Flexibility questions

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I love the valhalla GUIs and sound. Freqecho is amazingly versatile with its few buttons.

My question: if you could just have one reverb, would you opt for VRoom or VVV?
(also really like Shimmer, but i'm sort of on a quest to have just one plugin for one job. Which of the two can get closer to the Shimmer sound in your opinion?)

Also, could you see yourself using just Ubermod for chorus purposes?
And to a lesser extent, delay? (I own Timeless, and i suppose the two are quite different)
How about flanging/phasing? I use these fx way less, so it doesn't have to be the deepest plugin in that regard.
The overall scope of Ubermod makes me think that if i were to get just one plugin for now, it should be that one.
Does anyone use it for reverb much?

Thanks

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I don't know about VRoom vs VVV as I don't have any one of those (yet), but just ÜberMod for chorus and/or flanger purposes? Oh yes, if I had to I sure wouldn't mind not having any other options - it's so flexible it's almost absurd (in a most delightful manner off course)! :D
I personally like it a lot for temposynced so called nonlinear reverbs and FX in a state between reverb and delay and chorus/flanger on synthetic percussive sounds.
I use it for some types of delay FX, but not as my main FX. It supplements Fabfilters Timeless 2 quite well I'd say, little in the way of overlap but sometimes messing about with one of them gives ideas about things to try with the other. :tu:
Also check out the ValhallaDSP blog for a lot of tips on for instance using ÜberMod or even several instances of it working together as a reverb, there's quite a few posts on ÜberMod. 8)
There's a disadvantage presently in that the 16-phase algortihm tends to be set to 8-tap in a project when it's playing as soon as you click away from the plugin, as well as DualEnsemble which tends to be moved "one algorithm down" as well to 6TapRandom. You can observe something similiar in FreqEcho where a sync time of 2/4 becomes 1/4 as you click away from the plugin, and 1/4T becomes 1/8T. All this can be fixed with recalling those parameters through slightly adjusted automation, or using the plugin(s) in for instance DDMF Metaplugin and manually opening the full list of parameters to adjust them from there. Both somewhat fiddly workarounds, but at least they work... I'm sure Sean is working on fixing it.

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Hm i never observed that bug with FreqEcho.
Thanks for the opinions on Über! Everything does point to it being mindbogglingly complex, but the layout seems well structured and workable. Even if i don't fully understand everything, experimenting with it might yield some happy accidents (if you read the dev's making-of notes, the whole creation of the plugin must've been like a series of happy accidents.)
I'll have to download the demo again and see if the presets cover my basic needs as well.

Now for opinions on the reverbs.

Edit: i think i managed to reproduce the bug now, but the sound stays the same, just the numbers displayed are wrong. No biggie.

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VVV does a better "bloom" sound where you can hear the attack of the reverb swell into place. Random Chieus with a high attack. So it's probably closer to Shimmer in my experience. Of course, no feedback of pitch shifting means you won't get the shimmer sound.

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Ubermod does great delays, especially with the diffusion. However, it's difficult to get the delays to repeat smoothly for a long time, you have to fiddle with the overdrive settings to balance any loss of level from the EQs, and it can get pretty fiddly. The controls aren't set up for it. Also, it lacks complex resonant filters in the feedback path, it only has the clean high and low cut EQ filters.

Like others here, I supplement it with fabfilters timeless 2, which makes it really easy to have a delay which smoothly decays over a long time. It also has a variety of resonant filter models, although ironically they don't sound very good.

However, ubermod can definitely serve as your only chorus/flanger, until you need the modulation to be tempo synced, or with a phase offset, which it can't do.

HINT HINT! ahem...

at the end of the day though, if I was only allowed two plugins, it would be SDRR and ubermod.

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jonniecache wrote: However, ubermod can definitely serve as your only chorus/flanger, until you need the modulation to be tempo synced, or with a phase offset, which it can't do.

HINT HINT! ahem...
The modulation in ÜberMod is COMPLEX. The 2 tap mode has a single triangle LFO w/antiphase for the slow modulation, but all the other modes have a huge number of LFOs, usually with very complex phase relationships. Tempo syncing this modulation would be meaningless, as you would get 1 LFO following the tempo, and up to 31 other LFOs with no relationship to the tempo.

Sean Costello

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still, it would be bloody useful just on the 2tap mode. I fully appreciate the complexity of adding params to plugins though, especially ones as complex as ubermod. I just want the glory of the "stereo flange" preset with the feedback turned up to 80%, running tempo/transport synced on my breakbeats! in the end though i'd probably just decide I preferred it when it was out of sync.

maybe i should just be able to phase-reset all the modulators with a midi note? come on! it's not like you've got anything better to do ;)

in all seriousness though, i think there is room for a "valhalla delay" which is just ubermod with most of the modes and controls removed, a much longer buffer and more precise control over the modulation. but please ignore me and get on with the much more exciting embedded stuff.

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jonniecache wrote:still, it would be bloody useful just on the 2tap mode. I fully appreciate the complexity of adding params to plugins though, especially ones as complex as ubermod.
ÜberMod is pretty complex already. Adding more parameters would make it more flexible, but harder to use for most people.

For example: ÜberMod does a pretty decent Dimension D sound. However, you have to know how to tweak the 30-some ÜberMod parameters to get this sound, while a real Dimension D has a SINGLE parameter with 4 preset values.
in all seriousness though, i think there is room for a "valhalla delay" which is just ubermod with most of the modes and controls removed, a much longer buffer and more precise control over the modulation. but please ignore me and get on with the much more exciting embedded stuff.
I have certainly thought about this, and a lot of people have requested this. It probably wouldn't be a straight port of ÜberMod stuff. I've been working on some compander models lately, which are part of the secret sauce of BBD and many old digital delays (8 bits sounds decent with a compander, and hideous otherwise). I would also want to get my hands on an RE-201 Space Echo, to have as a sonic reference. It would be much simpler than ÜberMod, but with a lot of complexity in the models themselves. Tempo sync-able modulation would be a must. This probably won't happen in 2014, but it is a back burner project for me.

Sean Costello

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:borg:
Last edited by ontol on Sun Jul 10, 2016 5:35 pm, edited 2 times in total.

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valhallasound wrote: I've been working on some compander models lately, which are part of the secret sauce of BBD and many old digital delays (8 bits sounds decent with a compander, and hideous otherwise).
interesting. maybe this will help with my amiga sampling experiments... i'm guessing i cant just chain a normal compressor and expander right? i need a special system?

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Ok, i dlded the ubermod demo, started a little tune with unimpressive soundfonts that i have on loop while typing this, and have decided to get this mofo. So damn powerful.

Downloaded VVV too, impressed. I'll wait with the reverb purchase tho.
I tried Room like 2 years ago, and if memory serves me right, i couldn't possibly pick a favorite based on sound without testing them for a long long while.
my decision would most likely be based on the GUI (VVV is plain funky. Like what you did with the different color schemes), and i read somewhere that it's much easier on the cpu.

The sizable GUIs are great as well.

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Screw it, just bought Uber and VVV :D

i tested and AB'd some more and concluded that i can pretty much get rid of 2 reverbs, 2 choruses, 2 delays and one flanger with these two, and shit is going to sound better.
my compulsive need for simplicity will be appeased!

edit: weeeee, that was quick! thanks a bunch.

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