# Dragonfly Reverb - Very Nice Free Reverb



## robgb

I've been playing with this and think it's really great, especially for vocals, playing with the early reflections and delay.

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


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## Michael Willis

robgb said:


> I've been playing with this...


Hey Rob! Thanks for the shout-out. I'm the primary developer of Dragonfly Reverb, along with Rob van den Berg who did a lot of the work on its user interface. My main uses for it are acoustic solos and virtual orchestration. I've been pleasantly surprised at the positive feedback I've gotten from people who are doing very different styles, like guitar bands or electronica.

Just curious, what OS and DAW are you using? As the developer it's good to know where it is working well, since I can only test it on a small subset of possible environments.


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## creativeforge

robgb said:


> I've been playing with this and think it's really great, especially for vocals, playing with the early reflections and delay.
> https://github.com/michaelwillis/dragonfly-reverb



Thanks for sharing this. Will try this in the coming months for acoustic piano as a discreet reverb. 

Cheers!


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## robgb

Michael Willis said:


> Hey Rob! Thanks for the shout-out. I'm the primary developer of Dragonfly Reverb, along with Rob van den Berg who did a lot of the work on its user interface. My main uses for it are acoustic solos and virtual orchestration. I've been pleasantly surprised at the positive feedback I've gotten from people who are doing very different styles, like guitar bands or electronica.
> 
> Just curious, what OS and DAW are you using? As the developer it's good to know where it is working well, since I can only test it on a small subset of possible environments.


I use Reaper on OSX Yosemite. I should probably update my operating system, but it works and I don't really want to mess with that.


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## Will Blackburn

Will be checking this out, thanks for headsup.


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## Bill the Lesser

Well doesn't that sound nice! My test of reverb greatness is how it sounds at the quieter end of the scale, and this one gets an A+. Very well done, good graphics too. Totally professional grade. The room presets are perfect for orchestral right out of the box. Reminds of a little of Valhalla and certainly sounds at least as good. I like this better than any of the verbs packaged with NI 11.

FWIW, running Cubase 10 on Win10, on the first detection (only) Cubase puts the files DragonflyReverb_dsp.dll and DragonflyReverb_ui.dll on the Blacklist and throws an error message. Nobody should worry about this, there are no error messages ever after that first one. I assume those 2 files are for other OSs or 32 bit and can be deleted for Win10. The usable Dragonfly reverb is in the "Other" folder in the inserts list.

I'm an old programmer, thanks for sharing your code, looks clean as a whistle.


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## Michael Willis

Bill the Lesser said:


> I'm an old programmer, thanks for sharing your code, looks clean as a whistle.


Nice! Thanks for taking it for a spin and looking under the hood. This is my first try at an audio plugin, and before this project I hadn't done anything in C++ since college, nearly 15 years ago.

Most of the user interface was done by a Dutch gentleman named Rob van den Berg. He drew up the graphics and wrote the initial UI code. I implemented the spectrogram and then rearranged things a bit to accommodate a few more dials at the request of some early testers.

The blacklisted DLLs are actually an open source plugin format called LV2, that whole folder can be removed if you are only going to use the VST.


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## Quasar

Michael Willis said:


> ...Just curious, what OS and DAW are you using? As the developer it's good to know where it is working well, since I can only test it on a small subset of possible environments.



I found this some while ago and it's a really cool reverb, not just because it was free, but because it's good. You can do subtle low settings and really set a sound in a space before it sounds obvious and over-the-top. Thanks much. I agree that it at least holds its own with Valhalla Vintage Verb and similar.

FWIW, Daw: Reaper; OS: Windows 7, works great. The CPU hit is negligible enough to be a non issue, certainly if used on a buss as a send. It can also be used on individual virtual instrument tracks and played without any extra discernible latency, which is a huge positive IMHO. Great VST.


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## joyneski

It's running well in Reaper/Win8.1 on an 8-year-old Samsung laptop (i3 M380 cpu, 8Gb RAM). If it's any help, my Intel integrated HD gpu doesn't fully meet OpenGL 3.0 specs - it's about 73% compliant, according to OpenGL Viewer - but in standard use, the graphics all seem to work OK. The spectrogram display stops working once I start modulating some parameters (I mostly mess around in ambient/electronica-y sort of stuff), but that's no biggie. Thanks for a really nice reverb, and thanks to robgb for pointing it out.


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## CGR

robgb said:


> I've been playing with this and think it's really great, especially for vocals, playing with the early reflections and delay.
> 
> https://github.com/michaelwillis/dragonfly-reverb


Thanks for the heads up Rob - will give it a whirl soon.


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## Michael Willis

joyneski said:


> The spectrogram display stops working once I start modulating some parameters


Oh right... I haven't tested modulating the parameters much at all. I do know that changing Spin or Wander during performance has given me a nasty snap crackle pop effect, but the rest of the dials may be ok. I'm curious to hear what you're working on, please share if you are inclined to do so!


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## joyneski

Michael Willis said:


> I haven't tested modulating the parameters much at all


Well, I only started modulating reverb parameters after I started exploring ambient music, so I guess it probably isn't usual practice (but I could be wrong).



Michael Willis said:


> I'm curious to hear what you're working on


I've had a quick look at the track I had Dragonfly automated on - all I had going was a slow LFO bringing the Late parameter in and out. Tbh, there's so much other processing on the track I'm not sure how discernable the effect is, but I'll have a closer listen and post up a snippet if I think it won't be too tedious...


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## Rob

really impressed by the sound of this reverb, just needed to tell...


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## devonmyles

Thanks for the heads up. Will certainly give this a try.


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## Michael Willis

New beta release v1.9.3 available for testing:

https://github.com/michaelwillis/dragonfly-reverb/releases/tag/1.9.3-beta

This packages both the new Dragonfly Room Reverb (based on Freeverb3 ProG) and the renamed Dragonfly Hall Reverb. The latter should be able to replace the old Dragonfly Reverb, as it is essentially the same plugin and identifies itself as such; please delete the old Dragonfly Reverb LV2 and/or VST before using the new one, existing projects should automatically use it without any ill effects.

There are still several things that aren’t done yet. Dragonfly Room Reverb still needs a change in looks to more easily distinguish it.

