# Reverbs for piano ?



## dman007 (Oct 23, 2017)

Hi,

What reverbs do you use for piano for classical piano, and piano for tv/film cues and scores?

Which reverbs, and what settiings do you use?


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## CGR (Oct 23, 2017)

I most often call up convolution reverbs (impulse responses of real spaces, usually small halls or large chambers), but lately I've been really enjoying the results I'm achieving with the very flexible and musical-sounding Valhalla Room algorithmic reverb plugin. It's only $50 too.


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## Kuusniemi (Oct 23, 2017)

For the cinematic type of stuff I love Eventide's Blackhole.


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## Rapollo (Oct 23, 2017)

My workhorses are the Valhalla reverbs and FabFilter Pro-R.


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## willbedford (Oct 24, 2017)

Valhalla Room and Blackhole.


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## LinusW (Oct 24, 2017)

D16 Toraverb.


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## dman007 (Oct 27, 2017)

Any other takers?


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## Jetzer (Oct 27, 2017)

UA's Lexicon 224


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## ThePrioryStudio (Oct 27, 2017)

Slate Verb Classics with their Bricasti convolutions and UA EMT 140, Eventide blackhole is great too as well as Fission


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## dman007 (Oct 27, 2017)

Slate verb for piano? How do the Bricasti ones compare with blackhole / Pro-R ? Anyone used EastWest Spaces?


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## Michael Antrum (Oct 27, 2017)

I use QL spaces on Ivory II America n Concert D. Scrumptious.....


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## ThePrioryStudio (Oct 27, 2017)

dman007 said:


> Slate verb for piano? How do the Bricasti ones compare with blackhole / Pro-R ? Anyone used EastWest Spaces?



The plates on the slate are nice and the eq section is useful. The blackhole I use more as a creative FX rather than a bus verb.


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## VinRice (Oct 28, 2017)

Valhalla/Pro-R/Space Designer. Reverb seems to be so much more important with Piano. Strings sound acceptable with any old concert hall IR slapped on but the attack on a piano is so sensitive to ambience. It's tricky and I haven't really found 'the one' yet.


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## thereus (Oct 28, 2017)

Try Melda.


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## Erick - BVA (Oct 28, 2017)

PSP literally has a plugin called "Pianoverb". One of them is free (the first version), but I'm not sure if that's available anywhere anymore. Pianoverb 2 is pretty cheap, though does anyone have any experience with it? 
Otherwise, Blackhole and QL Spaces are both great as others have mentioned. I've heard good things about Valhalla, but as of yet have not purchased any of their products.


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## Erick - BVA (Oct 28, 2017)

Oh, can't overlook Toneboostes Reverb V4. Probably one of the most underrated reverb units around. 
You can pretty much use it for free, but can't save presets or anything. But I'd be nice and just purchase a license if you like it. It's got a nice, smooth and lush sound, good for piano.


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## Fleer (Oct 28, 2017)

FabFilter Pro-R for natural and Zynaptiq Adaptiverb for creative and cinematic.


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## Living Fossil (Oct 29, 2017)

Eventide Stereo Room 2016 is fantastic on pianos. 
Further, IK multimedias CSR Hall has some nice settings.

For clean reverbs, Nimbus/Phoenix.

psp Pianoverb is not exactly a usual reverb, but rather emulates the resonances of the pianostrings.
Sometimes i add it at a low level.
You have to pan it exactly the same as the piano itself.


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## sazema (Oct 29, 2017)

Valhalla Shimmer is screaming for some piano sources


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## Erick - BVA (Oct 29, 2017)

Living Fossil said:


> Eventide Stereo Room 2016 is fantastic on pianos.
> Further, IK multimedias CSR Hall has some nice settings.
> .



That's really great to know, thanks! 
I got the Eventide reverb as part of the Focusrite plugin collective, and then the IK one as part of a promotion for buying a cheap guitar interface lol. So I suppose I should pay more attention to those.


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## Dietz (Oct 29, 2017)

On classical piano, it's hard to beat a Quantec Room Simulator.


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## Erick - BVA (Oct 29, 2017)

Dietz said:


> On classical piano, it's hard to beat a Quantec Room Simulator.



I think I'd rather go with a cheap alternative. Can the difference really be that much to justify such a cost?


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## dman007 (Nov 6, 2017)

Living Fossil said:


> Eventide Stereo Room 2016 is fantastic on pianos.
> Further, IK multimedias CSR Hall has some nice settings.
> 
> For clean reverbs, Nimbus/Phoenix.
> ...



Which ones on the Eventide?


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## Living Fossil (Nov 7, 2017)

dman007 said:


> Which ones on the Eventide?



I use to dial in the settings according to my needs.
However, usually my workflow is the following:
- i insert 2016Room as an insert.
(leave the insert slot _before_ this one open, since often i will add a stereo imager (s1) for panning the source

Put mix on 100%wet.
-Diffusion around 60%
-Predelay rather low; between 5 - 20 ms
- Position: starting from Front i put it in the rear until it fits. Depends on context; usually between 35% and 75%
-Decay: depends on music/context. 2.5 sec is a good starting point; but you may try out everything between 2.5 and 6 seconds...really depends on the context. 
- 3.7 sec often works on textures with few notes.

EQ section: this reverb really sound good as it comes, however i often use around -2 db at around 6kHz; if there is some mud in the lows, you can use the low band too, but not too much (between -2 and -3 dB)

After this, i dial back the mix (between 90 and 55% wet).
This reverb sounds good on high mix settings.

Now, if i want to share it with other instruments, i drag the instance on a bus, put the mix to 100% wet, and recreate the mix balance with the send (for values above 50% wet, the send has to go up over 0dB!!! )
But it's a reverb, that often remains in the insert, i like it usually better this way.
So, if you want to utilize it for e.g. a duo, it's maybe best to copy the setting to the other instrument.
Adjust pannings (in the panning plug in) and distance (in Room 2016)


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## Will Blackburn (Nov 11, 2017)

VNXT reverbs for Nebula are best of the best imo. Algo wise i still haven't heard anything better than b2 on an orchestra, it is excellent at giving different perceived depths. The problem with both those two is they take up silly amounts of CPU. 

I've never liked Altiverb, but there is one good preset i think works well for cinematic stuff called 'Mechanics'. VSS 3 is old but still sounds ok. The warm hall preset has been used loads in Film/TV productions. 

Still on the hunt for something that comes close to VNXT and B2 but without the massive CPU hit. I want to try Exponential Audios R4 and Relabs VSR S24.


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## Markus Kohlprath (Nov 11, 2017)

Very, very nice: the new soundtoys emt140 plate. I think it’s still free. Didn’t check it as a special piano verb but I can imagine it’s very useable.


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## Daniel (Aug 9, 2019)

dman007 said:


> Hi,
> 
> What reverbs do you use for piano for classical piano, and piano for tv/film cues and scores?
> 
> Which reverbs, and what settiings do you use?



I am using Cubase6 /reverbs/ RoomWorks /FX Gas Tank (original preset).
It is a magic for film cues.


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