Surround Reverb Plug-In’s
 

It’s time I upgrade my Surround Reverb. I’m looking at Altiverb and Exponential Audio.
AltVerb is pricey and EA has a slew of plugins to choose from. I would love to hear from you guys which u prefer. Obviously the AltVerb GUI is a winner.

Best
Mitch


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Re: Surround Reverb Plug-In’s
 

For me there's no easy answer to that.
They're all good at different things.
I find I use Altiverb the most. It has a fantastic range of Post options and you can create your own reverbs for ADR matching etc using slate claps or hand claps etc if you have a friendly Sound Recordist who will make those recordings for you. You can even create your own surround reverbs or sample hardware into the plugin. The automation is bulletproof too.
I have the Exponential ones as well and I find they're better for more FX based stuff. Stratus and Symphony are my favourites. They also have a great range of Post presets and Symphony can do a very good Lex 480 impersonation with all the modulation, something you can't get from Altiverb. Again automation on the Exponential plugins is flawless.
Both great companies with fantastic responsive support too.
Then there's Slapper which I find pretty indispensable now. Not a reverb, but great for early reflection stuff like alleys and courtyards, forests etc and again brilliant support and functionality.

Tough choice.

Re: Surround Reverb Plug-In’s
 

This always comes down to personal preference; I tend to prefer Exponential Audio's "Symphony", but I'm a music mixer. Most convolutional reverbs sound slightly odd to me, but for post applications they are probably better at emulating real spaces (especially smaller ones). EA's "Stratus" will also do quite nicely and is a slightly "cleaner" reverb compared to Symphony. All of the EA reverbs are very processor-efficient so you can have a lot of them in a session. Also a contender would be Flux's IRCAM verb which does have a nice early and mid reflection engine for realistic smaller spaces but with the control of an algorithmic reverb.


Really, I think you need both convolutional and algorithmic reverbs available.

Re: Surround Reverb Plug-In’s
 

Indoor + Slapper

I use altiverb less and less now. It's still good but Indoor is my workhorse for post (interiors) and slapper (exteriors)

Re: Surround Reverb Plug-In’s
 

Hey Mitch,

I use EA Stratus Surround for dialogues incl ADR, foley and FX almost exclusively.
Still prefer AV XL7 for smaller spaces especially for cars.
I can also insert AV on my futz track for achieving very wet but natural sounding FX or music.
EA R2 Surround for music sometimes but use it not too often.
Slapper Surround for exterior effects and widening without smearing associated with reverbs.

Those three are covering my creativity very effectively.
I also use Eventide Blackhole for some very long reverb, but its not surround.

Re: Surround Reverb Plug-In’s
 

One thing the Exponential reverbs do that Altiverb doesn't, is calculate the early reflections based on the panning of the input, and create different ERs for each output channel of the reverb. This lets you pan into a 5.0 or 7.0 reverb and actually hear the variation in the output. That said, using multi-mono Altiverb and panning into it with some divergence, or using separate stereo instances for front/rear or front/sides/rear can also be equally, if not more, effective. I use both Phoenix Surround and Altiverb extensively.

Also, just got Slapper and I'm loving it.

Re: Surround Reverb Plug-In’s
 

Try UPMIXING it. I do that with an old Yardstick Backyard preset. And a couple other stereo only options.

I am off of convolution for the most part as it can be difficult to get rid of that that "tanky" quality. Though, I quit like Indoor. Otherwise, EA for me.

Re: Surround Reverb Plug-In’s
 

Upmix is bad and noob! :)
I think Exponential Audio and Waves 360 Reverb ist the best!
Do you have in Altiverb a fast controller for balancing the reverb to the speakers or to make differnt position for the ER or paning the soundfield in the "virtual" suuround room and many more parameters like in the Exponential Audio plugin?
A other very good Surround Reverb was Realverb 5.1 for TDM, this was amazing and with extremly good handling!

Re: Surround Reverb Plug-In’s
 

Without a doubt the new Stratus and Symphony are the best surround reverbs I've ever heard bar none. I'm using the Atmos versions of both on my new show, and they're stunning... so lush and rich. And so many controls as well.

Not cheap but well worth it. Stratus perfect for room simulation, Symphony amazing on music. You may not need both.

But I'd use these over R2 or Pheonixverb at this point, although I own all four, and those two are great as well.

Still love Altiverb, but the algorithmic reverbs have gotten so good, don't see any need for convolution ones anymore.