UAD 224 Reverb - overlap with VintageVerb or LX430 essentials?

[Funky40]

For me, at the moment, I'm ranking them:
1) CRP
2) UAD 224
3) Stratus 3D (for when I want as transparent and barely existing as possible)
4) All the rest depending on need and context.

Thanks alots for this very detailed answer Victor !

....as somebody who has no clue what the 224 Sound is. ( i might have to have a surf)

[chagzuki]

I had to give the UAD a go, from a position of not being familiar with the original unit. What is it that makes the room modes so transparent on drums? It's that thing of ambience that doesn't clutter the dry sound. I've had issues with drum ambience and loss of clarity, or impinging on other instruments, but the UAD seems to work well.

[drsyncenstein]

Transparancy is less a feature of the 224, that would be the 480. The 224 is a great reverb, it's what you hear on the blade runner soundtrack. It fits nicely in the mix, but as it's old technology it's a bit dark and grainy. That's also what makes it attractive. The original 224 had no ambience algoritm.

[martinjuenke]

The LX430 sounds far superior compared with the LX480, just sayin'...

[drsyncenstein]

The LX430 sounds far superior compared with the LX480, just sayin'...

can't wait till it's released!

[martinjuenke]

The LX430 sounds far superior compared with the LX480, just sayin'...

can't wait till it's released!

Me too !

[Funky40]

nvrm

[vitocorleone123]

Transparancy is less a feature of the 224, that would be the 480. The 224 is a great reverb, it's what you hear on the blade runner soundtrack. It fits nicely in the mix, but as it's old technology it's a bit dark and grainy. That's also what makes it attractive. The original 224 had no ambience algoritm.

You can make adjustments in the UaD to reduce grain (increase diffusion). I prefer the 224 to the 480.

[_leras]

It was a nice addition for sure. But SonsigA does well enough at Quantec for me. I have so many amazing reverbs VVV just doesn’t make the cut anymore for my ears. VVV is just too muddy/mushy for me.

VVV has quite a few different modes... which ones do you find mushy, and on what type of inputs?

for muddy/mushy, a post reverb eq can usually fix this up pretty easily.

Specifically against the UAD224 for Hall settings, there are differences. The 224 is dark, and could be called a bit noisy when the reverb is isolated, but works well in a mix context.

All of them (less so the new Palace). And it doesn't clean up very well compared to just using reverbs I like better, like Cinematic Rooms Pro, TaiChi, HDCart, and the UAD 224.

VVV was the first reverb I bought.

Fair enough. My thoughts on it wouldn't be that it sounds mushy though, but yeah, perhaps it's not got crystal clear clarity, that is more the forte of Valhalla Room reverb which does quite clean spaces.

[Fleer]

Loooooove that Arturia GUI.

[jamcat]

Now that I have the UAD 224, I'm swapping out Arturia with it. I prefer having a 1:1 correlation with the hardware, and the decay and bass offset on Arturia always bugged me because of that.

Arturia and UAD sound remarkably similar though, and I am able to easily replace Arturia with UAD with no discernable difference in the sound. But I save a few percent on my CPU. In isolation, I notice the Arturia has a little bit more of a glossy "hi-fi" veneer to it, which feels like some Arturia "special sauce" to me, and not in the original 224. And UAD has the Lexicon Chorus program which Arturia is missing. Though the chorus isn't as great as you might think it would be, but still nice to have.

I do miss some of the extras and ease of use from Arturia, and if I found the Lexicon 224 too limiting and wasn't producing a period accurate piece, I might reach for the Arturia LX-24.

[vitocorleone123]

Now that I have the UAD 224, I'm swapping out Arturia with it. I prefer having a 1:1 correlation with the hardware, and the decay and bass offset on Arturia always bugged me because of that.

Arturia and UAD sound remarkably similar though, and I am able to easily replace Arturia with UAD with no discernable difference in the sound. But I save a few percent on my CPU. In isolation, I notice the Arturia has a little bit more of a glossy "hi-fi" veneer to it, which feels like some Arturia "special sauce" to me, and not in the original 224. And UAD has the Lexicon Chorus program which Arturia is missing. Though the chorus isn't as great as you might think it would be, but still nice to have.

I do miss some of the extras and ease of use from Arturia, and if I found the Lexicon 224 too limiting and wasn't producing a period accurate piece, I might reach for the Arturia LX-24.

My ears heard a difference between Arturia and the UAD, and Arturia was not as good. It wasn't a large difference, but it was always there to me. Put the Arturia UX on the UAD 224 and I'd have paid more money for that!