Which LiquidSonics Reverb?

[liquidsonics]

Yes the reason for the crossfeed control is indeed primarily to assist with pan tracking and helping the engineer define the character and behaviour of the soundstage as elements are panned around. I found that post production clients were asking for the ability to focus the reverb in the channel the source was panned to and have it track as they made their pans, and for the other channels to have a bit less reverb or to present with a greater sense of distance with a timing offset or additional rolloff for emphasis (without messing up the fold-down). As the source is panned around, it helped them sustain the sense of space they had defined by preventing reverb uncontrollably flooding into all channels with broadly similar levels and timing characteristics as they were typically experiencing with their other reverbs. Whether that was coming from a naturalistic or artistic perspective, sure I can understand there is some room for debate here. I was pleased that it was turning into a fairly simple to use but powerful workflow facility for them to be able to optionally lean into when needed so we tuned up those features and included them in the final package. I also included a very basic crossfeed level control in the surround update to Seventh Heaven Pro as it had been well received.

[chagzuki]

Yes the reason for the crossfeed control is indeed primarily to assist with pan tracking and helping the engineer define the character and behaviour of the soundstage as elements are panned around. I found that post production clients were asking for the ability to focus the reverb in the channel the source was panned to and have it track as they made their pans, and for the other channels to have a bit less reverb or to present with a greater sense of distance with a timing offset or additional rolloff for emphasis (without messing up the fold-down). As the source is panned around, it helped them sustain the sense of space they had defined by preventing reverb uncontrollably flooding into all channels with broadly similar levels and timing characteristics as they were typically experiencing with their other reverbs. Whether that was coming from a naturalistic or artistic perspective, sure I can understand there is some room for debate here. I was pleased that it was turning into a fairly simple to use but powerful workflow facility for them to be able to optionally lean into when needed so we tuned up those features and included them in the final package. I also included a very basic crossfeed level control in the surround update to Seventh Heaven Pro as it had been well received.

Aha, very interesting. May I ask, are there certain designs that inherently don't lend themselves to this functionality? For instance, Tai Chi has become my main reverb, but given the current range of Liquidsonics reverbs I might find myself stuck between preferring that crossfeed control in CRP and the extreme chorusing flavour of Tai Chi. I notice that Valhalla opted for a similar distinction in VintageVerb and Room, though in the former some of the modes have early reflections that track the source (Ambience in particular).

[MogwaiBoy]

Honestly it's hard to pick a single favourite, BUT, if I really had to, it might be Tai Chi.

The reason is because it does the modulated (Lexicon) thing AND it does some very convincing ambience/room/hall sounds - and everything in between. It's a great all-rounder and doesn't fall into the "Jack of all trades, master of none" versatility cliche. It's super flexible and the sound quality is utterly ridiculous (as per Liquidsonics usual). It's just so beautiful sounding and you can do so much with it. I feel like I could more than get by with just Tai Chi.

But luckily I don't have to pick just one...

[chagzuki]

Honestly it's hard to pick a single favourite, BUT, if I really had to, it might be Tai Chi.

The reason is because it does the modulated (Lexicon) thing AND it does some very convincing ambience/room/hall sounds - and everything in between. It's a great all-rounder and doesn't fall into the "Jack of all trades, master of none" versatility cliche. It's super flexible and the sound quality is utterly ridiculous (as per Liquidsonics usual). It's just so beautiful sounding and you can do so much with it. I feel like I could more than get by with just Tai Chi.

But luckily I don't have to pick just one...

Yeah, it took me quite some time to get familiar with all the parameters, and making the right choices with density, wander etc. But I wonder how much better it could still be if it had some form of crossfeed control.

Edit: despite spending loads of time with Tai Chi I realise I didn't understood the early reflections settings as well as I presumed. The close positions (1) exhibit a sort of low-crossfeed behaviour and the distant settings high crossfeed, as one would expect in the real world. So there's a lot of control there. No such control with the reverb tail though.

[DCrown]

Tai Chi is pretty cool, I am going to demo it once again maybe.

[ChamomileShark]

Hopefully a sale soon.

