reverb opinions/ suggestions

I am in the market for a reverb plug-in
I am not real happy with sonar Sonitus reverb that came in Sorars fx bundle
I tried the PSP EZverb demo, not bad for the money.
SIR2 looks of intrest and more in my price range.
I am not familar with what is out there. I see one can pay $900 or more for convolution type reverbs. I would not be willing to pay any more than $300 of so if I truly get what I pay for. There is so much to choose from and I am not sure of how much improvement and control the various choices offer. I also see comments of the forum regarding excessive processor usage with some of these plug-ins.

Any opinions or suggestions?

Any places to get demos?

Thanks Bitflipper
Judging by the music you create I trust your opinion, great stuff.

Pardon my ingnorance. but
What is an "IR effect"?
I have 4XL and I do not think it came with Perfect Space.

I don't know math but I have to ask. What is the formula at the bottom of your posts?

ORIGINAL: bitflipper
SIR is in everybody's price range! Works pretty good, too.

I use Perfect Space for vocals, the Sonitus 'verb for everything else (you have to play with it awhile to get a good sound, but it can work well and is light on CPU).

Although PS works well for me now, it does eat CPU cycles for breakfast (SIR does, too, as do all IR effects). The new 8-DSP TC Electronics Powercore is high on my Christmas wishlist.

Christmas is a long time away. I picked up a 'reboxed' Powercore Compact (firewire) from NovaMusik on ebay store for $429.... They still have the deal: http://www.novamusik.com/search.aspx?type=Model&keyword=4386&mid=71

It's only got 2 dsp processors though, which will handle about 4-6 simultaneous MegaReverb instances. I like that, Character and the MasterX3. All sound very good. I've had some problems with the Classic Reverb plug, but it sounds very good when it works.

ORIGINAL: bitflipper
What about the other plugins? I've looked at the Powercore Compact and while the price is enticing, I wondered what I'd be giving up going with that versus the rackmounted version.

I think the supplied plug-ins are the same for both models, but the Sweetater listing says that you also get a $500 voucher for more plugs with the X8. The main difference in the two models is the number of plug-ins you can use simultaneously. The X8 has 8 dsp chips and the Compact only has 2. There's a control panel that shows the resources currently used.

The following screenshot of the control panel has two Megareverb instances, a 27/7C (which is an 1176), one MasterX3, one EQSat, and one VoiceStrip (stereo). All of the plugs are on one track (just to load up the dsps) and it plays as expected.



If you have the X8, 8 dsps will appear in the control panel. To find out how much dsp a plug uses, download the manual for the plug on the TC site.

I should mention the problems I've had too. I occasionally get a 'communication error' that may or may not be because of my particular system or the current PowerCore driver. When that happens, I have to shut down Sonar and reboot the PowerCore unit. Trying it on two different firewire ports, the problem is not solved. But, I suspect the same would happen with the X8 too, which is also firewire.

If you were to use a different plug on 6 tracks, then 6 streams of data are simultaneously making a round trip through the port. The X8 can handle a lot more plugs, but I don't know how well the firewire port will handle that much data flow, at least on my system (AMD Athlon64 X2 5200+, 2gig ram).

If you decide to get a PCI version, beware that they don't work with Athlon X2s.

The main difference in the two models is the number of plug-ins you can use simultaneously.

So as far as you know, the only difference between the Compact, the original rack version and the new X8 is the number of DSP's? Same software?

I got WizooVerb on line for $99. It's a little more CPU hungry than Perfect Space but I really like the Large hall presets for orchestral stuff. You can also go on line and find lots of free IR samples that can be used in it as well.

I've been using the Modern Spacer a lot lately. I find it to not be over bearing and I like the way you can adjust the frequency of the verb too.

Mike