X3

166 Soundtrack
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Reverb
Reverb is probably the most important, but also the most difficult effect to
generate.
Fundamentals
Our everyday experience shows that not every room matches every
instrument. Thus we have designed "virtual" rooms. However, it still remains
important to find the correct parameters. Here are some examples of
parameters that are decisive for the sound impression in real and virtual
rooms:
 Size of room: The larger the room, the longer the sound travels between
walls or objects. Our brain "calculates" the size from the time difference.
The size impression is mainly determined from so-called first reflections
and the discreet echo. We don’t notice a (diffused) reverb.
 The reverberation time is mainly influenced by the composition of the walls,
ceilings, and floors. This reverb time is highly frequency-dependent. For
instance, the highs and mids are dampened more in rooms with curtains,
carpets, furniture, and some corners than in an empty, tiled room.
 The density of the reflection. The sequence of the first reflection is
particularly important. A room with many individually recognizable echoes
feels alive, especially if they are quite far apart.
 The diffusion. Simple reverb machines do not take into account that
reflections become more and more complex as they develop. They blur the
first echoes at the beginning, which sounds artificial and "two-dimensional"
for many signals. Our reverb effect works like a real room instead where
individual echoes can still be heard at the beginning of the reverb but then
reflect amongst each other more and more until they disappear in the signal
sustain as a so-called "diffused hiss".
The presets include many rooms that were designed for certain instruments
and applications and whose internal parameters have been optimized for
these applications. However, you can influence most of the characteristics
of the room using the provided sliders.
In addition to the rooms we have modeled two device types in the reverb
effect that allow you to create an artificial reverb for a longer time: Plate
Reverb and Spring Reverb.
Plate reverb
A plate reverb consists of a large metal plate (often 0.5 to 1m² thick, or
more) that is put into motion by a magnet and coil system (similar to a
loudspeaker). On the reverb plate, so-called "taps" are positioned at
different locations. These are pick-ups comparable to those on a guitar.
Reverb plates have a very dense sound (high diffusion); no direct echo can