Baby Audio Crystalline Reverb

[Joseph Hanna]

Gosh..this may not go over so well here but I do think it’s informative. I’m acutely aware that by and large, this is a pretty adamantly traditional acoustic guitar-centric forum. I’m also aware that in the majority most are distinctly opposed to any reverbs that might be anything more than “barely noticeable”. That said and knowing I’m in the absolute minority I can safely say I’m a reverb snob and in so I’ve, over the years, suffered through some of the most atrocious software reverbs known to man-kind. I remember being appalled at the original Pro Tools D-Verb. I couldn’t imagine who’d want to place their track into the local sewer system. Then the endless parade of convolution verbs. For me, and almost to date, they make me clench my jaw. There have however been some relatively good stuff in recent years (soft Reverbs) that to be sure are good, but nothing ever has come close to hardware.

This week however I discovered the Baby Audio Crystalline Reverb plug-in. The game has finally change.

[rick-slo]

Sounds a bit harsh to my ears, but for the $49 dollar price I saw people might want to experiment.

[Doug Young]

Thanks Joseph, I quickly checked out a trial, and it seems very interesting. A creatively different UI and lots of different sounds. The shimmers seem more useful than others I've found. I also grabbed the Spaced Out delay, and that seems pretty cool, too.

[KevWind]

Originally Posted by Joseph Hanna

Gosh..this may not go over so well here but I do think it’s informative. I’m acutely aware that by and large, this is a pretty adamantly traditional acoustic guitar-centric forum. I’m also aware that in the majority most are distinctly opposed to any reverbs that might be anything more than “barely noticeable”. That said and knowing I’m in the absolute minority I can safely say I’m a reverb snob and in so I’ve, over the years, suffered through some of the most atrocious software reverbs known to man-kind. I remember being appalled at the original Pro Tools D-Verb. I couldn’t imagine who’d want to place their track into the local sewer system. Then the endless parade of convolution verbs. For me, and almost to date, they make me clench my jaw. There have however been some relatively good stuff in recent years (soft Reverbs) that to be sure are good, but nothing ever has come close to hardware.

This week however I discovered the Baby Audio Crystalline Reverb plug-in. The game has finally change.

Interesting I also was never a fan of the D-Verb so very early on I started using the Waves Renaissance series =Reverb - Compressor.. Now I have hardware units so with that, then also Waves not porting over to AAX DSP has eschewed my use of Waves altogether....

Yes there are some kinda funny interesting notions here on AGF... Not the least of which is a contrast dichotomy of wanting that "traditional" acoustic guitar sound or "live in the room sound" and then being mind set against both reverb and compression.
All the while perhaps unaware that recording wise, the "traditional acoustic guitar " was more often than not, recorded in studio live rooms that either featured natural room reverberation, or were using either a chamber or a plate reverb. AND always at the very least had some analog tape compression,, and or a console or outboard hardware compression like the Fairchild etc.

[rick-slo]

https://www.sweetwater.com/insync/pl...rdware-choose/

[DupleMeter]

Originally Posted by Joseph Hanna

Gosh..this may not go over so well here but I do think it’s informative. I’m acutely aware that by and large, this is a pretty adamantly traditional acoustic guitar-centric forum. I’m also aware that in the majority most are distinctly opposed to any reverbs that might be anything more than “barely noticeable”. That said and knowing I’m in the absolute minority I can safely say I’m a reverb snob and in so I’ve, over the years, suffered through some of the most atrocious software reverbs known to man-kind. I remember being appalled at the original Pro Tools D-Verb. I couldn’t imagine who’d want to place their track into the local sewer system. Then the endless parade of convolution verbs. For me, and almost to date, they make me clench my jaw. There have however been some relatively good stuff in recent years (soft Reverbs) that to be sure are good, but nothing ever has come close to hardware.

This week however I discovered the Baby Audio Crystalline Reverb plug-in. The game has finally change.

