KVR Audio

Weasel-Boy · Post by **Weasel-Boy** » Mon Jan 05, 2026 9:16 pm

I see others have convinced mholloway the AAR is not silicon-compliant. I took a screenshot of my copy of AAR run through ArchiChect for an absolute verification. AAR not being silicon compliant was the whole point of starting this thread.

When Apple finally kills of Rosetta from the OS, it'll be adios for AAR on that system.

I will be looking into the LiquidSonics Tai Chi suggestion as a replacement. As an owner of Reverberate 3, I am familiar with the quality of LiquidSonics products. After some initial research, it would appear that Tai Chi uses an algorithmic engine. If it was an impulse engine, I'd have to pass. Reverberate kinda handles that.

AAR in ArchiChect.png

mholloway · Post by **mholloway** » Mon Jan 05, 2026 9:29 pm

And here I thought the "point of (your) thread" is how to meaningfully *replace* AAR....but yes, I get it, I very get it, it's using Rosetta on my mac. I've always been amazed it runs at all. And I've always been fully aware that I'd LOVE to find a suitable replacement for it since clearly this won't last much longer... nobody is arguing these points, I was simply asserting that it "still worked" on a mac, as of right now.

mholloway · Post by **mholloway** » Mon Jan 05, 2026 9:30 pm

dbl post

zvenx · Post by **zvenx** » Mon Jan 05, 2026 9:44 pm

I haven't used AAR in years, probably over a decade...but the reverb that works great on synths (albeit, limited) is the Softube release of the reverb of the Model 77 as a separate vst..
rsp

jtsterays · Post by **jtsterays** » Mon Jan 05, 2026 11:59 pm

Imo Tai Chi is not a replacement, and I actually don't like it that much in the end, I regret buying it (selling it rn). The main selling point of it was the chorus engine that's inspired by the 224 hardware and the chorus in RC24 (softube 224 clone) and tbh the chorus in that sounds better. The chorus and tail movement of Tai Chi is kind of uninspiring to me, low amount then it's too static and almost metallic, but more than that it's too detuned - And this is where AAR differs the most, because of that 1 modulation knob, it's one of the nicest sounding modulation in a reverb, perfect for "huge, ethereal, lush, unreal" fx reverb type, AAR actually sounds quite metallic when you turn it off. I don't use it for realistic/room sim settings, just the big fx ones.
Also the attack and spread in AAR have nicer curves, it feels more like an extension of the source, whereas in Tai Chi its sound + verb.
AAR was actually what I was looking for instead of Tai Chi (I tried probably all the currently premium reverbs atm)

(ofc this is subjective)

Winstontaneous · Post by **Winstontaneous** » Tue Jan 06, 2026 5:35 am

Does anyone have demos of Arts Acoustic, say comparing same track dry, with AAR, and other reverbs?
I've never AAR but have heard a lot about it over the years. I'm an algorithmic reverb junkie so am curious how it sounds, thanks!

mcligge2 · Post by **mcligge2** » Tue Jan 06, 2026 9:31 am

jtsterays wrote: Mon Jan 05, 2026 11:59 pm Imo Tai Chi is not a replacement, and I actually don't like it that much in the end, I regret buying it (selling it rn). The main selling point of it was the chorus engine that's inspired by the 224 hardware and the chorus in RC24 (softube 224 clone) and tbh the chorus in that sounds better. The chorus and tail movement of Tai Chi is kind of uninspiring to me, low amount then it's too static and almost metallic, but more than that it's too detuned - And this is where AAR differs the most, because of that 1 modulation knob, it's one of the nicest sounding modulation in a reverb, perfect for "huge, ethereal, lush, unreal" fx reverb type, AAR actually sounds quite metallic when you turn it off. I don't use it for realistic/room sim settings, just the big fx ones.
Also the attack and spread in AAR have nicer curves, it feels more like an extension of the source, whereas in Tai Chi its sound + verb.
AAR was actually what I was looking for instead of Tai Chi (I tried probably all the currently premium reverbs atm)

(ofc this is subjective)

Agree with your remarks on detune and spread/attack, AAR wins there

sqigls · Post by **sqigls** » Tue Jan 06, 2026 9:46 am

Tai Chi does a lot, has chorus and shimmer, bit crusher, dynamics, diffusion and the multipliers. If you're looking for dah tarnce verb then maybe that Polyverse one is up your street? the Rob Papen algos are quite taharncey too. Modulated metal powders and infinite t-harnce.

mcligge2 · Post by **mcligge2** » Wed Jan 07, 2026 3:33 pm

ADPTR Utopia is also nice. Sounds also as wet as AAR, only the reverb has a slow attack. So the reverb is not glued to the sound as AAR does. I cannot make it act the same as AAr.

Utopia Again is synth + reverb, instead of one nice synth sound with reverb combined.

mholloway · Post by **mholloway** » Wed Jan 07, 2026 5:04 pm

sqigls wrote: Tue Jan 06, 2026 9:46 am Tai Chi does a lot, has chorus and shimmer, bit crusher, dynamics, diffusion and the multipliers. If you're looking for dah tarnce verb then maybe that Polyverse one is up your street? the Rob Papen algos are quite taharncey too. Modulated metal powders and infinite t-harnce.

Nobody mentioned Trance but you.... There are numerous uses for a "synth verb" beyond Trance music.

sqigls · Post by **sqigls** » Wed Jan 07, 2026 5:27 pm

no, only for tarnce

mcligge2 · Post by **mcligge2** » Mon Jan 26, 2026 1:52 pm

PS the ValhallaFutureVerb is actually really impressive. It is recently released and it sounds very good. Check it out, gives AAR vibes with certain settings

Weasel-Boy · Post by **Weasel-Boy** » Mon Jan 26, 2026 7:56 pm

mcligge2 wrote: Mon Jan 26, 2026 1:52 pm PS the ValhallaFutureVerb is actually really impressive. It is recently released and it sounds very good. Check it out, gives AAR vibes with certain settings

I'm pretty sure I pointed this out earlier in the post: I bought Future Verb and I can tell you unequivocally that it sounds nothing like the AAR. The problem with Future Verb is that its tails sound artificially "noisy" to me. It just doesn't sound the same as AAR does with the same material. Do a side by side comparison for yourself. Mind you, Future Verb is not a bad sounding reverb at all. I didn't buy it to replace the AAR though.

BTW, I still haven't found anything that gets close to the AAR yet. Still looking.

mcligge2 · Post by **mcligge2** » Fri Jan 30, 2026 9:00 pm

You are right that it is more noisy. I agree with you.

Did you check ADPTR Utopia?

I also note that there will never be a true replacement

billinder33 · Post by **billinder33** » Fri Jan 30, 2026 10:16 pm

Utopia is amazing. No experience with AAR so can't comment on whether it's a viable replacement.

Replacing the Arts Acoustic Reverb