Hi guys, I'm thinking of getting a Valhalla reverb as I'm doing a brand new studio installation this week. I've decided that I just have way too many plugins and samples etc and I want to just strip it all down and use my main plugins. Now most DAWs I've used have a mixed selection of stock fx, some good some not so good and unfortunately the reverb in Bitwig I find just isn't all that great.
A friend of mine recommended Valhalla and from what I've seen and heard I have been really impressed I'm just stuck between 2 of their reverbs and was wondering if you guys on here could advise which would be better to get.
The style of music I make (Trance/Hardstyle) has very big lead sounds and big lush pads and strings, I'm sure you guys are familiar with the sound. In Trance reverbs and delays are a massive part of the sound so obviously it's very important I get a good solid workhorse reverb that's up to the task, wether it's adding a bit of verb on a snare drum or a cymbal or adding a massive reverb to a lead or pluck.
The two reverbs I'm struggling to decide between is Valhalla Room and the Valhalla vintage verb. Both seem good and I know a lot of my trance producer friends use the room but I just felt for some verbs u need something larger than a room like a hall or a nice plate for vocals etc.
Can you guys give me some advice on which you think would be better currently I'm leaning more to the Room as it really seems like a good all rounder but the vintage has a really nice characteristic to its sound and I feel it would be better for the bigger reverbs I need.
All help appreciated.
Which Valhalla do I need.
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Funkybot's Evil Twin Funkybot's Evil Twin https://www.kvraudio.com/forum/memberlist.php?mode=viewprofile&u=116627
- KVRAF
- 11560 posts since 16 Aug, 2006
For what you're looking to do I'd suggest you start with Valhalla VintageVerb. It's more colorful, with more obvious modulations than Room, which will pair very well with synths. After that, I'd even consider Valhalla Plate, then perhaps Room. That said, Valhalla Room doesn't just do rooms well, it can also do halls, it was just designed with the intention of being a bit cleaner. I think of them this way:
Valhalla VintageVerb: classic 70's and 80's reverb sounds with great sounding modulation. Works great on just about everything, but especially on sources where you want to hear the reverb. Heavily influenced by the classic Lexicon and EMT early digital reverbs.
Valhalla Plate: amazing hardware style plate verb. Works great on acoustic instruments, vocals, even drums (including synth drums).
Valhalla Room: a very versatile, though relatively cleaner reverb (compared to Vintage Verb).
Valhalla Shimmer: amazing for ambient music, pads, drones, and other very heavily processed effect style reverbs. Even an acoustic guitar can turn into a giant ambient pad with this.
Valhalla VintageVerb: classic 70's and 80's reverb sounds with great sounding modulation. Works great on just about everything, but especially on sources where you want to hear the reverb. Heavily influenced by the classic Lexicon and EMT early digital reverbs.
Valhalla Plate: amazing hardware style plate verb. Works great on acoustic instruments, vocals, even drums (including synth drums).
Valhalla Room: a very versatile, though relatively cleaner reverb (compared to Vintage Verb).
Valhalla Shimmer: amazing for ambient music, pads, drones, and other very heavily processed effect style reverbs. Even an acoustic guitar can turn into a giant ambient pad with this.
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- KVRAF
- 2112 posts since 25 Jun, 2008 from Montreal, Canada
ALL OF THEM!!!
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- KVRAF
- 35569 posts since 11 Apr, 2010 from Germany
I loved VRoom for its cleanness when i demo'd it. Then i bought Vintage Verb, because i felt it was more versatile, and easier to use. I must admit, even though i like it, now, i miss the cleanness of VRoom a bit. 
Haven't yet found an algorithm and settings which provide me with the clean sound VRoom delivered. Maybe asking too much anyway. But, definitely something you should consider before buying, i think.
Haven't yet found an algorithm and settings which provide me with the clean sound VRoom delivered. Maybe asking too much anyway. But, definitely something you should consider before buying, i think.-
- KVRian
- 1310 posts since 16 Nov, 2011
Same here. I just sold VRoom, because VVV is better for my production. Also looking for Shimmer...chk071 wrote:I loved VRoom for its cleanness when i demo'd it. Then i bought Vintage Verb, because i felt it was more versatile, and easier to use. I must admit, even though i like it, now, i miss the cleanness of VRoom a bit.
yzcoruhT
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- KVRist
- 426 posts since 9 Feb, 2012
Check out all the newish "Smooth" algorithms, use the "NOW" mode and use little modulation. That's what I'm doing right now and I seem to be getting desirable results with VVV. You might not get it exact, but you will get closer to that 'clean' sound. Eventually, I'll get all of the Valhalla but I thought of hanging out with VVV for a long while. I think my next Valhalla purchase will be Valhalla Plate, followed by Valhalla Room.chk071 wrote:Haven't yet found an algorithm and settings which provide me with the clean sound Vroom delivered.