I made a first attempt at some presets for Dragonfly Room. I’m still not sure how much I like them, please experiment with them and let me know which (if any) are useful and sound as described.

Edit: Updated 1.9.0 to 1.9.3


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## Michael Willis

Beta release 1.9.4 is now available. It adds three new dials to Dragonfly Room: Input LPF, Output LPF, and Boost Band.


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## Michael Willis

Beta release 1.9.5 is hot off the press. Dragonfly Room's Output LPF previously only applied to the late output, now it applies to both early and late.

Also, the following parameters have been exposed to the DAW (They aren't visible in the GUI, as they are considered more advanced features, and I don't think the GUI needs any more complication):

*Early Send* (Dragonfly Hall and Dragonfly Room)
*Spin Factor* (Dragonfly Hall)
*LFO Factor* (Dragonfly Hall)
The latter two will hopefully be useful to increase or decrease the "tape flutter" effect that some people have noticed in Dragonfly Hall.


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## MarcelM

tested this today and gotta say it sounds really nice.

there is no "AU" version of this for logic?


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## Michael Willis

MarcelM said:


> tested this today and gotta say it sounds really nice.


Thanks!



MarcelM said:


> there is no "AU" version of this for logic?


The framework I'm using does not support AU, but there has been an effort to do so:

https://github.com/DISTRHO/DPF/milestone/7

I'm not sure if they will finish this initiative, but if so, Dragonfly Reverb will then have an AU version.


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## JEPA

Michael Willis said:


> The framework I'm using does not support AU


Hi Michael, thanks for developing such a nice and useful tool. I am following Dragonfly since release. This week i could implemented it on Logic Pro X via Vienna Ensemble Pro, it sounds nice with orchestral percussion!

There is a try here to port VSTs to AU. Take a watch:
https://www.kvraudio.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=523811
https://github.com/tibsys/AuVstBridge

it's still not working well, but at least shows up in Logic..


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## WhiteNoiz

Nice, it can sound pretty massive. Just a couple of things:
1. Sudden/constant movements in pre-delay, size and wet levels cause clicks and crackles; pretty sure it's not CPU (~0,5% use at the time), it just seems the plugin doesn't like sudden changes. It also shows up in the render, not just in real-time.
2. When I automated the wet level (from 0 to whatever) the graphic stopped working. If you disable and re-enable it just updates to correspond to the point it was enabled and then freezes again (not a huge issue)

You can hear the click at about 1:36-1:38 here (it just gradually changes the wet level throughout but at that point it jumps instantly from 0 to 40%):
https://instaud.io/private/715767b7c9208283377589be36dd7d8c9dd13f91

Maybe you should be able to disable the graphic? It seems it can potentially cause issues. And saving presets would be nice. Not necessary, but probably better for sharing settings without posting a whole project if you want to.

But, for free, you can't really complain. Good job anyhow.


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## JEPA

WhiteNoiz said:


> Nice, it can sound pretty massive. Just a couple of things:
> 1. Sudden/constant movements in pre-delay, size and wet levels cause clicks and crackles; pretty sure it's not CPU (~0,5% use at the time), it just seems the plugin doesn't like sudden changes. It also shows up in the render, not just in real-time.
> 2. When I automated the wet level (from 0 to whatever) the graphic stopped working. If you disable and re-enable it just updates to correspond to the point it was enabled and then freezes again (not a huge issue)
> 
> You can hear the click at about 1:36-1:38 here (it just gradually changes the wet level throughout but at that point it jumps instantly from 0 to 40%):
> https://instaud.io/private/715767b7c9208283377589be36dd7d8c9dd13f91
> 
> Maybe you should be able to disable the graphic? It seems it can potentially cause issues. And saving presets would be nice. Not necessary, but probably better for sharing settings without posting a whole project if you want to.
> 
> But, for free, you can't really complain. Good job anyhow.


same here


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## damstraversaz

That's really a beautiful reverb, I'm love the natural tone, congratulations and thanks a lot for sharing it


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## Michael Willis

WhiteNoiz said:


> Nice, it can sound pretty massive. Just a couple of things:
> 1. Sudden/constant movements in pre-delay, size and wet levels cause clicks and crackles; pretty sure it's not CPU (~0,5% use at the time), it just seems the plugin doesn't like sudden changes. It also shows up in the render, not just in real-time.
> 2. When I automated the wet level (from 0 to whatever) the graphic stopped working. If you disable and re-enable it just updates to correspond to the point it was enabled and then freezes again (not a huge issue)





JEPA said:


> same here



What DAW(s) are you two using? Which version of Dragonfly do you have? If it's one of the new beta releases, do you experience these bugs in the Hall plugin or the Room one?

I'm aware that some of the dials cause a crackle, but mostly people have reported the problem on the modulation dials like spin and wander. I haven't had this problem with the basic settings like levels, predelay, and size. With that said, I don't think freeverb3 is designed for real time automation; I didn't write the algorithms, I have just wrapped them up in what I hope are some nicer plugins than you get from freeverb3vst.

I'm also aware that some people want a way to disable the spectrogram, I'm thinking that I should make it so that when you click on the question mark to show the credits, that view should stay there while you turn the dials.



WhiteNoiz said:


> But, for free, you can't really complain. Good job anyhow.





damstraversaz said:


> That's really a beautiful reverb, I'm love the natural tone, congratulations and thanks a lot for sharing it



Thanks! I'm glad people are enjoying the sound. Like I said before, one of my primary motivations is to make freeverb3's algorithms available in a hopefully nicer set of plugins.


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## JEPA

Michael Willis said:


> What DAW(s) are you two using?


Logic Pro X, Reaper 5.7...


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## WhiteNoiz

Michael Willis said:


> What DAW(s)


That one was in Reaper 5.977. Verb version 1.9.5 (both Room and Hall; I think Wander doesn't do it in Room, Oversample does). Still happens in 5.978. Wander does it too as does Late level, but way less (late mostly with really fast movements). Worst is pre-delay and then size. I just happened to test automation since it was a beta. Thought why not, haha. But maybe someone would automate, who knows... Once it's set it's not a huge issue, but yeah. Seems possible the crackles follow the graphic re-adjustment or there's some sort of sync issue (they stop exactly at the same time the graph image stabilises on all affected parameters).

