Looking into buying a hardware reverb effect.
So far was using a Zoom MS70-CDR (as an aux).
Since having downloaded Raum (reverb from NI), I cannot believe my ears.
I know it is a difficult question but which hardware would come close enough to Raum? The “freeze” function is what interests me the most, as well as the quality of the decay and room/hall simulation.
Finally ready to invest in a good effect as I cannot go on having Maschine used as a send effect only…
Many thanks for any suggestions.
Stay safe. Stay home.
I’d save up for Oto Bam. Excellent room, hall… well, all the algos are great, and has the freeze button.
But to be honest, Valhalla VintageVerb and Soundtoys Little Plate sound better to me, and I’ve used those (mostly VintageVerb) over my Bam in nearly all my productions since getting them. I definitely understand not wanting to use a computer solely for send effects, as I’ve been there, and in that case Bam is what I’d want to use for hardware. I may not have used it in over two years, but things change and maybe I’ll want to use more hardware again, in which case Bam would be my first choice.
Empress and Source Audio stuff also look great and might be a little more affordable.
There’s been a bunch of them throughout the years like the Use Audio Plugiator, the Muse Receptor or this SM Pro Audio V machine. For some reason this lineage of hardware has died a slow death and no new gear of this ilk has been introduced in years.
Also, I’m very happy with the Empress Reverb, except for its infuriating MIDI implementation (uses a non-standard port and they want you to buy an adapter box, more cables, plus it’s another thing to power - I’m just using the knobs on the front panel).
If you want a Hall reverb, the Lexicon PCM rack units are (still) phenomenal, like a PCM 70 or 80.
If you want a pedal-form-factor, the Strymon Big Sky, Source Audio Ventris, Neunaber Immerse Mk2 or Boss RV-500 are all good options (the RV-500 needs to the most tweaking to sound great).
If you are interested in out-there sounds, the Meris Mercury 7 is fantastic.
And then, if money were no issue lol, a Bricasti M7 is the ish…just to say, hardware still has VSTs beat, just a question of budget
All units are stereo units btw.
EDIT: Personally, I use LiquidSonics Seventh Heaven Professional to emulate a Bricasti via VST, lol.
Raum is pretty good. Valhalla Shimmer, Vintage Verb sound incredible, as does the new delay. Best $50 you’ll spend all year. And super CPU efficient so you can actually modulate them pretty heavily before you have any issues. Pedal wise you can’t go wrong with Big Sky or Space. Both can be had used for a pretty good deal lately.
Personally use a Strymon Big Sky and love it. You could fire flatulence into it and it would sound heavenly! It does freeze as well by holding down the foot switch for the active preset. This can also be done using MIDI CC.
One option that seems to fit the bill is the new Electro Harmonix Oceans 12 reverb that has just been released. It’s a new bigger brother to their Oceans 11 pedal but adds a bunch of stuff including stereo in/out, dual reverb engine, more algorithims, lofi control, a tide control (which seems to be some sort of stereo imaging) and it can also have a send/return loop. Crucially it also has an infinite control which functions similar to Raum. I’m definitely going to give it some consideration in the near future.
Anyway, this video gives a nice overview of the Oceans 11 with a Roland SE-02 to give a flavour for what the algorithims sound like on a synth…
