Hi Mike,

You can try before you buy. If you go to the altiverb site, and I think it is in the downloads section, you can download a test version. It has a few reverbs on it, not the whole lot of course, as it's a demo one. As it's a demo, there are beeps now and then. When you go to download it, make sure you download the correct one for you, as there is some window on that page, where you select your computer type, and the sequencer program you use before you download the demo.

Hope that helps.

best,

Steve.
[:D]

Mike:

I love Altiverb. It is IR based, but you can vary many parameters,set EQ, change room size, change reverb time. position the sound source. IR samples are frequently added, but it already comes with IR samples of many famous halls - e.g. large halls Amesterdam's Concertgebouw, Berlin's Philharmonie, Vienna's Konzerthaus, Sydney Opera House, Disney Hall (L.A.), etc. smaller halls like the Mozart Hall (Vienna) Schubert Hall (Vienna), Kammermusiksaal (Berlin), cathedrals, churches, sound stages, clubs, etc. etc.. Samples are from multiple positions . eg. 6 meters, 12, meters, 20 meters, 28 meters, etc. depending on the hall. Altiverb has a reputation for being CPU hungry but, according the manufacturer, Altiverb 5 & 6 are less so than previous versions. On my system, using multiple instances of Altiverb, this has not, so far, been a problem. As Steve Martin sugests, download the demo and see if you like it...

So do you people think that it is better than Space Designer that comes with Logic Pro 7? If so, is it $600 better?

In my opinion, it is significantly better than Space Designer, the reverbs seem to have a unique depth and complexity that makes them seem live. But that is simply my opinion - many people swear by Space Designer and may simply be more skillful in its use than I, others like Wizooverb W2 ($250) and Waves IR-1 Native,($600) etc. This is why downloading the demo is helpful. Whether Altiverb is worth its price ($530 at Sweetwater Sound) is a personal question. To me the answer was and is, most definitely, yes, but others may have a different opinion.

@ColinThomson said:

So do you people think that it is better than Space Designer that comes with Logic Pro 7? If so, is it $600 better?

A convolution reverb is a convolution reverb as long as it meets the performance you need for a specific impulse response. The difference is in the IRs that are available. If you like the ones in Logic, they would sound the same in Altiverb assuming it could read them. And the reverse is also true.

All the other parameters (EQ, filters, etc.) can be gotten from other plugs in whatever sequencer you use. I certainly wouldn't judge a reverb by the extras that are embedded in it.

A significant part of what you are paying for in Altiverb is that a recording team went to the Concertgebouw, the Vienna Konzerthaus, the various concert rooms at Schloss Esterhazy, Chartres Cathdral etc and made meticulous recordings at these sites from multiple perspectives. All I can say is it that made my life a lot easier to have these beautiful reverbs immediately available without a lot of tweaking (to simulate something like them with Space Designer).

So what would be a good place to download good impulse responses for Space Designer? The ones that come with it are fine, but I hope there might be something better until I might be able to get my hands on Altiverb.

Thanks to all for your valuable feedback.

Looks like it's a "must have". [:)]

Mike

@Mike McCarthy said:

Thanks to all for your valuable feedback.

Looks like it's a "must have". [:)]

Mike

It is a "must have" IMO, but it will probably bring your PC to its knees if you use more than a couple of instances, so beware.

DG

[:D] Rest assured - I will not be going near it with any of my beleagued P4 slaves!

...and only one instance.

Mike.

Not to contradict, but I had no problems running 6 instances of Altiverb 5 along with 48 tracks of EXS 24 instruments on my machine. Most of the time these days, however, I run just one instance - - not because of problems with CPU overload, but simply because it seems to me to sound better, more like everyone is playing in the same room.

Altiverb doesn't seem like an option for me because I will only have one PC with limited resources. Is there something that comes close to Altiverb's quality that is much more CPU efficient? Doesn't have to be IR, even just a preset that seems to work well with VI for a basic filmscoring studio reverb.

@stevesong said:

Not to contradict, but I had no problems running 6 instances of Altiverb 5 along with 48 tracks of EXS 24 instruments on my machine. Most of the time these days, however, I run just one instance - - not because of problems with CPU overload, but simply because it seems to me to sound better, more like everyone is playing in the same room.

I have also tried this and I agree. Sometimes Just using one Instance can sound more authentic, than using an army's worth to replicate layers of depth.

AV is a great reverb but beware .. it is not the total cure all of mixing tools. It certainly helps .. and definitely has a place of honour in my studio, but you'll still need to sort out positioning and panning by other means. Still .. worth it's money. Best to buy it from www.thomann.de .. if you're in europe .. much cheaper than anywhere else.

Also for Eric .. AV is actually pretty CPU efficient now. Granted you still need a bit of power to use it but it's not the drain on the system resources you might think.

I'm still placing my hopes for great room sound in MIR though.

@ColinThomson said:

So what would be a good place to download good impulse responses for Space Designer? The ones that come with it are fine, but I hope there might be something better until I might be able to get my hands on Altiverb.

Just a thought .. you might wanna try my Logic Template. It uses SD for the depth and overall reverbs and it's not a bad little setup for writing to. I wouldn't say it's the best for a total master but you can always give it a try as I rather like the IR's that I use on SD.

You can find the download for that here:

http://www.elvenmusic.com/vsl/reverb/reverb.html

I think that SD contains some great IR's already. The only problem that SD suffers from is just a lack of control over stereo width and percieved depth .. (although that's usually done through direct signal volume, AV is much better at positioning sound for close and far purposes.)

@stevesong said:

Not to contradict, but I had no problems running 6 instances of Altiverb 5 along with 48 tracks of EXS 24 instruments on my machine. Most of the time these days, however, I run just one instance - - not because of problems with CPU overload, but simply because it seems to me to sound better, more like everyone is playing in the same room.

I have also tried this and I agree. Sometimes Just using one Instance can sound more authentic, than using an army's worth to replicate layers of depth.

AV is a great reverb but beware .. it is not the total cure all of mixing tools. It certainly helps .. and definitely has a place of honour in my studio, but you'll still need to sort out positioning and panning by other means. Still .. worth it's money. Best to buy it from www.thomann.de .. if you're in europe .. much cheaper than anywhere else.

Also for Eric .. AV is actually pretty CPU efficient now. Granted you still need a bit of power to use it but it's not the drain on the system resources you might think.

I'm still placing my hopes for great room sound in MIR though.

I don't expect there to be a problem running one instance. But all I seem to be reading is people needing 5,6,7 instances. You think one is enough for most full orchestra projects? If so, I'm sold.