To make it clearer, affected parameters are: Late/early level (mostly on fast movements), pre-delay, size, wander. Rest seem to be unaffected (although they also alter the graphic). Also, crackles don't happen when Late is at 0%, although reverb is activated. So it happens only when the produced tail is audible (so it happens in the tail, not in some overall plugin graphical glitch?).

Edit: Early always crackles. So it's not connected directly to Late level, but anything with sounding tail. (Guessing the early links to itself and output, the rest link to late and output)

If it helps:
https://mega.nz/#!xEwUnQhZ!lIdCOt_ntK3xkxWvWrjzpvVXlAn0z0l6QOLcszXGvjo (Note: Graphic frozen due to automation)

Also, the question mark doesn't work in Reaper.


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## Michael Willis

Beta release 1.9.6 is here.

Sorry, I don't think that I will be fixing the snap-crackle-pop during automation.

This one includes several bug fixes, a change in the damper/lpf dials, and a new look for Dragonfly Room:


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## JEPA

just a programmer question, I've thought a beta version were under number 1.0...?


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## Michael Willis

JEPA said:


> just a programmer question, I've thought a beta version were under number 1.0...?


Oh right, these 1.9.x-beta releases are getting ready for the 2.0.0 release. Before 1.9.x-beta, there was only one plugin, but now there are two plugins that come as a set, and I'm asking people to beta test the new one, which will be "official" as of the 2.0.0 release.


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## Michael Willis

Beta release 1.9.7 is now available. The biggest change is that the "Oversample" dial has been replaced with a "Size" dial.


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## WhiteNoiz

Well, sad about the crackles but it's fine. Thanks for your work anyway.

Here's a test on dry piano:
https://mega.nz/#!wQZyQS4b!II_nJACFdica7BkQ5ZbnnDyvCN4gra2mwh6L63avNII

And a kick:
https://instaud.io/private/9eddc91a8eef92ee4306f4a759d16f3453bf0725

It adds a nice detached brilliance to the piano and a nice bloom to the drum. And I quite like how it populates that tail. Still sounds pretty huge. Crackles come from the instant changes (on/off), but if you just set it and let it sit and produce the tail it's good. The crackling parameters you probably wouldn't automate anyway. Just a thing to keep in mind. (Oversample is gone for good?)


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## Michael Willis

WhiteNoiz said:


> Here's a test on dry piano


That's a great demo! What preset did you start with, and did you customize it at all?



WhiteNoiz said:


> (Oversample is gone for good?)


Oversample had a number of problems. If you really really want it and ask really nicely, you could probably talk me into adding it as a hidden parameter that you can set with your DAW, but I don't think I'll put it back in the user interface.


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## Zoot_Rollo

was pointed to Dragonfly in another thread.

impressive work!


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## Michael Willis

Zoot_Rollo said:


> was pointed to Dragonfly in another thread.
> 
> impressive work!


Hey Zoot Rollo! I'm glad you are enjoying it. Just be aware that the room reverb isn't guaranteed to be backward compatible until v2.0.0, so don't use it for anything serious. The hall reverb is stable and will not break sessions as new versions come out.

Hopefully 2.0.0 will be available soon.


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## jonathanparham

is this AAX compatible?


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## Michael Willis

jonathanparham said:


> is this AAX compatible?


Dragonfly Reverb is not available in AAX format, but there are ways to use a VST from a DAW that only supports AAX:

https://www.pro-tools-expert.com/ho...r-au-plug-ins-in-pro-tools-11-and-earlie.html


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## WhiteNoiz

Michael Willis said:


> That's a great demo! What preset did you start with, and did you customize it at all?



Dragonfly Hall Reverb > Small Clear Hall Preset > Settings:





Maybe the decay was at 1.3 or something, but that's it pretty much.



Michael Willis said:


> Oversample had a number of problems. If you really really want it and ask really nicely, you could probably talk me into adding it as a hidden parameter that you can set with your DAW, but I don't think I'll put it back in the user interface.


I had a feeling it did slightly increase the quality, but not anything massive. A hidden option is fine. You could also have an option to oversample only in rendering mode. But it's up to you, can't really demand anything.


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## Michael Willis

Please try Beta release 1.9.9. Several changes since the last update. Both plugins now have a new slider "Early Send" that controls how much of the early reflection signal is mixed into the input to the late algorithm. Dragonfly Room now has both High Cut and Low Cut. Dragonfly Hall has a "Flutter" dial that controls the level of modulation; this will be simply renamed to "Modulation" for the 2.0.0 release in order to better follow existing conventions in other reverbs.


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## Michael Willis

2.0.0 release candidate is now available. If no major bugs are reported, this will be promoted to an official 2.0.0 release.


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## Zoot_Rollo

got lost in this for an hour just playing slow single telecaster notes with a clean fender sim.

very, very nice.


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## Michael Willis

Zoot_Rollo said:


> got lost in this for an hour just playing slow single telecaster notes with a clean fender sim.
> 
> very, very nice.


Fun! Are you using dragonfly room or hall? (Or both? I had somebody report having fun chaining the room and then the hall)


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## Zoot_Rollo

Michael Willis said:


> Fun! Are you using dragonfly room or hall? (Or both? I had somebody report having fun chaining the room and then the hall)




hall.

complimented the chime of the tele single coils and the fender-ish amp.

lovely fall off.


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## joyneski

Michael Willis said:


> I had somebody report having fun chaining the room and then the hall


I am so going to try that...


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## WhiteNoiz

I really like how it has so many parameters to feed into each other and add movement. Had also thought about the Room feeding into Hall thing and sat down and did a test:
https://instaud.io/private/e4165cd0a4ce500fc5c0fea77df17db9300cfa1c

(Fairly Dry > Room [for some dimension and movement] > Room + Hall [plus longer, wetter, dreamier tail])

Just a few minutes messing between the two on the master, didn't want to spend hours on busses and separate sections. Obvious benefit is you add more movement and richness. It needs some care to not overdo it, especially with wet levels and dampings, but it sounds rather nice I guess.


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## Zoot_Rollo

i haven't had a chance to do any direct comparisons with my other reverbs.

and from what i've read, this is a developed freeverb algo.

but i REALLY like this one - it seems extraordinarily natural.

am i imagining this?

i'll do a head to head with my faves in the next week or so.


