I Finally Tested All The Reverb Plugins!

I feel like every piece of music I make will be bone dry after making this video 🎤🦴
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tiemstampsh:
0:00 - rules?
2:10 - Best long ambient trails
5:53 - Best AI assisted reverb
8:09 - The most dynamic/powerful reverb
12:47 - Best convolution reverb
14:38 - Best shimmer reverb
16:52 - Best vintage reverb
19:18 - Best FREE reverb

[@BennJordan]

Some webstores are outdated, Spacer is now free if you download direct here: spectral-plugins.com/

[@alterculture]

Sorry I know you asked for joke, but I'm surprised no mention of Reverberate 3 or Seventh Heaven. I have not used either, just Reverberate 2. I have some other favs not listed, I just thought at least 7th heaven was well regarded.

[@0xphk]

It's a little bit sad, that the 3 plugins are only free because they stop operation and yet, they still value their customers so much.

[@m.a.6478]

Comes a reverb into a bar and orders a beer. After drinking all three of them, the reverb feels a bit convoluted. Another guy says "Hey Verb, you look pretty folded, what's wrong?!" "I dunno, I'll have to reflect on that."

[@carstensorensen154]

@@0xphk Only the developer of Spacer, Spectral Plugins, has halted operations. Valhalla and Melda are still very much going strong.

[@lisan_al-ghaib]

Hey Benn, great video! can you do a part 2 with chamber/room reverbs. There's a lot 😁

[@LuxLucidOfficial]

Why did the producer buy 50 reverb plugins? It was his impulse response.

[@AnthonyRagus]

Ugghhh, this shouldn't be funny.

[@francobuzzetti9424]

bruh this is comedic gold

[@djjohnny5166]

HA, thank you

[@user-dr3jc1bg7n]

No joke, two if the IR libraries I bought were impulse purchases.

[@jacobhauge7282]

Genius! Pure Genius!

[@AdamHanley]

Hi Benn, I was the lead developer for Vast (it was kind of my baby) and I'm really glad you mentioned it in the video and enjoyed it so much! While it wasn't the main focus of the plugin, Vast can shimmer too (because I'm a sucker for a good shimmer)! Thanks again for the kind words and positive feedback - it means a lot. Love your videos!

[@dasczwo]

reverb developers are true samaritans in times of overcrowded and tight living spaces. thank you. no irony here.

[@DanielBastionMusic]

Just dropping in here to say I love Vast and have been having so much fun using it!

[@oscillatorstorm]

@@dasczwo Finally a good reverb joke

[@rhinoskin7550]

What a cool life man! Congrats ❤

[@VHF.brunoverdoni]

Benn, great video , thank you. What do you think would be the best for Orchestral work? liquidsonic, Altiverb….? Thank you

[@meldaproduction]

Thank you for mentioning our work, Benn :)

[@francobuzzetti9424]

speaking not only for myself but from many others , thank you! you made amazing stuff available for everyone regardless of skills and money!

[@kmac.]

I use MConvolutionMB, it's also great, though took me a bit to learn the interface

[@bleh6151]

Homeless babies

[@MichaelGaidamaka]

Thank you, Melda team!!!

[@MrRacecourser]

You guys are goats 🐐💯

[@sebastian_meier]

A spring reverb walks into a bar: "One beer please to stop the ringing" - the bartender looks at it: "You're tanked up already."

[@ekredel]

this is next level geek humor and i LOVE it!!! 😂

[@mCKENIC]

A duck walks on stage in a huge empty concert hall and quacks. The sound dies immediately and the duck walks off stage. A pigeon enters stage-right and coos - the sound fills the entire hall. Why??? A-coo-sticks! (Thanks for the video!)

[@pjohns92]

-____-

[@ckhgator]

booooooooo

[@HolarMusic]

​@@ckhgator coooooooooo*

[@blackasthesky]

:(

[@PLively]

I am going to find you.

[@TheSilentFool]

This is an engagement comment. I am very engaged.

[@cayenneta]

congrats on the proposal!

[@Positive_Tea]

​@@cayenneta😂🏆

[@GeorgeLocke]

Is that like being very online? Can you be too engaged?

