Having recently revealed five of our favourite algorithmic reverbs, we now move on to their impulse response-based counterparts. Known for delivering the ultimate in environmental realism, albeit often at the expense of a certain amount of flexibility, convolution reverbs are often the first choice of those working with acoustic instrumentation and vocals, as well as sound designers seeking ultra-realistic spaces for media production. Let’s check out half a dozen of the finest…
Audio Ease Altiverb 7
The grand old dame of software convolution reverb and still one of the best, Altiverb 7 prioritises sumptuous sonic presentation, ease of use and sheer volume of sampled spaces and devices. At its heart is a massive (and constantly added-to) library of impulse responses captured at a fascinating catalogue of locations around the globe, from Notre Dame and The King’s Chamber in the Great Pyramid of Giza, to numerous clubs, churches, stadia and top-flight recording studios, a ton of vintage hardware reverbs and post-production environments (domestic, outdoors, vehicles, industrial facilities, etc), and much, much more. In terms of editing, you can alter the tail with EQ, damping, modulation and gating, position the source within a 3D soundstage, and dial in an algorithmic reverb layer to add high-end presence.
While it could be said that Altiverb 7’s decade-old interface and feature set are due an upgrade, Audio Ease’s modern classic plugin is all about those dazzling impulse responses and the spaces they bring to life, and on that score, it’s utterly fabulous.
LiquidSonics Seventh Heaven Professional
Powered by LiquidSonics’ Fusion-IR technology, Seventh Heaven emulates the Bricasti M7 reverb, deploying 10GB of ’multisampled’ impulse responses captured from all 200+ of the legendary hardware’s presets – both the original v1 algorithm set and the retro-inspired, modulated v2 algorithm patches. Smooth interpolation between the multiple IRs within each preset opens up the M7’s full 200ms-30s decay range, and all 32 early reflection patterns have also been sampled for free selection. Even the M7’s unique VLF (very low frequency) reverb is represented, while the Pre-delay and Delay parameters actually improve on the real thing with their host sync options.
Seventh Heaven sounds absolutely magnificent, imparting all the depth, character and lustre of arguably the most desirable reverb on the planet, and feeling almost algorithmic in its responsiveness. It’s worth noting that there’s also a smaller (500MB), cheaper version – Seventh Heaven Standard – for those who just want the M7 sound without the footprint or in-depth editing.
SIR Audio Tools SIR3
It might look like a throwback to the early noughties, but this perennially popular reverb successfully balances a capable feature set with exemplary ease of use, and ships with a 33-strong library of ‘HDIR models’ (HD standing for ‘High Dynamic range’) in Stereo and True Stereo versions, emulating a solid selection of halls, rooms, chambers, plates, springs and more.
Beyond the essential timing controls, SIR3 lets you go to town with multi-breakpoint envelopes for shaping the early reflections, filters, stereo width, volume and panning over time; a six-band EQ; IR reverse; compression and gating; damping; and a powerful modulation/randomisation system. While the interface is visually unrefined and a bit idiosyncratic in places, the degree of freedom you’re given to tailor and transform the excellent onboard impulse responses or your own imports is impressive – and most importantly, the end results never sound less than stellar.
LiquidSonics Cinematic Rooms
The second of three plugins in our list by convolution specialists LiquidSonics sees developer Matthew Hill aiming to create the ultimate room reverb for professional sound designers working in surround formats up to 7.1.6 – but Cinematic Rooms is equally viable for stereo music production too.
Combining impulse response processing with algorithmic techniques, the spaces conjured up by Cinematic Rooms are staggeringly realistic and highly adaptable, with a level of dynamic sensitivity and nuance that will take your breath away, and more points of adjustment than you might expect to find on a convolution reverb. And if you do happen to be working in surround, it really does change the multi-dimensional game, with independent shaping of the centre, front, side, rear and ‘height’ channels, and crossfeed control making movement of reverb between surround channels seamless.
AudioThing Fog Convolver
AudioThing’s offering walks a rather different, grungier path to our other contenders, drawing on 250-odd impulse responses sampled from a colourful collection of hardware effects and stompboxes, unusual spaces, microphones and speakers, acoustic instruments, household objects and other sources. In fact, reverberation is only one of Fog Convolver’s talents, as most of the IRs are clearly intended for overt transformation of the source signal, rather than environmental placement and ambience. The straightforward and easily accessible control panel makes experimentation with the wacky IR library fun and productive, and you can import external WAVs and even export edited IRs.
Affordable, intriguing and one of a kind, Fog Convolver puts its own spin on convolution and sounds great doing it.
LiquidSonics Reverberate 3
Compared to the very specific remits of Cinematic Rooms and Seventh Heaven, LiquidSonics’ third entrant is a far more general-purpose option, virtualising a panoply of spaces, plates and hardware emulations – including the Lexicon 480 and 224, and the M7 again – using the company’s proprietary Fusion-IR tech. Reverberate 3 is also by far the most versatile and configurable convolution reverb in town, enabling the combining of dual reverb engines, independent modulation of the tail before and after a specified split point, access to the early and late reflection synthesis models, EQ, delay and chorus effects, and more. That said, if you prefer to simply call up a preset and move on, all of that good stuff can be considered entirely optional, as Reverberate 3 sounds superb right out of the gate.
What’s your favourite convolution reverb? Let us know in the comments.