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## Michael Willis

Zoot_Rollo said:


> but i REALLY like this one - it seems extraordinarily natural.
> 
> am i imagining this?


What I have learned since starting this project is that people have very very different opinions about what they want in a reverb. Some people absolutely love Dragonfly Reverb, other people just kind of shrug, and others use terms like "junk" (or worse) to describe it.


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## WhiteNoiz

Michael Willis said:


> What I have learned since starting this project is that people have very very different opinions about what they want in a reverb. Some people absolutely love Dragonfly Reverb, other people just kind of shrug, and others use terms like "junk" (or worse) to describe it.



Whatever works for everyone... I'm glad the option exists.


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## averystemmler

Michael Willis said:


> What I have learned since starting this project is that people have very very different opinions about what they want in a reverb. Some people absolutely love Dragonfly Reverb, other people just kind of shrug, and others use terms like "junk" (or worse) to describe it.



I've discovered that I have different opinions from day to day. I demo'ed the Exponential Audio reverbs a few months ago and actively disliked them.

They went on sale after being acquired by Izotope. Idiot that I am, that convinced me to buy them anyways, in spite of my initial impression.

Now, Nimbus and R4 are two of my favorites. I've learned how to use them, and now I find other (very lovely) reverbs to be a little limiting.

Moral of the story - one man's junk is that same man's treasure after he spends money on it against his own better judgement.


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## Soundhound

I'm trying to try out Dragonfly in Vienna Ensemble Pro since I'm on Mac and in Logic. I loaded the VSTs to the proper place and can bring up the plugin, but it doesn't seem to respond to any incoming signal. Is there more that I need to do aside from just adding the vsts to my plugin folder? 

thanks!


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## Michael Willis

Soundhound said:


> I'm trying to try out Dragonfly in Vienna Ensemble Pro since I'm on Mac and in Logic. I loaded the VSTs to the proper place and can bring up the plugin, but it doesn't seem to respond to any incoming signal. Is there more that I need to do aside from just adding the vsts to my plugin folder?
> 
> thanks!


Sorry, I'm not sure how to get Dragonfly working in Logic. Seems like somebody once said they had it working via some adapter, but I don't have any more information than that.

Dragonfly is made using a framework called DPF, and there has been some effort to make DPF support making AU plugins. It looks like this effort has stalled for now, but I'm hoping it picks up again.


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## JEPA

Soundhound said:


> I'm trying to try out Dragonfly in Vienna Ensemble Pro since I'm on Mac and in Logic. I loaded the VSTs to the proper place and can bring up the plugin, but it doesn't seem to respond to any incoming signal. Is there more that I need to do aside from just adding the vsts to my plugin folder?
> 
> thanks!


Hello, I am using Dragonfly on Logic thru Vienna Ensemble Pro. I will post here tomorrow snapshots of the configuration. You have to create an Aux bus + Instrument channel + Enable the VEP server with a Bus channel where the Dragonfly plugin is inserted. Also you have to insert into the Aux Bus and into the Instrument channel an IO interface to enable the "way out" (1-2 or 3-4, etc) and let them disable. Is a workaround in Logic. Tomorrow with links, snapshots and video link.


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## Soundhound

Sorry Michael, I wasn't clear. I'm using it in Vienna Enseble Pro, which does does work with VST plugins. 

For installing on Macos, do I need to do anything more than just copying the VST plugins to my plugin folder?



Michael Willis said:


> Sorry, I'm not sure how to get Dragonfly working in Logic. Seems like somebody once said they had it working via some adapter, but I don't have any more information than that.
> 
> Dragonfly is made using a framework called DPF, and there has been some effort to make DPF support making AU plugins. It looks like this effort has stalled for now, but I'm hoping it picks up again.


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## Soundhound

Thanks! I just tried it on one of the channels in a VEP7 instance, and it didn't see any audio coming into it.



JEPA said:


> Hello, I am using Dragonfly on Logic thru Vienna Ensemble Pro. I will post here tomorrow snapshots of the configuration. You have to create an Aux bus + Instrument channel + Enable the VEP server with a Bus channel where the Dragonfly plugin is inserted. Also you have to insert into the Aux Bus and into the Instrument channel an IO interface to enable the "way out" (1-2 or 3-4, etc) and let them disable. Is a workaround in Logic. Tomorrow with links, snapshots and video link.


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## JEPA

Hi! first the video...


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## JEPA

I am not sture any more which was the order of the steps, but you will manage it!
*
step 1)*

-create an "instrument channel/track)"






- put/insert in there "Vienna Ensemble Pro"






- put/insert in there "iO utility"






- allow output 1-2 by the io utility, and disable it, "switch off"


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## JEPA

*step 2)*

- create an AUX channel (by the mixer)






- put/insert in there "Vienna Ensemble Pro audio input"






- put/insert in there "iO utility"






- enable outputs 1-2, disable iO utility switching it off


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## JEPA

*step 3)*

turn on/open VEP server


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## JEPA

*step 4)*

- connect the DRAGONFLY INSTRUMENT to the server






- it will show on VEP side:


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## JEPA

*step 5)*

- add Bus channel on VEP






- insert Dragonfly VST
*- assign inputs 1-2*


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## JEPA

*step 6)*

- assign AUX channel to the VEP server
- assign bus to the AUX channel






- raise up its volume to 0db (unity)


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## JEPA

*step 7)*

- on your audio track (a voice for example) or instrument channel (e.g. you have a Kontakt instrument) *send to bus 1*, raise up the send so much you want. You are ready to hear dragonfly


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## JEPA

*Logic Project to download:

*


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## Soundhound

Thanks!



JEPA said:


> *step 7)*
> 
> - on your audio track (a voice for example) or instrument channel (e.g. you have a Kontakt instrument) *send to bus 1*, raise up the send so much you want. You are ready to hear dragonfly


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## JEPA

Soundhound said:


> Thanks!


you'r welcome!


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## Tim_Wells

Are there installation instructions? I see the .dll file. Do I simply copy it to one of my vst folders? 

There's also an additional .lv2 folder. Wasn't sure what to do with that.

