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[IvyBirds]

IvyBirds wrote: "Valhalla Space Modulator … has lots of different algorithms but one of them is Symphonic Chorus."

Really? In my Space Modulator VALHALLA PRESETS, I have: Chorus/Spatial Chorus, Symphonic Flanger, RandomishChorus, Deep Chorus, A Flanging Forest, Fast Rotary, Detuned Chorus and Wide Chorus.

Detuned Chorus sounds wonderful, carefully applied – might that be the preset you're referring to?
/JHS

I don't know what to tell you. It's been a mode inside of it for years maybe even since it was released. There are a few presets under the Symphonic mode. The preset "Symphonic Verb" is my favorite. You can see it on this screen grab

Screenshot_20260624-081411.jpg

Here is a link to Sean the developer talking about it 9 years ago on another forum in a thread about emulating the SPX-90 from another forum

https://gearspace.com/board/showthread.php?p=12536491

Sounds really good with Cherry Audio's ESQ-1. Since it's free everyone should have it just for that preset alone. That preset sounds awesome on any synth, but especially emulators of 1980s digital Synths. I use it all the time

[Teksonik]

The only other one I am aware of is the one in Valhalla Space Modulator. It has lots of different algorithms but one of them is Symphonic Chorus.

I like to run Valhalla Space Modulator in series with a plugin called LO-FI-AF by Unfiltered Audio to add in some digital artifacts, color, and even more grittiness. TAL DAC is another good choice

Thanks I'll check that one out. I think there might be something similar in Korg's MDE-X V2 but I may be confusing it with something else. I'll have to check later today.

Looking at the screenshot above reminds of how much I hate Valhalla GUIs.....

[beely]

If people are allowed to lust after crappy sounding analog gear then lusting after early digital gear is just as valid.

Sure - no-one is invalidating anything - people are welcome to want what they want for whatever reasons they like. There are usually good reasons though for wanting modern recreations of old hardware, and most of those, short of "nostalgia", don't really apply to the SPX90 - again, *imo* - and this is possibly one reason why despite plugin devs looking for *any* increasingly obscure devices to model, the SPX 90, "Symphonic" aside (the algorithm which has been modelled by two companies now), has been largely ignored by everybody.

I'm just giving my opinion, based on owning the hardware are using it extensively, and revisiting it more recently out of interest. For a device for a few hundred pounds back in the 80s, it added some really useful things to a project/home studio. We don't live in that environment, and the digital algorithms used in plugins these days are way superior to these boxes, and they don't really have any useful or desirable characteristics, unlike other more characterful digital processors that have been well covered.

The symphonic flanger is about the only somewhat special or unique algorithm (although I preferred Pitch Shift C for thickening, generally). The pitch shifters, naive metallic Shroeder reverbs, bog standard inflexible non-syncable delays and so on are just stuff that if someone made a free plugin with DSP that did the same thing, would get written off as crap by the userbase in five minutes. If you really want the reverbs, IRs will take care of that easily, and they are out there already.

I get though that if someone made it look like the hardware and put the letters "SPX" on it, the same algorithms would be perceived differently, but that's the plugin market for you!

[IvyBirds]

If people are allowed to lust after crappy sounding analog gear then lusting after early digital gear is just as valid.

No-one is invalidating anything - people are welcome to want what they want for whatever reasons they like. There are usually good reasons though for wanting modern recreations of old hardware, and most of those, short of "nostalgia", don't really apply to the SPX90 - again, *imo* - and this is possibly one reason why despite plugin devs looking for *any* increasingly obscure devices to model, the SPX 90, "Symphonic" aside, has been largely ignored by everybody.

I'm just giving my opinion, based on owning the hardware are using it extensively, and revisiting it more recently out of interest. For a device for a few hundred pounds back in the 80s, it added some really useful things to a project/home studio. We don't live in that environment, and the digital algorithms used in plugins these days are way superior to these boxes, and they don't really have any useful or desirable characteristics, unlike other more characterful digital processors that have been well covered.

The symphonic flanger is about the only somewhat special or unique algorithm (although I preferred Pitch Shift C for thickening, generally). The pitch shifters, naive metallic Shroeder reverbs, bog standard inflexible non-syncable delays and so on are just stuff that if someone made a free plugin with DSP that did the same thing, would get written off as crap by the userbase in five minutes. If you really want the reverbs, IRs will take care of that easily, and they are out there already.

I get though that if someone made it look like the hardware and put the letters "SPX" on it, the same algorithms would be perceived differently, but that's the plugin market for you!

