# Which reverb?



## stanthemanNL

Hi guys! I was planning to buy some third party plugins and was looking for a good reverb. I'm still not sure wheter to buy Cinematic Rooms, Seventh Heaven or Fabfilter R. Fabfilter has some nice educational discount (50%). Liquid Sonics has 30% student discount but it's a bit more expensive. Which one would you recommend? I'm making cinematic music at the moment but also want to delve into techno music.


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## Minko

#reverbaddict: BUY THEM ALL .

Fabfilter is really nice. But so is the rest. The Fabfilter is pretty versatile. why not demo them and then see what works the best for you? 
I use IRCAM Verbsession also a lot (so giving you another suggestion ).

Enjoy!


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## bill5

Unless you're rich, I recommend you try some of the freebies...some VERY good ones out there. Valhalla's Supermassive, for starters, and Voxengo's Oldskool, and u-he's Protoverb. You don't have to spend a lot to get great reverbs; in fact, you don't have to spend at all.


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## Jeremy Spencer

Which DAW are you using? It inevitably has a few good reverbs to get you started. I agree with @Minko with regards to trials, check them out and see what you like....there’s so many good ones out there.


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## bill5

Agree; I was surprised how much I liked the ones that came with Mixcraft.


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## MauroPantin

Every now and then you can get Exponential Audio verbs at Plugin Boutique for basically pennies and they sound amazing. I own R4 and Nimbus and they are incredible.


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## doctoremmet

bill5 said:


> Unless you're rich, I recommend you try some of the freebies...some VERY good ones out there. Valhalla's Supermassive, for starters, and Voxengo's Oldskool, and u-he's Protoverb. You don't have to spend a lot to get great reverbs; in fact, you don't have to spend at all.


Cool free ones:
- Melda MConvolutionEZ and MCharmVerb
- Impulse Record Convology


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## jononotbono

Honestly, if you are literally just beginning this journey just use what you have in your DAW. They are more than good enough.

Check out the free mentioned ones. Free is good.

If you want and feel compelled to spend money then get Valhalla Rooms. It's $50. For the price its the best algorithmic reverb there is. And some people can't even tell it apart when comparing with hugely expensive reverbs. They all have their "thing" but I wouldn't get hung up on reverbs and buying expensive ones at this point! Just my opinion.


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## cuttime

Don't forget Dragonfly.


https://michaelwillis.github.io/dragonfly-reverb/


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## José Herring

stanthemanNL said:


> Hi guys! I was planning to buy some third party plugins and was looking for a good reverb. I'm still not sure wheter to buy Cinematic Rooms, Seventh Heaven or Fabfilter R. Fabfilter has some nice educational discount (50%). Liquid Sonics has 30% student discount but it's a bit more expensive. Which one would you recommend? I'm making cinematic music at the moment but also want to delve into techno music.



Get Valhalla Room for $50 and Seventh Heaven for $70 and call it a day until something better comes out. 

Cinematic Rooms is good but expensive comparatively. If fund are limited I wouldn't blow your whole wad on just that reverb. 

Since its release Valhalla room is all I ever used until a few months ago when I got R4 then R2 and now Seventh Heaven. Between all those Valahalla and Seventh Heaven are my favorites with R2 and R4 right behind. 

Also jononotbono is correct. I used Cubase's stock verb "room" and Valhalla together for years and nobody ever complained. The only reason why I switched is because after so many years I got tired of the sound of both.


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## John Longley

Algo: Cinematic Rooms, Exponential Audio Nimbus or Valhalla Room. 
Convolution: Spaces II, MIR Pro or Altiverb. 

For the money, a combo of Spaces II and Nimbus or Valhalla Room will get you a long way.


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## doctoremmet

José Herring said:


> Get Valhalla Room for $50 and Seventh Heaven for $70 and call it a day until something better comes out.
> 
> Cinematic Rooms is good but expensive comparatively. If fund are limited I wouldn't blow your whole wad on just that reverb.
> 
> Since its release Valhalla room is all I ever used until a few months ago when I got R4 then R2 and now Seventh Heaven. Between all those Valahalla and Seventh Heaven are my favorites with R2 and R4 right behind.
> 
> Also jononotbono is correct. I used Cubase's stock verb "room" and Valhalla together for years and nobody ever complained. The only reason why I switched is because after so many years I got tired of the sound of both.


