I recently compared a lot of the free reverbs in VCV Rack in the same patch. I’m curious what modules people here prefer and why.
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My favorite is Airwindows Airwindows Suite for Rack
Depending on the patch I have various reverbs to choose from.
Update: Verbity2 for talk, kCathedral2 for organ, kPlate140 for drum track, VerbTiny for pop, Galactic2 for ambient. A(n almost) complete list:
- Chamber is a feedforward reverb based on the golden ratio.
- Chamber2 is a feedforward reverb, a blur delay, and a glitch topping!
- CreamCoat is a swiss army knife reverb with soft undersampling.
- CrunchCoat is a cursed retro digital reverb!
- Galactic is a super-reverb designed specially for pads and space ambient.
- Galactic2 is a super-reverb REdesigned specially for pads and space ambient.
- Galactic3 is exactly Galactic again, but with better undersampling.
- Infinity is a MatrixVerb specifically designed to sustain and layer sounds forever.
- Infinity2 expands Infinity with more tone shaping and a much-requested kill-switch!
- kAlienSpaceship is an unreal realistic reverb.
- kBeyond is a recital hall.
- kCathedral is a giant reverby space.
- kCathedral2 is a giant reverby space modeled after the Bricasti Cathedral.
- kCathedral3 is a giant cathedral-like space using Bezier undersampling.
- kCathedral4 is the Cathedral sound expressed as distant space.
- kCathedral5 lets you place yourself anywhere you like in the space.
- kCosmos is infinite space ambient, or titanic hall.
- kGuitarHall accentuates loud midrange skronk!
- kGuitarHall2 puts things in a Loud Room.
- kPlate140 is a next-generation Airwindows plate reverb.
- kPlate240 is for the texture of smaller, gold foil reverb.
- kPlateA is a plate reverb, not unlike its namesake atop Abbey Road.
- kPlateB is a plate reverb, not unlike its namesake atop Abbey Road.
- kPlateC is a plate reverb, not unlike its namesake atop Abbey Road.
- kPlateD is a plate reverb, not unlike its namesake atop Abbey Road.
- kStation is a realistic small room modeled after David Bowie’s vocal reverb.
- kWoodRoom is a small wooden performing space.
- MatrixVerb is a wildly adjustable, strangely colorful reverb for deep and flexible spaces.
- NonlinearSpace is a flexible reverb plugin.
- PocketVerbs is my popular old special effects reverbs plugin!
- Reverb is simplified and tuned MatrixVerb, adjusting everything for each optimum verb size.
- VerbSixes is a calibrated reference reverb plugin for Householder matrices.
- VerbThic is a classic artificial reverb for being opaque and textured.
- VerbTiny is a classic artificial reverb that expands reverb shape.
- Verbity is a dual-mono reverb, which uses feedforward reverb topology.
- Verbity2 adds stereo crossmodulation and expands Verbity’s feedforward reverb topology.
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Yep
I recently made a video where I tested and compared a large number of free reverb modules in VCV Rack using the same patch, just to hear how different they actually sound.
Several people in the comments already started suggesting additional reverbs that I didn’t include, like some of the Airwindows ones (Galactic, kStation, kWoodRoom), so I thought it would be interesting to continue the discussion here as well.
here’s the video - although it’s mostly just me listening through them, and you probably already know your favorite ones
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I like the video, took me a few sessions to see it all, I was surprised how much I like the 2 Surge XT reverbs ( not spring) I had written them off, but they are nice. I reach for Galaxy first.
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Yeah the Surge XT reverbs are genuinely underrated! Reverb 2 especially — it’s got that diffusion and buildup control which lets you smear notes into each other in a way that feels more organic than most digital reverbs. And the modulation parameter adds just enough pitch movement to make it lush without sounding wobbly.
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I mean, Galaxy is Galaxy - a great port of the beloved Airwindows Galactic, it’s on 30k patches for a reason. But for a tight sequence Surge XT just fits better.
These days I mostly use SurgeXT:Reverb2 or Galaxy. But it depends on the voice, some reverbs and settings are better for ambient washes and some are better for impulses. And from your video I had forgotten how good the Blamsoft reverb actually sounds. Might get back to that one and use it some more. Plateau is also great of course but it has a tendency to get out of control and does have a distinct sound you can tire of.
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Same here actually. I recently started using Blamsoft Reverb more again and was surprised how lush it sounds
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Blamsoft is such a great collection, such a shame it’s not being developed any more. The filter is totally unique and the wavetable VCO is still one of the best too. I haven’t used the reverb for years though, might try it again.
Anyway, my favourite reverb in VCV is still Supermassive, you just have to buy Host-FX! We’ve had this debate before, and I know it doesn’t answer the question, so no point going through it again. It’s just that IMO there’s no combination of modules that comes close.
If we’re talking native modules, it’s still Plateau for guitar but for a bigger ambience, it’s DIY shimmer, which is a combination of Plateau with Clouds providing pitch shifting in a feedback loop.
The reverb on Grainer is great too, and if you have Pro the VCV one is also pretty good.
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I keep Supermassive for DAW post-production, but even then I rarely use it and it never really became part of my VCV workflow.
And yeah, Blamsoft modules are something else! I didn’t realize they’d stopped development; I thought they had just come back to VCV Rack around 2022 or so. Sad to hear that’s not the case.
As VCV Rack module: Valley Plateau, Blamsoft XFX Reverb.
VCV Rack Pro as VST3 plugin from DAW (or via VCV HOST-FX module): Variety Of Sounds epicPLATE mkII, ValhallaDSP Supermassive, Denis Tihanov’s OrilRiver, Fuse Audio VREV-666, TAL Reverb 4. Also I like Protoverb by u-he.
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This is not really a reverb I suppose, but I love using it as a reverb send effect, nothing sounds like it:
And this one for the pitch shift:
And if you want to get experimental:
Otherwise its Airwindows all the way!
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MVerb is one I have taken more seriously now too. I don’t want it for normal things, but getting it to hold notes forever is just glorious. After a melodic voice, you get chords, super fun.
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This thread inspred me to try out several reverbs mentioned favourably here plus everything a library search for “reverb” turned up.
So far Plateau was my goto reverb but my new favorite is docB-MVerb as the reverb with the smoothest tone without any ugly metallic resonances. Another reverb may be the best fit for a particular synth voice however, but for my main reverb I think I’ll switch to MVerb.
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Hi - Interesting… I don’t know about docB, so I’ll try (via dbRackModules plugin) the MVerb you’ve mentioned. 
Thanks!
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docB is listed as the author of the dbRackModules plugin, so it is the same thing.
The only wish I have for MVerb would be a control fot reverb time in seconds instead of the ‘feedback’ parameter.
Have tried it, but the GUI is a “can of worms” (perhaps like mine modules 
) and nearly unreadable at 100% zoom level (1920x1080, Windows 10 platform), unfortunately.
Valley’s Plateau remains my goto reverb from VCV Rack as standalone, also I like the Blamsoft’s XFX Reverb, or I’m using a VST3 (listed in previous post, above, via HOST-FX module).
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Yes, XFX Reverb is also very good.
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When MorphWorx officially enters the rack library, a lot of folks will be using the Aetherion reverb. I like a lot of reverbs, but this one is fun to use and sounds great. Shimmer and envelope included.
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Interesting FREE VST delay worth cheking out!
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