Sparkverb Reverb looks pretty awesome

[toodamnhip]

Watch the video, I was pretty impressed.
Not only does it sound great, but there is a way to browse through patches graphically, and click in between patches to make new hybrid patches. I have never seen anything like it.
As you click a dot, amidst a type of graphic space grid, the sound changes to different verbs or verb setting, click in between two or three verbs and create a hybrid.

http://www.uvi.net/en/software/sparkverb.html

[RROY]

+1

[Prime Mover]

woah! interface interface interface! The interface of a VI matters so much, and it looks like this one's a killer. I'm a little bewildered about the lack of room models, though. The difference between a small room and a concert hall is more than just a longer decay time, so I'm not quite sure how they achieve this.

But $200 is more than I'm willing to spend on a reverb, right now. I'm in love with my good old Valhalla reverb, and was very happy with the album I mixed on it. Maybe after a few more albums I can branch out, but Valhalla's good for quite a few to come.

[David Polich]

Really tempted, but there doesn't seem to be a demo. No demo, no buy.

[toodamnhip]

Really tempted, but there doesn't seem to be a demo. No demo, no buy.

Well, I have so many verbs, all the lexicons, etc. I have to always work so hard to get the clarity I want in a verb. These vers seem very clear and clean. If that's the case, 200 is nothing.

[hugy]

woah! interface interface interface! The interface of a VI matters so much, and it looks like this one's a killer. I'm a little bewildered about the lack of room models, though. The difference between a small room and a concert hall is more than just a longer decay time, so I'm not quite sure how they achieve this.

If you check the UI, there is a room size(top left) AND a decay time (bottom middle)

[crduval]

Sparkverb comes with MachFive 3 - it's nice, kind of "shiny" based on first impressions. Unfortunately it doesn't show up as a DP plugin even when using M5.


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[toodamnhip]

Sparkverb comes with MachFive 3 - it's nice, kind of "shiny" based on first impressions. Unfortunately it doesn't show up as a DP plugin even when using M5.


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really? wow. I bought Mach 5 a couple months back, didn’t really like it or use it. But I haven;t given it a fair chance yet, I will have to work more with it. I thought the sounds mach 5 came with kind of weak. So does the reverb say “spark” as an option?

[crduval]

I'm not at the workstation but I think sparkverb shows up as a selection under the reverbs.

I know what you mean about the stock sounds, they are just ok, but it doesn't take long to get some great sounds of your own, especially with that granular oscillator; that thing is a lot of serious fun. You can make some incredible evolving textures easily out of almost any sample. I used a sample of my kids talking and came out with this amazing airy pad - you could never guess that the one sound could ever lead to the other. M5 is really powerful.


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[toodamnhip]

I'm not at the workstation but I think sparkverb shows up as a selection under the reverbs.

I know what you mean about the stock sounds, they are just ok, but it doesn't take long to get some great sounds of your own, especially with that granular oscillator; that thing is a lot of serious fun. You can make some incredible evolving textures easily out of almost any sample. I used a sample of my kids talking and came out with this amazing airy pad - you could never guess that the one sound could ever lead to the other. M5 is really powerful.


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I guess it depends on how you use it. I have such tight production schedules that programming is something I don;t like to get involved with. I can do it. But to spend time tweaking a sound of my kids voice when clients are antsy about hours going by, is not how I can work. I was very disappointed with Mach 5’s sounds as they came in the box and would have gotten a refund if I could have. I know that the program itself is a nice program. I just think the content kind of sucks, with a few bright spots here and there. How are the expansion libraries from 3rd parties? I need GREAT sounds out of the box that need minimal editing.
I alos need to transferred my uvi pianos I had bought previously INTO Mach 5, which I haven;t figured out or done yet.

[Prime Mover]

If you check the UI, there is a room size(top left) AND a decay time (bottom middle)

Yeah, I saw that, but spreading the early reflections out doesn't turn a corridor into a concert hall, it's also about when the reflections hit relative to each other, and where from. The ear can tell the difference between a deep room and a shallow one. Maybe it can't determine whether that dimension is height or depth, but it'll define the "tightness" of the space, never-the-less, which feels different. Most parametric reverbs have reflection models that change the relationship of the reflections around.