[@brendanhcarroll]

I, too am engaged.

[@Positive_Tea]

@@brendanhcarroll I'm like, so enegaed rn 😍😍😍

[@greyboxaudio]

Why was the EMT engineer nauseous? Because he had too much on his plate!

[@DJeMo]

While locked in his room down the hall

[@jonasluca9037]

haha ok that ones good

[@bricelory9534]

Its like one big echo chamber in here /reverbjoke

[@pirojfmifhghek566]

This pun makes me wet.

[@jimrogers7425]

At the beginning of my studio career, back in the early 80s, I worked for someone who had his beginnings with a studio that created their own ‘reverb chamber’ by taking an empty room and shellacking the walls to create the necessary live character. He told me that what he would do sometimes when the studio owner was working on a mix would hide in the chamber and either make some random noises or whisper a bit just to make him think something was ‘broken’ or that a mouse had gotten into the room. On another note, at the beginning of the Jimi Hendrix classic, ‘And the gods made love’ there is a low reverberant sound that, after setting up an EMT plate I realized how it was made… lightly tapping on the plate with a pencil eraser, recording it at a higher speed and slowing it down a couple of times. In fact, you can hear the ‘bias whistle’ of the tape because of how much it was slowed down. Once at an AES convention I met Eddie Kramer and asked him if I’d guessed right and he confirmed my suspicions. Those were the days. LOL! Great video!

[@LexNevilleZA]

I thought you'd discuss 80's reverb but realised it's a gated community. Psp 2445 and exponential audio verbs are my go twos.

[@Johnnybananass-_]

I love the Fabfilter Pro-R 2. its a lovely reverb and sits so well in any mix and doesn't sound like an after effect slapped on.. like some verbs that I feel glued on.

[@jussivalter]

Yeah. It's good reverb but far from perfect or best tbh.

[@wesleybrehm9386]

The “glue” verb on R2 is great. For music I’d take Valhalla for most uses, but FFPR2 is a fire plugin for film sound design. I often use it on dialogue.

[@xanderpills]

Seventh Heaven is also great for "blending in"

[@hofa_en]

Much like you, we're reverb nerds and always record impulse responses from interesting rooms when we stumble across them. Cool that you featured our IQ-Series Reverb in this video! Thanks for the trophy 🥳

[@TheQxY]

Some free alternatives for the other categories: - Long Ambient: Airwindows Galactic2 - Plate Reverb: Airwindows kPlate - Spring Reverb: Fuse Audio Labs VREV-666 I was surprised to see no mention of Airwindows in the free category. He has made many, and not all of them are great, but he has some very unique algorithms in there.

[@SinclairSound]

Airwindows has both his own crazy ideas and some stuff that would be more like other available plugins. He is a bit of a mad scientist when if comes to DSP, some of his filters are just wild. Free but would highly suggest supporting his patron if you use a few. of them.

[@airwindows]

Yo, I'm a patron of his. For all I know he hates them but even if he likes them that's reason enough to stick to the more mainstream offerings: for what Benn has done going up against Behringer, Spotify etc. I'll love him forever even if he hates my sounds :D and again, he shouldn't mention my work if he's taking money from me, I think it's completely reasonable for him to look past. There's too many weird options anyway :)

[@kumble2687]

@@airwindows nonetheless, you are amazing at what you do sir!

[@gainofdysfunction4135]

If only someone could make skins for those. I don't know how to make them myself.

[@tonverfall_studio]

all hail AirWindows!

[@lucilaos]

I'm so ANGRY about you missing my favorite reverb!!! I'd make a joke about reverb, but it'd be convoluted. On a serious note, fire video :)

[@mttlsa686]

I've found my go-to reverb in RAUM by native instruments. It's immediate, simple but effective and it sounds really full! I use it most of the time because to my ears it gives the sound of what reverb should sound in my mind and I really like that modulation knob which makes the reverb tail like shimmering + a hi rate lfo chorus effect.

[@slimyelow]

I luv and have been fascinated with this effect from the day I got an Alesis Quadraverb when I was a kid. It became the 3rd unit in my home studio after a Roland D10 and the Atari 1040ST. But I was not aware that it could be down to such a science from a musician's perspective. Your episode really inspired me and the curiosity spark has ignited.

