# Help choosing a reverb plugin



## PierreMassat (Jan 28, 2022)

Hi,

I'm using Cubase Elements 11 to compose music. I don't use many effects in general, but I always like a good reverb. Since I don't have Cubase Pro, I only have RoomWorks for now. I can't get Revelation (included in Pro), since it doesn't seem to be sold as a separate plugin.

I happen to have moved to Cubase from Pro Tools First. I used D-Verb in Pro Tools. And I thought it sounded just beautiful on my voice (on the large plate setting). It does something in the high-end that sounds so sweet to me. I have never been able to achieve such a lovely sound with RoomWorks in Cubase. 

Since I can't get D-Verb as a separate plugin either, I would love to find a reverb plugin that sounds as good (or better !). I've read about Sound Toys' Little Plate, but haven't tried it. And there are so many reverb plugins out there that I'm just lost. 

I'm mostly using reverb on guitar (accoustic, metal strings), electric piano (Wurlitzer and Rhodes), voice (male), and drums. 

Thank you in advance if you can help me.


----------



## doctoremmet (Jan 28, 2022)

Not to turn this into one of those threads where people just paste links of their personal favourite reverbs without any real connection to the question asked… but these two plate reverbs have been really succesful for me, especially for tracking / mixing vocals and Rhodes:







Perfect Plate XL by denise


The Perfect Plate XL plugin by denise audio




www.denise.io











IK Multimedia - Sunset Sound Studio Reverb


T-RackS Sunset Sound Studio Reverb - Convolution reverbs from the historic Hollywood studio.




www.ikmultimedia.com





This last one is mainly IR based but has some of the most gorgeous “studio sound reverbs” I have come across.

The Soundtoys one has a quite a good rep as well and I think a lot of users also like UVI’s plate reverb effort. The Waves Abbey Road one sounds good to me as well, but is quite the CPU hog in practice.


----------



## doctoremmet (Jan 28, 2022)

Also just check out the Valhalla DSP reverb plugins. Affordable and highly rated across the board. Their Supermassive is free.









Valhalla Plate: Plate Reverb Plugin | Valhalla DSP Plugins


You will ride eternal, shiny and chrome. ValhallaPlate is our algorithmic take on the classic plate reverberation sound. Twelve original algorithms emulate the sound and behavior of real world steel plate reverbs, and take the sound into dimensions that physical plates can't touch. Now updated...




valhalladsp.com





Valhalla Shimmer, Room and Vintage Verb are staples on this forum for many users.

Another “can’t fail” reverb powerhouse vendor are LiquidSonics. 

Finally, the Exponential Audio R2, R4, Phoenix and Nimbus plugins can sometimes be picked up for $9.99 or around that pricepoint, yet offer top notch quality. They are now owned by Izotope and are likely to become “abandonware” so if you’re on Mac (M1) you may want to check compatibility.


----------



## CGR (Jan 28, 2022)

doctoremmet said:


> Not to turn this into one of those threads where people just paste links of their personal favourite reverbs without any real connection to the question asked… but these two plate reverbs have been really succesful for me, especially for tracking / mixing vocals and Rhodes:
> 
> 
> 
> ...


+ 1 for the Sunset Sound Studios verb. I work with a vocalist/guitarist on a weekly basis and have been pulling up this reverb more often due to the sense of natural "studio" space it imparts, and the flexibility with the Plates & Chambers. Also it's quickly become my go-to verb for Rhodes & Wurlie tracks.


----------



## doctoremmet (Jan 28, 2022)

When searching this forum I advise you to pay extra attention to the opinions of the following users: @Dietz, @Beat Kaufmann and @re-peat - a lot of the very little I know about succesfully applying reverb has come from reading their posts. 






Talk to me about convolution reverbs


(The motivation for this question: EW Spaces 2 is 60% off.) I've been trying to read every reverb thread on here I can find but I'm still left wondering, do I need a fancy library of convolution reverbs? I have what I think is pretty good coverage with algorithmic reverbs: Valhalla Room...




vi-control.net





^ post #19

Final tip, grab the free FX suite that Meldaproduction offer. It contains a great collection of convolution reverbs in MConvolutionEZ (and there are many free IRs around that you could load into it) as well as MCharmVerb, that contains a number of great sounding algorithmic reverbs taken from their flagship MTurboReverb. Next to a whole slew of other really useful tools.