Have you used the LiquidSonics reverbs? For me, LiquidSonics has ruined me for all other reverbs. Between Cinematic Rooms Professional and Seventh Heaven Professional, I've pretty much stopped using all other reverbs. They just sound so flat & fake in comparison.

[min7b5]

Originally Posted by DupleMeter

LiquidSonics has ruined me for all other reverbs...

Plus one

[KevWind]

Originally Posted by Joseph Hanna

Gosh..this may not go over so well here but I do think it’s informative. I’m acutely aware that by and large, this is a pretty adamantly traditional acoustic guitar-centric forum. I’m also aware that in the majority most are distinctly opposed to any reverbs that might be anything more than “barely noticeable”. That said and knowing I’m in the absolute minority I can safely say I’m a reverb snob and in so I’ve, over the years, suffered through some of the most atrocious software reverbs known to man-kind. I remember being appalled at the original Pro Tools D-Verb. I couldn’t imagine who’d want to place their track into the local sewer system. Then the endless parade of convolution verbs. For me, and almost to date, they make me clench my jaw. There have however been some relatively good stuff in recent years (soft Reverbs) that to be sure are good, but nothing ever has come close to hardware.

This week however I discovered the Baby Audio Crystalline Reverb plug-in. The game has finally change.

Pretty interesting tutorial could be pretty useful for sound design type application as well

[runamuck]

Originally Posted by min7b5

Plus one

Plus 2. Seventh Heaven and Acustica Audio's, Ebony Plate are the best I've heard. Earlier reverbs all had a metallic sound to me

[Joseph Hanna]

Originally Posted by DupleMeter

Have you used the LiquidSonics reverbs? For me, LiquidSonics has ruined me for all other reverbs. Between Cinematic Rooms Professional and Seventh Heaven Professional, I've pretty much stopped using all other reverbs. They just sound so flat & fake in comparison.

I do really like my Seventh Heaven plug-in. The Sunset Chamber is one of those presets that made me think we can absolutely cross the line between hardware and software. The Lexicon Native bundle was the first to provide that hope but that whole thing went sideways in update madness. I have the Relab 480, mainly because we had a 480 back in the day, but it's just really not even close to the original hardware, although I don't know why, at the cost of the Relab, why anyone would think it would be

The thing is here, and as I mentioned I know I'm in the vast minority, but I really enjoy big expressive reverbs and I really love the ability to tweak and experiment. The concept of "only use reverb at the barely audible level" is not me. My 100% "go-to" for my hardware synths is the Strymon NightSky and the Meris Polymoon. Between the two I know of little that can create that level of sense of space, hardware or not. The sense of space being massive but some how not unrealistic, unless of course I choose unrealistic. They are however a bit difficult to work into my current recording rig (I've used up all my Aux sends and returns on my board) so they remain at the output stage of my analog synths.

That's kinda where the Baby Audio Crystalline plug-in has filled the gap. It is great at creating big, bold, wide, and deep spaces but can be dialed back to a very convincing Lexicon-like hall's and plates. The parameters are extremely effective and intuitive and they kinda beg to be tweaked.

It's important to note I do a lot of cues for my work so I'm not singularly a traditional acoustic guitar guy. In so my likes my vary from someone who's an acoustic guitar recording purest.

Just my 2 cents

[Joseph Hanna]

Originally Posted by KevWind

Pretty interesting tutorial could be pretty useful for sound design type application as well

It's obviously great at creating over-the-top sonic landscapes but it's equally as convincing in the more traditional dialed-back type reverb categories as well. I'm certain however that it would excel at the most popular mindset of using reverb only to the point of barely hearing it

[Bob Womack]

Yeah, we spent the last couple of days mixing a single using the Seventh Heaven for reverb. Lovely. Reminds of the Lexicons and Bricasti.

Bob

[rick-slo]

For my ears I most often have been using EMT 252 IRs with Waves IR-1.