Hi, quick question, but what is the Reverb algorithm based on in Ribbons? Listening to the demo’s and can’t quite figure if it’s a Room, Hall, (or a sweep between them?)… or a combo and more. Sorry if I’ve missed the spec somewhere. Looking forward to receiving mine next month fingers crossed. Thanks.
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I just stumbled across a great forum post from Keith Barr, inventor of the Alesis MIDI verb and the Spin FV-1 chip (the semiconductor chip powering many people’s favorite pedals by CBA, JHS, OBNE, and more). I’d like to share a quote from his post to give some background context:
To the best of my knowledge, with the exception of some possible inside jokes that I have not been privy to, reverbs are named according to their sound.
Since the digital methods that approximate the acoustics of physical structures are recent compared to the acoustical impressions spaces have given over the course of human history, and since most folks don’t think in terms of reverb algorithms, we don’t call a plate a “spacially uncorrelated, extreme reflection density reverberator with distinct ringing and a multiorder high frequency loss”… We call it a plate.
Personally, I think the tendancy to name algorithms after physical structures is unfortunate, because we have the ability to make much nicer acoustic environments with digital hardware than most real world structures allow, with the possible exception of a parking garage I ran into once…
Plate: Immediate build of diffusion, uncorrelated outputs, strong high/mid response (which rings), rapid rolloff of high frequencies, poor bass response.
Room: Fast build, short (~10mS) and multiple initial reflections, ringy in the mid frequencies, high frequencies depend on wall treatment, bass variable.
Hall: Long delays in the initial sound (30~120mS), slow build, poor high end response, moderate diffusion build, moderate bass respopnse.
Digital: (this should be a popular option) Beautifully dense, no ringing, extended response with sparkling highs, deep bass response (when wanted), cascading showers of even tonality.
So with this context, I would call Ribbons a Digital reverb. It does not approximate any structure but I wanted to make something that sounded dense with sparkling highs, deep lows, smooth and not ring-y, and capable of freezing audio/infinite sustain. I took inspiration from many structures like the Lexicon 224, the Alesis MIDIverb, and the FDNs of Stautner and Puckette.
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Awesome, thanks Jaak.
Yeah I have a couple of Valhalla verbs and they don’t always sound like their names would suggest eg Room, as they can be pushed way out there, which does make sense now, more character(istics) than ‘type’ perhaps.
Lovely stuff. Can’t wait for the arrival and really happy to hear you’ve taken some inspiration from Lex 224, probs my favourite.
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very cool post. i haven’t delved into the ribbons’ reverb, but the brief time i listened to it, it sounded above and beyond what i expected.
This is fascinating. I’ve always found the nomenclature a bit strange and this makes a lot more sense now. The reverb sounds fantastic from every demo I’ve heard. I just want smooth decay. Shimmer can absolutely do one.