KVR Audio

beely · Post by **beely** » Fri Jun 25, 2021 1:45 pm

Just a heads up - this intro offer for LX480 Essentials ends on June 30th (midnight-ish PST), so if you want to pick it up for $35, or you are an existing Relab customer and qualify for a freebie, June 30th is your last chance to pick it up before it reverts to full price...

AKJ · Post by **AKJ** » Fri Jun 25, 2021 4:14 pm

I only demoed the full version. I cannot say how it compares to a hardware but I did not sound good at all to me. In fact, one of the worst reverbs I tried. But maybe I am just not too much into 80s vintage reverb sound.

mholloway · Post by **mholloway** » Fri Jun 25, 2021 4:22 pm

Relab make fantastic products. Ever since buying Sonsig Rev-A, I've stopped using everything else I was previously using. It covers all the reverb bases I need covered, and sounds the best for all of them. I've stopped using Arts Acoustic, Valhalla Room and Valhalla Vintage, NI RC-24 (Sonsig has a 224 mode, and does super-long tail better than the softube), TSAR-1, R4, Nimbus....

Yeah, I had too many reverbs, for sure. But I was always waffling between which ones I wanted to use, pitting one against another, swapping things out.....now I just use Sonsig. It's a huge relief, honestly, and most importantly always sounds good.

LX-480 Complete / Essentials is nice but Sonsig is so much more versatile. I guess if the goal for a project requires 100% classic lexicon sounds, then an emulation makes sense -- but what kind of project needs one specific reverb? I like that Sonsig is a hybrid and covers Quantec, Lexicon 224, and a non-emulation algorithm ('Rev-A').

Ok, end hyperbole rant, I just really, really love Sonsig, and Relab for making it

beely · Post by **beely** » Fri Jun 25, 2021 4:48 pm

Sonsig is great too - definitely smoother and nicer than RC-24. As I said elsewhere, I kinda regard it as a "glamour-verb", for that lush, long-tail thing (and I love freeze mode too). The tail settings don't really emulate the Quantec and 224, they are just options to darken and roughen up the tails a bit - it's just imo a shorthand to give three quality settings between full, vintage and dirty modes, basically.

However it's not necessarily so great at more standard room/hall/plate-type stuff, but similarly, the 480 in my opinion isn't so great at long lush tails either (it gets resonant quite quick) but for more typical stuff it's great - no wonder the 480 has been the digital reverb on more hit records than any other in history.

In general, I prefer the more modern Lexicon PCM native sound over the older 480 in general, it's smoother, but Sonsig Rev-A and LX480, along with Liquidsonics' reverbs (Seventh Heaven in particular) give me a range of stuff from realistic spaces, through the "pop" Lexicon sound, all the way to glamourverb, and alongside a few other favourites like SoundToys Little Plate and some other impulses etc, I'm pretty happy with my reverb options now...

So yeah, thumbs up for Relab & Liquidsonics when it comes to reverb!

mholloway · Post by **mholloway** » Fri Jun 25, 2021 5:01 pm

beely wrote: Fri Jun 25, 2021 4:48 pm Sonsig is great too - definitely smoother and nicer than RC-24. As I said elsewhere, I kinda regard it as a "glamour-verb", for that lush, long-tail thing (and I love freeze mode too). The tail settings don't really emulate the Quantec and 224, they are just options to darken and roughen up the tails a bit - it's just imo a shorthand to give three quality settings between full, vintage and dirty modes, basically.

However it's not necessarily so great at more standard room/hall/plate-type stuff, but similarly, the 480 in my opinion isn't so great at long lush tails either (it gets resonant quite quick) but for more typical stuff it's great - no wonder the 480 has been the digital reverb on more hit records than any other in history.

You're right about it not being an emulation, true. But that might be why I find it so versatile; it's not trying to be 'one thing' but can do so many things. I very strongly disagree about it not doing a great job for 'standard room' and hall verbs, though. The 'wood room' and 'dark room' presets alone sound better -- to me -- for simple 'room space' / ambience placement of instruments than anything else I've tested them against -- and that includes Valhalla Room and Nimbus. I genuinely prefer Sonsig over anything else for Rooms. The one place I agree with you is Plates -- if a 'plate' sound is what I'm going for, I'll use Valhalla Plate or another plate-specific plugin.

vitocorleone123 · Post by **vitocorleone123** » Sat Jun 26, 2021 7:01 am

I bought SonsigA on release and have drifted away and drifted back a couple times. It certainly has something special about it. Add in the free Essentials just for having bought Sonsig and it’s a freaking bargain fest of reverb goodness. I’ll have to look at their new reverb coming out though it’ll probably be $$$.

I had to stop using R4 and Nimbus because they’d crash Studio One and cause horrendous feedback noises. Just dusted off Toraverb to try out again (it was my first reverb and I had no idea what I was doing when I bought it as part of the Silverline Collection). But SonsigA is back in rotation.

I’m using quite a bit of the Essentials on the track I’m working on, but I have a pad that’s already a bit too resonant and it sounds bad with Essentials so I’m flipping between Sonsig and Toraverb. This pad is driving me insane and is the last thing to nail down on the track.

