Valhalla Delay released

[Krakatau]

that's how i feel about all the Valhalla plugins.
Bought em all, never feel like using them.

So do i but for another reason, trying to include some custom made impulse responses into mixing process and composition instead , i tend to avoid the use of reverberations

shimmer ...for huge and octave-transposed reverbs
Ubermod ...for tempo-synced gate reverb and reverse gate effets
(...apart from tone2 ultraspace, that sounds less subtle, but dead easy to handle)

[Krakatau]

double post...


double post...


To be honest though...

i had a short glance at valhalla delay at it release, and obviously it deserved a better look

the pitch and reverse pitch has outstanding features IMO, as well as all the hybrid fonction we had a taste toward supermassive, ...among other goodies

way more than just a delay, not being an emulation of one or another hardware thing of the past having a impressive GUI, it tend to be underestimate, me thinks

[Krakatau]

Let just say finally, the only regret i might have concerning this so to say "universal delay" would be the use of delay lines as resonators (when delay times are in phase and enhance with fundamental frequencies, around 20 - 30 milliseconds) ...as MFM2 from u-he, Dronebox from Oli larkin, etc...,
...but it very likely deserves a dedicated plugin

[imrae]

Isn't that end of things more covered by Ubermod?

[sqigls]

i got tired of needing to add an EQ/dynamic eq after valhalla plugins to remove resonances.
i love the vintage vibe, but the ringing frequencies can be way too much.

i can understand the minimal aesthetic, but it kind of crosses over into stubborn 2d ness.

[GaryG]

i got tired of needing to add an EQ/dynamic eq after valhalla plugins to remove resonances.
i love the vintage vibe, but the ringing frequencies can be way too much.

Maybe it's not the same thing but I nearly always follow VVV with eq to tame a kind of mid hump I've noticed. Still sounds fine though I do find myself using Orilriver a lot instead nowadays...

[codec_spurt]

ghjkl;'

[sleepcircle]

that's how i feel about all the Valhalla plugins.
Bought em all, never feel like using them.

i bought one of them, and i use it all the time. i did not buy the others because i knew i wouldn't use them.

[adl]

I noticed a bit of 'confusion' in the lower mid range with the Valhalla reverbs. I don't have the best ears, nor the best monitors, and a few odd examples isn't enough to go claiming anything especially against someone like Valhalla who do make awesome plugins. There's loads of people doing it for real and making money who use the plugs and I wouldn't want to argue against them either. So I just wrote it off.

Then I saw a post by BManic, who as we all know, has kind of Golden Ears if such a thing exists. He said the same thing. So it wasn't just me imagining it. And now some others are mentioning it too. The thing is it doesn't manifest on all program material. Very often you just don't notice it at all. The reverbs are lush/sharp/insert whatever adjective you like. But now and again, it just doesn't work. Obviously if you are using something like VRoom and just adding a little ambience then it doesn't manifest either. But sometimes...

Also it's not something that can be corrected with EQ either, as BManic noted, because it's directly in the signal itself. IIRC. I find that anyway. Sure, a bit of surgical EQ goes a long way to putting it back on track, but it doesn't totally solve the problem of the program material being inherently altered. This isn't like the Abbey Road trick where you just carve out some frequency domains, after the fact. It's right there in the signal, if that makes sense. Not a lot you can do but go with it, if the EQ helps, or use another reverb.

I really don't know what it is. But I've heard BManic note this slight flaw a couple of times in certain posts. I knew right away what he was talking about. I'd trust his ears before mine as well!

For the majority of stuff this isn't a problem, but when it happens, I just go 'oh yeah - that thing again - use another reverb'. I own all the Valhalla plugins btw so I'm a big fan. Still, this is a curious phenomenon.

The whole point of a quality reverb effect is that it doesn't just cover the program material in a blanket mist, it gets right to the very heart of the sound and becomes one with it. It alters its very sonic shape, if you like. Cheap reverbs just put a sheen on top while the original program material is left pretty much unaltered.

