In this article, Paul Maunder takes a look at the recently updated HD Cart - a vintage digital reverb plugin from Reverb Foundry, now part of the LiquidSonics brand.
Back in 1986 Lexicon released the 480L reverb unit. It consisted of a 3U rack mount processor and a separate remote control known as the Lexicon Alphanumeric Remote Control (LARC). The 480L offered 18bit quantisation at a 48kHz sample rate and provided a dynamic range close to 100dB. It was groundbreaking at the time and the rich reverb it was able to generate meant that it became one of the most highly sought after reverb units of all time. Lexicon released an expansion cartridge for the 480L which included an algorithm allowing it to take full advantage of the 480L’s dual board processing capabilities. The expansion cartridge was capable of being used in quadrophonic, 5.0 surround or high density stereo modes. No other reverb unit of its day was able to get close to the dense, rich audio the expanded 480L was capable of.
Reverb Foundry, now part of Liquidsonics, have recreated the 480L expansion cartridge in plug-in form with HD Cart. HD Cart has a low memory and CPU footprint and accurately recreates the sound of the original hardware. The recent version 1.2 update added a number of features to HD Cart, including expanded surround capability up to Dolby Atoms 7.1.6, taking the capabilities of the plug-in even further than the original hardware.
HD Cart includes a compression and ducking module. Ducking is a useful way to tuck the reverb away until there’s space for it in the mix. This is especially useful when used on dialogue or vocals.
The latest version of HD Cart also includes chorusing options, expanded filtering capabilities, gating and post EQ. It’s a well featured plug-in which allows you to really go to town tweaking settings if you want to, to tailor the reverb to your exact requirements. If you’re more of a presets kind of person, a good selection are included and they provide a great starting point, offering that classic Lexicon sound in your DAW.
Take a look at the video below for more information on HD Cart and to hear it in action.
An HD Cart free trial is available to download from the LiquidSonics website, click below to find out more.