GameVerb: SNES, PSX and N64 Reverb Plugin available now!

[zircon]

I'm pleased to announce the release of GameVerb, the ultimate plugin dedicated to 90s game console reverbs!

https://impactsoundworks.com/product/gameverb/

Representing the authentic sound of the Super Nintendo (SNES), PlayStation (PSX), and Nintendo 64 (N64) reverb algorithms, this is a quantum leap beyond our now-ancient SNESVerb plugin. Here's our quick trailer:



I Don't Play Video Games, What's This All About?

The SNES, PSX, and N64 are home to some of the most beloved video game soundtracks of all time. Programmers of the time used clever tricks and strategies to create lush reverb on very limited hardware, using special algorithms, filters, and delays designed to take as little CPU as possible.

With GameVerb, these ingenious reverb algorithms have been not just emulated, but fully recreated in modern code, giving you the exact sound and control that composers and sound designers of the era had… just a lot more convenient.

If you don't care about or have never played any games from these consoles, think of this as three extremely distinct vintage reverb/echo effects paired with some awesome lo-fi and retro shaping tools!



SNES Mode
The venerable SNES used a deceptively simple delay/echo effect to simulate reverb, which we've modeled faithfully. However, we've also included (for the first time in a plugin, to our knowledge) the FIR Filter from the SNES sound chip. This is basically a primitive type of impulse response (FIR = Finite Impulse Response) which can shape the 'reverb' in all sorts of interesting ways.

I personally went through over 600 tracks from hundreds of classic SNES games to retrieve their exact reverb and FIR settings, which are available in this plugin. So if you want the specific sound of "Aquatic Ambience" from Donkey Kong Country, the opera scene from Final Fantasy VI, or even build your own custom FIR, you can!

PSX Mode
Nine characterful classic reverbs from the PSX: Room, Studio Small, Studio Medium, Studio Large, Hall, Space Echo, Echo, Delay, and Half Echo. These are not simply presets but different algorithms. Use the size, feedback, damping, and width controls to have the reverb sit just right in your mix.

Nintendo 64 Mode
Nintendo’s 64-bit powerhouse didn’t have its own reverb per se. Instead, it provided building blocks that developers used to create their own reverb.

To this end, we’ve included three submodes. Mode 1 is a delay used by many games like the N64 Zelda, Donkey Kong, and Kirby games, among others. Mode 2 utilizes comb filters to recreate the reverbs for over 100 classic games, including Mario Party 3, Super Smash Brothers, and Transformers. The third mode runs the two modes in series.

Tweak the presets or create your own sound using the time, feedback, damping and comb output controls. Or jump into Geek Mode and edit the comb filter parameters down to the last detail.

This is, to our knowledge, the only plugin that has EVER modeled the N64 reverb!

Global Shaping
Expanded global capabilities let you quickly and easily dive further into a vintage, retro sound. Bring more dust and grit to your sound by lowering the sample rate or using one of the five modes of the Bit Rate Reduction filter.

The BRR filters were originally found only on the SNES component, but we made them global for use on the PSX and N64 reverbs as well.

Control how much of the sound gets affected with separate (but also linkable) dry and wet controls and color it with pre- and post- low pass filters.

Created With Love
You can't make a plugin like this without being over-the-top passionate about retro video games, which we are. All of us at ISW have great nostalgia for the 90s era of video gaming, but we also teamed up with audio wizard Jatin Chowdhury again to create/model the DSP, as well as programmer L. Spiro, an extreme technical expert on the N64 (among many other things game hardware!)

https://soundcloud.com/isworks/sets/gameverb-demos

Availability

GameVerb is available now in VST3, AU, AAX, and CLAP formats, with a free trial version available on the page below (periodic light noise) and a 14-day satisfaction guarantee.

MSRP is $49, but existing ISW customers who own related products like Super Audio Cart, inSIDious, or Super FX Vol 1 will find deals waiting for them in their Personalized Deals area.

https://impactsoundworks.com/product/gameverb/

Enjoy!

[Nug Wrangler]

No Xbox algorithm?

[Agreed]

Very interested! The attention paid to the SNES mode pleases me, love making tracks trying to incorporate some of the vibe from that era (oh, to be a kid again, playing those games).

[zircon]

No Xbox algorithm?

Too new-school Also, to my knowledge, at that point in game development reverb algorithms were much closer to the ones we use now.

[Nug Wrangler]

No Xbox algorithm?

Too new-school Also, to my knowledge, at that point in game development reverb algorithms were much closer to the ones we use now.

