We break down our favourite reverb effects, covering everything from cutting-edge digital hardware to lo-fi analogue options.
It’s almost impossible to escape from reverb in the real world. Every space his its own unique acoustic character, and every sound we hear is shaped to some extent by our surroundings.
When we start to think of reverb from a production perspective, things get a little more complex. Artificial reverb – that is to say, added deliberately during or after recording rather than occurring naturally within the original performance – has been one of the fundamental tools of producers and recording engineers for well over half a century.
Numerous approaches have been tried in that time, from echo chambers to mechanical devices through to analogue circuits and on, of course, to digital hardware and computer software. As producers working in the 21st century, we’re lucky enough to be able to take our pick from hundreds of options. Each type of reverb unit has its own merits, its own character and its own impact on the way your music sounds.
Join us as we run through nine of our favourites – a varied selection which covers every base from the slickest, most realistic ambiences through to rough, lo-fi approaches.
03.00 PM
Excuse me but where is the Midiverb II at? What kind of dance music producer has a room for a plate reverb.
08.34 PM
Lumping the Space Echo in with reverbs seems to be pushing it a bit. It’s a great unit, but…
Also worth mentioning are the dirt-cheap plugins from ValhallaDSP (which borrow a lot of techniques from both Lexicon and Eventide), and the more expensive ones from 2CAudio.
02.34 PM
makes me laugh how people always get so mad at these features. guys, they’re just attack’s choices. if you don’t agree, write down your own list on a piece of paper and look at that instead. it’s hardly as if it’s some kind of official ranking, plus there’s a lot more to read here than just the names of 10 reverbs. maybe if you read it you’d realise they actually mentioned the midiverb AND the fact that most people don’t have room for a plate so should buy the plugin instead.
eric, i kind of agree with your point on the space echo but they are absolutely awesome for reverb as well as delay effects. even the delays are so messy and organic that it isn’t really delay as most people think of it these days. i got to borrow one off a friend for a while and what i actually liked it most for was a short reverb-style effect on vocal samples.
i also agree that the valhalla reverbs are excellent
10.16 PM
This is an unusually random feature from Attack…so few of these devices are really relevant to dance music eg the Lexicon 224…or EMT 140 (a vintage plate!)…’Acoustic space’ followed by a Bricasti! Its just all over the place…and honestly is that really relevant for dance music producers?
Here is my list:
2cAudio Aether
Valhalla Vintage Verb
Valhalla Shimmer
Relab 480
Eventide Black Hole pedal
Strymon Big Sky pedal
Eventide H3000 Rack unit
Roland Space Echo vintage delay
11.44 PM
Strymon Bluesky should’ve been in there