My apologies if I missed this somewhere!
(_fyi: I'm on Win 10, Cubase 10_)


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## MarcelM

Tim_Wells said:


> Are there installation instructions? I see the .dll file. Do I simply copy it to one of my vst folders?
> 
> There's also an additional .lv2 folder. Wasn't sure what to do with that.
> 
> My apologies if I missed this somewhere!



copy both to your vstplugins folder.


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## Tim_Wells

MarcelM said:


> copy both to your vstplugins folder.


Thanks so much, Marcel!!


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## Tim_Wells

I got the blacklist error in Cubase. Looking back through this thread I noticed that you do not need the .lv2 folder _if you are only using the VST_. All you need is the .dll file.


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## Michael Willis

Both reverbs are now documented:

Dragonfly Hall Reverb Manual
Dragonfly Room Reverb Manual

Any feedback on the manuals is welcome.


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## Michael Willis

Version 2.0.0 is now official, and finally there is a proper landing page:

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


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## robgb

Michael Willis said:


> Version 2.0.0 is now official, and finally there is a proper landing page:
> 
> https://michaelwillis.github.io/dragonfly-reverb


Dragonfly is my goto reverb these days.


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## Tim_Wells

Maybe I'm doing something wrong. But Cubase crashes as soon as I try to load Dragonfly as an insert on a audio track. Happened with a previous version and now with version 2.0.

Win 10, 64 bit. Cubase 10.020 
I'm simply installing the .dll in one of my VST folders

Edit: I have an older version of Reaper (v5.80) that I was evaluating and it seems to work in Reaper.


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## Michael Willis

Tim_Wells said:


> Maybe I'm doing something wrong. But Cubase crashes as soon as I try to load Dragonfly as an insert on a audio track. Happened with a previous version and now with version 2.0.
> 
> Win 10, 64 bit. Cubase 10.020
> I'm simply installing the .dll in one of my VST folders
> 
> Edit: I have an older version of Reaper (v5.80) that I was evaluating and it seems to work in Reaper.



Did you download the 32-bit Windows version, or the 64-bit Windows version?

I'm not sure if I've had anybody test this in Cubase. It seems like you are doing the right thing, just copy the *-vst.dll files to wherever cubase is looking for them.

On the other hand, there are plenty of Reaper users that have tested this on three different operating systems. Maybe it is just a problem with Cubase?


----------



## Tim_Wells

Michael Willis said:


> Did you download the 32-bit Windows version, or the 64-bit Windows version?
> 
> I'm not sure if I've had anybody test this in Cubase. It seems like you are doing the right thing, just copy the *-vst.dll files to wherever cubase is looking for them.
> 
> On the other hand, there are plenty of Reaper users that have tested this on three different operating systems. Maybe it is just a problem with Cubase?


Hi Michael,

Thanks for the response! Yes, I downloaded the 64 bit version. It may be a Cubase issue. Although it seemed like someone else in this thread was using Win 10 64 and Cubase 10 successfully. For what it's worth, I am not having any other issues with Cubase. All my plugins are working. I have the Cubase Crash Dump file (.dmp) if that is of any interest to you. Thanks!


----------



## Michael Willis

Tim_Wells said:


> For what it's worth, I am not having any other issues with Cubase.


Right, I'm not saying that Cubase is at fault. I have discovered that every combination of (DAW + Plugin) can have different bugs, and so it may be that you happen to be the unlucky one to find the bug caused by this combination.

I'm not sure if I can make sense of the crash dump, as I don't have Windows or Cubase.


----------



## Jacob Cadmus

Been testing these out on Studio One. They sound so good I can't believe they're free. My signal chain is the Dragonfly Hall on an FX send as the virtual stage, then the Dragonfly Room on a plate setting as my glue verb.


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## Michael Willis

Jacob Cadmus said:


> Been testing these out on Studio One. They sound so good I can't believe they're free. My signal chain is the Dragonfly Hall on an FX send as the virtual stage, then the Dragonfly Room on a plate setting as my glue verb.


I'm glad you're liking them! I'm also happy to hear that people are finding a good use for both. Dragonfly Hall is still my favorite, but multiple people have reported good results using both of them, sometimes in the same project similar to how you're using them. I'll have to try that on a real project one of these days; I've only experimentally used both in test sessions to see how they sound together and verify that they wouldn't make each other crash.


----------



## Jacob Cadmus

Michael Willis said:


> I'm glad you're liking them! I'm also happy to hear that people are finding a good use for both. Dragonfly Hall is still my favorite, but multiple people have reported good results using both of them, sometimes in the same project similar to how you're using them. I'll have to try that on a real project one of these days; I've only experimentally used both in test sessions to see how they sound together and verity that they wouldn't make each other crash.



So far so good, performance-wise. Here's a little test run I did, mocking up Tom Newman's "Nemo Egg" track. 

https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/1zgBs-dvPKIRU6iungkvPedPxPDbEJs0Q?usp=sharing


----------



## Michael Willis

Jacob Cadmus said:


> So far so good, performance-wise. Here's a little test run I did, mocking up Tom Newman's "Nemo Egg" track.


That sounds great. What settings are you using? Earlier you described using Dragonfly Hall for stage presence, and then Dragonfly Room as glue; did you do that on this mockup?


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## Jacob Cadmus

Michael Willis said:


> That sounds great. What settings are you using? Earlier you described using Dragonfly Hall for stage presence, and then Dragonfly Room as glue; did you do that on this mockup?



Yep! I'll see if I can send screenshots of my settings. They're just slight tweaks on the presets that you've graciously provided in the UI.


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## Michael Willis

Jacob Cadmus said:


> Yep! I'll see if I can send screenshots of my settings.


Ha, I see that you exaggerated the stereo width in Dragonfly Hall. I made the maximum width of 150% as kind of an impulsive decision. After learning more about it, I'm surprised that setting it greater than 100% does anything meaningful at all; Dragonfly Hall is based on Hibiki Reverb, which doesn't allow greater than 100% width. Whatever the case, I found that sometimes I like the exaggerated effect.


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## Jacob Cadmus

Michael Willis said:


> Ha, I see that you exaggerated the stereo width in Dragonfly Hall. I made the maximum width of 150% as kind of an impulsive decision. After learning more about it, I'm surprised that setting it greater than 100% does anything meaningful at all; Dragonfly Hall is based on Hibiki Reverb, which doesn't allow greater than 100% width. Whatever the case, I found that sometimes I like the exaggerated effect.



