KVR Audio

harmony gardens · Post by **harmony gardens** » Sun Apr 02, 2006 8:53 pm

Is it just me, but I feel pretty good about the CSR. As for it being "metalic",,, I don't get it. The metalic is in there, but to me it's smooth as silk. I've been showing it off to friends, and they all remark at how natural it sounds. If I apply it just right, you can't even tell it's there, until you turn it off, and see how wonderfully full it makes things sound.

Try the Large Hall 2, set at about 58%, and put it on the Organ sounds in Philharmonik. It's divine!!

Sickle · Post by **Sickle** » Sun Apr 02, 2006 9:02 pm

CSR rules. I haven't loaded another verb since I installed it.

Animus · Post by **Animus** » Sun Apr 02, 2006 10:24 pm

Lovely. I just got my first dongle error with CSR. Somehting about that it couldn't find the protection device. I clicked ok then it gave a runtime error in Nuendo and froze. dongles suck!

friteuse · Post by **friteuse** » Mon Apr 03, 2006 6:51 pm

bmanic wrote:Another thing that I've noticed lately is that "grainy" reverb does not at all mean that it is bad. Some of the old digital classics are pretty grainy but still manage to sound really good within a mix. Especially synths and vocals can work better with a grainy reverb than trough a really dense one, at least in a busy mix. This makes it very hard to test reverbs.

One needs to ask a few basic questions of what one wants a reverb to do.

A) Is it used for giving the mix depth (the Z axis)?

B) Is it used for "glue" (that wash that ties all the elements together)?

C) Is it used to bring certain elements into focus (think lexicon very short ambience kind of thing, that in your face invisible stereo)?

D) Is it used to give that huge hall/plate wash sound for lead synths (think tarnce, large scale)?

E) Is it used to place stereo elements into certain "mono" positions within a mix? Like a stereo recorded instrument where you send it to a mono reverb that you then pan to the desired location. This enhances the feeling of position and stability of a mix.

There are so many things that reverbs are used for. They are the true opposites to one-trick pony effects. This is also why having several high quality reverbs is so common in professional studios.

Remeber, there is also always the possibility to use the real deal. Just feed whatever you would like to treat with reverb trough your speakers and re-record the sound. This requires a suitable room though.

Just some thoughts on the subject, Cheers!
bManic

So true! Very great post, bmanic! I'd suggest everyone to print this out and nail it to the wall next to the computer...

Sickle · Post by **Sickle** » Mon Apr 03, 2006 6:54 pm

Animus wrote:Lovely. I just got my first dongle error with CSR. Somehting about that it couldn't find the protection device. I clicked ok then it gave a runtime error in Nuendo and froze. dongles suck!

Go to the Syncrosoft site and make sure you have the most recent version of their software installed. I ran into a slight problem early on, but after re-installing just the syncrosoft application, I haven't had any problems since.

jones-y · Post by **jones-y** » Mon Apr 03, 2006 6:57 pm

cosign that bmanic. is anyone aware of any good reverb guides on the net? I pretty much nailed compression and eq (by reading and applying those types of guides over the past few years) but since I do hip hop, I haven't had much need for reverb.

Anyway, I just met probably the most phenomenal unsigned r&b singer I have ever heard, and i am about to start working with him, so now would be a great time to get in the know...

jones-y · Post by **jones-y** » Mon Apr 03, 2006 7:13 pm

nevermind, I found some over at theprojectstudiohandbook.com

Len · Post by **Len** » Mon Apr 03, 2006 7:27 pm

Hi Frippertronix, thank you for sharing your thoughts on this prickly subject!! I was wondering if you would mind letting us know how you think the equivalent bits of CSR compare with Princeton Stereo Room? That is because I don't have AAR but do have the Princeton, and have been wondering whether to splash out the $99 for the Princeton Plate.

Many thanks in advance!

dgkenney · Post by **dgkenney** » Mon Apr 03, 2006 7:51 pm

harmony gardens wrote:Is it just me, but I feel pretty good about the CSR. As for it being "metalic",,, I don't get it. The metalic is in there, but to me it's smooth as silk. I've been showing it off to friends, and they all remark at how natural it sounds. If I apply it just right, you can't even tell it's there, until you turn it off, and see how wonderfully full it makes things sound.

Sickle wrote: CSR rules. I haven't loaded another verb since I installed it.

I have to agree. I've had CSR for 5 days now and it just keeps getting better and better as I learn to use the advanced pages/settings. But even out of the box the presets are amazingly transparent and natural. The ability to add a subtle ambience is amazing. Based upon my humble experience you'd need to jump to some multi-$ dollar hardware to top CSR

Dan

MacQ · Post by **MacQ** » Mon Apr 03, 2006 8:00 pm

Animus wrote:Lovely. I just got my first dongle error with CSR. Somehting about that it couldn't find the protection device. I clicked ok then it gave a runtime error in Nuendo and froze. dongles suck!