[@edinatl2008]

Thanks Benn, I always felt like I knew the basics of reverb but whenever I went to use it I was overwhelmed and confused. I've needed a lot of help and this video is what I needed.

[@Nirossen]

that reverb joke at the beginning about the walls wanting a feature got a good chuckle outta me, thank you

[@gronk500]

Seventh Heaven is fantastic for adding inconspicuous reverb to live classical recordings in large spaces. It typically merges beautifully with existing natural reverb.

[@eren3390]

Seventh Heaven. Pro-R. Love those two.

[@pyratellamarecordingstudio1062]

Surprised 7th wasn’t mentioned

[@Arcessitor]

@@pyratellamarecordingstudio1062 He disqualified IR if it didn't allow imports.

[@saykaOs]

Seventh heaven my choice

[@INeedsMoneys]

@@pyratellamarecordingstudio1062 or cinematic rooms for that matter, equally as good imo

[@petersvan7880]

For the money, the Seventh Heaven 49 Euro light version is ehh, heaven :)

[@morebygarrison]

waaahhh!!! you didn’t mention my go-to and favorite reverb of all time Native Instruments RAUM :( in all seriousness, I’m definitely gonna check out the melda ones i’ve been sleeping on. thanks for the video :D

[@ThatDarnGenius]

Altiverb 7xl is my Mount Rushmore for Vst reverbs. I bought it 10 years ago and updated it every time they came out with an update. I have made so many of my own IR’s for it over the years and used it on countless recordings 😊 Honorable mention is Seventh Heaven that verb is 👌🏾

[@gabrielferraz7586]

Melda's MConvolutionMB is a hidden gem imo, it isn't just a multi-band version of MConvolutionEZ, it's a feature-rich convolution reverb with loads of options for editing and creating IRs that you can get for less than 20 euros when it's on sale

[@ZombieLincoln666]

I love Valhalla’s simple GUIs

[@stevedoesnt]

Valhalla and Soundtoys Super Plate are just the easiest reverbs in the world to get sounding right.

[@diegooliveirabenjamin]

Thank you for your effort, I’m obsessed with reverbs, gonna love this!

[@Dan-ms4oq]

For covering some of my favourite spring sounds, I just wanted to say "tanks"! I was about to type a hate comment but on reflection I've changed my mind.

[@tedbahas]

Love your no BS reviews and industry discussions. I have in the manufacturer side of the industry for over 40 years and you are spot on. Keep it up!

[@glade_maker]

Great video as always!! I love the new Soundtoys SuperPlate plugin, with "ducking" feature, also Spring reverb by Softube, and Altiverb of course for IR... Thanks for the Spacer tip, that's just insane to get that for free...

[@matslarsson5988]

Nice to see Melda get some love. People really need to discover their stuff.

[@Zvox]

My personal favorite free reverb is epicverb by variety of sound. its got a nice, intuitive, vintage looking UI, its relatively versatile, and i personally really enjoy how its plate reverb sounds. i like it so much that i have it on a send bus in my FL template, so every project i start has it in there by default. i usually send most of my mixer tracks to it just a little bit to sort of glue everything together at the end.

[@PrincipalAudio]

Native Instruments Replika (in "Dispersion" mode). Automate that bad boy over certain vocal sections and you have a lush, smooth long tail reverb effect that sounds perfect on nearly all vocals I've used it on.

[@danasdas6683]

This is another one of your videos that I will rewatch many times. Wow. So much information! Videos like this and your Eurorack setup and your Eurorack revamp, must take a lot out of you. Thanks! I think we all really appreciate your take on things and you really share a lot with these. Love how you zeroed in on LX224 emulations. Thanks again!

[@roberthunt1540]

You had me at "I really like reverb". It's an obsession with me. It began with the work of Jan Erik Kongshaug and ECM. My most recent chain involves Relab LX480, TC VSS4 HD, and Savant Quantum Evolution.

[@hepphepps8356]

He was the reverb master!