Haha yeah, sometimes I like to just crank shit up to 11.


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## Bluemount Score

This thread is worth bumping and the reverb deserves more attention.
I'm just trying it out and this is definitely one of the best free VSTs I ever owned. Was just looking for a new reverb plugin when I found this. Now, this could well become my new main reverb.
Still have to find what I'm missing about it. Totally awesome!


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## vitocorleone123

Bluemount Score said:


> This thread is worth bumping and the reverb deserves more attention.
> I'm just trying it out and this is definitely one of the best free VSTs I ever owned. Was just looking for a new reverb plugin when I found this. Now, this could well become my new main reverb.
> Still have to find what I'm missing about it. Totally awesome!



To add to your free reverb collection, Acon Digital has a free reverb right now, as well.


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## Michael Willis

Bluemount Score said:


> Totally awesome!


Hey Bluemount, I'm glad you like it. Are you using the hall or the room? I initially liked the hall one way more, but the room one is working better for my current project.


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## Bluemount Score

Michael Willis said:


> Hey Bluemount, I'm glad you like it. Are you using the hall or the room? I initially liked the hall one way more, but the room one is working better for my current project.


I only tried the hall... so far.
Is there a specific difference between those to, programming wise? I mean, except obvious things. Thanks for the plugin. This would totally have been worth my money (I shouldn't say that too loud probably)


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## Bluemount Score

vitocorleone123 said:


> To add to your free reverb collection, Acon Digital has a free reverb right now, as well.


Thanks, gonna check it out as well, even though I don't think I need more options right now.


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## Michael Willis

Bluemount Score said:


> I only tried the hall... so far.
> Is there a specific difference between those to, programming wise? I mean, except obvious things. Thanks for the plugin. This would totally have been worth my money (I shouldn't say that too loud probably)


Between the room and hall reverbs, the early reflection algorithm is the same, but the late algorithms are very different. I encourage you to try both, regardless of what kind of music you're making. Some people have even said they like to use a large size in dragonfly room as a hall reverb better than dragonfly hall!


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## Bluemount Score

Michael Willis said:


> Between the room and hall reverbs, the early reflection algorithm is the same, but the late algorithms are very different. I encourage you to try both, regardless of what kind of music you're making. Some people have even said they like to use a large size in dragonfly room as a hall reverb better than dragonfly hall!


Alright, that's interesting. I will take a deeper look!


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## Fredeke

It's on github... I see no binaries. Am I supposed to compile it myself ?
Or is there a Window$ dll somewhere ?


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## Michael Willis

Fredeke said:


> It's on github... I see no binaries. Am I supposed to compile it myself ?
> Or is there a Window$ dll somewhere ?





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


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## Fredeke

Michael Willis said:


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


Thanks !


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## Tim_Wells

Anyone having success with Cubase and Win 10?


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## strangey

Tim_Wells said:


> Anyone having success with Cubase and Win 10?



It worked with me for a while and then yesterday I tried to open and it just kept crashing cubase. It still works if I don't open it on the audio I used it on previously. Downloaded new version and still have no luck. Gutted!! It's a brilliant reverb, but can't use it in cubase with windows 10.


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## Bluemount Score

I noticed that the reverb causes my DAW (FL Studio) to crash when changing parameters (e.g. tail length) while the tail is still audible. Otherwise it's stable, I use it nevertheless.


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## Michael Willis

strangey said:


> Tim_Wells said:
> 
> 
> 
> Anyone having success with Cubase and Win 10?
> 
> 
> 
> It worked with me for a while and then yesterday I tried to open and it just kept crashing cubase. It still works if I don't open it on the audio I used it on previously. Downloaded new version and still have no luck. Gutted!! It's a brilliant reverb, but can't use it in cubase with windows 10.
Click to expand...

Please try the new beta release and let me know if it works in Cubase/Win10:









Release 2.9.1-beta · michaelwillis/dragonfly-reverb


Adjustments to Dragonfly Plate Implemented damp LPF for simple and nested algorithms Rearranged user interface Added more presets




github.com


----------



## Tim_Wells

Michael Willis said:


> Please try the new beta release and let me know if it works in Cubase/Win10:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Release 2.9.1-beta · michaelwillis/dragonfly-reverb
> 
> 
> Adjustments to Dragonfly Plate Implemented damp LPF for simple and nested algorithms Rearranged user interface Added more presets
> 
> 
> 
> 
> github.com


Thanks, Michael! Will do.


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## Tim_Wells

Michael Willis said:


> Please try the new beta release and let me know if it works in Cubase/Win10:


Okay... I opened the plugin in Cubase 10/Win 10. It opened with a blank-white GUI and after about 10 seconds, it crashed Cubase.


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## Michael Willis

Tim_Wells said:


> Okay... I opened the plugin in Cubase 10/Win 10. It opened with a blank-white GUI and after about 10 seconds, it crashed Cubase.


Grr, so frustrating. Do all three plugins exhibit this behavior?


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## Tim_Wells

I haven't tried all three, Michael. I'll do that and get back to you.


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## Michael Willis

Pre-release 2.9.2-beta fixes a couple of bugs related to the High Cut and Low Cut dials: 2.9.0-beta and 2.9.1-beta would apply these two filters to the dry signal, and the plugin would often get into a state in which it would act like both the High Cut and Low Cut were turned all the way down.

I'm still not sure about the Cubase/Win10 problem...


----------



## Michael Willis

Try 2.9.3-beta, it fixes another bug with the High Cut dial acting weird.


----------



## Michael Willis

Now that the plate plugin has stabilized, I'm working on my other goal for v3: A stand-alone early reflections plugin. I've been wanting to do this ever since seeing Glenn Fricker's showcase in which he turned the late reverb level down to zero. The new plugin uses the same the early reflections algorithm as Dragonfly Room and Hall, but doesn't include a late reverb algorithm.







You will notice the "Reflection Type" menu, which wasn't available in the Hall or Room plugins. While digging around in Freeverb3's early reflections algorithm, I found that it contained several lists of numbers representing gain levels and delay times for different reflection patterns, but the Freeverb3 plugins only used one of those settings. I decided to expose some of the other ones, and indeed they result in quite different sounds. I made up names only vaguely related to how they sound, try them all! The one called "Concert Venue" is the one used in the Freeverb3 plugins as well as Dragonfly Room and Hall.

