TAL-Reverb III

Out of all the TAL reverbs, TAL Reverb II is the one I keep reaching for. It just has a great warm vintage vibe to it, and sounds lush and otherworldly; the mid range is very present and highs don't easily overpower. Evokes the late 70s/early 80s. The EQ section, while confusing at first, allows for a lot of subtle shaping, so it can be tuned to perfection.

The original TAL Reverb sounds vaguely similar to Reverb II, though it lacks the mid range lushness. It's either too dark or too bright, by comparison. The damper knob comes in handy, but it just lacks the shimmery magic touch that Reverb II has. It also seems to lack certain algorithmic sophistication; a bit more artificial than the rest. Still usable, just fairly average, although it's strictly 32-bit.

TAL Reverb III is the weakest entry, in my opinion. As someone separate from me described it: Tinny. It lacks mid range even more than Reverb 1, and its high end is overly airy. I almost get the impression that it's using a bandpass filter against my will. Furthermore, it sounds 'wavy', as if there's a hardcoded LFO modulating the pitch that can't be turned off. That said, it has an extremely long decay time, and so might be useful as a character reverb to achieve a long, bright, exaggerated sound. It's not terrible, just not my type.

Finally, TAL Reverb 4. It's a high quality, unobtrusive and balanced reverb. It's bass/treble response is tight, and its brightness is very pleasant. Definitely evokes late 80s/early 90s. It doesn't have much mid range warmth, but it's way better than Reverb III. It's Diffuse knob can bring in some shimmering, but it doesn't quite reach the "hybrid delay-reverb" effect you get in Supermassive or Xhip Reverb. It also has a modulation section, if you want to wobble the pitch.

Here's the breakdown:

1. TAL Reverb II (for its vintage character and flexibility)
2. TAL Reverb 4 (for its simplicity and natural tone)
3. TAL Reverb (nothing special, just a baseline)
4. TAL Reverb III (its feedback-based design might displease some).

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TAL-Reverb III:

Performance & Stability
It works very well on the CPU, and memory usage. I have used several dozen on a project, and it doesn’t seem to have any noticeable latency on a higher end system. It is very, very stable, and has never crashed on me (64bit VST version), since the developer is awesome, and makes binaries in 32 & 64bit.

Sound
It is absolutely stunning - I have used many types of reverb, and have not yet found one this diffuse.
One word that really comes to mind is heavenly. It really works well in the electronic genres, when you need to make a sound massive. Put this reverb on any old plinky dinky saw wave sound, move up the wetness, stereo, and room size parameters… and watch it soar like a raging griffin! Every time I hear it I almost go into a catharsis.
Not only does the stereo width sound brilliant, and full, the brightness of the reverb is excellent. It doesn’t seem to replicate the brightness of your sound, but adds to it.
This means that if you are trying to model realistic auditorium sounds, a bathroom sound (in movie effects for example), or acoustic drums, it may not work for you (TAL Reverb 1/2 being a better candidate).

User Interface
Perfect. Everything is up front, symmetrical, easy on the eyes, and intuitive. It contains seven knobs of wonder, and delight. Amusingly it reminds me a bit of a Nintendo video game, because of the font used – which is a refreshing change from other photo realistic contenders.

Features
Excellent, it has all the features one would expect for this kind of sound.

Customer Support
The developer is very friendly (also very passionate about his work) and responds cordially to all emails, and fast.Read Review

TAL Reverb is exactly what you would hope for. A very smooth stereo plate type reverb. Not designed to simulate realistic environments or any piece of existing hardware, it is a plate plain and simple. But, damn, if a plate is what you need, this is sure a good one!

I have many freeware reverbs (who hasn't tried lots of them ?) and a dozen or so commercial reverbs and I have to say this is about my favourite plate. The presets are basic but sufficient, the UI is crap-free, it doesn't have any bells and whistles, it just sounds great.
No docs that I am aware of but what's to know?
Value is undisputable (ie. free)and it is versatile - works great on drums, percussion and guitar and has onboard filtering.
Never crashed on my system and TAL have a good name for quality products so entirely trustworthy I would say.

If you need a plate, try this.

If you don't think you need a plate try it anyway. If you need to put space around guitars or percussion, there is nothing like a tiny touch of low CPU plate, suitably filtered, and I have yet to find a better tool for that job than TAL Reverb. Love it.Read Review