Hi,

I had the same problem, but just with using Cubase SX3. I had my dongle in a hub before, and everything worked fine. I changed to a new hub (more ports, different brand), and I was getting those errors every day. Now I have the dongle back connected to my PC directly, and it's working again.

I know your pain ... I've lost work because of this error.

Grr ...

~MacQ

Frippertronix · Post by **Frippertronix** » Mon Apr 03, 2006 10:02 pm

Len wrote:Hi Frippertronix, thank you for sharing your thoughts on this prickly subject!! I was wondering if you would mind letting us know how you think the equivalent bits of CSR compare with Princeton Stereo Room? That is because I don't have AAR but do have the Princeton, and have been wondering whether to splash out the $99 for the Princeton Plate.

Many thanks in advance!

I don't mind but I have to decide what I'll do with the Princeton since @#$%!& PACE revoked my activation when I changed a hard drive, but then I got a new computer and now I'm not sure if I want to active the Princeton on the new machine or reserve it for the old machine and use FX Teleport. I'll try to think of some comparisons based on memory.

I still haven't put on Arts Acoustic demo and compared but I will soon.

I'm starting to enjoy CSR more and more and finding more little gems. I took the Piano Room preset and softened it a little, dialed down the mix, and it's one of the most realistic spacial/ambience effects I've tried so far with Gigastudio pianos. PMI Grandioso Steinway sounds almost real.

The Classic Gate on the inverse verb is really useful too.

rickschwar · Post by **rickschwar** » Mon Apr 03, 2006 10:02 pm

I'm still planning to do an extensive test session at Kingstons place once I get some free time. I also plan to book some time in the university studio to do some Lexicon PCM 90 examples

bManic,

I'm looking forward to hearing your tests. I'm hoping to do the same with my new Lexicon 224XL. At first I thought the CSR demos sounded pretty good, but after hearing the real thing, they are SO different. Maybe that's why it's next to impossible to buy a used Lexicon 224XL these days...

- Rick

beergeek · Post by **beergeek** » Tue Apr 04, 2006 12:47 am

Animus wrote:Lovely. I just got my first dongle error with CSR. Somehting about that it couldn't find the protection device. I clicked ok then it gave a runtime error in Nuendo and froze. dongles suck!

Go to syncrosoft's site an d/l the latest License Control Center...haven't ahd a single error since I did that...

Len · Post by **Len** » Tue Apr 04, 2006 12:52 pm

Frippertronix wrote:
Len wrote:Hi Frippertronix, thank you for sharing your thoughts on this prickly subject!! I was wondering if you would mind letting us know how you think the equivalent bits of CSR compare with Princeton Stereo Room? That is because I don't have AAR but do have the Princeton, and have been wondering whether to splash out the $99 for the Princeton Plate.

Many thanks in advance!
I don't mind but I have to decide what I'll do with the Princeton since @#$%!& PACE revoked my activation when I changed a hard drive, but then I got a new computer and now I'm not sure if I want to active the Princeton on the new machine or reserve it for the old machine and use FX Teleport. I'll try to think of some comparisons based on memory.

I still haven't put on Arts Acoustic demo and compared but I will soon.

I'm starting to enjoy CSR more and more and finding more little gems. I took the Piano Room preset and softened it a little, dialed down the mix, and it's one of the most realistic spacial/ambience effects I've tried so far with Gigastudio pianos. PMI Grandioso Steinway sounds almost real.

The Classic Gate on the inverse verb is really useful too.

Cheers mate - actually, I will go and download the CSR demo and try it myself - but its always valuable to know the opinions of those more experienced than myself.

Len

Kingston · Post by **Kingston** » Thu Apr 06, 2006 10:12 pm

I've just finished two days of mucking around with CSR (demo). I'm sure bmanic and jmh will be here commenting the reverb shortly as they were testing it as well.

Yes, it's hands down the best native reverb!

It's a no competition type thing. 6-0 win. It really is that good. And no, it does NOT sound metallic. The plate does, but then, it IS metal. No shit sherlock.

bmanic had a batch of lexicon PCM90 sampled material with him, presenting the full range of its capabilities. The CSR is a very near carbon copy of the sound. Lexicon had a touch more resolution, just enough for it to be perceptible. It can be heard with A/B comparison as slightly more defined high end, and more "oil can" in the low frequencies. In practise, it's negligible. Lexicon also had a notch more of the algorithmic movement in the reverb tails, more "organic" in a sense, but even that was a very close match.

The unfortunate thing is how IK has limited some of the parameter ranges, so that CSR can't go quite to the extremities of PCM90. bmanic found it a severe limitation, especially with the room algorithm.

As a compensation the PCM90 isn't capable (AFAIK) of doing the inverse algorithm, which IMO is the most useful of the 4 available ones.

I'll absolutely most definitely buy this thing, and would happily recommend it to anyone.

CSR comments...