Reverb: Is convolution the "best"??

[dharmawan]

you know.. i'd be curious to hear 2 versions of a mix.. one processed with an impulse of a given reverb (like the EMT for uad).. and other with the actual plugin/hardware. there might be a difference but maybe not?

ive been thinking of getting the kurzweil rumour for my main reverb, it has the same algorithms as the ksp-8 which i really like, costs about £500 and also can be used as a very good AD/DA converter

[Space Boy]

u mean a bit like this

http://www.voxengo.com/imodeler/

or this

http://products.prosoniq.com/cgi-bin/re ... l&refno=44

The Prosoniq looks to be more like what I meant.

[EnzymeX]

Thanks for all the great feedback! I was out of town for a few days, and it's great to come back to a wealth of information like this. It's like being a kid in a candy store!

[Funkybot79]

I'd still argue that not only is a good non-convolution based reverb far more flexible than a convolution based one, that it would also sound better (note I used the word "good" earlier in the sentence). Now why? A) You can tailor your reverb to your song easily and quickly (some convultion verbs are getting better with this, but the process seems limiting and degrading in some respects). For instance, even if you can change decay times with a convoverb, you're locked into things density, dampening, filtering, etc. Even if you can EQ the tail of a convoverb, you don't know that the tail from the original impulse wasn't already filtered/EQ'd within the hardware, thus you're just adding phase distortion to the signal, etc. and yet another step in the process, which will probably degrade the signal over time (whether the degradation is audible to anyone/most is something else). B) Convoverbs are static snapshots if you will of reverbs, thus no tail modulations, etc. I'm a believer in the thought that the human ear picks up on and likes subtle changes in sounds. Right now I'm looking at Princeton Digital for the short term, then going for the UAD-1 Project Pack and getting the EMT Plate. Just from the way the stereo seperation sounded (and how the reverb seemed 'move') on a demo of the EMT a user had posted somewhere, it seemed to me that a convolution verb wouldn't be able to properly capture those changes, and that's a huge part of the sound IMO.

Now don't get me wrong, SIR's still my best reverb at the moment. In fact I'd take SIR over a mediocre non-convoverb any day. But in theory, unless you're looking for the sound of an exact room from an exact location then I think a good non-convo would always win. So note that these statements should only be applied to a good non-convolution based reverb.

[mikebuzz]

Funk I agree with you to a certain extent but teh convo stuff is rapidly changing in it's quality and quantity ( also alot of dynamic stuff is being expirimented with !! ) so maybe giving it a little time is smart ???? , there are some instances where a good REAL verb is best tho

LAter
Buzz

[sinkmusic]

hi
i like a lot using SIR impulse reverb.
Today i found and downloaded onthe web some nice impulses. It was mentionned that they were for mac (.sit files), and made to work with Audioease's Altiverb.
I thought it would be .aif files, and that i had just to convert them to use with my PC.
instead of that, it was unknown format files, ending .L and .R.
Can i convert these files in .wav format, to use with SIR, or is it just for Altiverb ??
Thank you !

[emdot_ambient]

I would imagine that, like pretty much any other music gear, there' a use for all kinds of reverb. I don't typically use on delay, chorus, flange, phaser, synth OR reverb and although I haven't used convolution yet, I'm sure it has its uses. Sometimes you'll use reverb just for ambience, placing sounds within an imaginary soundscape, or to liven up a sound or mix. Other times it'll be used more like a traditional effect, transforming a sound into something new. As such, I don't see the point in broad discussion of "this is better than that." The devil's in the detail, so where we might come to some more or less acceptable agreement on which type of reverb would be best for a particular use within a specific mix . . . the subject is moot. Get what you can and play with it.

Hey, that's a good philosophy for life, really.

[Joxer the Mighty]

emdot's right on the money. Different tools for different jobs. If it sounds good, it is good.

[[ Lex ]]

its kind of easy...

IF( YOU have CA$H )
get Eventide Orville
get TC Reverb 6000
get Lexicon 960L
return()
FI

IF( YOU have little(CA$H) )
use reverb impulses and some VST like princeton
return()
FI

IF( YOU have NO(CA$H) )
use reverb impulses from those mentioned above.
return()
FI

DEFAULT
make more music



/ Lex

[Broken]

,,

[Space Boy]

In short, convolution based processing can realize any modification of the time domain signal - reverb just happens to be one single application. A time domain based reverb can just realize a reverb, and nothing else.

NERD ALERT!

That's right - Did you check out 'Convo Boy' yet?