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Reverb - hard or soft?


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Hello all,

 

I would like some advice on REVERB!

 

I am a Logic 7 (soon to be 8) user with a Macbook Pro. As much as I like Space Designer, I feel it is time to get a little more serious about my verb. Therefore I am trying to make a decision on which reverb to buy and whether I should stay soft or get hard.

 

Doing some research I have managed to narrow my choices down to 3 (in order of preference so far):

 

1. Lexicon MX400

2.Lexicon PCM91

3. Altiverb

 

In an ideal world i would go and snap up a Lexicon PCM96 but this would be financial suicide.

 

I am thinking I shouldn't buy Altiverb because Spacedesigner is already a top notch plugin and the quality difference will be negligible (I am assuming, but please correct me if I am wrong)

 

There is a serious price difference between the MX400 and PCM91 (plus the latter does not connect via usb to work like a plugin with logic whereas MX400 does). Does anyone know if it would be worth the extra cash to buy a PCM91 or is an MX400 good enough? This is a home studio we are talking about after all, but I really want some of that reverb magic on my vox....just can't decide.

 

PLEASE SHARE YOUR OPINIONS

 

cheers

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What exactly is not serious about Space Designer? What can't it do that you're looking for in another verb? Have you used SD in Logic 8? Are you anti-Convo or Pro-Algo? ;)

 

I have a rack mounted Lexicon and tons of verb plugs I rarely go to anymore unless I just want "that plug's" sound, which is rare. The power I have with SD in using my own IRs is more than I can use right now.

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+2.

 

Space designer is plenty deep. I usually don't go into it too much though as I like most of the presets and the additional ones I've acquired. SD is a REALLY good reverb. You just have to ignore the fact it came with Logic. If it was a 3rd party plug I'd buy it. :D

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hmmm, maybe i am suffering from grass is greener syndrome...it just seems every forum i read is telling me that plugin verbs are nowhere near as lush as hardware ones.

 

do you guys have any advice about using spacedesigner with different IRs...i tried googling it but couldnt find any impulse response downloads for logic...always seems to be .rar files which i think are for altiverb??

 

moreconfusedthanever

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hmmm, maybe i am suffering from grass is greener syndrome...it just seems every forum i read is telling me that plugin verbs are nowhere near as lush as hardware ones.

 

The beauty of software reverbs is that if you want lush, you can layer them 6 ways from sunday to the limits of your host cpu. You don't have to settle for just one instance.

 

What Altiverb gives you over SD is a large and well produced set of IR's that are more comprehensive than SD's. It also gives you different, but not necessarily more, ways to manipulate them.

 

There's also a lot to be said for being able to easily manipulate reverb inserts and sends within your DAW, for parallel processing, etc., which becomes very clumsy when you attempt it externally.

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  • 1 month later...
All that hardware verbs are is an IC in a box with algorithms, just like your mac. The only advantage to hardware verbs these days are the "legacy" verbs and the ability to take the DSP load off of your computer. Other than that, verbs like SD and Altiverb are much more flexible and capable (IMHO).
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do you guys have any advice about using spacedesigner with different IRs...i tried googling it but couldnt find any impulse response downloads for logic...always seems to be .rar files which i think are for altiverb??

 

moreconfusedthanever

 

I got some very good IRs from http://www.acousticas.net/

They have very good stuff from Lexicon and EMT , great quality.

They are not for free but they are very affordable

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All that hardware verbs are is an IC in a box with algorithms, just like your mac. The only advantage to hardware verbs these days are the "legacy" verbs and the ability to take the DSP load off of your computer. Other than that, verbs like SD and Altiverb are much more flexible and capable (IMHO).

Say that to the Bricasti M7. :-)

 

I'm considering getting the M7, but right now I'll be using the CSR, BReverb and the SD (just for SFX though). And the TC M3000.

 

The SD certainly isn't as flexible or capable as the M7. Generally convolution reverbs aren't very flexible.

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Before you make a decision, go to Acousticas.net (they have a really impressive site btw," and download the free bricasti M7 pakage. It will give you taste of whats available there. It totally changed my mind about Sound Designer. I can't wait to get their Lexicon stuff as I have a Lexicon PCM70 in my rack and would love more instances.

 

good luck.

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Before you make a decision, go to Acousticas.net (they have a really impressive site btw," and download the free bricasti M7 pakage. It will give you taste of whats available there. It totally changed my mind about Sound Designer. I can't wait to get their Lexicon stuff as I have a Lexicon PCM70 in my rack and would love more instances.

