guys might be using particular bits of hardware? What is it, for example, that springs do for your mixes that you can't get any other way?

In my case, I like having to think about the environment I'm putting sounds in and having a main outboard verb that I can't edit with a screen / mouse helps me rationalise and listen more carefully to the patches I build / choose. It also helps limit choice, which I find encourages creative exploration of what can be achieved within my own little mixing ecosystem.

I'd rather try and build something that translates the sound I have in my head to the speakers than flip through presets to find something that matches what I hear in my head.

I guess as part of this I like having a degree of micro-level control over the fx / reverb patches that I use that isn't always offered in software verbs - but there's a balance between depth of control and indecipherable parameter lists that the Sony V77 (for example) doesn't always get quite right.

I also like bits and pieces to help shape sounds when tracking - but that's a different thing again.

Just thoughts - I'd defer to those with greater experience here.

Text_Edifice wrote:Just thoughts - I'd defer to those with greater experience here.

Yes, I reverb those sentiments - which was one reason I started this thread

And I suppose that one day the algorhythmdismemberers will create plugs that are equal-to-or-better-than any hardware - but I'm an old man with a stiff neck and will probably persevere with h/w until I can't hear anything any more.... so I can help tow that dumpster away with you Wez.....

Is it there yet Rick? is it there yet? is it there yet? I believe that's a surround version too!! Saw one in Belgium f/s for nearly 10K - looks like a really nice device.

I'm surprised no-one has mentioned an EMT plate yet - isn't that the dream 'verb?

Drumstruck wrote:I'm surprised no-one has mentioned an EMT plate yet - isn't that the dream 'verb?

Does anyone here have one? I've never even been in the same room as one, let alone used it.

We have one in the roof at work - been hiding there since the 70s apparently.

Help me out here guys,

As far as plug ins.. i think they sound good - have a couple plate impulses that sound quite nice, but every time i use one, it always sounds seperate to the body of the track - where as any hardware reverb i use (especially the spring or plate) seems to blend into the mix...(ie - sounds like a record) is there something i'm doing wrong with the plugs or is that how they are?

I would have mentioned the plate, but I feel embarassed to say that my EMT140 doesn't fit into my studio so it is sitting idle at my parents shop ..oops

h.a.r.r.y.a.r.v.a.n.i.t.i.s

no delivery truck today.. Ian maybe tommorrow

look the thing with old reverbs is i imagine a sound in my head .. but really i am not that clever that reeverb dream is probably abstractly something off a record i love ,and for whatever reason i mess around with reverbs in the box and it has never been a quick way to get to that sense of sound

but turn on some old limited reverb device
and there you have it that sound that you know belongs in a record is there

as a rule i dont like lexicons .. the 224 was a bit of a lesson for me as i never had one when they were new and could barely ever learn to drive te larc in the time i had one to rent on a mix ...but what i have found out now i have my own one is if you over run it is is very sibilant .. which explains a lot of records i have had come in for mastering over the years ..
over run as in before the red clip light even turns on it gets sibilant out of the blue ! ..

what i really know about plugin reverbs is i battle with them .. but what the hell i am sure i could learn to do with out the old heavy stuff verbs
.. but i dont want to ..

harry wrote:Help me out here guys,

As far as plug ins.. i think they sound good - have a couple plate impulses that sound quite nice, but every time i use one, it always sounds seperate to the body of the track - where as any hardware reverb i use (especially the spring or plate) seems to blend into the mix...(ie - sounds like a record) is there something i'm doing wrong with the plugs or is that how they are?

check your reverb settings... some reverb plug-ins have heir own latency or system settings. took me a minute to work out why my McDSP Revolver pre-delay time sounded longer than it should have - I had checked the 'medium' instead of 'low' latency box, it can make a significant difference.

I love my AKG bx15 and I loved the 480L that I used to use at the sound research studios. Otherwise most of the time I can get what I want from plugs with tweaking and listening. Not sure what is so good about the springs (hard to put into words but not hard to hear) but I do know that every time I put it on a vocal it sounds right. I almost never fiddle with the controls on it, they just sit at flat and long (makes for easy recall too). I do filter the return a little to reduce noise. When I get back to Aus I have a spring reverb project with 4 different springs to build into a switched matrix for a variety of length and density of verb.

Manning wrote:

Drumstruck wrote:I'm surprised no-one has mentioned an EMT plate yet - isn't that the dream 'verb?

Does anyone here have one? I've never even been in the same room as one, let alone used it.

There is one in the upstairs room above the studio, but alas the servo motor needs a bit of work

i have a pcm70, (i dont loke 80,90,91 etc).
i had a 300, should have never let that one go..
i also hace the LXP1 & 5 and larc.. i like the 1...
spx90, rev5
roland SRV2000

i hardly use our emt140 plate..

i will get another 300, and id like an ams...

i LIKE Dverb.. really i do. rverb is fine. i struggle with the rest.

people bag out Dverb but I've used it lots to good effect (hah) and whilst I don't use it on everything there are lots of worse reverbs out there. The ambient setting is especially useful.

rick wrote:I have a 224 xl ,2 Akg bx springs ,an r7 and a Ursa Major
Stargate
I need to rebuy ams rms 16 and won't be happy
Till I do .. But really ...reverb.. ?
Seems to be a zillion plugins why would you
Want an old crappy outboard box ?
Throw them out .. ( I will catch the ams)

I have a 4 unit rack case in my storage that contains an AMS RMX-16 and an AMS DMX delay. The RMX works fine and the DMX has a glitch that I need to fix sometime with odd-numbered delay time settings. It is a very heavy case to lift as you could imagine. I had the idea of making it a rental case for AMS nuts but I doubt that I will ever get around to that so the case may be going on the market once I get time to service the DMX.

Look me up for the Rmx Steve but just
See if you can time it for a year when I have money
2012 is not the year!

Maybe we can trade something ;-) It's not going anywhere in a hurry, I have refurbed the RMX but I need to re-cap and re-ribbon the DMX and that won't happen any time soon. No doubt they will be still there next year.

I have trouble making the plug-in reverbs work in my mixes.
Space Designer is good, but I'm not using Logic much any more.
I have a couple of Valhalla, plus UAD EMT250 and 140. They are good, but more like a workhorse than inspirational.
I use some really good cheaper plug-ins for trashy, fx style reverbs.
I haven't found a main reverb I'm really excited about, but then I don't want to spend thousands.

I have the UAD stuff, the EMT 250 is good hey.
You can make plugin verbs sound good, things like 2 mono instances with slightly different parameter tweeks panned left and right etc, but I find the hardware ones sound great with a lot less effort, and I am pretty lazy.