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Comparing reverb tails

Dietz said:
Nice comparison, thanks for sharing! Still - even if it's less appealing to listen to: I find it more revealing to check the wet-only results of pink noise bursts (about 300 ms long).
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For me the first test is flute or better yet recorder (only because like you, I play it). You hear right away whether it sticks to the sound or - more often, unfortunately - sounds plastic.

That was why I was enthusiastic about the first VSL reverb when I had it.
 
Dietz said:
Same here, but what makes you think that HD Cart is a convolution-based engine?
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I don't know for sure - it wasn't clear on a quick read-thru of the product page. I just assumed so since that's been a common approach they've taken with many of their other plugs. Is it purely algorithmic? It also seems like it's strictly based on the HD expansion, but it's not clear if it models all the go-to algorithms of the original?

I'll definitely check it out!
 
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whinecellar said:
I just assumed so since that's been a common approach they've taken with many of their other plugs. Is it purely algorithmic? It also seems like it's strictly based on the HD expansion, but it's not clear if it models all the go-to algorithms of the original?
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They have this Fusion IR thing but not all their products use it. I'm 99% certain Cinematic Rooms is actually algorithmic.
 
Dietz said:
I find it more revealing to check the wet-only results of pink noise bursts (about 300 ms long).
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Definitely! I do that as well but to me, it's kinda like testing a plugin through Plugin Doctor: it's super revealing but doesn't give much answer as to what it does in a musical context. Pizzicato strings are my jam: percussive enough and tonal enough to show what I'm looking for in a reverb 🙂 I also like to use the higher range of very short flute notes.
 
Nico Schuele said:
Definitely! I do that as well but to me, it's kinda like testing a plugin through Plugin Doctor: it's super revealing but doesn't give much answer as to what it does in a musical context. Pizzicato strings are my jam: percussive enough and tonal enough to show what I'm looking for in a reverb 🙂 I also like to use the higher range of very short flute notes.
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In addition to percussive elements I also then like to let it loose with a long rich synth pad (or strings) to see how the tails sit alongside an original sound that’s still going. And crank up the mix percentage, too.

As much as I love reverb’s I think I’m down to using just two plus a handful only special circumstances/effects: Cinematic Rooms Pro and the Mercury X (which, to be fair, has multiple algorithms).
 
I've been building templates for a long time. I spent a long time last time I came to the subject of reverbs. The reverbs I bought:

Cinematic Rooms Pro
Sevent Heaven Pro
Symphonic
Vallhalla Rooms
Lexicon 224 (UAD Spark)
EW Spaces II
Berlin Studio

I used only Close mics for all my sounds and ran them through Berlin Studio, and I tried algorithmic reverbs for the tail, but everything I've tried so far sounds artificial, metallic, a bit stale. So I started researching again and I saw VSS mentioned and I looked at their videos and it's AMAZING! I don't know how they do it but it brings out the details, it expands and the tail sounds incredibly natural. I bought it yesterday for 200 dollars and it has incredible presets. With Berlin Studio and VSS3 I was able to create that width and depth that I couldn't create until today.
 
sweeperxx said:
I've been building templates for a long time. I spent a long time last time I came to the subject of reverbs. The reverbs I bought:

Cinematic Rooms Pro
Sevent Heaven Pro
Symphonic
Vallhalla Rooms
Lexicon 224 (UAD Spark)
EW Spaces II
Berlin Studio

I used only Close mics for all my sounds and ran them through Berlin Studio, and I tried algorithmic reverbs for the tail, but everything I've tried so far sounds artificial, metallic, a bit stale. So I started researching again and I saw VSS mentioned and I looked at their videos and it's AMAZING! I don't know how they do it but it brings out the details, it expands and the tail sounds incredibly natural. I bought it yesterday for 200 dollars and it has incredible presets. With Berlin Studio and VSS3 I was able to create that width and depth that I couldn't create until today.
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Exactly my experience. For me MIR 3D Pro and VSS3
 
Thank you for your test.
Basic remark: Good, you chose Pizzicati for this test. You can really hear how the different tails fade out. Perhaps it would have been good to increase the wet content a little. The perceived time e.g. at 3.29s (Fabfilter Pro R2) seemed much shorter to me...maybe because a lot of the reverb tail fell below the audible threshold.

As Pier mentioned above, the tail programming, but also tails from impulse responses with even more percussive signals, show best whether they fade out more echo-like or rather soft and blurry. With longer, clearly audible reverb tails, you can also hear whether the tail fades out statically or rather randomly, changing again and again.
It also makes sense to check how the different tails "process" high percussive sounds or very low percussive sounds.

Of course, everyone has to decide for themselves which type of tail they prefer.
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As a supplement, my test (done a long time ago) shows other plug-ins.

Beat
 
Dietz said:
:) You're in for a treat:

www.liquidsonics.com

HD Cart, vintage digital reverb in 9.1.6 - AAX, VST, AU - LiquidSonics

HD Cart is a high-density reverb plugin modelled after a legendary expansion for one of the most sought after and expensive reverb units of all time, now available in 9.1.6. AAX, AU, VST
www.liquidsonics.com www.liquidsonics.com
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Man, you weren't kidding - this thing is stunning! Haven't had time for a real A/B against the hardware yet, but I know that sound like the back of my hand, and it totally captures that. Looking forward to digging deeper. Thanks again for pointing me to this!
 
JohnG said:
I still prefer it. It's just perfect for the sound I like.
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I like (and use) t.c. products day in and day out. However, I have to admit that the introduction of affordable software convolution reverbs (AltiVerb! IR-1!) changed a lot about the way I implemented "real rooms" in my mixes back then. :)
 
I heard from some devs that apparently VSS3 works in dual mono instead of true stereo internally, at least somewhat, for some elements. So the ER are kind of wider than anything out there as it's more decorrelated. Makes it more open sounding, it doesn't get in the way like many other reverbs.
 
Dietz said:
:) You're in for a treat:

www.liquidsonics.com

HD Cart, vintage digital reverb in 9.1.6 - AAX, VST, AU - LiquidSonics

HD Cart is a high-density reverb plugin modelled after a legendary expansion for one of the most sought after and expensive reverb units of all time, now available in 9.1.6. AAX, AU, VST
www.liquidsonics.com www.liquidsonics.com
Click to expand...
OK, so I just did a brief comparison between HD Cart and the Lex 300 (freshly serviced, for whatever that's worth). Started with the same factory preset "Large Hall", and they sounded noticeably different (no contest, in favor of the hardware). So I tweaked HD Cart to get as close as I could. Takeaway: the hardware still wins by a decent margin on soloed passages, but in a mix, it would be hard to tell.

Disclaimer: this was all of 15 minutes, and just one preset. I don't know HD Cart well enough yet, so I'm not sure if it can do the dual engine thing like the 300/480L... that's where you really get into the magic of those boxes. 3rd party patches by Italo D'Angelis are insane and have me searching for backups of my old favorites in case my current hardware dies. But man, HD Cart is a great find, and gets as close (or closer) to the hardware than anything else I've tried. I look forward to digging deeper!

Files if you want to compare:

www.dropbox.com

HD Cart vs Lex 300.zip

Shared with Dropbox
www.dropbox.com www.dropbox.com
 
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