Hey all,
 
I am using Sonar Artist. I have not chosen to upgrade to Pro or Plat, because the differences between them (for my purposes anyway) seem to be the included plug-ins, and I already have many 3rd party plugs from Izotope, Brainworx and SPL.
 
But........ of late I am growing dissatisfied with my reverb and delay options. I have been using Vallhala Vintage Verb, and the content included in Artist.
 
I wish there was a way to demo the verb and delay choices in Professional to see if any of them improve my situation, but I also realize how impractical that may be.
 
It seems to me that a lot of reverb plugs add an effect that seems plastered on the the sound left and right. I am seeking a verb that does front to back depth well. This could be user error on my part, and I don't claim to have used a lot of reverbs. One that I am demoing right now that seems to do the depth thing well is the Rob Papen verb. Maybe it is just easier for me to get this one to do this with little tweaking, and with some guidance perhaps I could get this with others in my arsenal. But the RP verb is very clean, and even at extreme settings sounds like reverb instead of a clashing cacophony of sounds. Interestingly enough, of those that I have tried, second place in the depth department goes to the free Pianoverb from PSP.

Also, a little delay feeding the verb seems to help depth. But unfortunately a lot of the delay plugs I have tried seem a bit boxy and midrange heavy, insted of open sounding. In the this case I like the RP delay as well. May grab these two, but still evaluating and considering alternatives.
 
The alternatives include Sonar Professional, and if it has an option I need this would be cost effective. But I would hate to upgrade for this reason and then end up buying another verb anyway.

Would love to hear feedback on this, and/or any hints on creating front to back depth.

It is hard to keep up w/ what is included or not.  You can demo the Nomad Audio reverbs included w/ Plat (I think), but most of the extra reverbs are convolution, and most of those aren't demoed since the impulses are the money.  You might find a demo of Breeverb.
 
Most of the front to back I find in adjusting the dry/wet level.  Most reverbs are set too high to be realistic, for vocals anyway.  And one trick is to use a short delay, almost doubling, before (or after!) the reverb to add some depth.  I'd try that first.
 
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You might want to look into 2caudio's aether. It is one one the best algo reverb. Demo is available. If you can wait till chrismas you might be able to get it for 50%.

You can get demos of REmatrix and Breverb.

Hi. Have you tried the sonitus reverb? Therese is also a lot for freebies around, if the Sonitus dose not float your boat. Best of luck.

Another way to increase depth or better, move an instrument further back in the mix, is using its send to the reverb bus Pre Fader and not, as usually, Post Fader.
That way, if you lower the track volume, the perceived sound of this instrument will shift backwards in depth.
 
Best,
Klaus

Thanks Craig, I'll check out the demos. The REmatrix in particular looks interesting. And I would be gaining ProChannel flexibility with Professional or SPlat. May be worth a good hard look.
 
Thanks for the tip Klaus. I worked a little this morning with the reverb pre-fader. When time permits I will have a go at it again. It sounds like this may get me closer to the results I am looking for.  

Hi Tom, I've found reverb one of the most difficult FX to master, so your post struck a chord with me. To get a realistic and believable depth to an instrument, or vocal, is something that seems to take me an age to get just right. I've found it takes more work than all the EQ's, compressors and other FX put together.
A little delay often seems to help sit a sound a little further back, and it seems every song requires a different treatment.
I've always liked working with convolution reverbs, I find it easier to load a real space and make that work for me, particularly when trying to get sounds to sit back behind the lead instruments. I've found Rematrix has made that a little easier and am enjoying working with it a great deal.

Just on a side note...why, when I "open" a reverb, is about 3 times too much reverb? Same thing in Nectar 2?
Up to now, I have only turned reverb settings down and dry, never up.
 

Did you save the project in between this issue? 
Best of luck.