Which reverb is good in 2023?

[Ou_Tis]

SIR3 is IMHO one of the best reverb plugins. I could elaborate why. Nobody ever talks about it. Not popular ‘here’ at all. It is also affordable.

Why exactly? I have it and don't like it very much. It claims greater realism, which I rarely care about, but it seems too bright by default to be realistic---and I generally prefer darker reverbs on most sources. Don't like it as much as DearVR Pro or Inspirata for realistic spaces. (But again, I almost never want realistic spaces....)

[jamcat]

This thread is about popular reverbs, not good reverbs

Yeah, because people like bad reverbs, that's why they are popular

Yes, it’s called the Bandwagon Effect. And KVR is a circus parade.

Yes, that's the problem with threads like these - everybody is allowed to participate, not just the experts like you.

So the thread-title should perhaps better be called "Which reverb is good in 2023? Only experts please!".

But then you'd probably still have people who consider themselves experts even though they haven't got half a clue, right?

Come to think of it, I think actually the best way to avoid that would be if you and the OP got in a room together - so why don't you guys take it to PM instead? I think that would be the best way to avoid people mentioning popular reverb plugins that aren't actually good.


Edit: typos

So I never said anything about being an expert. I was just agreeing with previous posters that there is not a strong correlation between “good” and popular.

There is a stronger correlation between cheap/free and popular. Not to mention, “good” is completely subjective, while there are at least metrics to measure price and popularity. But ultimately, bandwagoning is the most significant factor, and every community has its own. You’ll find the most popular on KVR are not the same as VI-Control.

For example, most people who try VSL MIR Pro 3D or Inspirata would say those are very good reverbs. And yet they are not very popular on KVR. Perhaps that has something to do with the price. But then Acon Digital Verberate2 Basic is completely free and subjectively “good” but it barely gets a mention either. Because everyone is too busy parroting the same 3 reverbs.

[HAL76]

All reverbs are good [...]

[...] but some reverbs are better than others.

[chk071]

All reverbs are good

No.

[jens]

I was just agreeing with previous posters that there is not a strong correlation between “good” and popular. [...]

Not to mention, “good” is completely subjective.

Bingo! (last bit)


And just for the reord: I was making fun of everyone who argues as if they lacked any awareness of this.


P.s.: you are contradicting yourself pretty hard right there.

[martiu]

no reverb best, dry sound very clear and detailed, using revrb - muddy sound

[El°HYM]

no reverb best, dry sound very clear and detailed, using revrb - muddy sound

Do you have Velvet Machine or Cascade?
https://phonolyth.com

[jens]

no reverb best, dry sound very clear and detailed, using revrb - muddy sound

Do you have Velvet Machine or Cascade?
https://phonolyth.com

Buy now?

[El°HYM]

no reverb best, dry sound very clear and detailed, using revrb - muddy sound

Do you have Velvet Machine or Cascade?
https://phonolyth.com

Buy now?

You.

[jamcat]

I was just agreeing with previous posters that there is not a strong correlation between “good” and popular. [...]

Not to mention, “good” is completely subjective.

Bingo! (last bit)


And just for the reord: I was making fun of everyone who argues as if they lacked any awareness of this.


P.s.: you are contradicting yourself pretty hard right there.

That's not a contradiction. There is not a strong correlation between "good" and popular. That is true. And "good" is completely subjective. That is also true. Those facts are not contradictory. Quite the opposite, in fact. There can't be a correlation because "good" is subjective. But a strong correlation between cheap/free and popular can easily be demonstrated with a scatter plot and linear regression.

[jens]

. There is not a strong correlation between "good" and popular. That is true. And "good" is completely subjective. That is also true. Those facts are not contradictory. Quite the opposite, in fact. There can't be a correlation because "good" is subjective. But a strong correlation between cheap/free and popular can easily be demonstrated with a scatter plot and linear regression.

I hate to break it to you, but what you write here makes really absolutely zero sense - it's perfectly illogical.

[JerGoertz]

All reverbs are good

No.

Nonetheless, you are obligated to own all of them

[jancivil]

VSL and GPU Audio teaming up for Vienna Powerhouse in MIR Pro 3D is pretty exciting news. This really ought to be the future of reverb.

Specifically, physically modeled ray tracing reverbs that harness the ample GPU cores in modern processors (Apple's M3 Max has 40 GPU cores) to place audio sources and room mics within 3-dimensional spaces. MIR uses convolution, but GPUs would be particularly suited for ray tracing reverb reflections within purely modeled spaces.

I'm not at the moment setup well enough to have massive orchestras in MIR 3D up that immediately benefit from it in noticeable realtime terms, but it clearly is utilizing the CPU dramatically different here, evidenced by renders of a full project that heretofore took 100-120 seconds, say, now taking 10 seconds. At first I had to check if I was in fact rendering the full project. I'll sometimes buy something even if largely for the future at their introductory price, which here extends to the soundstage pricing in promotion of.

EDIT: I am now using 1/3rd the latency as all year.

[jancivil]

I haven't cared much about reverb since I got fully into MIR Pro (pre-3D). Delay like Replika XT OTOH...

[DCrown]

Last year it was Waves H-Reverb, this year it's Waves IR-1