 

good luck.

 

 

Is Acousticas part of Lexicon, or vice versa?

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Is Acousticas part of Lexicon, or vice versa?

 

Neither. Acousticas is just a 3rd party impulse response developer. They have available IR's from the Lexicon L300, L224, L480, EMT 245, and EMT 252. All for Space Designer and other convolution reverbs and all for pretty reasonable prices. The Bricasti M7 IR's are free. Apparently a promotional move to get users familiar with their products.

 

syncsailor

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Is Acousticas part of Lexicon, or vice versa?

 

Neither. Acousticas is just a 3rd party impulse response developer. They have available IR's from the Lexicon L300, L224, L480, EMT 245, and EMT 252. All for Space Designer and other convolution reverbs and all for pretty reasonable prices. The Bricasti M7 IR's are free. Apparently a promotional move to get users familiar with their products.

 

syncsailor

 

Thank you so much for your response.

 

Cheers!

Matt :wink:

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  • 1 month later...
Where on their site do you get the Bricasti M7 IRs from? I don't see any link to that.

 

Edit: Never mind, found them here! 105 MB package, downloading as I type.

 

Dear Camillo, I have downloaded these as well.

In the .rtf file with instructions how to use these in the Space Designer, it says, and I quote:

 

'This folder contains Logic Space Designer Presets I've created for the freely Available Bricasti Impulses from Acousticas

 

Please put the PSTs into:

 

User/[Your User Name]/Library/Application Support/Logic/Plug-In Settings/SpaceDesigner

 

and the IRs into:

 

Macitosh HD/Library/Application Support/Logic/Impulse Responses/Bricasti M7

 

Have fun!

 

Wojciech Grzymala'

 

The thing is, the following path: Macitosh HD/Library/Application Support/Logic/Impulse Responses/ simply does not exist.

Maybe the guy was referring to: Macitosh HD/Library/Audio/Impulse Responses instead?

 

Have you noticed this?

 

 

Matt :wink:

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As beltauer says, all a digital hardware verb consists of

is a series of software algorithms running on a dedicated DSP

chipset.

-

It does all depend on whether the CPU demand for this kind of

stuff can or cannot be handled by your Mac. SD (if it runs fine

without spiking your processor) will cope with almost anything

that the stand-alones can produce.

 

The only justification, as lagerfeldt echoes, in having external

kit is to relieve load and/or produce a response for which there is

no readily available IR for Sound Designer.

 

Anything which isn't an actual room, a plate, or a bit of coiled up

nichrome with a mic on each end is, these days, simply another

incarnation of what you have in SD.

 

-

pH

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As beltauer

 

The only justification, as lagerfeldt echoes, in having external

kit is to relieve load and/or produce a response for which there is

no readily available IR for Sound Designer.

 

pH

 

no, the only justification is, "...would you like to come up the studio and see my bricasti...?"

 

:roll:

 

had a crap day, thats all i got.

 

xx

Cx

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plenty of "knobs" for control.

 

 

there you go pH, the perfect 2nd line if name dropping the bricasti doesn't work straight away, which frankly it should, cos who wants get with someone who isnt into Bricasti!

 

:lol:

 

xx

Cx

 

If I only had $3700. Sigh.

 

Are you trying to buy pH for $3.7K, but hes priceless!...oh no wait, you mean the bricasti...

 

8)

 

xx

Cx

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  • 9 months later...

How do I install Acousticas Lexicon L480 in Logic pro to use in both in space designer, waves IR-1 & IR-L?

 

Package has 4 folders

 

1.Acousticas->Core Library

2.Digidesign Mod Delay II

3.IR-1 & IR-L Support

4.Structure Support

 

Where should I put them?

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i now this is an old thread, but since it's been resurrected, imma gonna bite

 

i do love space designer and i am gonna try the bricasti impulses

 

however, as lush as convo's sound when you have them set up , or have your goto settings, they are no good for dialing in settings on-the-fly

 

space designer seems to be a sound designers dream were it not for having to recalculate and reload the IR's if you even stare at it a little funny

 

this is obviously the convo way

 

but i find algo's necessary , and way more fun, if you are experimenting a lot more...however, i have never found the sound of logics algo reverbs to my liking....

 

demo'd wavearts verb...not bad....i use 'space master 2' in reaktor a lot for huge ambient sustain verbs.....the king, though, having demo'd the older version and , now, the newer would seem to be 'aether'...just too lush

 

i reckon SD + aether would be a winning combo

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