What's best Hardware or Software? Any advice accepted gladly! Trying to build Home Recording sudio.

It purely depends on how much you want to spend and what flavour of reverb you prefer. If you've got $1000 or nearabouts, I'd probably say go for a 2nd hand Lexicon PCM-whichever. Dunno what the latest Lexicon PCM s/w pack goes for though - I thought that wasn't too much over a grand? So for that kind of money, there is no best between h/w or s/w. And things like the UAD EMT plate reverb is pretty darn good and hard to get in any kind of h/w.


The question's wrong to start with. What kind of budget you got, and what type of reverb do you want?
Last edited by kritikon on Sat May 19, 2012 11:06 pm; edited 1 time in total

Thanks mate, every view point appreciated.

The question's wrong to start with. What kind of budget you got, and what type of reverb do you want?


Your right of course kritikon, i only have a small budget for one. Somewhere between the region of 100 and 200 pound's. Just looking for a general reverb unit that's a good all rounder for vocals, guitar, drums etc. Cheers!

There's been great reviews and lots of forum talk about Valhalla, very affordable. Reverb isn't something to get hung up on. I've done some very good mixes - full band arraignments - using a single instance of DSPFX from Sonar version 2....it's nothing special- just a simple algorithmic verb from probable before the turn of the century. No matter what type of reverb or what kind of quality - if you drown your mix in reverb you'll sound like an amateur who drowns his mix in high quality reverb instead of low quality reverb. At the end of the show it doesn't really matter.

Well, for that kind of money, it certainly includes most of the mid-market s/w reverbs. CSR, Aether, that type of thing. And with most of those it all boils down to personal choice of the sound of them rather than whether one's better than the other. CSR was on special offer not long ago, and I must admit I was tempted. It's still quite a useful all-rounder even if a few years old now.

In terms of h/w you could get a 2nd hand Lexicon - an MPX unit of some kind (have to admit I haven't heard them myself though...they didn't seem to receive a fantastic reputation). One of my tips is to look for a 2nd hand Lexicon Reflex. If you can't find a Reflex (and they don't tend to come up for sale that often...which is a thumbs up. They don't resell because they're very good and very keepable), then look for an Alex.

I still use my Alex loads, and for me, it beats most recent s/w verbs in terms of immediately sitting in a mix and sounding good at any level. It has limitations, which is why the Reflex is the one to go for. Although both use exactly the same algorithms. The Alex should sell for less than a Reflex. They were some of the first real budget units that Lexicon sold, and TBH I think they weren't really sure of what quality and what features were required to sell budget reverb so they overestimated what they needed to put into them - i.e. they were far better than the price suggested.

Here's an old SoS review of the Reflex...
http://www.soundonsound.com/sos/1995_articles/mar95/lexiconr eflex.html

I go for a while when I'll just use s/w verbs, and TBH it's less fiddly than h/w, but every time I switch on the Alex it blows me away how much better that old unit is than any s/w I've got. It's also better than the equivalent budget h/w units (by quite a lot). I've used and still got a few old Alesis, Digitech, Zoom units, and they're not a patch on Alex/Reflex reverbs. And they're great bread and butter verbs - plate, hall, chamber, reverse, guitar room, tiled room etc.

If you're just starting out and haven't got anything written yet, don't stress too much about reverbs. There are several free ones that are excellent. Ambience being the pick of the litter. ValhallaRoom must be nice because you NEVER see it for sale in MP, it's on my list. I can also vouch for Audio Damage Eos. It's inexpensive and coded by the VR guy and it sounds delicious. Lexicon has VST reverbs, but they are expensive and the website says ILok required. Good luck.

Yeah, if you're still learning mixing, I think outboard gear is probably overkill, unless you have a big budget. That money would be better spent on monitors, room treatment, etc, IMHO.

Mind you, if you want a hardware unit as a zero-latency/CPU option for sending to vocalists, then hardware is a good option.

I'll second osiris: ValhallaRoom is the best bang for the buck these days, Eos is great too (but more so for long, modulated delays). On the higher end, I'm a huge fan of ArtsAcoustic Reverb.

EDIT: Whoa, you can get Lexicon Reflexes for under $150?? OK, that's a great recommendation from Kritikon.

I know...it's amazing what you can pick up 2nd hand. There are some old h/w units that go for silly low prices just because they're old, but seriously some of the better ones are still stunning compared to todays offerings. I do see the point about going for sensible and budget s/w, but under $150 (that's what...100 quid or under?) for the Lexicon sound. And Reflexes really do deliver the Lexicon sound, not just a poor man's version.

That's interesting. My brother has always insisted that you can only get THE sound from the 480L, and that they've never been able to properly replicate it since, because the original algorithm developer flew the coop (IIRC).

I remember when I bought my Alex back in the UK (must have been '93 because they were fairly new to the market then) the sales guy told me that the Alex was cannibalized from the 480. Some same algorithms with far less parameters accessible and a cutdown chip. I never verified if this was true, but it wasn't a Guitar Centre etc - it was a fairly trustworthy studio supplies place where I'd done regular business. They supplied people like Strawberry Studios at the time (probably the studio in the MCR area at the time). And they tended to sell far more expensive gear, so I doubt they were necessarily bullshitting me just for a sale (because sale of those units was at the time small fry for them).

And it makes sense to me, because the plate is lush and some of those rooms on the Reflex and Alex are pretty sweet. I don't think many of the muso world at the time realised what a little piece of gold was the Alex/Reflex. I know some of my peers assumed they were follow ons from the LXP range - my studio suppliers swore otherwise. I really don't know which is true...all I know is that Alex reverbs are pretty darn sweet for what was a 350 quid unit when it first came out.

It would all fit...

Cool. I don't have experience with the units myself, so I always defer to my brother, who has extensive experience with outboard, and has always cautioned me against getting any Lexicon units made after a certain period, when they apparently lost the algorithms that made them the best (needs citation).

He did however say he liked the Alex better than the Reflex, and he liked the MPX200 unit best of all out of the post-480L period. That one goes for cheap too.

http://www.ebay.com/itm/LEXICON-REFLEX-DYNAMIC-MIDI-REVERB-E CHO-CHORUS-FLANGE-MULTI-PROCESSOR-/140731169448?pt=LH_Defaul tDomain_0&hash=item20c43b3aa8#ht_3707wt_1139

Nice price and free shipping worldwide!!