The color scheme is supposed to represent some of the pastel colors of early morning... I'm still trying to decide if I like it, but it will probably grow on me like the other plugins did.

Download the latest beta release here:








Release 2.9.4-beta · michaelwillis/dragonfly-reverb


New prototype: Dragonfly Early Reflections Added some polish to Dragonfly Plate Made the title lettering on all four plugins more consistent




github.com


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## axb312

@Michael Willis if I may ask you a frank question, how are you able to offer these for free? What is the difference (in quality, development or otherwise) between this and the numerous, paid and supposedly great verbs out there?


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## Michael Willis

axb312 said:


> @Michael Willis if I may ask you a frank question, how are you able to offer these for free? What is the difference (in quality, development or otherwise) between this and the numerous, paid and supposedly great verbs out there?



Music is a hobby for me, and with my background in writing software, I decided to create some plugins to meet my reverb needs. These plugins are made using open source software. Specifically, the Freeverb 3 project is the work of Teru Kamogashira and many other people. I didn't develop the reverb algorithms, I'm just wrapping them up in a set of plugins that I'm sharing with the world. To learn more about using open source software to make music, check out Unfa's Youtube channel.

As far as how they compare to other products, that's a matter of opinion. There are plenty of good reverbs out there. One potential downside to using Dragonfly Reverb is that as a hobbyist, I can't guarantee any kind of support if things go wrong, although I try to make these plugins stable across a variety of platforms.


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## Dex

I've been using dragonfly for early reflections so this is fantastic news!


----------



## strangey

Michael Willis said:


> Please try the new beta release and let me know if it works in Cubase/Win10:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Release 2.9.1-beta · michaelwillis/dragonfly-reverb
> 
> 
> Adjustments to Dragonfly Plate Implemented damp LPF for simple and nested algorithms Rearranged user interface Added more presets
> 
> 
> 
> 
> github.com


Hi,

Thanks for reply. Just tried it and it crashed Cubase immediately.


----------



## Bluemount Score

Michael Willis said:


> Now that the plate plugin has stabilized, I'm working on my other goal for v3: A stand-alone early reflections plugin. I've been wanting to do this ever since seeing Glenn Fricker's showcase in which he turned the late reverb level down to zero. The new plugin uses the same the early reflections algorithm as Dragonfly Room and Hall, but doesn't include a late reverb algorithm.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> You will notice the "Reflection Type" menu, which wasn't available in the Hall or Room plugins. While digging around in Freeverb3's early reflections algorithm, I found that it contained several lists of numbers representing gain levels and delay times for different reflection patterns, but the Freeverb3 plugins only used one of those settings. I decided to expose some of the other ones, and indeed they result in quite different sounds. I made up names only vaguely related to how they sound, try them all! The one called "Concert Venue" is the one used in the Freeverb3 plugins as well as Dragonfly Room and Hall.
> 
> The color scheme is supposed to represent some of the pastel colors of early morning... I'm still trying to decide if I like it, but it will probably grow on me like the other plugins did.
> 
> Download the latest beta release here:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Release 2.9.4-beta · michaelwillis/dragonfly-reverb
> 
> 
> New prototype: Dragonfly Early Reflections Added some polish to Dragonfly Plate Made the title lettering on all four plugins more consistent
> 
> 
> 
> 
> github.com


This looks SUPER interesting!


----------



## Michael Willis

strangey said:


> Hi,
> 
> Thanks for reply. Just tried it and it crashed Cubase immediately.


Aww, *grumble*... thanks for trying it. I'll see what I can do. This is definitely going to involve the not-as-fun kind of work to diagnose.


----------



## Michael Willis

strangey said:


> It worked with me for a while and then yesterday I tried to open and it just kept crashing cubase. It still works if I don't open it on the audio I used it on previously. Downloaded new version and still have no luck. Gutted!! It's a brilliant reverb, but can't use it in cubase with windows 10.


I'm still trying to solve the cubase+win10 problem. When you say "It worked for a while", do you mean a previous version of Dragonfly Reverb worked for you? I'm trying to find out what changed that broke it.


----------



## I like music

Michael Willis said:


> I'm still trying to solve the cubase+win10 problem. When you say "It worked for a while", do you mean a previous version of Dragonfly Reverb worked for you? I'm trying to find out what changed that broke it.


Cubase 10 and Windows 10 here. Downloaded it this morning and tried it for five minutes. Worked fine and sounded good. Reminds me I need to read the manual. This sounds like a fantastic reverb and resource. Thanks for your generosity! I will provide more feedback when I have a chance to test it some more!


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## Michael Willis

I like music said:


> Cubase 10 and Windows 10 here. Downloaded it this morning and tried it for five minutes. Worked fine and sounded good. Reminds me I need to read the manual. This sounds like a fantastic reverb and resource. Thanks for your generosity! I will provide more feedback when I have a chance to test it some more!


Thanks for trying it out! Which version of cubase are you running? It might help me narrow down the issue if I know that specific versions of cubase work and others don't.

Edit: I just noticed that you mentioned Cubase 10...


----------



## cuttime

I'd just like to note that 2.9.5 works a charm with DP 10.11 on a Mac with High Sierra. Been enjoying your generosity for a while now with no bumps.


----------



## Michael Willis

A release candidate for v3 is now available. I moved it out of beta as an indication that I'm not going to change the plugin parameters, which means that the two new plugins will remain backward compatible in future releases.

I still can't promise anything for the people who experienced crashes, but please let me know how it goes if you try this one.

Also the new manuals are drafted. They're not as involved as the manuals for Hall and Plate, since these new plugins are a lot more simple, but anybody inclined please take a few minutes and proofread them:

Dragonfly Plate Manual
Dragonfly Early Reflections Manual


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## JEPA

Michael Willis said:


> A release candidate for v3 is now available. I moved it out of beta as an indication that I'm not going to change the plugin parameters, which means that the two new plugins will remain backward compatible in future releases.
> 
> I still can't promise anything for the people who experienced crashes, but please let me know how it goes if you try this one.
> 
> Also the new manuals are drafted. They're not as involved as the manuals for Hall and Plate, since these new plugins are a lot more simple, but anybody inclined please take a few minutes and proofread them:
> 
> Dragonfly Plate Manual
> Dragonfly Early Reflections Manual


are you considering AU version for the release?