MCharmVerb


A Lush algorithmic reverb based on the MTurboReverb engine



www.meldaproduction.com


----------



## 3CPU (Jan 28, 2022)

I have used IK Multimedia plugins, the Sunset Sound Studios verb is top notch. Easy to dial in or tame certain frequencies to suit whatever style. And Valhalla range is pretty darn good, good range of parameters to adjust, I think the ValhallaRoom was their first and it still holds up well. Shimmer and Vintage came later, highly recommended.


----------



## PierreMassat (Jan 28, 2022)

Wow. I wasn't expecting so many answers so quickly. Thanks everyone for these tips. I'll take a few days to try these plugins and I'll keep you posted.


----------



## KEM (Jan 28, 2022)

doctoremmet said:


> Not to turn this into one of those threads where people just paste links of their personal favourite reverbs without any real connection to the question asked…



I’ll be that guy… Cinematic Rooms


----------



## Consona (Jan 28, 2022)

PierreMassat said:


> I'm mostly using reverb on guitar (accoustic, metal strings), electric piano (Wurlitzer and Rhodes), voice (male), and drums.


Get Valhalla Vintage Verb. Done. $50 and very low CPU usage, sounds great.


----------



## Trash Panda (Jan 28, 2022)

PierreMassat said:


> I used D-Verb in Pro Tools. And I thought it sounded just beautiful on my voice (on the large plate setting). It does something in the high-end that sounds so sweet to me.


If you like the sonic signature of D-Verb, the Valhalla Reverbs should do it for you just fine.


----------



## rgames (Jan 28, 2022)

Welcome to your reverb journey. Here's how it's going to go:

You're going to buy a lot of them then realize that any one can work just fine.

Enjoy,

rgames


----------



## doctoremmet (Jan 28, 2022)

Another one that is excellent and free crossed my mind:






Wave Arts | Plugins | Convology XT







wavearts.com





find cool (free) impulse responses via this thread:






Convolution reverb impulses


I created this thread to list all libraries of impulses for convolution reverbs. Post your links below and I will update this first post! Free GN’s Personal Lexicon 480L Impulse Responses by Fokke van Saane OpenAir LDS Lexicon 224XL Samplicity M7 IR Studio Nord Analog Reverbs Waves IR...




vi-control.net


----------



## fakemaxwell (Jan 28, 2022)

rgames said:


> Welcome to your reverb journey. Here's how it's going to go:
> 
> You're going to buy a lot of them then realize that any one can work just fine.
> 
> ...


Can we write a bot to reply this to any "best reverb" thread?


----------



## Marsen (Jan 28, 2022)

I'll say: Tai Chi!








Store - LiquidSonics







www.reverbfoundry.com





You can download, and try it for free before purchasing.
It's surprisingly open and colourfull ( in a good way).


----------



## vitocorleone123 (Jan 28, 2022)

What is your GOAL for the reverb? How do you want to use it and when and for what genres/purposes? Is the goal to be realistic? A huge effect? For strings? Vocals? Synths? Drums? Do you want the reverb to feel/sound modern or retro? Do you want the interface modern or retro?

The more you answer "yes" to any of these, the harder it is to recommend a specific reverb. It's hard for me, and probably others, to not just list our favorite 5 reverbs (or 10... or 50 for some people here!! hehe).


----------



## CGR (Jan 28, 2022)

doctoremmet said:


> Another one that is excellent and free crossed my mind:
> 
> 
> 
> ...


I downloaded this a few days ago, and was pleasantly surprised how good the range of free IRs which come with plugin (which is also free) are. Some very useful reverb shaping controls at your disposal too.

