Even though this unit dates from 1982 it is still used a lot today, praised for its rich or natural sound. It is loved by many award winning engineers. Zach McNees sampled quite some different decay lengths for all programs and for the Stereo Room also a low diffusion set. The Hi Density Plate and Plate Reverb are both unique. And because of modern convolution techniques all samples lack the noise you typically get from this box.

The specific unit Zach McNees sampled is owned by Matthew Marinelli at Exile Recording/Coral Sound.

Check out audio examples here.

This and future Audio Ease impulse response releases will be exclusively for Altiverb 7. You can download this set directly from the IR browser in Altiverb 7.

Audio Ease proudly shares the Grampian Spring IR from Dan FitzGerald. This set features the original (mono) Grampian Ambiophonic Unit Type 666 and also Dan's modified stereo double set of 666's called the SoundSound Spring (SSSpring).

Dan FitzGerald about the Grampian Ambiophonic Unit Type 666 and the SSSpring:

"Legendary UK Producer Joe Meek and guitarist Pete Townsend used the same spring tank (from the Hammond tonewheel organs) but now with BBC designed electronics. This ingenious circuitry had very high drive current capability, using an output stage commonly seen in car radios. but limited by a simple bulb in series with the drive coil. As the bulb lights, resistance increases dramatically. Limiting and Overload warning. Curiously Green. The extremely quiet recovery circuit would give modern Class A Mic Preamps a run for their money. The devices were manufactured for the BBC by Grampian Reproducers, a U.K. manufacturer of a diverse range of professional audio products. From Microphones to Vinyl Disc Cutting heads. There were different versions of the Grampian. Pete Townsend’s version strangely could run on batteries and included a balanced mic input. The strangeness or perhaps psychotropicicity continued with the naming of another version, The Grampian Ambiophonic Unit Type 666. This variation apparently was used in Local Radio Studios by the BBC as an affordable substitute for the EMT140 Plate. I first heard this device at concerts mixed by one of the earliest live sound engineers, Nicky Ryan. He mixed live and produced records for Clannad and later Enya, which continues to this day. Decent digital reverb had not appeared at that time so this was really the only affordable game in town. Another live engineer friend Mairead O’ Reilly and I both acquired 666’s. We noticed that the sound of the two used together, dual mono, causes a very wide spacious effect. So we built a copy of the Grampian, with an external PSU and a various other refinements. Let’s call it the SoundSound Spring. SSSpring for short.

This SSSpring had an external Power Supply which eliminated all hum. But like the original its outputs were strong enough to drive a loudspeaker. Quiet clean and powerful. This was widely used by us when live mixing much of the top action on the Irish music scene in the 70’s through 90’s. Courtesy of Altiverb we hope to have now shared and immortalized this sound in tribute to the inventors who came up with this wonderful ‘hit’ sound, and those designers who later included it in their own creations."

This and future Audio Ease impulse response releases will be exclusively for Altiverb 7. You can download this set directly from the IR browser in Altiverb 7.

DN780 by Martin Dubka

The DN780 is a digital reverb processor from 1985. Martin Dubka sampled all factory-set acoustic simulations presets (and some of the effects too). He later sold the DN780 as the IRs turned out to be spot on. This built like a tank eighties digital reverb offers more then Non-lin.

This and future Audio Ease impulse response releases will be exclusively for Altiverb 7. You can download this set directly from the IR browser in Altiverb 7.

Thee EMT 140 plates from SARM West studios

Stairway to heaven , We are the champions, Relax, Stir it Up, Slave to the Rhythm, Do They Know it's Christmas, There's quite a legacy to this studio. founded by Chris Blackwell, now owned by Trevor Horn.

This is one of those rare places that has produced records in everyone's collection. Samples were made of the spacious, open sounding live room, known from the Live Aid video. Our own set of mics were used, but also the 'gods' a set of 4 permanently fitted microphones were used. The tight and completely original studio 2 where most of Marley was recorded, the contained, modern studio 3, three functioning plate reverbs, the classic stairwell used on so many productions as an echo chamber, and Bob Marley's huge bathtub, which should be able to hold 1000 litres of water. Nobody dares to fill it up these days, in fear of it coming crashing through the ceiling of studio 1.

This and future Audio Ease impulse response releases will be exclusively for Altiverb 7. You can download this set directly from the IR browser in Altiverb 7.

