IK's Classik Studio Reverb, [was] on sale, good deal or no?

[vata44]

Well they are actually very good Reverbs. I bought them before, and my conclusion is they make excellent "bus" reverbs... I do not prefer them for tracks.

[Hink]

It is funny, the last reverb I bought that was 'just' a reverb unit was from Radio Shack way back in '85 and it cost about the same, maybe more now adjusted for inflation, and sounded like crap.

if it was the same one I had back then it was 59usd and one of the noisiest things I have ever had in my signal chain...sounded like crap is an understatement

[A.M. Gold]

+1 for VahallaRoom

Nowhere near as good as Diva.

[seismic1]

I bought this 4 months ago. It's a steal at this price. Great reverb.

[braj]

It is funny, the last reverb I bought that was 'just' a reverb unit was from Radio Shack way back in '85 and it cost about the same, maybe more now adjusted for inflation, and sounded like crap.

if it was the same one I had back then it was 59usd and one of the noisiest things I have ever had in my signal chain...sounded like crap is an understatement

Yep I'm guessing it is the same thing Oh the good old day! ha!

[Ah Xoc Kin]

A steal? A bargain?
IIRC I paid $49 for CSR and T-Racks in 2011, to take advantage of another IK offer, probably a T-Racks single or something.
I have a bunch of IK stuff that I bought since it was heavily discounted. Some I still use, but for the most part after the initial excitement of getting new plugins and an "incredible" deal, I ended up using other software.

Was it worth the money?
Maybe. It has some nice sounds, but it does not work with some of my audio applications.
I've gotten other reverbs that get more use, such as ArtsAcoustic, Flux IRCAM, EAReverb, etc.
Before making this post I tested a few reverbs in Studio One Pro, including CSR. The last time I tried it was probably 2011.

Try it and compare it to alternatives, and make sure it works with your software. It's not bad for $49.

[braj]

Yeah I'm not a huge effects user, which i guess is evident in the fact that I have lived with the reverbs in my DAWs, which weren't so bad really, I could have made do with PODFarm's really, but CSR from my limited use so far sounds much nicer and is easy to use, and i can live with this as my solution for a long time. Like i said, i started out on a Radio Shack reverb and as bad as it was I made that work, I think I'm set

[A.M. Gold]

I'd say get it, but try Valhalla first, since they are the same price for a while. It's going to come down to taste. They are both good. What you get with CSR is a reverse reverb, and I don't think Valhalla has a plate either.

[Brother Charles]

I too bought CSR when it was on sale about 6 months earlier than this current Aug. 2012 sale. I like CSR quite a lot and it is certainly a respectable set of reverbs. You do have to use CSR with some discretion as there is a *little bit* of metallic ringing evident when you use it with minimal damping settings. Personally, I tend to keep the damping control set anywhere from 2 to 5 O'Clock.

The ringing effect is most noticeable when using the "Plate" plug. If you don't need a lot of brightness on your plate reverb, and make judicious use of damping, then it is surprisingly good. I like the CSR plate verb for shorter, subtle effect on snare, toms, and other more percussive sounds.

I like CSR room for creating ambience for amp sims. I enjoy the ballad piano spaciousness that I can coax out of CSR Hall.

For vocals, however, I'm really enjoying Reflektor loaded up with EchoChamber's UA140 plate and EMT250 IRs. I also have the incredible Acousticas L480, L224, and L300 IRs. Convolution reverb effects of this quality are most nearly untouchable by *most* algo verbs. (Excluding Lexicon PCM) Valhalla is very good, but I'm not sure that I personally would get as much mileage out of it as some folks do.

For $49, CSR is a GREAT buy if you're in the market for an affordable algorithmic reverb suite. It works well, it's stable, it provides very good (very good, not great) sound quality and it won't tax your CPU. Would I pay the normal MSRP of $229? No . . . but for $50, it "is" a very sensible investment. Learn to use it well, and you will experience very good results.

[ObiWonder]

@Obik,

Will the 64-bit update be free to current owners?

Thanks,
G

We are still deciding on that due to a few changes and features we are looking to make. For now this is the best way to get CSR because in the future, if we do this path will be cheaper in the long run. But again, we aren't sure we'll even be charging. Time will tell...

[Photo_G]

Awesome! Thanks for the update!

G

@Obik,

Will the 64-bit update be free to current owners?

Thanks,
G

We are still deciding on that due to a few changes and features we are looking to make. For now this is the best way to get CSR because in the future, if we do this path will be cheaper in the long run. But again, we aren't sure we'll even be charging. Time will tell...

[Agreed]

I think it's still one of the nicer algorithmic reverbs. It could be argued, I guess, that it may be showing its age a little, but I really don't really think so. It has, like, zero hit on the CPU, and I don't know if its age, of all things, should even be particularly considered given the prices some of the certifiably antique digital delay and reverb rack units fetch (and, you know, digital is digital, the processing capabilities of those units limited their algorithmic complexity substantially; technology marches on and that hardware is old and it can only do so much - yet it's a sound people pay a lot of money for!).

Real question is just "does it sound good?" and that answer is yeah, to me it sounds really good, and has features you need. I would like them to revisit it and modernize the feature set, offer 64-bit operation now that so many of us are using 64-bit DAWs, but I think it holds up in terms of sound quality quite well if you're looking for the particular things it is doing and RTFM to get the most out of it. Sale price is a steal for it, just to add to the tool kit. You never know when the space you're looking for is going to be there inside one of the modules it packs, and given the drastic contrast between algo and IRs, you can sometimes pull neat tricks getting certain things to stand out in a particular way just by having them set in a different space inside the mix, more alive but artificial, like the classic 'verbs it is emulating.

Here's a neat trick, have a nice set of IRs of the same space but taken in different places, set it all up in your favorite space designing plugin, place the elements of your mix inside it. There, you've got a tidy, modern reverb setup, right? Now then throw something out of left field (or from the upper right quadrant, whatever ) with a trailing, diffuse plate algorithm with pre-delay, for example, and watch it stand out. Tweak it 'til it's only standing out as much as you want it to, but it's still a totally different "thing" going on compared to the tidy and precise IR-based general setup. And that really gets an ear's attention.

Or, this one's neat, add some really subtle room with modulation after an actual IR of a room you like for the best of both worlds, with a ton of control over the modulation portion. Handy and cool sounding.

Three days left to get it at that price, I think it's a worthy addition to any mixing toolkit for the price of a decent, not especially great, dinner for two!

[Brittlestem]

@Obik,

Will the 64-bit update be free to current owners?

Thanks,
G

We are still deciding on that due to a few changes and features we are looking to make. For now this is the best way to get CSR because in the future, if we do this path will be cheaper in the long run. But again, we aren't sure we'll even be charging. Time will tell...

Can't remember if I've already asked this - is an AAX version a definite?

[munchkin]

CSR is my favourite reverb because I find that it fits in a mix much easier than others I've tried. It seems more transparent and doesn't swamp the mix when used on a number of instruments.

I think it's worth adding to a collection of reverbs. At the current price it's a no brainer and when a x64 version comes along I assume the upgrade will be reasonable. It works perfectly in Reaper 4. I've never had any problems with it and a lot of fun using it (I should get out more.)

My only request to IK Multimedia is not to mess with the current verbs because they work so well and just add extra algorithms/features to a new version of the plugin.

[Echoes in the Attic]

Man, the demos on the site sound pretty grainy and muddy. However I like the reverbs in amplitude and sampletank so maybe they're just not great demos?