Everything José and Luke/Jono have said. But.... Personally I slightly prefer Valhalla Vintage Verb. Same great sound but a bit more character. But I bet I’d lose any blind test in a grandiose fashion. Also, its GUI has nicer colours. :-D


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## John Longley

doctoremmet said:


> Everything José and Luke/Jono have said. But.... Personally I slightly prefer Valhalla Vintage Verb. Same great sound but a bit more character. But I bet I’d lose any blind test in a grandiose fashion. Also, its GUI has nicer colours. :-D


VVV is great for Lexi Chip heavily modulated verbs for sure, but it sticks out in some contexts where something like R4 can be a little less chorusy.


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## Jiffster

Valhalla is great - you won't want for much if you just got that. 

When you're ready to splash out, VSS from TC Electronics is great. For anything immersive, I use Phoenix/Stratus. Also Altiverb which has been a staple in my setup for years. 

As most have said though, plenty on offer out there, but maybe stick with whatever comes with your DAW of choice til you find it can't do something you need it to do for you  

Good luck!


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## jononotbono

Jiffster said:


> For anything immersive, I use Phoenix/Stratus.


The best “immersive” reverbs I have used are Exponential Audio Symphony and Cinematic Room Pro.

Cinematic Rooms Pro is actually limited to to Atmos 7.1.2 Bed however, Symphony can go up to 22.2. Symphony is absolutely incredible. 

I used them on 22 PMC speakers in Atmos 9.1.6. Also in Auro3D.

But yeah, Valhalla... for $50
They are the best Reverbs for the money.


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## Jiffster

jononotbono said:


> The best “immersive” reverbs I have used are Exponential Audio Symphony and Cinematic Room Pro.
> 
> Cinematic Rooms Pro is actually limited to to Atmos 7.1.2 Bed however, Symphony can go up to 22.2. Symphony is absolutely incredible.
> 
> I used them on 22 PMC speakers in Atmos 9.1.6. Also in Auro3D.
> 
> But yeah, Valhalla... for $50
> They are the best Reverbs for the money.


Nice! 

Tiny clarification: Symphony has 2 versions - Symphony (7.1 max) and Symphony 3D (lots and lots of channels!) - just in case anyone jumps on this excellent advice blind, make sure you get the one you need for immersive reverb  

22 PMC speakers... wow - that's a feast for the ears indeed


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## gohrev

I personally adore *Spaces II* (convolution-based).


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## jononotbono

Jiffster said:


> Nice!
> 
> Tiny clarification: Symphony has 2 versions - Symphony (7.1 max) and Symphony 3D (lots and lots of channels!) - just in case anyone jumps on this excellent advice blind, make sure you get the one you need for immersive reverb
> 
> 22 PMC speakers... wow - that's a feast for the ears indeed


Yes. You are correct. Symphony 3D. I just didn’t clarify because only one of them does what I described but yeah this place is a weird digital farmers market where people relentlessly buy stuff they don’t need so god forbid I get blamed for people buying the 3D version. 😂 

Yeah PMC has ruined speakers for me now. Now I realise most things are pretty bad and ignorance is bliss 😂


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## stanthemanNL

And what about Fabfilter R? The essentials bundle (Reverb, Compressor & EQ) are 170 euro(student discount). I'm also interested in their EQ so I was wondering if this is a good deal or not


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## Thorgod10

Buy 1 incredible quality hardware reverb, and never need anything else, ever again. (Lexi 480, M7 Bricasti)


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## Brasart

stanthemanNL said:


> And what about Fabfilter R? The essentials bundle (Reverb, Compressor & EQ) are 170 euro(student discount). I'm also interested in their EQ so I was wondering if this is a good deal or not


I think Pro-R is best way to go, especially if you're getting that bundle, it's the best all-around mixing toolkit around.
Pro-R is extremely versatile, you'll get any sound you want with it, and if you think you're lacking a specific color later down the line you can always buy something like 7H on sale — but Pro-R has a fantastic sound and will cover all of your bases


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## easyrider

I bought the Fabfilter Total Bundle for 50% off EDU discount....makes A lot of the other stuff I bought previously redundant.


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## Tremendouz

I grabbed Seventh Heaven for 50 bucks during sale, it sounds great and is very straightforward to use but there's a caveat: unless you have a physical iLok dongle you'll be at the mercy of iLok Cloud which seems to have issues semi-frequently, causing projects to not open or even crash.

So, with that in mind I would recommend Valhalla Room instead. Very reasonably priced, sounds good, more parameters to tweak (so it's not quite as intuitive but presets help as a starting point) and no buggy DRM schemes.

EDIT: Only if you really feel like you've already outgrown all the great free options (Convology XT, Melda, Dragonfly, OrilRiver...)