[@deividasgnedinas7592]

Oh man you mentioned all my favorite reverbs i use ;)

[@HighLifeWorkout]

Great video! I had been using the stock reverb in Reason or my guitar pedals for over a decade 😂. I’m definitely gonna check out your VST recommendations now💪🏽

[@hellcat5music]

OMG!! I LOVE that adaptiverb!!! I've been LOOKING for a reverb that tunes itself to the key of the song!! THANKS BENN!!

[@sair338]

I love watching any and all reverb videos you put out, such a fun topic

[@alexgrunde6682]

My go-to is a Melda reverb but it’s the MReverbMB. I use reverb to create odd sound design more than traditional reverb duties and the multiband is really good for that.

[@moritzwegge6835]

thank you ben! unbelievably helpful! also this little spin at the very beginning of the vid was ✨majestic✨

[@ilyandilymusic]

Just messed around with Spacer and holy hell it's a lot of fun. The randomize feature for each part or randomize everything at once is fantastic.

[@illuminatibraincontrol]

wow, a best of video that actually mentions the Melda Production product and honestly states the power. Best part is, the updates they do on their products somehow find things to add that I would never think of, and yet, are also amazingly useful, sometimes even gamechangers. Top company.

[@Pheekofc]

so nice of you! Love this video and will be a go to for years to come.

[@bericadori]

My go to reverb is Reason RV7000 and another one that I love is Softube Spring Reverb

[@johanh9637]

Love rv700 sonce it was new. Started with VSTs last years and afterr trying lots of stuff I found softube just rules. My favourite reverbs are their wasted space (so fast and easy to make great sound, without using the bitcrush feature of it) and their Chamber reverb from the old ABBA studio. I have a great modelled spring reverb from UHE , but will try softubes one aswell. I have UADs Chamber verbs and lexikon, but always reach for softube. The lexicon (classic reverbs or something) verbs from Native Instruments made by softube I like better than the UAD aswell, event through it is Said to have the original algorithms.

[@timgosden5519]

Why did the reverb plugin get an award? For outstanding performance in spatial awareness!

[@TheToneWork]

Great video as always! I was hoping Raum would make it in. It's one of my favs.

[@Thefi5thdnb]

I use two instances of native instruments RAUM for my ambient sounds, it also has a echo feedback feature which creates a metallic sound at short amounts, and the freeze option is wicked when you adjust the size parameter whilst it plays, I've used this plugin as a main part of my sound design for the last couple of years and I think it sounds really nice compared to other plugins I've used at the price of about £40 it's absolutely my favourite. But I do want to get spacer now and tie them together 🔥💪🏻

[@peterbondmusic]

Yes, M Turboverb is awesome. One of the best ever!

[@Yapouchkine1]

Hey Benn, Thanx! I really enjoyed you and your video!

[@maxdgrey]

Amazing to see BEAM in here. Awesome video as usual Benn!

[@LesSondiers]

Hey Benn, great video as usual 😊 thank you 🙏

[@jonahhodges6225]

Thank you for this video Benn!

[@petergedd9330]

Thank you for the heads up, and trying em all out.

[@andivax]

Valhalla vintage verb is the most versatile. Relab LX480 is the most glorious. Altiverb is the monster of convolution because of its library. Slate/Liquidsonicsb Verbsuite is grear collection of legendary machines.

[@weschilton]

Yeah I was really surprised at the lack of mention of Altiverb!

[@itskrp]

Thanks for the video Benn! IQ Reverb looks like a lot of fun.

[@RobinRimbaudScanner]

A fascinating deep dive there Benn, and as someone slightly allergic to ambient musicians coating absolutely everything in a glossy golden syrup reverb, this was an inspiring exploration. Thankkkkssssssssssssssssssssssssssss (that's a convolution reverb there)

[@jdavis.fw303]

Thanks again Benn, amazing work! Helping us amatuers who have neither time, patience, nor funds to do this kind of exhaustive work. 🙌

[@rebeccawhite5333]

Great video. I was surprised to not see Lexicons official PCM Native Reverb Plug-in mentioned tho

[@martinforstner3075]

