Arturia Xmas Gift Reverb PLATE-140

[elassi]

If you feel happy and "superior" spending countless hours just to install redundant bloatware, good for you.

Do you feel happy posting walls of text thus spending a remarkable amount of your precious time for teaching unworthy dumb heads?

Thank you, Arturia. Enjoying this gift.

[Spitfire31]

THIS!

[v1o]

Any guesses what the other Arturia reverbs might be? I’m really hoping for a high quality spring reverb.

[Dillinger]

Any guesses what the other Arturia reverbs might be? I’m really hoping for a high quality spring reverb.

That would be great, right after this winter.

[Spitfire31]

[nocturnal owl]

Still hoping we will see a 64 bit version of GlaceVerb this winter.

The PLATE-140 is the bees knees though. Thank you Arturia!

[JO512]

I was just exploring some of the IRs in the factory library in a free convolution reverb, Convology XT, and it occurred to me that they sounded very similar to Arturia's Plate-140. This led to the thought that this is probably mostly what this plugin is: a standard convolution reverb, using code they probably already use in other products, and a handful of IRs, perhaps sampled from a plate reverb, with some fancy interface images to dress it up. That's probably why the decay time setting isn't continuously variable. It probably switches between different IRs. And the "drive" setting is probably just a typical waveshaping saturator (code they already had), which they dressed up with a glowing tube animation to make us feel warm and fuzzy. Stereo widening is pretty elementary to implement as well.

Really, a full convolution reverb plugin (including various free ones), which lets you load any IR, even your own audio files, is actually more powerful and flexible than this lure Arturia is dangling in front of us. And you can find loads of free impulse responses in addition to those that something like Convology XT comes with (which includes "German 140" and "German 240", along with some springs and quite a few other things). No point in having more plugins installed than needed! One good convolution reverb is essential anyway. I, for one, am uninstalling the Arturia Christmas gift! It's redundant.

Anyway, not to be a buzzkill, but they likely aren't being as generous as it seems. They probably just slapped something together quickly to try to grab some of the Christmas attention that everyone is competing for. And we are busy falling for it! It's marketing. Their marketing department probably hatched the idea. What is something everyone loves that is easy to slap together with stuff we already have? A reverb!

I might well be wrong! They do say on their site that this is a "circuit-accurate recreation of the iconic EMT 140 reverb, fed by a beautifully modelled vintage vacuum tube preamp."

It just sounds sooo similar to those other IRs!

Could a company legally call an IR player with a few IRs a "circuit accurate recreation"?

Really, the circuit on a plate reverb seems to be pretty simple, and it would probably be trivial to patch up a Spice model of one. But I doubt Arturia invested the time and money in doing some serious physical modeling of the plate and transducers and cabinet and whatnot here just to give it all away for free. The main part of the reverb sound here, I'd bet, is just IRs. Maybe they modeled the amp circuit or something.

[dakkra]

I can easily believe IRs for the reverb (I began to suspect as much given discrete decay values) and a "model" for the amp. The amp does sound "better" than traditional overdrive. It actually took me a minute to get close to it's color using Melda's saturator. Nothing legendary, but it still sounds nice none the less.

And yeah, it's not going to be a replacement for anything. However, the package itself is nice, and for those who don't have plate IRs or nice commercial reverbs/saturators, it's still a nice plug-in.

To be fair, it's not even trying to be a clean reverb. Many plate reverbs sounds better than this, but it's not trying to be the best plate reverb. It's trying to be dirty and old, like the inspiration it's based on. So, if nothing else, it's still a fun little free (of monetary cost) toy for those of use who have more sophisticated solutions.

[oboemaroni]

Is anyone else still unable to activate this? I've reinstalled several times and the license appears in Arturia Software Centre with 'buy' next to it, which leads to a 404 page not found error. Opening the plugin I can only demo or buy, again getting that error with the latter option. Also it only installs a VST3 version. I've emailed Arturia but worried I'm going to miss the freebie window so wondered if anyone else has found a solution.

[fmr]

Is anyone else still unable to activate this? I've reinstalled several times and the license appears in Arturia Software Centre with 'buy' next to it, which leads to a 404 page not found error. Opening the plugin I can only demo or buy, again getting that error with the latter option. Also it only installs a VST3 version. I've emailed Arturia but worried I'm going to miss the freebie window so wondered if anyone else has found a solution.

Did you create an account in the Arturia web site, and register the plug-in in you account?

You can't activate a plug-in if you don't own it. The instructions re very clear:

"How to Get it

We will guide you through the few steps to get started with your product:

1. Click here to login or make a new account if you don’t already have one, it’s free. At the end of this process, your license will be added to your account

2. Install your new Effect thanks to the Arturia Software Center (ASC).
This is how all of our software instruments and effects are managed, rather than using awkward USB dongles

3. Launch your product inside your usual DAW. Follow this guide to jump right in!"

[muki]

...free convolution reverb, Convology XT, and it occurred to me ....

yes
i also compared it to convology's and imho it sounds very, very similiar

on the mac arturia's plates installs the directory

/Library/Arturia/Samples/Rev PLATE-140/Arturia/

and in there, there are various *.rev files, in the size of 600k to 5MB
which could be audiofiles

and i already mentioned it a couple of pages ago:
viewtopic.php?p=7613223#p7613223

[Burillo]

Well, if the model sounds very similar to an IR of the real thing... The model is accurate then?

[muki]

The model is accurate then?

imho arturia is a little bit unclear what "the model" is
or what their definition of "model" ist...

on the webpage, the only mention of "model" is the preamp (as far as i can see...)

quote:
[…] fed by a beautifully modelled vintage vacuum tube preamp...[…]

which kind of makes me think:
"modelled" preamp -> IR reverb -> "modelled" or whatever EQ, MOD, post-EQ

[Burillo]

The model is accurate then?

imho arturia is a little bit unclear what "the model" is
or what their definition of "model" ist...

on the webpage, the only mention of "model" is the preamp (as far as i can see...)

quote:
[…] fed by a beautifully modelled vintage vacuum tube preamp...[…]

which kind of makes me think:
"modelled" preamp -> IR reverb -> "modelled" or whatever EQ, MOD, post-EQ

from Arturia webpage:

A circuit-accurate recreation of the iconic EMT 140 reverb

so the reverb itself is modeled too.

[JO512]

...free convolution reverb, Convology XT, and it occurred to me ....

yes
i also compared it to convology's and imho it sounds very, very similiar

on the mac arturia's plates installs the directory

/Library/Arturia/Samples/Rev PLATE-140/Arturia/

and in there, there are various *.rev files, in the size of 600k to 5MB
which could be audiofiles

and i already mentioned it a couple of pages ago:
viewtopic.php?p=7613223#p7613223

Interesting! Yeah, I think it's mostly clear what's going on here.

What this means is that people don't need to install Arturia's bloatware to get this sound. If the image of old particle board with pencil marks and a glowing tube are important to get you in the right mindset though, whatever helps!

That said, if you want Pigments, and you don't have any other Arturia products, getting this free reverb qualifies you for a nice crossgrade discount on Pigments.