There are numerous IR libraries from Impulse Record available for purchase also:






Convology XT | Impulse Record







impulserecord.com










Convology XT – True Stereo | Impulse Record







impulserecord.com


----------



## AudioLoco (Jan 29, 2022)

R4, R2, Sunset, Seventh Heaven, little plate, VSS3, VSS4, Lexicon PCM, PSP2445, Altiverb

Any of these is a huge upgrade on D-verb


----------



## Dietz (Jan 29, 2022)

PierreMassat said:


> I used D-Verb in Pro Tools. And I thought it sounded just beautiful on my voice (on the large plate setting). It does something in the high-end that sounds so sweet to me.


What you seem to like is that heavily pitch-modulated reverb tail that D-Verb produces, with little attenuation of the high frequencies. This is exactly what you should be looking for. Any reasonably good, versatile algorithmic reverb engine (Valhalla Vintage Reverb, for example) should suit your needs. 

However, there is little need to resort to impulse response-based reverbs (also known as convolution reverbs). While they can sound beautiful, modulation is not their strongest USP, most of the time. Likewise, most modern "realistic" algorithmic engines try to hide modulation rather than make it as obvious as D-Verb. So VSS3, VSS4, Verberate, etc. are not necessarily what you are looking for.


----------



## easyrider (Jan 29, 2022)

Lexicon PCM Native Reverb Bundle.

End of thread.

😂


----------



## khollister (Jan 29, 2022)

Dietz said:


> What you seem to like is that heavily pitch-modulated reverb tail that D-Verb produces, with little attenuation of the high frequencies. This is exactly what you should be looking for. Any reasonably good, versatile algorithmic reverb engine (Valhalla Vintage Reverb, for example) should suit your needs.
> 
> However, there is little need to resort to impulse response-based reverbs (also known as convolution reverbs). While they can sound beautiful, modulation is not their strongest USP, most of the time. Likewise, most modern "realistic" algorithmic engines try to hide modulation rather than make it as obvious as D-Verb. So VSS3, VSS4, Verberate, etc. are not necessarily what you are looking for.


If you are looking for that Lexicon Random Hall type of sound, either the Lexicon PCM native (bear in mind it is pretty much abandonware at this point and I would not advise sinking money into it, especially on a Mac platform) or Reverb Foundry HD Cart. Liquidsonics Cinematic Rooms Pro can also get that type of sound, but is considerably more expensive (and more flexible). Reverb Foundry Tai Chi may get there - I haven't spent a lot of time with it yet.

While I think the Valhalla verbs are great value for money, my opinion is Liquidsonics/Reverb Foundry (same owner/developer) is at the top of the heap in algo reverbs today. I own Valhalla, Relab, UAD, Exponential Audio, EW Spaces, MIR Pro, Eventide H9 and a bunch of other reverbs I have likely forgotten about and and I always grab CRP, 7th Heaven or HD Cart unless I want something sound-designy like Eventide Black Hole or Shimmer Verb.

MIR Pro is amazing for placing instruments in acoustic spaces, but I'm pretty sure that is not what the OP is describing he wants.


----------



## Dietz (Jan 29, 2022)

khollister said:


> MIR Pro is amazing for placing instruments in acoustic spaces, but I'm pretty sure that is not what the OP is describing he wants.


Most certainly not! 🙃

HD Cart is a brilliant plug-in. It instantly delivers that certain "expensive" 90ies-vibe (which might or might not be what you're after).


----------



## Faruh Al-Baghdadi (Feb 13, 2022)

If you're looking for that sweet and lovely high end, try these options:
Exponential Audio R4 and Nimbus;
Relab LX480(also try Sonsig);
TC Electronic VSS4(or 3 if you have many mono sources as it is a mono-to-stereo reverb);
2C Audio Breeze 2.

All listed reverbs have great, lush and stable high end that you're after. 

I would start from Nimbus as it seems to fit your desired sound the most(if I did not misunderstood you).


----------



## proggermusic (Feb 14, 2022)

+1 for Valahalla. VintageVerb is the place to start, and Room is also marvelous. My favorite reverb developer for a decade. There are tons of other great options out there these days but Valhalla just gets it done for me, it's easy to get Vintage or Room to sound exactly like I want reverb to sound.


----------