But what is happening here, to my untrained ears anyway, is not like the effect of a cheap reverb. It really does get in to the heart of the sound and pretty much sounds amazing, but if you listen with the right kind of ears, there is that 'confusion' I mentioned earlier, but only in that kind of lower mid-range frequency section. I really can't explain it any better.

A similar thing happens when I listen on my KRK Rokits. It's got that lack of definition in the lower mid part of the spectrum. It's why some people hate those monitors. The bass is there, the highs are harsh, even, but there is a confusion in a pretty vital part of the frequency spectrum that can really catch you out if you don't reckon for it and alter accordingly. It's not a problem to me now. But that is monitoring. Having VSTs alter your source material in this way doesn't help things in the long run.

It's not something many people have noted, so I wonder if there isn't something else going on here.

I really did think it was just me and my cloth ears. But then I plugged in a Lexicon MPX reverb and that problem just didn't exist. And that is not known for being a super high end reverb, but it's still a good workhorse and I like it a lot. It's clear and clean and it doesn't work on all program material, but it still doesn't sound confused when it's not working.

I'm not the best person to try to explain this. That's the best that I can put it. I still wouldn't part with or sell any of my Valhalla plugins though. In all other regards they are out of this world good at any price.

Good might be: you can hear immediately if it's the wrong reverb than, due to it's obvious confusion on certain material.
I never felt experienced that confusion you describe with either Room Verb or Vintage Verb, but will keep it in mind.
I like Vintage Verb very much, it offers such a huge variety of algorithms, skipping through them with mix knob 100% wet usually shows pretty fast, which room / algorithm works best for the source material. But I also use UAD Reverbs (EMT140 /250), Slate Verbsuite and the Exponential Audio Reverbs Nimbus and R4 (came free with izotope music production suite and especially Nimbus is great for super clean space without obvious reverb).
That being said I like Valhalla Delay, but I never use it as a "normal" delay. Just can't get it to work like Soundtoys Echoeboy or even Waves H Delay for example, if I just want a delay (echoe) of the signal. But if I want sorta "character" for the delayed signal, like smearing or more of an undefined delay or plain weird delay I reach for Valhalla Delay.

[pdxindy]

Any news about the Valhalla plugins being released for Apple Silicon Macs?

[sleepcircle]

guys who are talking about lower-mid-range confusion, is it at all possible that this can be fixed by turning the "bass multiplier" down slightly? it's set to 1.5x by default

[Funkybot's Evil Twin]

Any news about the Valhalla plugins being released for Apple Silicon Macs?

Valhalla’s Instagram says they work on Big Sur using Rosetta and updates to natively run on Apple silicon will get worked on in Q1 2021.

[Funkybot's Evil Twin]

guys who are talking about lower-mid-range confusion, is it at all possible that this can be fixed by turning the "bass multiplier" down slightly? it's set to 1.5x by default

I honestly think it’s a taste thing. I think Sean gravitates to darker sounds with more character, and you hear that in VintageVerb and Delay. For instance, VintageVerb sounds thicker than the Relab LX-480 when using similar algorithms. There’s a similar overall character but tonally, the Relab is airy-er with less low mids. It blends into the background. Whereas VintageVerb sounds way more pronounced and has more heft to the tone. It’s the same with Delay when you listen to the straight BBD mode and compare to other BBD plugins. You’ll think holy crap the Valhalla is dark, but it sounds spot on with my DM-2W. Someone on Gearslutz recently asked for less of a dropout on the tape mode or something and Sean wrote back to offer some advice but also to say that it’s a feature not a bug.

My top 3 verbs are Vintage Verb, Sonsig (for very similar reasons), and the LX-480 when I want something cleaner than the first two. I love the darker verbs, but sometimes they don’t work. Always good to have options.

[bleen]

Valhalla Autumn Update

[JerGoertz]

Valhalla Autumn Update

Doesn't add the new LoFi mode, apparently. Hopefully just around the corner?