World's biggest spring reverb (J. van Grieken)

World's biggest spring reverb now available in Altiverb 7 as impulse responses set.

Jochem van Grieken writes: "An experiment with extremely long spring reverbs. For this one I suspended 100 meters of 3.5mm galvanized steel in a long hallway. Audio Ease's initial reaction was 'oh my god: Yes'. And after we heard the output of this monster we thought: 'oh my god: Yes'. Recorded with 4 DPA 4006's for clarity and 4 Piezo's for the sounds in the wire.

This and future Audio Ease impulse response releases will be exclusively for Altiverb 7. You can download this set directly from the IR browser in Altiverb 7.

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[67 MB]

Roland Space Echo RE-201 tape delay

Analogue delay at its best. This piece of hardware combines a spring reverb and a long tape loop and gives you full control to craft anything from rockabilly slapback to strange noises. Pink Floyd, Radiohead, David Bowie, Lee "scratch" Perry, King Tubby, Sonic Youth and Portishead all tamed the RE-201 in their own way.

The spring has been sampled separately. From all 11 modes short and long samples are made with three different "Rates": Lo, Med and Hi, resulting in over 65 impulse responses.
Some RESO samples have been added also. These are self oscillating loops with a lengths up to 30 seconds.

The Space Echo is a mono reverb unit, the IR's are available in both mono and stereo (double mono) out. The IR contains a bit of the dry direct sound. It is recommended to mute the direct sound in Altiverb when you want to mix the effect. This Space Echo unit was kindly lent to Audio Ease by Manuel Cooymans, DJC Recordings.

Recording date: August 23, 2007
Engineer: Aram Verwoest

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Sony SDR 1000+ and Digitech Studio Quad V2

The Ibanez (Sony) SDR 1000+ Stereo Digital Reverb is a full fx machine from the late 1980's. We have sampled only the reverb programs, as an impulse response of a chorus or auto panner does not work. This reverb unit was sampled at Studio Le Roy in Amsterdam (engineer: Aram Verwoest).

As an extra the Digitech Studio Quad V2 is added to this IR set. Dave Huizing sampled this one for all Altiverb users. Only the reverb presets are present as most chorus effects do not translate into proper impulse responses.

These sets added together result into a nice blend of 120 presets of classic, modern, hi and low budget (hardware) reverb.

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[70.2 MB]

Spring IR set: AKG BX 5, AKG BX 15 & ARP 2600

Three legendary, unique, vintage spring reverb units captured for Altiverb.

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[8.4 MB]

Hardware reverb: REV 7

Back to the ‘80’s with this hardware reverb. The REV 7 was an entry level ‘PRO’ reverb and was released in 1985.

The REV7 comes with 30 presets which cover various size halls, simulations of mechanical reverb devices, simulations of recording studio type acoustic environments, stereo delays, and a range of modulation type effects. The latest are of course not included in this IR set.

Stereo
Although the REV7 has stereo Inputs and Outputs the reverberation is a mono sum of the left and right Inputs.

This is the full set of factory presets form the legendary L224 XL digital reverberator. While many of these machines worldwide are deteriorating beyond repair, and parts are hard to get, we have spend a couple of days with a model that worked just fine. All presets are sampled in mono and stereo including their pre-delay.

Theoretically some time-variant processes in the L224 prevent a faithful sample for convolution reverb, but in practice we have come extremely close.

To show of just how close, we let you compare side by side in this interactive demo.

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[48 MB]

check the flash audio demo

This was one of the first gated reverb units and was released by Advanced Music Systems, Burnley, England. The RMX is a non-linear reverb. It has one of the all-time trademark reverb presets, Non Lin 2.

"The RMX16 is the Holy Grail of digital audio equipment. This The RMX16 would edge its name in music history on Phil Collins seminal recording ‘In The Air Tonight”. Collins later professed that the record could not have been made without the unit. The unit also allowed Prince to achieve the backward reverb baseline on the song, ‘Kiss’. Other high profile artists to utilise the unique sound of the RMX16 included Peter Gabriel, The Hollies, The Thompson Twins, and Culture Club." - AMS-NEVE

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[11.6 MB]

This amazing user submitted IR set contains five (5!) sampled pieces of Lo-Fi Sprig Reverb Gear by Joe Gore. This is what Joe has to say about this special set:

There are IR's from some of my favorite lo-fi spring reverbs. Three are from guitar amps, and two are cheap rack-mounted spring units. All IR's were made via sine sweep into the front end of the unit (i.e. not just the reverb section), and then recorded back into Pro Tools in stereo with a pair of AKG414s.

