Arturia Augmented Strings and Snap Crackle Pop

22

Interesting one! Gave it a try with the demo version

  • I like the simplicity of the interface and the easy way to tailor the frequency-specific response
  • getting pretty good “bread-and-butter” reverb sounds
  • not really convinced by some of the presets - the “plate” type presets I find plain awful…
  • CPU footprint is similar, sometimes a bit better than Valhalla Vintage Verb, depending on settings. Mostly in the same ballpark - definitely not “order of magnitude” difference
  • definitely a different sound - a bit cleaner, less “plushy” than VVV in default mode, but both can be made to sound similar
  • not really sure about the effect of the “shape” parameter - sure, changing it creates a different sound, but I can’t really grasp the “direction” of the change, so unsure how I’d use it to get closer when I have a specific sound in mind…

For the moment I’ll stick with VVV for my live setup; for production, I also like the HOFA reverb (combines algorithmic and IR-based reverbs, also good processing - I like ducking my vocal reverbs…). Plus Valhalla Room for less “effected” and more “real room” reverbs - that’s it.

1 Like
23

I would agree SparkVerb is pretty easy to make it sound plain horrible. But oddly it can also sound quite good and of course ymmv, but the good sounds are great on synth imo. But its not one I’d ever use on a mix. I don’t have Vintage Verb so good to see its also a cpu lightweight.

24

Definitely worth a try - I use it in pretty much every mix. Sean Costello, the mastermind behind the Valhalla plugs, is a definite sound wizard…

25

I have other products from them and they are all good, but never tried VV…yet… :wink: That said, for mix, its going to have to be really, really, really good to get me off of Exponential Audio.

26

I think of it as colors on a palette - sometimes a sound just calls for a different color of reverb… The Exponential Audio stuff is (to my ears) more the “modern” flavor of reverb; VVV is rather the “old-school” type of reverb from the 80s (that are still found in pretty much all studios).

27

I would agree, though characterize EA as “neutral” as opposed to “modern” for the reason that some plugins that claim to be “modern” reverbs sound completely different (and bad imo). But that said, since VV is indeed a different color from the piles of other reverbs I already own, that is valid justification to buy it too, I suppose. :joy:

28

Some of that stuff was great. I still prefer using a MidiVerb4 on my electric guitar rig. LOL, even my 13 yo son prefers it. Tried the more expensive hardware and kept going back to the MV4 for guitar.