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## CoffeeLover

I miss the D-Verb from protools 7


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## darkogav

As others have stated. It's probably better to use what you already have in the DAW until you figure out what sort of reverb you like and what sort of GUI and features you are looking for in a reverb. Tons of reverbs out there and a lot depends on how much do you think you will be needing to tweak it. 









The 15 Best Reverb Plugins for Every Mix Situation


Download the best reverb plugins for each type of reverb. From plate and springs to convolution and algorithmic, get your dream space with these reverbs.




blog.landr.com





fwiw... i bought a lot of them but have found I like and use the Waves Convolution reverb, which I got for free, the most lately.


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## AudioLoco

Suggestion for VI: I think there should be like a "sticky" thread for "best reverb plugins for orchestral and cinematic music".
It comes up every 3 days on average. There was something similar on Gearspace (most popular compressor, EQ etc...). It would be very useful for people searching for the topic. To have a list of the top 5 or so "most loved by VI Control users" (as "best" may be subjective) ... something like that.


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## AudioLoco

José Herring said:


> Get Valhalla Room for $50 and Seventh Heaven for $70 and call it a day until something better comes out.
> 
> Cinematic Rooms is good but expensive comparatively. If fund are limited I wouldn't blow your whole wad on just that reverb.
> 
> Since its release Valhalla room is all I ever used until a few months ago when I got R4 then R2 and now Seventh Heaven. Between all those Valahalla and Seventh Heaven are my favorites with R2 and R4 right behind.
> 
> Also jononotbono is correct. I used Cubase's stock verb "room" and Valhalla together for years and nobody ever complained. The only reason why I switched is because after so many years I got tired of the sound of both.


I completely stopped using any Valhalla stuff since I got R4 and VSS3...
I cannot believe R4 was just 29$.... Bargain of the century...


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## Jeremy Spencer

I must be the only guy on the planet that doesn’t get all the hype around Valhalla Room. I tried using it for orchestral work, but I can hear a distinct “fizz” in the tails. I wanted to love it, but it just doesn’t cut it for me.


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## Jeremy Spencer

stanthemanNL said:


> And what about Fabfilter R? The essentials bundle (Reverb, Compressor & EQ) are 170 euro(student discount). I'm also interested in their EQ so I was wondering if this is a good deal or not


I’m not a fan of the reverb, but the EQ, compressor and limiter are world class. I have all three, and you should take advantage of the discount. Even after buying a bundle, you get a deep discount on purchases for the rest of the year with your student discount.


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## macmac

Jeremy Spencer said:


> I must be the only guy on the planet that doesn’t get all the hype around Valhalla Room. I tried using it for orchestral work, but I can hear a distinct “fizz” in the tails. I wanted to love it, but it just doesn’t cut it for me.


You’re not alone. Although I don’t dispute that Valhalla isn’t high quality, they just didn’t have the sound I prefer in reverbs when I tried them.


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## darkogav

Jeremy Spencer said:


> I must be the only guy on the planet that doesn’t get all the hype around Valhalla Room. I tried using it for orchestral work, but I can hear a distinct “fizz” in the tails. I wanted to love it, but it just doesn’t cut it for me.


Valhalla is very popular with EDM and electronic music makers. Lots of electronic musicians on the Internet, hence the popularity of them online. I think there are other developers that are on a whole other level. I think Relab and Eventide made great reverbs. Its good to watch out for GAS. You can wind up accumulating lots of freebie and cheap reverb VSTs vs just investing in one really good one you use all the time.









Store - Relab Development ApS


LX480 Dual-Engine Reverb The Definitive Recreation of a Legend The LX480 Dual-Engine Reverb Plug-in is the only sample accurate dual-engine recreation of the original hardware that gets you that legendary reverb sound. Finally experience the same industry-leading sound quality that top mixers...




relabdevelopment.com


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## turnerofwheels

Recommendation: 

Download a few trials, take music that's representative of what you normally do, then copy it into separate tracks in your DAW. Apply the reverbs to each track, then close your eyes and listen to compare!

How does it handle transients? Do you like the early reflections? Does it bloom like some real halls do?

You might be surprised at what you like.


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## clisma

SHANE TURNER said:


> Recommendation:
> 
> Download a few trials, take music that's representative of what you normally do, then copy it into separate tracks in your DAW. Apply the reverbs to each track, then close your eyes and listen to compare!
> 
> How does it handle transients? Do you like the early reflections? Does it bloom like some real halls do?
> 
> You might be surprised at what you like.