Ah ok. No biggie

[QCGroove]

So $50 I’m guessing? I was 10 in the mid nineties and I absolutely gotta have this as a character reverb and for nostalgia reasons. $50 seems like a bit much for me personally so I would probably wait to buy a second hand license but it sounds amazing and great work!

[cyberboycoolen]

Hello don't mean to stress or anything, just wanted to ask if there is a release date? Thanks.

[mcbpete]

Is the PSX mode the reverbs you got with the CD Audio player i.e.

[zircon]

GameVerb is available now! There are TONS of audio examples on the product page below:

https://impactsoundworks.com/product/gameverb/

And here's the full walkthrough:

[QCGroove]

So $50 I’m guessing? I was 10 in the mid nineties and I absolutely gotta have this as a character reverb and for nostalgia reasons. $50 seems like a bit much for me personally so I would probably wait to buy a second hand license but it sounds amazing and great work!

It’s $49, I was so close!

[zircon]

We spent awhile developing this with the help of several consultants and two DSP programmers, so $49 is about the lowest MSRP we could do. But if you own any of our other retro-themed products you'll have a discount in your Personalized Deals area. We also have a discount for first-time customers that you get when subscribing to our mailing list. Or, if you want to wait awhile, we have our annual holiday sale at the very end of the year!

[Caine123]

Is the PSX mode the reverbs you got with the CD Audio player i.e.

i didnt check the video, is there any info on this?

[EvilDragon]

From the product page:

Nine classic reverbs from the PSX, each with its own unique character: Room, Studio Small, Studio Medium, Studio Large, Hall, Space Echo, Echo, Delay, and Half Echo.

[Caine123]

From the product page:

Nine classic reverbs from the PSX, each with its own unique character: Room, Studio Small, Studio Medium, Studio Large, Hall, Space Echo, Echo, Delay, and Half Echo.

thx, need to check this, seems to be a great retro reverb!

[foosnark]

Watching the walkthrough video, there's a lot more here than it seems like at first glance.

Normally I'm reluctant to buy a plugin that doesn't have a demo (even with a return policy). And I'm of two minds about using Pulse to download (and then, it's kind of funny that you have to enter the code again, otherwise it's in demo mode which isn't even accessible if you didn't have the key to download it from Pulse in the first place...) But the demo video convinced me I'd probably like it... and I do

On to the plugin itself. Overall I'd categorize it as a very experimental reverb.

- The "dry" output includes the stereo mix option, the pre and post LPFs, the sample rate and BRR filter. So you may want to put this inside a chain container in your host to have a separate dry mix.
- On the other hand, this means you can use this "dry" just for the lo-fi stuff with no delay/reverb.

SNES mode:

- If you invert the polarity of one of the channels, that's a totally non-mono-compatible stereo image (and can get weird in headphones too) so I'd recommend some caution with that... if you then also delay one channel by a few ms and then use something like SideMinderZL it's not a problem.
- Adjusting or modulating the Time can cause crackling/glitching. It depends on the rate and amount. Also the time is a little steppy even with quantization turned off. But you can use this to your advantage to bring in some extra noise/lo-fi flavor with an LFO or envelope follower in the DAW.
- Playing with the FIR filters isn't super intuitive but it is extremely cool. Between feedback and FIR settings you *can* make things blow up (which is cool if that's what you want, but protect your ears! Maybe use a limiter.) The FIR presets are really handy to have just to flip through and see what happens.

PSX mode:

- I didn't think this one was as fun at first, but explore a bit, it's got some potential.
- Size Scale is a little more open to being modulated and that can really open up the sound on some of these algorithms -- how fast and how much will sound is going to vary.
- Some of these sound great when stacked with a delay effect or a second reverb.

N64 mode 1:
- a really good mode for lo-fi delays
- modulating delay time can be rewarding

N64 mode 2:
- Twice so far in this mode, the CLAP version has managed to crash the audio engine in Bitwig, causing me to have to reload the whole project. I've now set it to be hosted individually.
- I wish the scale controls could go a bit further. I find myself going into the editing panel just to turn up all of the feedback coefficients.
- You can go pretty nuts with the editor, but it can be more fiddly and less fun to work with than the other modes. I am not usually a preset fan but I wish there were some interesting creative presets along with all of the ones extracted from actual games. Still, some experimenting can pay off... play with buffer size, apply FB Mod to some combs, etc. to get weird.

Overall, a fun plugin and I'll be using and abusing it for sure.