Beyond the Symphonic presets, the effects on the SPX-90 especially the metallic sounding reverbs sound amazing with digital Synths from the era, as well as guitar. Would I reach for one in 2026 to use on vocals? Nope. Would I use it on OPS7 emulating a DX7, or the Cherry Audio ESQ-1? Absolutely that is just another texture and color

[Uncle E]

FWIW, IR’s of SPX90 reverbs will be perfect because they don’t have modulation.

[IvyBirds]

The only other one I am aware of is the one in Valhalla Space Modulator. It has lots of different algorithms but one of them is Symphonic Chorus.

I like to run Valhalla Space Modulator in series with a plugin called LO-FI-AF by Unfiltered Audio to add in some digital artifacts, color, and even more grittiness. TAL DAC is another good choice

Thanks I'll check that one out. I think there might be something similar in Korg's MDE-X V2 but I may be confusing it with something else. I'll have to check later today.

Looking at the screenshot above reminds of how much I hate Valhalla GUIs.....

Yes both Korg and Roland have similar effects. Korg calls it "Ensemble" and Roland calls it "Hexa-Chorus". The Korg version has three modulated delay lines, Yamaha has four, and Roland has five. They work because they spread these lines across the stereo field which creates a psychoacoustic perception of width in the stereo field. The Yamaha version in SPX-90 is different than the others in that the delay times were fixed and exceptionally short and would vary between just 3-8 milliseconds as that is all the CPU can handle which gives it a unique sound that just sounds wide

[IvyBirds]

FWIW, IR’s of SPX90 reverbs will be perfect because they don’t have modulation.

True but the really interesting reverbs like the gated, and reverse reverbs rely on incoming audio passing a certain threshold to open a gate and then use an envelope follower to keep it open. IRs would be OK for things like one shot drum hits, but that doesn't work very well polyphonic sources or when playing arps

Take an Esq-1 hardware or the plugin (or a DX7) and turn the SPX-90 hardware to Preset #6: "Early Reflection 2". Go into the edit menu and change the revenue type from Hall to Reverse. And change the room size to 20 which is the maximum. That creates massive reverse swell and acoustic "smears" with waves and washes of sound rather than distinct rhythmic echos. Set the predelay to the minimum which is 0.1ms so it begins instantly

That just sounds heavenly, run it 100% wet and play arps fast or slow and individual notes just melt and become part of the wash of sound

With guitar do that ahead of any amp or distortion and you instantly are doing exactly what Keven Shields from My Bloody Valentine did on Loveless

Ahh the good old days.....man I wish I could do that with plugins

[Uncle E]

SPX90's are cheaper than plugins.

[zerocrossing]

If people are allowed to lust after crappy sounding analog gear then lusting after early digital gear is just as valid.

Sure - no-one is invalidating anything - people are welcome to want what they want for whatever reasons they like. There are usually good reasons though for wanting modern recreations of old hardware, and most of those, short of "nostalgia", don't really apply to the SPX90 - again, *imo* - and this is possibly one reason why despite plugin devs looking for *any* increasingly obscure devices to model, the SPX 90, "Symphonic" aside (the algorithm which has been modelled by two companies now), has been largely ignored by everybody.

I'm just giving my opinion, based on owning the hardware are using it extensively, and revisiting it more recently out of interest. For a device for a few hundred pounds back in the 80s, it added some really useful things to a project/home studio. We don't live in that environment, and the digital algorithms used in plugins these days are way superior to these boxes, and they don't really have any useful or desirable characteristics, unlike other more characterful digital processors that have been well covered.

The symphonic flanger is about the only somewhat special or unique algorithm (although I preferred Pitch Shift C for thickening, generally). The pitch shifters, naive metallic Shroeder reverbs, bog standard inflexible non-syncable delays and so on are just stuff that if someone made a free plugin with DSP that did the same thing, would get written off as crap by the userbase in five minutes. If you really want the reverbs, IRs will take care of that easily, and they are out there already.

I get though that if someone made it look like the hardware and put the letters "SPX" on it, the same algorithms would be perceived differently, but that's the plugin market for you!

I think much of vintage worship is nostalgia based, though there are some characteristics that the classics have that are almost universally appreciated. Why else would they attain “classic” status? A good rule of thumb is, if a piece of gear has several emulations, it’s a classic. If it doesn’t, there’s a good chance that your love for it is based on nostalgia, but there’s also nothing wrong with that. If you like it, it’s good, but don’t expect complete buy in from the rest of the world.

I think I have a bit of an immunity to nostalgia. Maybe I’m blind to it, but every time I’ve gone back to gear that I have fond memories of from my past, I’m disappointed. The “magic,” wasn’t in the gear, it was in the time that I used it.

[Seafire Mk2]

If people are allowed to lust after crappy sounding analog gear then lusting after early crappy digital gear is just as valid.

FTFY

[Uncle E]

Symphonic is excellent and not just for nostalgia, but there are plenty of plugins that are close enough.