----------



## jbuhler

JEPA said:


> are you considering AU version for the release?


+1 

I can do a kludgy workaround to use these as inserts in Logic by hosting them in another AU plugin that supports VST, but it would be quite nice to use them directly.


----------



## Michael Willis

Dragonfly Reverb Version 3.0.0 has been officially released.

Sorry, there is no AU plugin right now.

After several people encouraged me, the website now includes links for donations... and swag!


----------



## JEPA

Michael Willis said:


> Dragonfly Reverb Version 3.0.0 has been officially released.
> 
> Sorry, there is no AU plugin right now.
> 
> After several people encouraged me, the website now includes links for donations... and swag!



Congrats on your release! early follower here. Very nice set of reverbs.

For those who need Dragonfly in Logic Pro X (macOS) you can use VSL VEP (guide on this thread) or Kushview Element for FREE:





Download Element - Kushview


Download Element Get the power, control and customization you need to host your plugins Save $100 on Element Pro Until 1.0 Order Now Linux 64bit AppImage AppImage requires no installation. Download, make executable, and run it. Download AppImage OSX Universal DMG Compatible with M1 and Intel...



kushview.net


----------



## Michael Willis

JEPA said:


> Congrats on your release! early follower here. Very nice set of reverbs.


Thanks, JEPA!


----------



## Sav2319

Hi Michael, really impressed with the reverb and looking forward to trying it out! I'm having trouble getting it into Reaper on Windows 10 and cant seem to find any download information in the manuals (maybe i'm completely looking past it idk). I've dropped the .dll files into my VST Folder but they wont show up after a rescan when all my other VSTs do. Any help would be appreciated.

Thanks in advance,
Vince


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## Michael Willis

Sav2319 said:


> I've dropped the .dll files into my VST Folder but they wont show up after a rescan when all my other VSTs do.


Hi Vince! I don't have Windows 10, so it's hard for me to help. Did you download the 32 bit or 64 bit Windows DLLs? It should just be a matter of copying the files named Dragonfly*Reverb-vst.dll into your VST folder and refreshing your DAW's plugin cache. Does Reaper give you any error log when it has trouble loading a VST? Does it have some kind of a blacklist that you can clear before rescanning?


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## Sav2319

Michael Willis said:


> Hi Vince! I don't have Windows 10, so it's hard for me to help. Did you download the 32 bit or 64 bit Windows DLLs? It should just be a matter of copying the files named Dragonfly*Reverb-vst.dll into your VST folder and refreshing your DAW's plugin cache. Does Reaper give you any error log when it has trouble loading a VST? Does it have some kind of a blacklist that you can clear before rescanning?


Thanks for the fast response! i downloaded the 64 bit version as that's what i use but no luck. I did clear the cache and rescan but they are not there and no error. Ill try the 32 bit version and see if that works, but what do you mean by blacklist? Sorry, im just getting into recording/mixing and not too familiar with everything yet


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## Michael Willis

Sav2319 said:


> Thanks for the fast response! i downloaded the 64 bit version as that's what i use but no luck. I did clear the cache and rescan but they are not there and no error. Ill try the 32 bit version and see if that works, but what do you mean by blacklist? Sorry, im just getting into recording/mixing and not too familiar with everything yet


It sounds like you're doing the right things. The 32-bit version won't work in 64-bit Reaper. I know that at least one Win10/Reaper user has successfully loaded these plugins, so I don't know why it isn't working for you.

Some DAWs are designed so that if there is trouble loading a plugin, they will not try to load that plugin in the future, that's called blacklisting. I'm not sure if Reaper does that.

You could ask the folks on the Reaper Forum, they might have some suggestions that I haven't thought of.


----------



## stevem77

Michael Willis said:


> It sounds like you're doing the right things. The 32-bit version won't work in 64-bit Reaper. I know that at least one Win10/Reaper user has successfully loaded these plugins, so I don't know why it isn't working for you.
> 
> Some DAWs are designed so that if there is trouble loading a plugin, they will not try to load that plugin in the future, that's called blacklisting. I'm not sure if Reaper does that.
> 
> You could ask the folks on the Reaper Forum, they might have some suggestions that I haven't thought of.




Hi, very keen to try the dragonfly reverb but can't for the life of me work out why I can't get them up and running in logic x. Vst goes in the right folder, nothing - restart computer nothing - delete cache rescan nothing. Its not even showing up in the logic plugin manager. Any ideas?

Logic X 10.5.1
macOS Catalina 10.15.6


----------



## Nyran

stevem77 said:


> Hi, very keen to try the dragonfly reverb but can't for the life of me work out why I can't get them up and running in logic x. Vst goes in the right folder, nothing - restart computer nothing - delete cache rescan nothing. Its not even showing up in the logic plugin manager. Any ideas?
> 
> Logic X 10.5.1
> macOS Catalina 10.15.6


Logic doesn't use VSTs that is why you can't even see the plugin. It uses AU files and Dragonfly doesn't have AU or AAX support. You will need to either use Vienna Ensemble Pro or a VST wrapper for it to work. I guess you can also you Bluecat Patchwork.


----------



## JEPA

stevem77 said:


> Hi, very keen to try the dragonfly reverb but can't for the life of me work out why I can't get them up and running in logic x. Vst goes in the right folder, nothing - restart computer nothing - delete cache rescan nothing. Its not even showing up in the logic plugin manager. Any ideas?
> 
> Logic X 10.5.1
> macOS Catalina 10.15.6


go to this post:
 #55


----------



## stevem77

Nyran said:


> Logic doesn't use VSTs that is why you can't even see the plugin. It uses AU files and Dragonfly doesn't have AU or AAX support. You will need to either use Vienna Ensemble Pro or a VST wrapper for it to work. I guess you can also you Bluecat Patchwork.



Ahh got it, thanks for the info


----------



## stevem77

JEPA said:


> go to this post:
> #55


cheers!


----------



## Michael Willis

Important update: Please download the new Dragonfly Reverb 3.2.5. This fixes a bug which could cause bad behavior immediately upon loading the plugin, including a blast of noise that some people experienced.

Edit: Updated link to 3.2.5


----------

