For the reverb algorithms, it would be good if you could choose between early reflections and reverb for each one.
Yes, I know that the SP2016 is popular with many people. I myself find the reverb quite unnatural. It’s probably also a matter of taste. But having an alternative would be good. So far Modechoreverb is my favorite reverb.
SP2016 can be very flexible but when I first used it I found a small learning curve, patience, and a careful ear were required to dial in the algorithm to get what I wanted. Everyone’s tastes are different, but my general intuitions are that as as Position goes up Diffusion goes slightly down, and as Decay goes up Position needs to go up as well. Don’t be afraid to crank the low and high filters to more extreme values for frequency and gain than you’d think you need to, especially for larger decays – they can keep the signal from getting too muddy or sibilant, and the high filter in particular is important for dialing in that top end (often referred to as “air” or “brilliance” by producers). The algorithm can be strong, I find getting a natural setting requires a pre-delay of at least 15-20 ms. I really like the stereo room algorithm, but if you’re in mono vintage plate and vintage stereo can sound warm and sweet.
As you say, reverb is very much so a matter of taste. One person’s natural is another’s tinny or sparse. I have been getting lots of mileage out of Blackhole recently, set for a more classic 80s style reverb rather than the galactic-sized tones it is more commonly used for – Mix below 25, Gravity between 1 and 10, Size around 50, Pre Delay between 15 and 40 ms, Mod Depth around 30, Mod Rate around 40, Feedback set below 15, Resonance around 40, Low and High to taste (almost always cutting both of them; my ear tends to prefer Low around -25 and High around -45). Backing Size off to around 30 and increasing the Mod Depth a little higher can be used for an even smaller space with a lovely bloom to its attack, and setting Gravity between -10 and -5 then setting Feedback to 0 can also get a wonderfully lush attack that lets your tone float over a short but very sweet and dense tail.
Do you have a preferred patch or general settings of Modechoverb that you enjoy? That would give us some idea of what you think is “natural” and we can guide you to some presets from there.
Can you also clarify what you mean by “choosing between early reflections and reverb”? In algorithms that contain them, Early Reflections are part of the Reverb, not a separate thing – perhaps you mean being able to dial in both early and late reflections independently? Reverb development is more dark art than pure science, and over the years many terms have gotten cross-wired. Some of our algorithms – including SP2016 and ModEchoVerb – offer you some level of control over early reflections, but I want to make sure we’re talking about the same thing before giving you a few pointers there. Another option is to use MicroPitch, H910/H949, or HeadSpace to generate more concrete reflections, then use that to feed a bigger reverb algorithm with increased pre delay so the early reflections have time to stand on their own before the bigger late reverb tail kicks in.
