help me choose a reverb
 

I would like to buy a solid reverb plugin, and am having trouble deciding amidst all the options out there.

Doug likes the VSS3 by TC Electronics. That is about all the recommendation I need, but I can't seem to download the demo from their site. Something about a certificate being expired. I emailed support, but who knows if I will hear back.

Prior to learning about the VSS3 I was looking at Pro-R by Fab Filter. I tried the demo and liked it, though I am honestly new to reverbs and mixing. A bundle which includes their EQ, Compressor, and Reverb plugins is currently on sale for $300. Tempting, as I was planning to get their EQ either way.

Is there anyone that has tried both these who could comment?

thanks

Anton

I own a ton of reverb plugins. I recently added LiquidSonics Seventh Heaven and it's quickly becoming my favorite. If you want to keep the price down, Valhalla Vintage Verb can't be beat for $50.

The best reverb I've heard is Ebony by Acustica. However, it's a plate only (it's not ideal for everything) and you need a powerful computer.

Depending on the material I also like Lexicon, TC and the FabFilter Reverb plugins.

I've been really digging these 'verbs lately:

Wave H-Reverb has just been phenomenal on transient material. It's my goto drum reverb right now. Doesn't hurt that it has some really nice extras like ducking compression and modulation built in.

McDSP Revolver is really smooth on strings & vocals. I've pretty much been using this as my default 'verb for everything except drums.

Soundtoys Little Plate is a nice "140" style plate 'verb. I really like the addition of the modulation switch. It really helps separate the reverb from the source...especially on smaller speakers that tend to smear more.

I also recently got the Waves Abbey Road Chambers. I'm still running it through it's paces. So far it's very nice. My only complaint is that it is a resource hog. That said, I just used it as a room reverb for a mandolin on a track I mixed and it was really nice. Really, really nice. Like, addictively nice.

I believe you can get demos of all of these...the one one I'm not sure of is the Little Plate. I don't know if there is a demo.

Oh, and if you're going to demo Revolver, also demo their EC300 delay. It's just a super sweet & versatile delay. In fact, demo everything McDSP makes. Their plugins are some of the best IMHO.

Demo before buying whenever possible. For the VSS3 demo you need to first have an iLok User ID.

I have the VSS3 but have not used it much since I prefer using some other reverbs.

I demoed the Fab Filter Reverb and found it interesting, but there are only a few presents and alternating things on my own to find
something I liked and that did not sound artificial somehow was a chore.

I have Seventh Heaven Pro by LiquidSonics which I find has a clean and natural sound.

I mostly prefer the reverbs that come with the Waves Renaissance Bundle (which I recommend), especially the IR-L (or IR-L) with it's
own package of impulse responses and with the Bricasti M7 impulse responses. Sometimes Lexicon PCM Native Reverb works well as
well as Aether Reverb.

I think I've collected more reverbs than guitars :-) I do like the VSS3 - I had it back in the days of the TC PowerCore hardware, so I was thrilled when they came out with the native version. It's a pretty good deal, too, price-wise.

But I also have the Bricasti hardware, plus with a quick scan of my plugin list:

The Logic builtins, including Space Designer, which I can use with the M7, TC6000 and Lexicon impulses among others
UAD Lexicon 224
UAD EMT 140
UAD EMT 250
UAD DreamVerb
Lexicon Native Bundle
A couple of Eventide things I still haven't had a chance to try out
Valhalla Shimmer

I've checked out the Aether and some of the Waves stuff.

For solo guitar, frankly, any of them work well, and at the levels I normally use, the differences get pretty subtle.

For my use, the VSS3, Bricasti and Lexicon Native bundle are the most transparent - what I use when I don't want to hear audible reverb, particularly. I've sometimes used a combination - like maybe the Lexicon Room along with the Bricasti or VSS3 set to longer decays. The UAD verb's are nice when you want to actually notice the reverb as an effect.

Anton, if you want to hear the VSS3, send me a dry track, and I can send you back a couple of reverb-only tracks with various settings, so you can get some idea (even tho you won't be able to tweak the parameters other than the mix)

Having owned the Bricasti hardware for some 7 or 8 years now ( which is basically all I use) I would definitely at least consider the LiquidSonics - Seventh Heaven, given it's presets are recorded the Bricasti M7 preset algorithms.. It comes in two versions one at $69 and the Pro version at $299 I have not used it but know a several folks who do and really like it .
You can download a demo from the LiquidSonics web site ( it also requires a Pace ilok (which if you do not have one are about $40 )

When it comes to artificially putting sounds into a space, I feel like delay matters as much as reverb, maybe more. Delays are certainly more versatile, for sure.

There are a ton of great reverb plugins, and you don't have to spend a lot. But I think you'll like all of them better once you've gotten really good at using delay in conjunction. Or sometimes instead of.

This...no question. I use Echo Boy far more frequently than my M-3000 these days. For me it creates a broader, deeper sound scape without being invasive to the original sound. That's not to say you can't get totally immersive echos...you certainly can. Like anything else (audio mixing oriented) it takes a bit of time investment and elbow grease to start converting some tasks from reverb to delay but for me really worth it.

YMMV

Reverb Plugin
 

All of the reverb plugins mentioned above will do a great job. I own several reverb plugins and have demoed most of the others. I ended up really liking Relab LX480 Complete for it's full/lush and transparent quality:
https://relabdevelopment.com/product/lx480-complete/

Everyone has different tastes, so I would demo as many as you can and see which one you like.

Kev, have you compared these directly? Rick and I did a side-by-side compare back when this came out, and what recall was that the 7th Heaven sounded good, but there was simply no correlation between the sound of same patch on the 2 reverbs. I left with the impression that they mostly are re-using the names :-) and maybe a few coarse aspects, like rough length of the decay, but the algorithm was clearly radically different, different envelops to the same input, and so on. But it's been a while, might be worth revisiting.

Joseph, you would use an echo on quiet fingerstyle like Anton does? I've never had any luck with that, I get it for vocals, electric guitar, etc, but my attempts to use it on solo fingerstyle usually end up just making the fingerstyle stuff sound messy, double attacks and so on. I have occasionally liked an echo on live sound. I'd be interested in an example.

Reverb
 

Doug,

In reading the LiquidSonics website, it looks like they extensively modeled the Bricasti M7, but then combined an algorithmic reverb with a "Fusion-IR" reverb for the final sound. To quote LiquidSonics, "They blend reproduction with reimagination." Thus, I would expect the 7th Heaven reverb to sound different from the Bricasti hardware reverb. Based on your listening Doug, maybe it's more reimagination than reproduction.

John

Yea of course. The next little cue I do I'll try to get Echo Boy involved. Should be fun. Stand by :)

I see Valhalla Vintage Verb and Valhalla Shimmer mentioned in the thread - I like Valhalla Room, which for me can give some very natural reverb