ArtsAcoustic Reverb

As a film composer in Los Angeles, one of the many tasks of my job is to create a realistic sounding electronic mock-up of the score for a director to audition. Two key ingredients are essential in successfully achieving this feat: the choice of the sample libraries used (the “source”) and the choice and use of the reverbs (the “space”).

The way in which I work involves running as much of the studio in as real-time fashion as possible, permitting me to make fast composing or mixing changes on the fly. As I have to provide a very elaborate full-on orchestral presentation, many computers have to be utilized to reproduce it, which also means many subtle layers of reverberation have to be added into the mix. Using hardware reverb boxes would be very cost-prohibitive and complicated to integrate, so a software solution was the only realistic option. Unfortunately, most software offerings weren't up to snuff in the quality department...until the introduction of the Arts Acoustic reverb (AAR) plug-in.

After listening to the mp3 demos posted on the Arts Acoustics website, then downloading and running the demo version of the plug-in within my sequencer, I was instantly hooked. My first impression was how “musical” it sounded, inspiring me to write a new piece of music just from playing a sampled piano through it. This reverb has no metal-edged artifacts that plague most other software reverbs, and it always finishes with an ultra-smooth tail--typical desirable characteristics of a high-end hardware box.

AAR includes many useful presets to get you started, yet it's fast and easy to dial-in a sound or “color” as well, due to its excellent control facilities and GUI. I’ve never worked with a reverb that always sounded so great no matter how much I intentionally abused its controls--AAR's sound always sounds musical. Quickly winning me over, I purchased AAR and didn't waste any time putting it into very heavy use on my projects.

One of the best features--specifically in my case--is the flexible usage clause of the AAR license agreement. You can run as many instances on as many different computers (doesn't matter which plug-in format or even which platform) as you want! My studio setup is configured to run 18 separate AAR reverbs spanned across 7 computers (and AAR is relatively CPU friendly for what it does). This setup is absolutely essential for me to be able to produce the sonic illusion of a real orchestra performing on a Hollywood soundstage.

Having had many email conversations directly with the Arts Acoustic Team, as well as participating on the Arts Acoustic KVR-hosted Forum, I can happily report excellent customer service and support. They have always answered my questions in a timely manner, before and also after the sale, a quality which I find is sometimes lacking with other companies.

I can't rave enough about AAR's smooth-as-silk sound, ease of use, unlimited simultaneous usage license, very affordable cost, and on top of all of that, superb, personalized customer service.

The Arts Acoustic Reverb has been the only reverb I've needed to help produce polished, smooth, professional film scores.Read Review