Silverspike reverbs... opinions please!

[Frippertronix]

Why dyou dislike Princeton so much?

[greendoor]

I disliked Princeton Stereo Room when I first tried it too - and only later came to appreciate it. For me, the disappointment was due to high expectations based on price and brand name. If you use it for long delay times, like a hall or plate, it's nasty spoingy tail is very uncool. But - if you use it as a small room, as the name would logically suggest - it actually sounds very nice.

I didn't buy this totally 100% because of Pace. I would glady pay full price for a registration key version. This is NOT because I want to rip them off - it is because I have enough frikken dongles and authorisation crap to go through each time I re-install or upgrade. Enough is enough.

[Frippertronix]

Princeton to me is like magic dust on certain things, and totally useless on others. I think of it just as much as a subtle but often effective stereo enhancement tool as much as a reverb. In conjunction with GMO-1 and that awesome CH-1 chorus it can really bring some things (mainly synth for me) to life in terms of "3-Dimensionality" or whatever you might call it.

It is definitely not a go to 'verb for realistic spaces. I was listening to impulses from the M3000 and it's just so much more of a realistic room emulator, from what I heard.

[advaya]

Sonitus has a nice reverb:

http://store.cakewalk.com/product.asp?ID=68

I love the "Cathedral" preset. I'm still trying to get the hang of the controls, though.

Hi Headquest...

Not sure if you are still searching for a decent reverb plugin, but just to add my opinion, I agree with cyanogen.

I think the Sonitus reverb is really quite good (even better when you factor in the reasonable cost, and very reasonable hit to the CPU). I bought the Sonitus pack back when it was owned by Ultrafunk, and have been happily using the compressor, EQ, and reverb since...

I believe that there is a VST version of the plugs offered by Cakewalk (though I am not completely certain about that). It is worth your time to have a look at it at least. I've heard many comparisons of the sonitus verb to the rverb from waves... Though I cannot confirm this, as I've never actually used the waves reverbs.

Good luck in your search anyway...

[Josmoker]

I didn't see any mention of the FreeverbToo in this thread. Don't overlook that one! I recently tried it again after a few years and I really like it at the moment. It's free, I like the sound and the cpu hit is very reasonable - definitely worth trying!

Cheers, Jo

[wakax]

i love silverspike reverb.
one of the best. no doubt !

[egbert]

Another vote for R2 - my stock reverb, very smooth and tweakable and reasonable CPU. I reach for convolution verbs if I want something else in a high quality verb. PSP EasyVerb and the various freebies I use for some applications or as insert reverbs on some instruments.

[headquest]

Okay! Thank you all for your advice and tips!

A couple of responses and thoughts having done more demo'ing now:

Sonitus - Thanks for the tip on this one. I did try it within the Sonar demo last year and I agree it is very nice indeed - definitely among the very best (one of the parts I found most tempting about Sonar4... a seperate topic!). If I could buy it on its own that might be ideal... but in the UK I believe I could only buy the whole bundle (for around £200) which I don't need or want (I prefer my Kjaerhus GCO-1 and GEQ-7 for starters!)

Princetown - Greendoor pretty much sums up exactly what I thought about that one. I guess that the good old Kjaerhus classic does that "type" of reverb to my liking, and for free. What I'm more in the market for is a longer reverb with more presence.

Buzzroom verb - thanks again for pointing that one out. It is very good indeed... but kind of a "one-trick-pony". A good trick though, and extreeemly friendly to the CPU. I'll keep this one anyway!

ArtsAcoustic Reverb This is definitely outstanding and I can see why it is becoming very popular. The presets cover a wide range of sounds and are helpfully organised. The GUI is superb, and the level of control is just right. HOWEVER... on the down side -
* some of the sounds it creates are aweful (fair enough - I could just ignore those ones), but even the best ones aren't quite as good as I hoped/expected
* when I use it in my host (Ableton) it does not close properly and results in an error message. Very strange. I wonder if anyone else has found this? I also tried it in Tracktion, where the problem did not exist. Perhaps one of those compatibility problems that crop up from time to time.

Silverspike Reverb.it. This is exceptional in so many ways. I think it sounds similar to the Sonitus one, which is a big compliment of course. Like AA though there are some reverb sounds in this one that are great and others that I can't think who or why they would get used. And I don't particularly like the way the knobs work (I prefer simple up/down movements to circular ones). I may well end up buying this one... but...

Silverspike R2 is to my ears the best of the bunch. Yep - I like this even more than Sonitus and ArtsAcoustic. There's an openess to the sound which is hard to describe in words, but lining up all the contendors on the same material, R2 stood out to me as the clear *winner*.

Definitely a matter of taste, I realise. And thanks again for all the recommendations. But I will now seriously consider buying R2.

Cheers

[Frippertronix]

Don't forget Room Machine. My interest was revived in it by this thread and I'm finding it definitely rivals Princeton for the tight room sound, and has some sweet stereo tweakability and that interesting distance control. I've started using it more now.

[mandolarian]

While good there is still something about Room Machine that feels claustrophobic. And then the sweating and the vommitting starts.

[Frippertronix]

While good there is still something about Room Machine that feels claustrophobic. And then the sweating and the vommitting starts.

So for you it is more like Closet Machine.

Try it with the mix turned way down, just to add a hint of ambience, and tweak the distance control. I'm finding it incredibly realistic for this, but obvisouly if you want a more saturted 'verb that's an irrelevant type of setting. I use that kind of thing a lot, though.

But I agree at higher mix settings it has a kind of "2L bottle" sound to it which turned me off to it when I first tried it.

[mandolarian]

Yeah, you're right. A little is good. More is not better. But used before Aries verb it's really cool. Then it's like a 2 million litre bottle!

[jens]

While good there is still something about Room Machine that feels claustrophobic. And then the sweating and the vommitting starts.

So for you it is more like Closet Machine.

Try it with the mix turned way down, just to add a hint of ambience, and tweak the distance control.

and then add a bit of another reverb... (e.g. FreeverbToo)

[ugo]

So, who here uses it, and what have your experiences been?

i got R2 relatively recently and havent had all that much time to use it yet, but i've been very impressed so far. im certainly not a reverb connoisseur but what sold me was that this one can stay very clean, clear, and defined, without mud or that metallic trashcan sound that so many reverbs have. i also find the interface to be pretty easy to get around.

-ugo

[rpc9943]

i personally say keep trying out that spinaudio one i got a good deal on it and i really like it... i'd say its better than AA's full verb

give it more a chance

RoNC