My personal fave is the Baldwin Professional, a horrid late-'60s solid-state amp with a reverb so cakey and think, it taints everything it touches. I've used this one on records by Tom Waits, PJ Harvey, the Eels, Tracy Chapman and others (Willie Nelson is, for some unaccountable reason, a longtime devotee of this awful amp).

The Magnatone 'verbs are also cakey, but much darker and warmer. (Magnatone was a small California manufacturer of the '50s and '60s. Magnatone users have included Buddy Holly, Pops Staples, and Lonnie Mack).

The silverface Fender Super Reverb is bright and splashy -- your classic guitar spring 'verb. (Contrary to conventional wisdom, I prefer the sound of this particular amp to most pre-CBS blackface Supers I've encountered).

The Tubeworks Real Tube reverb is a surprisingly rich-sounding spring box.

The Furman RV-1 tone is nasty, brutish and long.

Have fun,

Joe Gore - San Francisco, USA

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[11.5 MB]

Chapman Recording is fortunate to have 3 EMT plate reverbs. These acoustic devises were made in Germany during the late 1950's and offer the finest "Vocal" reverb available. EMT Plate 1 was originally owned by American Studios in Memphis and was used on several early Elvis recordings. Plates 2 and 3 were once owned by producer Phil Ramone while at A & R Studios in New York. These units can be heard on many of the Aretha Franklin and Simon & Garfunkel hits of the 1960's. All 3 plates reside in the downstairs "Plate Room" and are remoteable to control room  B & C.

About Capman Recording
Chapman Recording has been serving the music, advertising, film and video industry for over 30 years with high end audio services. Located downtown along historic "movie row" the 2 room facility offers a highly creative and experienced engineering staff along with superior customer service. A mix of vintage and cutting edge gear draw clients including Jewel, John Hiatt, Tech N9ne, Nappy Roots, Miramax Films, PBS, HBO and Comedy Central.

This one was originally part of thr Arts & Sciences building IR set, but since that set hase been split up and scatterd all over the place, here it is on its own: a long (17 seconds) impulse response of a Bösendorfer Piano. Great for all kinds of sound design!

Wendy Carlos writes about her beloved plate:
"Welcome to the wonderful world of EMT 140st Plate Reverberation. As a gift to the industry, I'm making available gratis these samples of my near mint 140st, vintage early 1971. It was added to my studio when Rachel Elkind and I expanded it into the lower floor of her Manhattan brownstone. I'd become familiar with earlier versions in graduate school, as Vladimir Ussachevsky used one in the Columbia University Electronic Music Center, where I was a student of his. This model is the epitome of electromechanical design, with extremely low noise solid state electronics replacing earlier troublesome tube circuits."

This (out-of-production) classic unit cannot be captured faithfully using convolution reverb because it is not time invariant: it uses chorussing. The presets that use chorussing heavily will sound different than what you may expect. However 90 % of these samples are pretty much indistinguishable from the original preset.

A selection of presets from a classic top end reverb unit introduced in the late 80's.

A selection of presets from the most familiar and affordable reverb units from the 1980's.

This classic spring reverb was sampled at three decay settings. Mono in, stereo out.

Doesn't get any better than this. You need a mac G4 to emulate this sophisticated piece of analog reverb equipment. Mono to stereo (go figure).

Fokke van Saane makes available this collection of speaker, tube radio, intercom , walkman, car stereo, boombox and phone impulse responses. In this set are mono to stereo IR's, but also the first mono to mono IR's available for Altiverb. All of these combine wonderfully with stadium or room presets.

More from Fokke van Saane. A dustbin, a bucket, two glass flower pots, a glass pot of chocolate spread, coal hod, washing machine, vacuum cleaner tube. All captured in stereo, sometimes in A-B and sometimes using MS. Useful for altering voices.

Accompanying Erik Hawkins' Altiverb review in Mix magazine, here are the BX10 spring reverb samples made by Erik and depicted proud owner Victor Owens.

Eric Rehl submitted marvelous samples of these two classic Bring-Me-To-Your-Leader type echo toys.