I can’t vouch for whether they’re all good or not, but for $15 or so you can buy a bunch more Sonsig presets here if interested https://www.synth-presets.com/Presets/R ... nsig_Rev-A

ModestProphet · Post by **ModestProphet** » Sat Jun 26, 2021 4:12 pm

Is there an upgrade price from Essentials to Complete?

vitocorleone123 · Post by **vitocorleone123** » Sat Jun 26, 2021 4:30 pm

ModestProphet wrote: Sat Jun 26, 2021 4:12 pm Is there an upgrade price from Essentials to Complete?

Not yet (according to Relab on Gearspace there will be at some point).

ModestProphet · Post by **ModestProphet** » Sat Jun 26, 2021 4:39 pm

vitocorleone123 wrote: Sat Jun 26, 2021 4:30 pm
ModestProphet wrote: Sat Jun 26, 2021 4:12 pm Is there an upgrade price from Essentials to Complete?
Not yet (according to Relab on Gearspace there will be at some point).

Yeah, I figured they would hold back during this offer on Essentials. Good to know the option will be there later.

keyman_sam · Post by **keyman_sam** » Sun Jun 27, 2021 3:06 am

beely wrote: Wed Jun 23, 2021 5:47 pm Essentials is the exact same engine as their LX480 Complete - it's basically more or less 1:1 with the real thing - they are reverb emulation freaknerds! I'm sure there are Relab 480 vs hardware comparison videos if you look around...

They also have the TC6000 emulation coming soon, and they have a Quantec Room Simulator coming somewhere down the pipe too...

Does anyone know if the LX480L is the actual lexicon DSP firmware ported (so 1:1 with lexicon), or is it just an emulation?

vitocorleone123 · Post by **vitocorleone123** » Sun Jun 27, 2021 5:11 am

keyman_sam wrote: Sun Jun 27, 2021 3:06 am
beely wrote: Wed Jun 23, 2021 5:47 pm Essentials is the exact same engine as their LX480 Complete - it's basically more or less 1:1 with the real thing - they are reverb emulation freaknerds! I'm sure there are Relab 480 vs hardware comparison videos if you look around...

They also have the TC6000 emulation coming soon, and they have a Quantec Room Simulator coming somewhere down the pipe too...
Does anyone know if the LX480L is the actual lexicon DSP firmware ported (so 1:1 with lexicon), or is it just an emulation?

As far as I’ve read, the main developer wanted a software version of his personal Lexicon reverb for when it fails. So the reverb is a 1:1 recreation of his reverb unit.

filulilu · Post by **filulilu** » Sun Jun 27, 2021 6:42 am

keyman_sam wrote: Sun Jun 27, 2021 3:06 amDoes anyone know if the LX480L is the actual lexicon DSP firmware ported (so 1:1 with lexicon), or is it just an emulation?

As I remember from previous threads, I don't think they had access to the actual code.

keyman_sam · Post by **keyman_sam** » Mon Jun 28, 2021 12:26 am

vitocorleone123 wrote: Sun Jun 27, 2021 5:11 am
keyman_sam wrote: Sun Jun 27, 2021 3:06 am
beely wrote: Wed Jun 23, 2021 5:47 pm Essentials is the exact same engine as their LX480 Complete - it's basically more or less 1:1 with the real thing - they are reverb emulation freaknerds! I'm sure there are Relab 480 vs hardware comparison videos if you look around...

They also have the TC6000 emulation coming soon, and they have a Quantec Room Simulator coming somewhere down the pipe too...
Does anyone know if the LX480L is the actual lexicon DSP firmware ported (so 1:1 with lexicon), or is it just an emulation?
As far as I’ve read, the main developer wanted a software version of his personal Lexicon reverb for when it fails. So the reverb is a 1:1 recreation of his reverb unit.

Well, if it's only a blackbox (i.e. all you have access are to it's audio inputs and outputs) how did they algorithmically model the reverb?

The UAD clone is apparently a 1-1 software port of the lexicon firmware.

Not that I care enough to want it or even be able to tell the difference. I'm just curious how "accurate" the Relab clone is, apart from passing blind tests.

This guy might find his way into a template, perhaps even replace H-Verb.

beely · Post by **beely** » Mon Jun 28, 2021 9:58 am

keyman_sam wrote: Mon Jun 28, 2021 12:26 amWell, if it's only a blackbox (i.e. all you have access are to it's audio inputs and outputs) how did they algorithmically model the reverb?

They are super geeky reverb nerds, and they love the whole algorithmic thing. From what I gather, they use a whole bunch of techniques to get their models accurate. The Relab 480 was regarded as very much a software 480 when it initially was released, before the UAD model, and even 480 owners were saying it was replacing or substituting for their hardware and didn't sound any different.

It is, by all accounts, very very close, just like the UA one. If you look around, I'm sure you'll find various comparison videos if you care, between the hardware, the UA one and the Relab one.

They are currently cloning the TC6000, which has been an immense amount of work appararently, and they also have other machines on the horizon. And they don't release anything until they've got it right...

dblock · Post by **dblock** » Mon Jun 28, 2021 3:07 pm

I can't figure out how to get this "bonus" they promised.

Relab LX480L essential - my latest reverb addiction