Another thing is volume of each reflection. Let's say one dimension is really short, so each reflection is fast, but looses energy. Then another dimension is really deep. In that case, you may get some very quiet reflections before a louder reflection coming from the long dimension. Easy to say, "but the ear can't distinguish that level of complexity"... but it can!

[Killahurts]

Yeah, I saw that, but spreading the early reflections out doesn't turn a corridor into a concert hall, it's also about when the reflections hit relative to each other, and where from. The ear can tell the difference between a deep room and a shallow one. Maybe it can't determine whether that dimension is height or depth, but it'll define the "tightness" of the space, never-the-less, which feels different. Most parametric reverbs have reflection models that change the relationship of the reflections around.

Another thing is volume of each reflection. Let's say one dimension is really short, so each reflection is fast, but looses energy. Then another dimension is really deep. In that case, you may get some very quiet reflections before a louder reflection coming from the long dimension. Easy to say, "but the ear can't distinguish that level of complexity"... but it can!

I love a man that knows his reverbs! It's the lost art, IMO.

Good on ya Prime!

[Prime Mover]

Dude, I don't know nothin', I keep telling myself that, and it isn't hard! Psychoacoustics is one of the most complicated fields I think I've ever seen: attempting to cheat nature to make listeners not even realize what they're listening to! There's so many variables, and the human brain is so good at discerning them. They may not consciously realize it, but it could make the difference between a listener truly sinking into the atmosphere or just not feeling it.

It's also completely impossible, because engineers only have control over what goes into the speakers, not what comes out! After that you're faced with listening spaces full of standing waves, bass beef, crappy amps, data compression... whew! Part of me thinks, "and you think that this tiny little reflection is going to even make it through with all that junk?" But I'd like to believe that listeners also come to know their space and their equipment, and sort of compensate for it. Sure, you're listening to a concert hall recording in a car stereo, and there's all kinds of weird artifacts bouncing around, but you know the car, you've heard all kinds of normal sounds in it before, and you adjust. I don't pretend to know whether that's true or not, or really how true, but I think there's a good chance, and so I'd like to keep on trying to make my mixes as "real" as possible, in the case that people really do look past their environments!

All this aside, though, I don't mean to suggest the developers of this plugin are missing something obvious... I'm sure they've thought of this, and I'm betting that *I'M* missing something and they have a solution to this. I'm just interested in what it is!

[Steve Steele]

impossible, because engineers only have control over what goes into the speakers, not what comes out!

Exactly. With sampled pianos. No matter how well they sample a piano, the sound is still coming out of two small speakers in front of me, and not from a ton of wood and metals in front and below me. The reaction of touching and hearing is where the pleasure lies. I don't really like listening to piano unless I'm sitting next to one. When I hear a sampled guitar I cringe. It's so awful compared to what my hands, guitar and amp can do.

Reverb is a much more subtle subject, but when I listen to these sample libraries, I ask myself, do I really feel like I'm in the 15th row in a concert hall, or standing near a mixing desk in a sound stage. The MIR demo videos, when the guy's voice was moving around, that was not convincing to me. I wonder what other people think.

But I'd like to believe that listeners also come to know their space and their equipment, and sort of compensate for it. Sure, you're listening to a concert hall recording in a car stereo, and there's all kinds of weird artifacts bouncing around, but you know the car, you've heard all kinds of normal sounds in it before, and you adjust.

I think people like "loudness" and hyper-realism, so who knows. Or they want the music turned down because they're not music lovers anyway.

I'd like to keep on trying to make my mixes as "real" as possible, in the case that people really do look past their environments!

Amen. And for yourself too. To prove that with these tools, we're like "sound magicians". I like fooling people's ears and playing with the sensory experience.

[mhschmieder]

Gospel Musicians mentions this as a major reason why they ported their Kontakt e-piano libraries to the UVI platform. Too bad they don't have a big cross-grade discount or I would be in, but all the extra effects they add in those versions sound artificial to me compared to the Kontakt version augmented by external plug-in effects.

Nice interface on the Sparkverb Reverb though. I haven't had a chance to evaluate it head-on against other tools.