Your favorite reverbs for Mix systems.
 

I'm trying to do some research on TDM reverbs for my Mix4 system. I've looked at the available plugins on Digi's site, but most are for HD, and won't work with Mix. The only thing I have is Dverb, and I'd like some more/better/different reverb. I like to use the reverbs on subgroups, so they need to be TDM. Any info anyone could give on their favorite reverbs would be great. Thanks!!

I'm on PT 6.4.1 and 10.3.4

Re: Your favorite reverbs for Mix systems.
 

I liked Lexiverb quite a bit (and miss it even more). TC's verb (was it called TC Tools?) was quite good as well.

Re: Your favorite reverbs for Mix systems.
 

If you're using Mix on OSX you will be even more limited. I had Reverb One for drums and Altiverb for vocals and other. Those were the best two for me on Mix. Reverb one is not as bad as some people make out, especially with so much less reverb being used on mixes generally. Also you can pick up an iLok asset on ebay pretty cheap. If all else fails a lot of cheap hardware units are available second hand and can be plugged in either analogue or by spdif.

Re: Your favorite reverbs for Mix systems.
 

I don't mean this flippantly, but as a real answer to your question.

I just finished building a PC to run four simultaneous stereo instances of Altiverb. Including the hardware, OS, software and Altiverb itself (no cracks), the cost was around $1,400.

That may seem high, but compared to even a single PCM91 its not unreasonable at all.

A cheaper computer could do for fewer instances too.

This was my answer to upgrading to OSX, and PTHD - to build PCs to do softsyths and effects. Its working out really well.

Re: Your favorite reverbs for Mix systems.
 

Sounds interesting.. How do you do this? I'm unfamiliar with this kind of setup. How do you connect it to the "main" system? How does it interface? Seems like a great idea. Does this need to be done with a PC, or can it be Mac as well? Any info would be great. Thanks!

Re: Your favorite reverbs for Mix systems.
 

I've always been a Mac guy. I'm not particularly interested in Windows pro or con - its just that these machines do the job cheaper, and will remain viable longer than Apple seems to hold on to versions of OSX.

Also, as you upgrade your rig, you'll always know that this dedicated computer will still work without needing to be WUP'd or uprgraded.

Mac Mini's can also work, I just don't know that route.

Buy or build a PC. A P4 3.2 GHz is plenty powerful.

I use a Frontier WaveCenterPCI card in the PC. It does 32 MIDI channels (4 MIDI ports - 2 in, 2 out) and 8 channels of digital audio on ADAT lightpipe.

I connect the lightpipe to an ADAT Bridge (to a Mix Farm I/O), and it shows up as an interface in Pro Tools.

The Frontier cards work on the kernal level, so when running 4 stereo instances, the total latency can be as high as 20 ms, and it can be as low as 9 ms in less demanding circumstances. This is alright (to me) for reverb, since I almost always want a pre delay anyway.

When triggering a softsynth, the latency is even shorter. It easily beats my Virus TDM plug in's latency, and that's within in the same machine, running inside Pro Tools!

The fact that the Frontier Card gets optical digital audio IN allows it to sync to my Pro Tools system, so no further word clock etc. is necessary.

You'll need to run some software as a VST host for Altiverb too. Check Altiverb and the maker of your soundcard for compatibility.

There are other options: FX teleport, Mac Minis - all kinds of things.

I can tell you that having a seperate PC for softsynths, and another seperate PC for effects really helps my workflow. Reverbs stay running as softsynths run, get recorded, are closed, and other opened. Pro Tools is always the open window on that computer, and having multiple trackballs to control them can save time too. Leaving the PT trackball over a track's solo or mute button, and having key commands for the transport is really helpful while looking at a second screen on the softsynth PC, and editing perameters. Your main mouse on the softsynth stays where it is, and you can just touch whichever buttons you like without looking at them, keeping your focus on the task at hand. Cool!