Engineers love the sheen of chorus, and classic chorused reverb flavours have formed the backdrop on many well-loved records. With one reverb claiming the best chorus sound yet in one audio plugin, we try it out for you to hear the results yourself.
Many are aware of the studio hardware whose names are the stuff of legend. Whether they are classic compressors or sublime EQs, engineers’ interest in all things past is as popular as ever. While much of the keenest interest lies in gain-based processors of old, fewer embrace the role played by classic time-based boxes. These pioneering digital and analogue designs brought effects into the mixing vernacular that had been either too expensive, too impractical, or simply impossible to achieve previously.
Room For Reverb
Before the appearance of digital algorithmic reverb in the latter part of the 1970s, studios’ reverb options were simple; use the existing chamber or plate, or pull the mics in or out. Following work on developing usable reverbs in a box that studios would adopt, companies such as Eventide, TC Electronic, and Lexicon gained a foothold as studios moved away from electro-mechanical and electro-acoustical space-makers.
Getting To The Chorus
Around the same time, new digital and analogue technologies were able to deliver modulated effects such as phasing, flanging, and chorusing in a single unit, harnessing techniques centred around digital delay lines, often referred to at the time simply as DDLs. While many will associate Eventide with DDLs and modulated digital effects, units such as Roland’s Dimension D chorus were all-analogue affairs, bringing a sound all of their own.
The Ensemble Reverb - LiquidSonics Reverb Foundry Tai Chi
LiquidSonics, makers of well-regarded reverbs Seventh Heaven and Cinematic Rooms (among others) recently brought into their portfolio Reverb Foundry Tai Chi, which they bill as a “next generation ensemble character reverb”. Summoning the sounds of classic Lexicon and TC units, its involving chorus-infused reverb sets it apart. You can read in-depth about the Tai Chi concept in creator Matt Hill’s highly insightful blog post here.
In the video, we check out Tai Chi’s rich chorusing. Concentrating on the chorus controls in the Advanced tab, we add depth and movement to a synth string pad, before imparting an era-perfect chorus treatment to a DX7-style virtual instrument…
More From LiquidSonics On Reverb Foundry Tai Chi:
From tight rooms to chorused ethereal spaces, Tai Chi is the next generation ensemble character reverb specialising in luscious chorused reverbs that are perfect for synth, guitar, electric piano and vocals.
Standard Edition Features:
64-bit VST, VST3, AU and AAX
Mono, stereo, LCR, quad, 5.1, 7.1.6
Rich chorus and deep modulation
Multi-band decay with contouring
4-band master EQ
220 presets (including efficiency and signature presets)
Compression and ducking
Fidelity control
Spread control
Sweet Hit?
Taking inspiration from classic reverb hardware, Tai Chi’s lush chrorusing is there to be used where the source needs a hefty saccharin shot, with LiquidSonics heft under the hood for everything else.
Many developers continue to mine a rich seem of classic processor designs while Reverb Foundry Tai Chi, along with other titles in the LiquidSonics range, hopes to evoke signature time-based lushness of the past. That said, this tool has both feet firmly in this century. Some might argue that chorused reverb itself certainly hasn’t, but this implementation nonetheless is borne of fresh engineering that brings classic time-based sounds into the DAW domain.