[comfortablynick]

I have been demoing Tai Chi in hopes of a sale, but I'm just not getting along with the interface. I wish that instead of the selectable 3 or 4 band "reverb time multipliers" there was an EQ-like graph such as Pro-R has. I'm not sure Tai Chi gives me anything I don't already have in my reverb folder. I hope I'm wrong and can find an excuse to buy it.

Exponential Audio Symphony doesn't have a multiband RT60 editor, but you can adjust the high and low multipliers separately, effectively giving 3 bands.

[Stokely]

Someone on vi-control posted an insane spreadsheet of all the ways from most "efficient" to least to use the sales and loyalty coupons. Not sure if that has been linked to from this thread. That thing is dangerous, because while I don't need (or even want) all their reverbs, it kicks off the bargain-hunting instinct (which is like a bear's mothering instinct). It's that rationalization where you say "Hey if I buy ALL the reverbs, I save more money!" Yeah, sort of, if you intended to buy all of them in the first place!

Anyway, I bought Tai Chi Lite so I'm on the most efficient path(s)! LOL Next if I want to stay on the bargain trail would be Illusion, which I knew nothing about. I was really only interested in CR standard and maybe a Tai Chi upgrade, but after reading up on and listening to Illusion I'm pretty interested. Seems like it might scratch a similar itch (realistic spaces) to CR, albeit by using different tech.

All this is kind of silly, but it is worth noting that there are both sales and loyalty discounts, and the latter stack. My Tai Chi Lite gets me 10% off the sale price of whatever I buy next for example.

[Funky40]

yes, they had BF sales the last years. and only then.
yup, definitly better to plan the purchase.
Buy in clever order if intended to buy more than one.
Do NOT buy many in one go !

[vitocorleone123]

I have been demoing Tai Chi in hopes of a sale, but I'm just not getting along with the interface. I wish that instead of the selectable 3 or 4 band "reverb time multipliers" there was an EQ-like graph such as Pro-R has. I'm not sure Tai Chi gives me anything I don't already have in my reverb folder. I hope I'm wrong and can find an excuse to buy it.

Exponential Audio Symphony doesn't have a multiband RT60 editor, but you can adjust the high and low multipliers separately, effectively giving 3 bands.

It is an EQ-like graph. Quite easy to use.

The interaction with the RT multipliers (and RT multipliers in general) are not, however, clear. ProR2 definitely offers a better UX, but it also offers a considerably worse-sounding reverb than TaiChi. To me.

No other reverb as far as I know sounds like TaiChi. It's quite possibly the most flexible modern reverb. But if you don't like using it, or don't like the sound, then none of that matters.

I ended up gravitating toward Cinematic Rooms Pro (best sounding reverb to my ears ever made to date) and UAD 224 as my two primary reverbs. TaiChi is just after those (but is a bit of a CPU hog on my aging computer). Then comes the rest of them.

I never use 7th Heaven Pro, Illusion, or Reverberate 3. HDCart doesn't get a lot of use but some, and the same with Lustrous Plates Surround (if I want a plate, which isn't often, I usually just use UAD Pure Plate). I also currently have seven more reverbs installed not made by Liquidsonics or UAD, having deleted many more over this year.

CRP is my "desert island" reverb, and has been since I bought it awhile back. Even though it's less functional than TaiChi, I just love the sound of it. I'd certainly survive in that reverb desert island with just TaiChi, as well.

[martiu]

hi, Cinematic Rooms Pro very good, buy now

[comfortablynick]

No other reverb as far as I know sounds like TaiChi. It's quite possibly the most flexible modern reverb. But if you don't like using it, or don't like the sound, then none of that matters.

I do like the sound so far, just not loving the interface. I also have Seventh Heaven Pro which I like, but don't use a lot. I tend to prefer character reverbs with modulation. I hope there's a nice BF deal and I can justify grabbing it. I just got a few new reverbs in the UAD Signature bundle today though, so not sure if I can justify it!

[beely]

hi, Cinematic Rooms Pro very good, buy now

Do not buy now, wait until the Black Friday sale starts in a week...

[zerocrossing]

hi, Cinematic Rooms Pro very good, buy now

It's made it on to everything I've done since I bought it. It has a great way of just melting into the mix and not being super obvious.

[DCrown]

The question is what is the best liquidsonics reverb in 2023?!