Using Reverbs

Heard my bell ringing...

The 224 code was lost. The last time that Lex had it, it lived on a pair of VAX servers (that was a long time ago). When the department moved to SPARC stations (still a long time ago), the VAX servers were sold off and the 224 code was never transferred. Perhaps there were printouts, but I simply don't know.  I've not heard the UAD emulation, but they probably got pretty close. They may have spoken to Barry Blesser about it as they did for the EMT 250.  Barry had a pretty good idea of how the 224 code worked.  A wireframe of the Concert Hall algorithm was also published many years ago and that may have also served as a reference.  In any case, I can't speak to the authenticity of any claims.

The 480L is another story.  That code still existed when I left the company in 2012.  Last time I looked at it was perhaps a couple of years before that and it was a mess. For several years after the last 480 firmware release, Dave Griesinger used the device for his own experiments.  The code ballooned with all sorts of conditional compiles and changes to the core code. It would have taken some serious sleuthing to figure out was was released code, but I believe it could have been done--perhaps. In any case, that code went to UAD as part of a joint contract.  After I established Exponential Audio, Bill Putnam Jr approached me to see if I'd be interested in porting the 480 code.  Besides the fact that my hands were full, I think I'd rather chew glass than go into that code again.  I told Bill about what I saw as the condition of the code and what would need doing. I gave him the name of an engineer who'd worked with the code back in the 90s.  I'm pretty sure that person ran away screaming when the phone rang.  In the end, I have no idea what UAD did.  They may have locked some poor schmoe up with that code and passed in food trays under the cell door until the job was done.  There are some bright engineers there.

The thing to keep in mind about any port was that both the 224 and 480 code used a combination of proprietary LSI circuits, Z80 processors and 68000 processors.  I worked with a few generations of those things. They are nothing like modern chips. The math was crude and program control was absolutely bizarre. In addition, there were bugs in the chips that you had to work around. Knowledge of those bugs wasn't documented--you just had to know how to program around them.  There's absolutely nothing about those chips that you couldn't do better with a basic Intel CPU, but getting the port done was hugely challenging. Anybody who gets close has my respect.

My approach? Layers.

I have a number of reverbs - 5 maybe - that are all active. Two of those get some additional routing to split them into left-only, right-only, and stereo. Those are my base level ambiences. Most things get a light touch of those and, depending on the size I want them to have and the arrangement, they'll get combinations of the left-only, right-only, or stereo. A hard-panned guitar in a radio rock song will probably only get the opposite-panned reverb for example. The remaining three are my methods for exaggerating the size/space/distance. I also sometimes add special reverbs like a spring or a shimmer.

Delays? I have a 1/8th, 1/4th, 1/2 delays; pingpong starting right and a pingpong starting left; a 1/4 delay with one offset side; a stereo Haas; a short untimed slap; a timed slap; and a lots-of-repeats delay set to whatever division the song needs. They'll individually get EQd in order to fit the vibe and the mix.

Most of all those things go unused on each mix but I like to play around with which one fits the song/part. Much of the time stuff will get a tiny amount of one of the base level ambiences and one reverb and/or one delay. Lead vocals often get a plate and one of the stereo delays. Backup vocals often get a mono delay (sent panned a specific way because they're often double-tracked backups) and a smeary-er verb. Lead instruments often get a stereo delay and a verb to make them more or less like the lead vocal.. If they're simultaneous to the lead they'll often get panned and get a mono delay instead.

Is it overkill? Absolutely. I like having options, though, and the success is often found in the restraint to use fewer of the right options rather than more options. Often I find I don't have my ambiences nailed down until my mix is nailed down...but I always want some ambience on the sources in the mix early to get the mix to find itself; cart, horse, egg, chicken, and all that.

I use it all the time now, and I’m not really chasing the CLA sound per se.

It has great presets. So many plugins have terrible presets, the CLA ones are refreshingly useful.

So it sounds like there are actually a number of reverbs with code that is likely the same algorithms, but just not the exact sound due to converters and analog components. I'm okay with that!

I've never been in the same room with a Bricasti and studio monitors. But I've also heard Liquid Sonics version done with IRs and it sounds pretty amazing to me.

Do I have bad ears? Just no clue? Maybe, but really who can complain with those results. In a mix it sounds good.

You ain't just whistlin' Dixie there, man!