Generally speaking, there are two main categories that reverb plug-ins fall into. Most reverb plug-ins, usually stock DAW reverbs, follow a particular format which provide generic halls, churches, plates and room choices. Reverb emulations populate the other category traditionally based on popular reverb notable outboard or mechanical systems such as plates and real reverb rooms such as echo chambers and live rooms, but there is a third often overlooked reverb plug-in category that’s well worth exploring.
The plug-ins listed below we feel make up this third reverb category we dub creati-verbs. While some of the plug-ins below do indeed share some DNA with generic style reverbs the following provide a handful of unique features and controls you typically don’t find in stock reverbs that are well worth checking out if you are looking for something more distinctive sounding.
Describing how each of these reverb plug-ins sounds is near impossible, that’s why we have included a selection of past videos we’ve produced showing how to use these plug-ins to enable you to hear what each creati-verb is capable of.
ADAPTIVERB - Zynaptiq
ADAPTIVERB, like many other Zynaptiq sound design plug-ins, doesn’t conform to conventional plug-in rules. ADAPTIVERB isn’t based around reverb types, instead it encourages reverb exploration in totally different way to what we are usually accustomed to. The results often sound very synth like, like no other reverb you would have heard before. The best way we can describe ADAPTIVERB is that it borders on being a virtual instrument, especially when the adaptable freeze function is engaged.
What gives ADAPTIVERB a unique edge is reverb freeze for dialling in drone textures and Input AIR which is a high frequency synth capable of producing high frequency sound. The UI is also based around a central X/Y pad which you typically find in soft synths and is used for controlling the level of reverb and sustain.
Watch our video review of ADAPTIVERB below to hear a selection of reverbs across a number of different acoustic instruments.
Blackhole - Eventide
Eventide’s Blackhole follows in a similar trend to ADAPTIVERB being that neither are constrained by the physics of environments or real-world spaces. Large Blackhole reverbs can easily be dialled in to sound soft in attack with mesmerising drone like tails with small sizes being able to transform vocal into rhythmic textures.
Blackhole features an array of unique features and controls including:
Gravity: Inverts the reverb's decay.
Kill Switch: Mutes the input to able to only hear the reverb.
Mix Lock: Maintains wet/dry mix constant while preset surfing
Ribbon and Hot Switch: Enables any combination of parameters to be controlled simultaneously.
Watch our video review of Eventide’s Blackhole to learn how to use it and to hear several reverb examples it’s able to produce.
Mangledverb - Eventide
Enter Mangledverb, the second Eventide reverb to hold a position in this creati-verb. Mangledverb looks very similar to Blackhole, but that’s were the similarities end. Mangledverb combines both reverb and distortion which can produce both lush sounding reverbs through to distorted soundscape mayhem.
Beside Mangledverb’s main tone shaping and reverb parameters which make up for most its sound there’s also an interesting Wobble control which can be used to produce eerie sound detuned effects.
Watch our free video tutorial below to hear how each control sounds in Mangledverb.
Manny Marroquin Reverb - Waves
Waves modeled several of four-time Grammy award-winning mixing engineer Manny Marroquin most prized reverbs including EQ and compression for helping engineers sit reverb perfectly in the mix but this is no hardcore emulation. Out of the four plug-ins suggested in this article Manny’s Reverb is the most generic but to extend its creative possibilities phaser and distortion are included for dialling in unique textures in the tails of the reverb.
Watch our video below to hear this in action on a lead vocal.
Sonnox Oxford Reverb
The majority of Reverb plug-ins seek to present a limited number of choices, a set of parameters which guide the user towards the good choices while steering them away from the bad. Algorithmic reverbs use a limited number of parameters and when set up carefully they can offer really convincing simulations of real acoustic spaces. If enough flexibility is left in the choice of parameters presented and in the range of control over these parameters have then it follows that you can just as easily make deliberately “bad” choices.
Sonnox Oxford Reverb is a great example of an algorithmic reverb which offers what feels like unrestricted access to the “engine” of the reverb. For the casual user there are of course a wide variety of presets which offer excellent starting points from which the more engaged user can tweak the “top level” of parameters - the more familiar controls such as Reverb Time, ER/Tail Reverb Mix or Size. However if you wish to get further into designing your own reverbs the Sonnox Oxford Reverb is ideal as it offers not only powerful access to the reverb algorithm but the best manual I’ve ever read. It’s not unlikely that you don’t know what upping the Phase Mod on the reverb tail will do but this manual guides you through the choices involved in designing a realistic reverb clearly and simply.
With all this flexibility available and with the “rules” of designing a realistic reverb so clearly laid out in the manual, if you want to get creative and design something original or unnatural the with the Oxford Reverb you have the knowledge and the means to create almost anything. Just learn the rules then ignore them!
A particularly rich vein of striking, unnatural sounds can be created by missing out the Tail section altogether by setting the Early Reflections/Tail Reverb Mix all the way to ER and getting creative with the ER section.
With the Size parameter set high the early reflections form a complex multi-tap delay which can be useful as an alternative which sits part way between slapback delay and reverb. Using the Shape, Position, Size, Taper, Feed Along and Feedback controls it’s possible to make some great vocal treatments which sit somewhere between delay and reverb. Try it in your algorithmic reverb of choice and see whether you can dig in as deep as you can with the Oxford Reverb.
Oxford Reverb Tail Section
Once you’ve investigated the possibilities presented by the ER section, try the Tail section. it’s deliberately uncoloured so it will complement and augment whatever early reflections are fed into it. Here is the Tail section being used on its own with a female vocal.
Looking For A Different Flavour Reverb?
If the creati-verb reverbs we’ve suggested in this article aren’t to your taste then check out our three following articles below to discover a range of other reverb types that recreate real rooms, physical spaces and springs to emulations of celebrated vintage reverbs: