# [NEW] Acustica Audio: Silver - Reverb Plugin



## JyTy (Sep 21, 2021)

Acustica Audio just released their new Reverb plugin called Silver:





Silver - Volume A - Acustica Audio


Silver - Volume A is an additional Volume for Silver. IMPORTANT: It is mandatory that Silver be installed on your computer for the additional...




www.acustica-audio.com








No audio demos yet, but based on how good their stuff is I'm giving this one a go! There is also a trial package for their volume A.

Anybody else tried this one yet?


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## cqd (Sep 21, 2021)

I was waiting for a proper reverb from them for a while..
Was going to start a thread if you hadn't..
I just got to play around with it briefly enough, running drums through a few of the spaces, and comparing it to East west spaces 2, but it could be in a league of it's own I'd say..


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## sostenuto (Sep 21, 2021)

Depend so heavily on 'trusted' members here. Have PA - bz_rooMS and now lacking chops to determine if Acustica Audio Silver offers truly 'improved' capabilities. Looking forward to additional comments, to decide if Silver brings something notable. 🤷🏻‍♂️


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## cqd (Sep 21, 2021)

Yeah, I probably won't get a chance to play around with it properly until next week, it was a small session, but once it opened switching between rooms etc seemed stable enough..
I'd say it will be notable..EW spaces would be up there like..I've too many reverbs, that was what I pulled up to compare and silver kind of pissed all over it..Whether or not you'll be able to run it on a big session I dunno..generally with acustica stuff I bounce to audio before using it..I still find them a bit temperamental..
I'm taking a hiatus from buying plugins at the minute, but broke it for this, and I'm glad I did..


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## easyrider (Sep 21, 2021)

Box







app.box.com


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## easyrider (Sep 21, 2021)

Acustica have confirmed this is a mixing reverb…buffer size of 1024 recommended so playing a piano into it live is a no go…🤢

Again Acustica and their signature CPU hog technology…


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## dzilizzi (Sep 21, 2021)

I'm interested in this as well. I think the price is kind of high, but then I remember what I paid for Spaces II.


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## Junolab (Sep 21, 2021)

Is the IRs better than Liquidsonics Reverberate 3? As I see this is same tech as Liquidsonics but their reverb is much more CPU efficient. The demos didn't give me any wow compared to the tons of reverbs out there


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## cqd (Sep 21, 2021)

Is it the same tech as liquidsonics?...


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## Junolab (Sep 22, 2021)

cqd said:


> Is it the same tech as liquidsonics?...


Sounds like it, but I'm pretty sure no one but the developers would know it. In the end, it's "just" using IR with some tweaks that adds modulation and such although its always promoted as pure magic


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## Dietz (Sep 22, 2021)

Does it multi-channel or stereo-only?


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## KEM (Sep 23, 2021)

this should be cool, I love Gainstation, but I’ve never even seen or heard anything else from them, but this has my interest


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## re-peat (Sep 23, 2021)

Brutal processor hog. (IK's tape simulators are gluttons, this one is at least twice as gluttonous.) You need a *very* powerful machine to be able to enjoy this. Mine falls way short to use even a single instance of any of three versions of the plugin, so I can't tell if there is much to enjoy, though I'm fairly sure there must be given that the best virtual EMT I've ever heard is the one that's part of the Acustica Ebony. Not the most versatile emulation but the way that nestles itself in the mix behind the front line, is really quite special.

Don't much like the GUI of this Silver though.

_


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## Wes Antczak (Sep 23, 2021)

Generally, I have found Overloud to always be the most CPU efficient plugins while still sounding good. I'll have to revisit Acustica once I have a more powerful machine.


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## Junolab (Sep 24, 2021)

Got to test it. Sounds great and that's my experience with a few other Acustica products, but yet I don't have any of them. Why? I have a powerful computer that can run a few instances, but while they sound great, so does the algo-alternatives. I won't sacrifice the workflow (don't like Acusticas designs) and spend time with CPU issues just to gain that extra few percentages of "sound quality". I bet 99% of all us here could get a better sound by managing the microphone position a bit better (or play/sing better) than buying yet another plugin.


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## storyteller (Nov 9, 2021)

I've been testing it out with the release of the Volume B (Ebony 240 Plates). Honestly, it is BRUTAL! On my 10 core i9 it requires a buffer of at least 384 (Volume A is higher than that for some reason). This is just for the LITE version to play without crackles. 1024 for the main plugin. It isn't so much a CPU hog as it is a buffer+latency hog. It does introduce a significant amount of latency beyond the buffer setting. So definitely not for use when tracking or playing in midi parts. I was almost completely turned away due to this. But after demoing the 240 Plates during a mix on vocals... wow.

I'm not really sure what they are doing differently under-the-hood, but the 240 plate sounds perfectly glued to the sound. For orchestral uses, I didn't find Volume A to be useful. It sounds like it might work really well for small spaces though - ADR, POST, etc.

