musichoo
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Which reverb for piano?
Hi guys,
I am a pianist working on a new age piano solo album. My piano vst is Ivory II and I have been trying to play with different reverbs from Sonar, epicverb, reverbation CM the Valhalla Room demo. So far my conclusion is that perfect space that comes with Sonar gave me the best reverb effect. (Despite being 32 bit it works fine in my 64 bit X2, didn't fare too well in X1 days). Is it because piano work best with convolution reverb? I have been thinking about getting the Valhalla Room but I could not get my piano to sound good with it. IMHO it works great with vocal, drums and strings.
I am curious about how other cakewalk users use their reverb on piano. What reverb do you use or any settings? Be it a miked acoustic piano or a vst and even a digital piano.
Thanks ahead of time. BTW I did disable the reverb in Ivory when I tried other reverbs.
Choo Shi-hwei
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John
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Re: Which reverb for piano?
2013/08/19 20:37:29
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I would use a room type reverb. Easy on the wet though. Any good reverb with a room sound should work. All you want is an acoustic space that sounds natural.
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joden
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Re: Which reverb for piano?
2013/08/19 22:30:50
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as little as possible 
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Jeff Evans
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Re: Which reverb for piano?
2013/08/19 22:41:18
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PSP make a great free VST which is a special piano reverb designed for piano. Here: http://www.pspaudioware.com/plugins/reverbs/psp_pianoverb/ What is cute about this is that the reverb that comes out the other end can only be on the chromatic notes of the music scale ie the reverb notes can only be chromatic. It is rather nice and when used in moderation can sound rather good. Experiment. It can also be used on anything too of course. Any sounds that are in between chromatic notes won't produce any reverb, only musical notes will. Otherwise what others have said here will work too. A quality convolution reverb used in small doses. One trick that has been used by some engineers and will create a similar sound is to setup a speaker right underneath a grand piano. The sustain pedal is somehow organised to be down permanently. Any track can be sent via an aux send into the speaker under the piano. Above, the strings will create reverb but only on the chromatic notes, similar to this VST. A figure 8 mic pattern could be used above (with two mics too for nice stereo effect!) and setup in such a way as they would null the speaker sound and only hear the reverb from the piano too. This is actually quite desirable and very musical reverb as you could imagine.
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konradh
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Re: Which reverb for piano?
2013/08/19 23:51:47
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I use the reverb built into Ivory II. I prefer Medium Hall on piano, but with the level somewhat low so things don't get muddy.
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drummaman
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Re: Which reverb for piano?
2013/08/20 01:27:55
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+1 on PSP's PianoVerb, but be sure to try the various room verb settings in the Pro Channel's Breverb...
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Guitarhacker
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Re: Which reverb for piano?
2013/08/20 07:49:37
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Reverb on piano or anything for that matter is certainly a case of personal taste. Having said that, I am fond of the Cakewalk StudioVerb2 and use it on most of my tunes and tracks.
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The Maillard Reaction
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Re: Which reverb for piano?
2013/08/20 09:05:49
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There was a guy floating around Gear Slutz about 10 years ago with a similar idea. IIRC he was a French expat living some where in Africa and, with a dependency on the internet as a means of communication, it seemed like his efforts ended up being received with confusion and or dismissal. He was producing synthesized Impulse Responses that were constructed around tone centers and the harmonic intervals of particular song keys. I thought it was fascinating, but I also thought the overall effect reminded me of when you lay a sweetly voiced pad into the mix just below the threshold of perception. He offered IR packs for all the song keys and popular scales. They were expensive but I think he sort of knew he was onto something very, very cool. I made a few custom IRs for myself based on the principles he offered as explanation. I think it is very cool that a company like PSP has approached reverb with a similar goal. Thanks for sharing the idea. best regards, mike Jeff Evans
PSP make a great free VST which is a special piano reverb designed for piano. Here:
http://www.pspaudioware.com/plugins/reverbs/psp_pianoverb/
What is cute about this is that the reverb that comes out the other end can only be on the chromatic notes of the music scale ie the reverb notes can only be chromatic. It is rather nice and when used in moderation can sound rather good. Experiment. It can also be used on anything too of course. Any sounds that are in between chromatic notes won't produce any reverb, only musical notes will.
Otherwise what others have said here will work too. A quality convolution reverb used in small doses.
One trick that has been used by some engineers and will create a similar sound is to setup a speaker right underneath a grand piano. The sustain pedal is somehow organised to be down permanently. Any track can be sent via an aux send into the speaker under the piano. Above, the strings will create reverb but only on the chromatic notes, similar to this VST. A figure 8 mic pattern could be used above (with two mics too for nice stereo effect!) and setup in such a way as they would null the speaker sound and only hear the reverb from the piano too. This is actually quite desirable and very musical reverb as you could imagine.
post edited by mike_mccue - 2013/08/20 09:14:35
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vanblah
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Re: Which reverb for piano?
2013/08/20 09:29:26
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Context is key. Are you going for a completely synthetic sound (like an impossibly lush soundscape) or are you trying to emulate the real thing as closely as possible. I get the feeling it's the latter.
For me, solo piano doesn't need a whole lot of reverb. What little reverb I use would be a convolution reverb with a good impulse from a nice room or performance space. I use SIR2.
If I'm using a real piano in a space designed for performance then I'm using room mics and capturing the whole thing. This is my preferred method for piano in any context but especially solo.
Of course, you might try experimenting with some subtle delay as well as reverb.
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bitflipper
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Re: Which reverb for piano?
2013/08/20 10:51:52
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PerfectSpace is an excellent choice for your application. One of the few instances where I'd prefer a convolution reverb over an algorithmic reverb.
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musichoo
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Re: Which reverb for piano?
2013/08/20 23:40:08
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Wow. Thanks for all of you who have taken the time to write. I really appreciate your contribution and help. Yes I am downloading the pianoverb now. Will try the Cakewalk studioverb2 too. Is it in Sonar 8.5? Will check out SIR2. Yes will play some more with Breverb and Ivory II setting, too.
I might write back for a little report after I had try most of your ideas. Thanks You all.
BTW. I had just recorded some an 8 year old girl singing yesterday. When I had applied a little reverb from Sonitus reverb preset "short and sweet", the result was nothing short of "magical". I was thinking, there is no reason to try a different reverb. I am starting to think that different reverb works for different instrument.
Choo Shi-Hwei
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