I am happy to see that Melca gets some love. They have some great and unique plugins and now I have to take a closer look at their Turbo Reverb 😀👍

[@val_de_mez]

Ben I've always liked your videos but only recently finally had the chance to sit down and listen to your music and it is amazing. Big fan. ❤🎉

[@EIPStudiosOhio]

Ive been obsessed with reverb and algorthms for years... These video series just poured gasoline onto that fire thank you

[@AbdulazizAlbosefi]

lovely video Benn

[@lextron-audio]

Relab Sonsig A, Valhalla and Sinevibes are my go-to’s

[@mattsmusika]

Raum from Native Instruments, probably worth mentioning, I got it for free. Abby Roads Plates and H-Verb from Waves may have been worth mentioning also. UVI Plates and Spark Verb are nice too. Epic Plate (forget who makes it) probably a good mention for vintage emulators/free.

[@uncletrash8770]

I've been using a few different reverbs, for VSTs its mostly Valhalla Supermassive, and Guitar Gadget's Niagara Falls from Musical Entropy. I also use 2 Alesis Quadraverb II one after another, both are full of presets that were made by the person who owned them before me, a Vancouver session musician. He knew what he was doing with these things.

[@HeathcliffBlair]

Thanks for the video. Interesting reverb selection.

[@darrisigurvin6816]

Thanks, I progressed a track that had been in hold for weeks thanks to your video.

[@ignitiondj4025]

Thanks for the video Benn

[@emiel333]

Great video, Benn.

[@johnathan71118]

I love music but have never touched (and probably never will) music production, But I still find these videos fascinating! Thank you Mr. Jordan

[@CoopMusic247]

Solaris is pretty dope for a shimmer verb

[@mymodularjourney]

Excellent overview.

[@bcroson82]

I recently got into Altiverb. 20 years too late I know. But it absolutely rocks. I have various 224, 480L, RMX, etc. plugin emulations from many brands. And Altiverb's IR's of these vintage units, plus some even more obscure vintage units, sound brilliant. So much better than the emulation plugins. It's really not close. It's obviously not as editable as the UAD 480L plugin, but it sounds way better. It is my new king of reverbs.

[@wmpx34]

It’s really good, I use it all the time. Can be frustrating when the sound is 80% there and it’s tough to dial it the rest of the way in, but you can stack plugins before or after Altiverb to try to shape it.

[@bcroson82]

@@wmpx34 100%, it's less flexible to dial in. But comparing Altiverb to UAD or Relab 480L is nuts. One sounds like your sound is in that emulated space and it's a part of it, the other two sound like kind of muddy things tacked onto the back end of your sound. No comparison. If a preset is 90% there and I need an EQ or compressor after the fact, that's still far preferable to something you can dial in for days but never sounds nearly as good.

[@motomuso]

Thanks for this exhaustive research Benn and especially for the Adaptiverb tip; this idea to place it after another 'verb.

[@TheJonHolstein]

Yes, it isn't really like an reverb.. And from Benn's takes and selection, he is actually not looking for reverbs, he is looking special FX plugins, roughly in the reverb category.

[@dystopiannoise6782]

I keep sending pitchbends threw verbs to form chords but never thought about quantizing or 'scale-eqing' them as a send before. Great video as always! Also - cinematic rooms 🤬😊

[@discosucks604]

And the 2024 Academy award for Best music training video goes to Benn Jordan, with his "I finally tested all the reverb plugins!". He sure did! With its no nonsense attention to detail, slick presentation and razor sharp humour, no other video in the category came close to captivating its audience with such ease and finese. Well done Benn for nailing above and beyond anyone else. We are all looking forward to Benn entertaining and educating us in the year ahead.

[@anastasia0zardonova]

love the reverb videos!

[@gillsgills]

I wonder if you’d be down to make a video on how to listen to reverb, what to try to be listening for, how to set parameters, with clear examples of what they sound like, etc.? I know there are videos like that out there, but I want to hear someone as obsessed with reverbs as you explain it.

[@VincentZauhar]

Great video as always! Big fan of Raum over here :)

[@movement6514]

No Pro-R 2? But it's so good!