Jade 2 was my first Acustica plugin I added a week or so ago... so I am not a rabid Acustica fan yet - and they certainly have some improvements to make regarding latency on this one - but the plates do do sound spectacular. Better than all of my other plates actually. The only plate I have never tried is the Transatlantic Plate... but I will probably compare Silver vs. Transatlantic this week.


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## storyteller (Nov 10, 2021)

Okay - so after getting a chance to play around with Transatlantic plates this morning, here are my final first impressions of Silver B. Take it for what it is worth. It is just one person's opinion. 

First, I have no idea why I waited so long to try out Transatlantic Plates. It is really good! I've used most every other plate out there and would have probably picked Transatlantic as my go-to plate had I trialed it prior to these tests.
To me, Silver B sounds closer to Transatlantic's EU plate rather than US... but they are still different
Transatlantic's plate sounds more... well... algorithmic compared to Silver B. That's neither good nor bad... just different.
Silver B - to me - hugged the vocals more closely and had far greater control of the parameters that can greatly change the characteristics of the reverb
Silver B is smooth! So smooth!!
TA's plate seemed to overdrive in the early reflections at higher input. It was similar to pushing up the Early Level knob in Silver B... That is neither good nor bad, but can be reproducible and/or tamed in Silver B. So Silver B wins here hands down.
TA is probably the least metallic sounding compared to the other plates I've used... until Silver B came along. Silver B is on a whole different level.
Did I mention that Silver B hugs the vocals in a way that sounds so warm and perfect? I mean... try it for yourself... but I'm blown away by this.
If you can't tell... I became a fan of Silver B over the last 24 hours. Ha. I guess time will tell. But from a plugin-honeymoon perspective... I did test the waters with Transatlantic Plates for the first time (arguably one of the highest regarded plates out there)... so I can say that as far as first impressions on plates go, I would definitely pick Silver B as my first-choice (for vocals at least).


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## re-peat (Nov 10, 2021)

I can’t run Acustica’s reverbs on my machine. I can run most everything else from them, provided I’m a bit careful and plan ahead, but not Silver. Silver requires power beyond what my machine is able to deliver.
That said, after listening very closely to everything SilverB-related I could find, I don’t think I’m missing much not being able to run it. Between the outstanding plate IR’s from Cupwise, Nevo and AudioEase and the pretty amazing plate emulations that UVI Plate generates, plus occasionally a bit of EMT from Acustica’s Ebony, I have more than plenty of fine plate reverbs to pick from.

Tried the Transatlantic earlier today as well and to my surprise, I wasn’t impressed. I mean, it’s good and all that, but I expected more, I guess. And I’d also liked a bit more editing possibilities. But it sounds very good, no doubt about it.
(That its European plate sounds closest to the SilverB is understandable: the SilverB was sampled from the EMT240 Gold Foil, which is the smaller brother of the EMT140.)

If you’re interested in plates, Storyteller, maybe also check out The Department Of Sound’s *Ecoplate*

_


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## dzilizzi (Nov 10, 2021)

re-peat said:


> I can’t run Acustica’s reverbs on my machine. I can run most everything else from them, provided I’m a bit careful and plan ahead, but not Silver. Silver requires power beyond what my machine is able to deliver.
> That said, after listening very closely to everything SilverB-related I could find, I don’t think I’m missing much not being able to run it. Between the outstanding plate IR’s from Cupwise, Nevo and AudioEase and the pretty amazing plate emulations that UVI Plate generates, plus occasionally a bit of EMT from Acustica’s Ebony, I have more than plenty of fine plate reverbs to pick from.
> 
> Tried the Transatlantic earlier today as well and to my surprise, I wasn’t impressed. I mean, it’s good and all that, but I expected more, I guess. And I’d also liked a bit more editing possibilities. But it sounds very good, no doubt about it.
> ...


Obviously, you need a new machine.  

Isn't that always the answer? I need to try Silver out - I downloaded it the other day but was waiting for a sale for Silver A. I haven't done much music lately, technical issues. As in make a diagram of a setup that works before tearing said setup apart to fix the desk. Yeah.


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## storyteller (Nov 10, 2021)

re-peat said:


> I can’t run Acustica’s reverbs on my machine. I can run most everything else from them, provided I’m a bit careful and plan ahead, but not Silver. Silver requires power beyond what my machine is able to deliver.
> That said, after listening very closely to everything SilverB-related I could find, I don’t think I’m missing much not being able to run it. Between the outstanding plate IR’s from Cupwise, Nevo and AudioEase and the pretty amazing plate emulations that UVI Plate generates, plus occasionally a bit of EMT from Acustica’s Ebony, I have more than plenty of fine plate reverbs to pick from.
> 
> Tried the Transatlantic earlier today as well and to my surprise, I wasn’t impressed. I mean, it’s good and all that, but I expected more, I guess. And I’d also liked a bit more editing possibilities. But it sounds very good, no doubt about it.
> ...