Great advice. I would take it one step further, which is to say, also use it on some percussion like snare hits, maybe perc in different frequency ranges, so you can really get to know the quality of the tail. Something like Cinematic Rooms will have a radically different tail "sound" from VSS4 HD, for instance.


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## José Herring

AudioLoco said:


> I completely stopped using any Valhalla stuff since I got R4 and VSS3...
> I cannot believe R4 was just 29$.... Bargain of the century...


VSS3 is still around. Wow cool. 

Yes, I got R4 first and loved it. Got it for the same price you did. Then I got R2 and love it. I think though that 7th heaven may beat it for orchestral use. Don't know yet. Trying it out. I like them all really. 

My poor Valhalla though. Just sitting collecting digital dust. Still have it in my template but not sure I'm going to use it for a while. Just to refresh the ears.


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## anndra

Pro-R and Valhalla Room have been my go-to reverbs for the last few years. A little while ago I switched to Cinematic Rooms (the basic version) and couldn't be happier. I think this reverb is next level and sounds better for cinematic/orchestral stuff. It's the only reverb I use now for this type of music. Also CR is super easy to dial in. I think it is a worth-while investment but also the other ones are good choices.


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## Jeremy Spencer

anndra said:


> Pro-R and Valhalla Room have been my go-to reverbs for the last few years. A little while ago I switched to Cinematic Rooms (the basic version) and couldn't be happier. I think this reverb is next level and sounds better for cinematic/orchestral stuff. It's the only reverb I use now for this type of music. Also CR is super easy to dial in. I think it is a worth-while investment but also the other ones are good choices.


Since buying CR and 7th Heaven, they’re all I use for orchestral. CR is just wonderful.


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## Noeticus

Valhalla and Audioease Altiverb.

Done.


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## Jeremy Spencer

Noeticus said:


> Audioease Altiverb


That's a good one if you have a huge budget to spend.


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## Rapollo

Purely depends on tastes, I’ve tried pretty much all of the most common reverbs out there and have been most satisfied with cinematic rooms (and my main work is mostly rock/pop not orchestral)
Some of us just have expensive tastes sadly 😂 but you need to try out a bunch before you know what you like. Hence demos


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## Robo Rivard

Breeze 2+ Precedence for algorithm, and Spaces II for convo. I personally don't need anything else. I also have all the Valhalla stuff, and they are great.


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## bill5

No offense but those of you saying "Valhalla," pls be more specific. That's a company, not a reverb.


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## Robo Rivard

bill5 said:


> No offense but those of you saying "Valhalla," pls be more specific. That's a company, not a reverb.


People refer to Valhalla Room most of the time. Simple to use, great sounding, and cheap.


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## nathantboler

Get Valhalla vintage verb, Supermassive, and Valhalladelay for a total of $100 and you'll be set for awhile. They have free demos/trials and they're amazing plugins.

Also, check out trials of FF Pro-R, Izotope Neoverb, Eventide Blackhole.


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## el-bo

Which reverb?

The ones I use, of course 

A more serious answer would be that I don’t believe there are actually any bad reverts anymore. Freebies and those that come with DAW are often all that is necessary.

From there, you can start to demo and make choices based on different factors e.g workflow, features and specific types of sounds. However, don’t forget to brush up on certain reverb techniques and learning to leverage compression and EQ to bend ‘verbs to your will.

For specific recommendations the Valhalla offerings are great value and don’t skimp on quality. Also the aforementioned Nimbus/R4 is a solid combo, that’ll often be seen at no-brainer prices. The only downside is it’s still a little unclear how these plugins will fit into Izotope’s new subscription model. I don’t own any of the above, but was impressed when demoing.


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## Kery Michael

Valhalla Room for blend. And Spaces 2 for a sense of.. well, space.

Not that I’m a reverb pro by any means. I doubt I could tell the difference between any two reverbs. Not even sure they’re better than Space Designer, the stock plugin that comes with Logic.


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## Tim_Wells

I strongly agree with those who say to try the demos of anything you're considering... and compare them to the reverbs you already own.

I was all set to buy some of the highly recommended reverbs. But then I compared them to the stock reverbs in my DAW and you guessed it... I liked the stock reverbs as well, if not better. 

Disclaimer: I'm not highly sophisticated when it comes to reverbs.


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## Justin L. Franks

Either use the reverbs you already have in your DAW (all the major DAWs have very usable reverbs), pick up Valhalla Room for $50, or wait until R4 goes on sale again for $30 or less at PluginBoutique. I picked it up for $29 a couple of months ago.


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