[sdiy] Cheapest good sounding digital reverb?

[Richie Burnett]

> Just speculating here, but I wonder if the mono-reverb/voice algorithm is 
> quite unnatural...

That is one of the criticisms of convolution reverb, that it puts all of the 
instruments in the reverb's send feed through the same "single-point to 
single-point" transfer function (or "single-point to two-point" in the case 
of stereo reverb.)  Which is not what happens in reality because every 
source is in a subtly different location.

I remember reading something that someone involved in early reverb 
development had written about this.  Can't remember who it was now, but 
likely someone from Lexicon.  They said that they got around this static 
sound by the introduction of modulations like "spin" and "wander" so that 
successive sounds would get subject to subtly different transfer functions 
instead of the same rigid transfer function.  This isn't so much putting 
each instrument in it's own unique fixed place in the room, as much as 
moving the single source around in the room with time.  There were also 
comments about the fact that humans rarely keep their heads absolutely fixed 
in the same place whilst listening to music, and musicians operating real 
acoustic instruments move significantly in order to play.  So clearly a 
single-point to single-point transfer function falls short of modelling 
reality.

There were also comments about air currents in large rooms driven by thermal 
gradients, etc, which I found less convincing.  The fact remains that 
modulating a bunch of the delay lines within the reverb algorithm was very 
effective at breaking up some of the metallic resonant modes that plagued 
early reverbs that had barely enough of the expensive delay memory.  That is 
probably the over-riding reason why modulation was introduced:  To disturb 
the metallic ringing in the reverb tail, ...and the fact that it sounds 
fantastically dreamy and musical when ramped up!

-Richie, 


-- 
This email has been checked for viruses by AVG.
https://www.avg.com