Ecoplate had not been on my radar either. Thanks for the recommendation. I've been demoing it today. The GUI is perhaps the best of all of them. Very modern. Sound-wise, I liked it. I used The Vocals 1 - MDN preset for comparing levels, then modified it from there. I will probably play with it some more to see how it would fit in my workflow. Compared to TA and Silver B? Here's my take:

Ecoplate would probably sit really nicely in a mix. The characteristics are nice and smooth. It is also really cool to see saturation, noise, and filters built into Ecoplate. That said, adding a touch of PSP's new Saturator to Silver B and Transatlantic gave me (what I thought for my ears to be) a better plate + saturation combo than Ecoplate's built in saturation. I probably could have used any saturator... that was just my first pick today.

Comparing without saturation, I still prefer Silver B. I was, however, pleasantly surprised to discover that TA seems to really shine with saturation on the reverb bus causing the "algorithmic sound" I discussed in my previous post to sound more glued to the vocal... which I REALLY liked. BTW I am pretty confident TA isn't algorithmic... it is just the way I am able to describe the sound.

But seriously - anyone could make great music with any of these three. They each have their own character.

BTW @re-peat - what DAW are you using? I've seen a lot of people say that Acustica plugins work a lot better in Reaper... which is what I am using.


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## re-peat (Nov 10, 2021)

Logic. Works very well, it's my hardware (an old MacPro) that's struggling.

_


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## ControlCentral (Dec 2, 2021)

maybe they optimized it recently but on my 8700K it uses ~1.5% cpu/ track*, Lite version (no HP/LPF or EQ) sucks ~1.0%. Not zero latency by any means but it sounds amazing.
* (in Reaper)


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## XComposer (Dec 21, 2021)

Have anybody of you tried Silver volume A? Could you please give me any impression about sound quality and CPU efficiency? I see that there is a (little) discount on it; I am interested in very realistic reverbs and I already have plenty of good ones, both convolution and algorithmic reverbs (including Reverberate 3 with lots of excellent additional IRs, Cinematic Rooms Pro, Inspirata – personal edition, Seventh Heaven, EAReverb 2, Phoenix, Space Designer and also the less realistic B2 and HD Cart), so I would be oriented to ignore this one, but I was wondering about this Silver volume A. Some reviews are enthusiastic about it. Do you think it really has anything that I cannot achieve with these other ones in a similar way, in your opinion? (Thank you…!)


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## re-peat (Dec 21, 2021)

The two packs for Silver are sensationally good. The rooms of pack A sound like nothing I’ve heard from any other reverb, convolution or otherwise. (I haven’t heard them all of course, but still.)

But as you no doubt know, working with Silver requires a powerful machine. I can’t run it inside Logic, I either have to route audio out of Logic, then through Silver and then back into Logic, or load Silver in VE Pro.

There’s more convenient ways to add reverb to a production, but I don’t think there’s ways to add better-than-Silver-sounding IR-based reverb to a production.

_


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## XComposer (Dec 21, 2021)

I see, but, since Logic is my main DAW and I have a 2015 Mac, it would probably better for me to wait and use it in the future when I have a newer computer, I guess. Nonetheless, I am now more curious about Silver! Thank you for your answer.


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## dzilizzi (Dec 21, 2021)

XComposer said:


> I see, but, since Logic is my main DAW and I have a 2015 Mac, it would probably better for me to wait and use it in the future when I have a newer computer, I guess. Nonetheless, I am now more curious about Silver! Thank you for your answer.


Isn't there a fee version you can try? I do know they have a free trial so you can test it on your computer. I bought it recently, but I am on a PC and use Cubase and ProTools, so can't test it for you.


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## Junolab (Dec 21, 2021)

IMO it sounds great, bur not much better than Lustrous Plates or Sunset Studio. The question you should ask is if you need an EMT plate. Personal I think AAs plugins sounds great but I don't dig the UI and I don't find the high CPU usage worth the hassle. But try out the trial.


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## XComposer (Dec 23, 2021)

No, I don't work with plates very often. I lean towards using real or realistic spaces. I tried it now and I found it better than Sunset Studio, but not incredible. More or less on the same (excellent) league with Reverberate 3 or Inspirata or Seventh Heaven (speaking about convolution reverbs) and Cinematic Rooms Pro (an algorithmic reverb), though, of course, different from all these. The CPU load is very heavy. It works on my Mac (late 2015 iMac) and in Logic, but even one instance only is very sluggish and it freezes quite often. I am not going to change my DAW and my Mac, for now, so I think I will try hard and get the best possible results from what I already have (which is not bad at all). Yes, attractive and very good, but I probably cannot use it now and I have other tools of the same level. I will keep the free part of it, anyway, and will seriously consider it for the future, for sure. Thank you for your help.


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