In Short

It’s six years this week since LiquidSonics Seventh Heaven Professional arrived on the scene. In that time this iconic reverb plugin has seen a raft of significant new features. Most recently covering 7.1.6 support, comprehensive built-in ducking, and support for Apple Silicon machines. These improvements of LiquidSonics’ well-regarded Bricasti M7 emulation have been completely free to existing users. At a time when users are feeling gouged by some developers, why can’t all plugin brands show this level of continued customer support?

Going Deeper

What Is Seventh Heaven Professional?

Up until the arrival of usable audio plugin reverb, engineers had long relied on a number of rack-dwelling digital reverberators. Contrasted with the some of the convolution-based technologies that audio plugin reverb excels at, classic hardware leant on algorithmic processes to produce reverb. With some of these boxes gaining legendary status in engineering circles, it was only a matter of time before it became desirable to have their expensive-sounding tails inside the box.

The original Bricasti M7 hardware reverb is a studio classic that manages to deliver stunning convolution-like reverb despite its algorithmic design. Algorithmic reverb allows greater editability that convolution reverbs’ more “baked-in” approach struggles to match, and as such the M7 is one sought-after hardware reverb.

Seventh Heaven Professional is LiquidSonics’ reverb audio plugin that brings the sound of the original Bricasti M7 hardware to the DAW. Using their Fusion IR reverb engine, it uses multiple impulse responses to deliver the all-important modulation that makes the difference between a ringy, cyclic reverb, and a smooth, lush-sounding space-maker. The company also produces Seventh Heaven, which provides an option for a more concise feature set. You can read more about Fusion IR here.

Six Things LiquidSonics Added To Seventh Heaven Professional For Free

1 - Surround Support Goes 7.1.6

Surpassing its Seventh Heaven standard edition stereo sibling, the Professional edition provides multichannel support that recently went immersive. This makes it an option for both music mixers and Post mixers who need three dimensional spaces without eating tonnes of system resources or relying on complex routing. Added to this, the ability to fold down properly into stereo means that downmixes translate as they they should thanks to LiquidSonics’ advanced impulse response decorrelation technology. This also makes the stereo captures available in surround workflows. LiquidSonics’ advanced impulse response decorrelation technology ensures excellent fold-down compatibility and the convenience of up to 7.1.6 workflows in your DAW.

2 - Ducking

The classic move of dipping reverb level, or otherwise drying up the amount of reverb temporarily can help key mix elements sound more obviously treated without getting lost in clouds of the effect. The engineer has quite a few options at their disposal when it comes to dipping the reverb when needed. Perhaps the simplest way is to delay the onset of reverb with pre-delay, or perhaps riding the send, but better still is the ducker. While any appropriate dynamics processor can be strapped across the reverb’s return, Seventh Heaven Professional goes one better with its built-in ducker. Providing compressor-like controls including a proper gain reduction meter, its ducker’s secret weapon is its MO where early reflections remain un-ducked. This makes for a more refined effect that doesn’t swing between all-or nothing.

3 - Apple Silicon Support

Mac users had a lot to shout about when Apple moved away from Intel processors and instead came up with its mighty ‘system-on-a-chip’ technology. These SoC machines have taken available performance to the next level; the fly in the ointment for now is developers’ capacity to re-code their creations to harness these lightning-fast Silicon Macs. With convolution reverb presenting the perfect challenge to a machine’s processor, LiquidSonics free Silicon update to Seventh Heaven Professional allows the reverb to address that power for lots of long or short tails without setting fire to the curtains. The Silicon update is also available to Standard edition users as well.

4 - The Bigger Picture

Anyone who has used an un-scalable plugin on a 4k, or even 1080 display will concede that these can present something of a challenge. The resulting tiny audio plugin GUIs can slow down workflow and leave the engineer more fatigued than those with nice big scalable plugins. Seventh Heaven Professional has a scalable GUI which means that engineers won’t need the eyesight of a bird of prey to see what they are doing on hi-res screens.

5 - In The Clouds

The majority of engineers appreciate why developers must protect their products from theft. The iLok has proved successful, especially to those moving in-between systems who do not need password headaches or machine activation to contend with. ILok cloud licencing has been around for a while now, including on LiquidSonics’ own products. Anyone moving between systems might agree that a single cloud licence is perhaps the most elegant solution. For those without access to an internet connection when working on the move or off-grid, the machine licencing option will prove attractive when the physical iLok option is more prone to loss or damage.

6 - Not ‘Just’ An M7

Many reading this will be aware of Seventh Heaven Professional’s muse, the Bricasti M7. Seventh Heaven Professional now features three algorithms, covering lifelike M7-style convolved tails as well as two others. These comprise algorithms covering a more Lexicon-like second algorithm, and a third non-linear option that conjures AMS RMX16 flavours. While the former was a response to Lexicon 480 users who lauded its gentle filters’ brighter sound, the latter brings familiar gated and reverse-style sounds for drums and beyond. Another free compliment of presets also sees a number of preset interiors in Seventh Heaven Professional.

Reverb Heaven?

Soaking up the rich complex tails previously enjoyed exclusively by owners of the Bricasti M7, it’s not difficult to hear why Seventh Heaven has made it into so many pros’ templates. Certainly comparing it to others, the differences become clear when set against certain stock reverbs.

Taking on the previous ‘problem’ of how to achieve its sound in surround, its expansion into 7.1.6 will be a welcome addition to anyone previously juggling multiple instances and complex routing. Further exploiting the everything-in-one-window theme, Seventh Heaven Professional’s new ducker also jettisons the need for external dynamics and routing for those wanting to sculpt some space for its atmospheres to flow into. Its other more prosaic tweaks will also make life easier in use.

Much as engineers used to have one or two favourite reverberators in the rack, the evolution of Seventh Heaven Professional continues the tradition of a highly capable, great sounding space-maker that for many, will be their go-to. What’s more, this plugin continues to grow ever more powerful at no additional cost to those who invested in it… that’s something worth celebrating!

Win Seventh Heaven!

To celebrate its 6th anniversary, this week we’ve got 6 Seventh Heaven prizes up for grabs! Click here to find out more (ends Friday 21st April 2023).

A Word About This Article

As the Experts team considered how we could better help the community we thought that some of you are time poor and don’t have the time to read a long article or a watch a long video. In 2023 we are going to be trying out articles that have the fast takeaway right at the start and then an opportunity to go deeper if you wish. Let us know if you like this idea in the comments.