[@DmitryPuffin]

Thanks for pointing out on Melda's TurboReverb. My nerdy brain wants to play with it.

[@glb322]

Got to tell you, I really like Arturia's LX-24, especially for long tails. Last year I used it on the last word of a song that ended in an a Capella part and gave that word an 8-second tail. It was great.

[@mir-dr]

I knew a good reverb joke, but its a bit convoluted and goes on forever.

[@M1nxy_]

This really resonated with me

[@aeroprojects]

Very nice video, didn't know that Melda suite plugins were so powerful ! I'd love a video on delays now :))

[@dman030]

Lot of nice creative reverbs last year, surprised you didn't talk about any of them.

[@artemi-music]

Thanks for your observations!

[@hauntedbytheliving1175]

Sounddrops has a guitar sim called “Surrey”, the reverb module can be used separately and it’s the best set & forget room or spring reverb I’ve heard in the box.

[@superfish6173]

A reverb walks into a bar and says, "hey, where's the bar tender-tender-tender-tender......."

[@equanim]

I'm really not sure how it compares, but I really like ni's raum for ambient reverb. Loved your vid, gna check out what you've advised because clearly you have a wonderful understanding of all the elements of reverb. Thanks for making this! Sorry for not making a joke :)

[@4i20]

I miss my bathroom on the list, is amazing, i love to sing on it - Thanks for the video Benn

[@KlaraKopf]

I am with U and would like 2 add that garages can B great reverb devices too!

[@r618y]

was thinking about a reverb joke but it took me too long (obvious one but should be recorded in the internet)

[@davidkellymitchell4747]

I like Altiverb for mimicking vintage hardware and real acoustic spaces but what you mentioned is great for out of this world sounds.

[@andreasoberg2021]

Nice breakdown!

[@sleekitwan]

Really great piece of work, thanks for this Benn. Ambient isn’t really something I ever thought too much about, and I previously have had a perfunctory view of reverb. I read somewhere or heard tell it acts like a ‘glue’ for your track, and truly apart from learning to back it off a bit when used for that purpose, reverb to me has been reverb. This has helped me appreciate some nuance. My earliest awareness of reverb was a separate multichannel amp where there were actual springs inside, such a weird idea to me, a micro version built-in to something would be cool, but for obvious reasons you couldn’t build it into an instrument that moved eg guitar, or maybe that’d be a feature the player could make use of, even. I imagine a tiny 1” square capsule with miniature springs inside, and electronics or small chip to process this into faking a larger physical size, but having as the starting point this small physical capsule? Nicely-packaged in-depth research, making it palatable and interesting. Normally, I wouldn’t give a vid about reverbs the time of day. One aspect I have to mention, is I only make music using my iPad M1, so if it cannot be fitted inside that ie an Audio Unit, I cannot make use of an individual ‘verb. Some of these reverbs are simply too large for my device to handle. Obviously ‘Large Hall’ for example, simply cannot be made to be installed inside a small, flat rectangle like my iPad…! No seriously, Good stuff. Take care all.

[@vgmandstuff1381]

great video! I love how personal reverb ends up being... my favorite reverb is opening reaktor 6 fx, loading up the steampipe ensemble and patching the audio through its reverb. really recommend it for ambient if you have reaktor

[@crysstoll1191]

Yes, SpaceMaster is a trip. I use it.

[@karayuschij]

Fabfilter Pro-R2 and Valhalla(s) are my reverb! For years I use Reverberate and the MOTU ProVerb

[@BradyKent]

My favorite reverb is probably Airwindows's original Galactic. The algorithm for it is a little funky, but because of it, you can get these beautiful washes of ambient sound, or you can turn up the replace and turn down the buffer size to get more normal reverbs out of it. All his plugins are free, and that specific one is one I go back to very often!

[@airwindows]

Great to see the love for Sean Costello and Valhalla, though

[@divinodayacap3313]

Finally found someone who's a fan of Guitar Rig's spring reverb! been using it for a decade already!

[@schmook9965]

Great video, very informative! Please give some details about the i9 PC you're using Benn.

[@wiegraf9009]

I don't really like using a VST for reverb because I get lost in it, but there are so many great sounding options. Nice video!