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- KVRist
- 192 posts since 30 Nov, 2015
I answered this a while ago: http://www.kvraudio.com/forum/viewtopic ... 0#p6359400
Sam Trenholme — Software developer, electronic musician — Listen to my music: http://caulixtla.com/music
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- KVRist
- 426 posts since 9 Feb, 2012
Wow thanks caulixtla, you've been extremely helpful so far!caulixtla wrote:I answered this a while ago: http://www.kvraudio.com/forum/viewtopic ... 0#p6359400
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- KVRAF
- 5816 posts since 17 Aug, 2004 from Berlin, Germany
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- KVRAF
- 2104 posts since 24 Jun, 2006 from London, England
You only need all of them 
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- KVRAF
- 35569 posts since 11 Apr, 2010 from Germany
Demo, demo, and demo. That's my recommendation. You might find you need all of them, or none. It's very subjective, and really depends on your own perception, and what works best with YOUR music.
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- KVRist
- 192 posts since 30 Nov, 2015
I remember when I upgraded from my Roland SRV2000 reverb to get a Lexicon PCM90 reverb. When I first heard it, I didn’t like its sound: The SRV-2000 was more natural sounding, while the PCM90 would take the sound it was given and imprint its own sound on to it. It took me a while to grow on me and to like it; it helped that pretty much every hit I had on my CDs and radio had that PCM90 (480L actually, but the two sound almost identical) quality to it.
After a while, I grew to like its sound, to the point that, once it started to have hardware problems, replacing it with VVV (Valhalla Vintage Verb) was a no-brainer for me. I did demo it and it took me under an hour to decide to buy it; it had everything the PCM90 had, but sounded even better. For anyone who likes that 1980s and 1990s reverb sound, VVV nails it, except it sounds even better. And, yes, VVV just won the Gear----z reverb of the year for 2016: https://www.gearslutz.com/board/top-ten ... 016-a.html
But if you’re making a different kind of music, another type of reverb may be more appropriate. Yes, VVV adds its own signature (actually, 15 different signatures to choose from, some subtle, others not so subtle) to a sound, and one might, like chk071 ultimately did, not liking that kind of sound.
I remember getting in to some reddit.drama with someone who didn’t like me giving people suggestions about what synth to buy; his attitude was “you can’t suggest stuff unless you use it yourself.” I disagree: I think a lot of musicians just starting out recording get a lot of help when given some general guidelines, and then they can choose to move on once they get more experience. chk071, for example, used to really like VVV, but then decided its sounds was more colored, and now uses Eventides stuff along with a bit of Valhalla Room — which also works.
I have known Sean online for seven years and finally started using his stuff eight months ago; I knew his stuff was going to sound great because he has a passion for making reverbs I haven’t seen from others. You’re lucky to get a plugin with nine algorithms; most plugins have only a single reverb algorithm. VVV has 15 algorithms, Valhalla Plate has 12, and Valhalla Room also has 12. That’s 39 different virtual chambers, each with its own distinct sound, and each nearly infinitely adjustable, for less than what a lot of competing plugins with one algorithm cost.
The only complaint I have heard people say, and it’s a valid one, is that the reverbs can sound a bit metallic. Sometimes, in my own experience, VVV’s “Smooth Random” can have a cluster of subtle standing waves (frequencies which resonate like a tuning fork); while this metallic sound can be desired, the best way to remove them is to use EQ (either surgical EQ, if you know the frequencies the standing waves are at, or just dial out the entire range where they appear) to remove the metallic sounding frequencies. They are more subtle when size is set to 100% or when using sounds with a lot of frequencies; and where VVV can have subtle standing waves with long tails, other reverbs (including, yes, the excellent Eventide 2016 reverb, which is great with short tails, not so much with long ambient washes) end up sounding more like feedback and less like a reverb using the same source.
So, get VVV if making 80s or electronica stuff; Plate if making Rock and Roll or jazzy stuff; Room if making classical or acoustic stuff; it’s an excellent place to start from while learning to record and make music.
After a while, I grew to like its sound, to the point that, once it started to have hardware problems, replacing it with VVV (Valhalla Vintage Verb) was a no-brainer for me. I did demo it and it took me under an hour to decide to buy it; it had everything the PCM90 had, but sounded even better. For anyone who likes that 1980s and 1990s reverb sound, VVV nails it, except it sounds even better. And, yes, VVV just won the Gear----z reverb of the year for 2016: https://www.gearslutz.com/board/top-ten ... 016-a.html
But if you’re making a different kind of music, another type of reverb may be more appropriate. Yes, VVV adds its own signature (actually, 15 different signatures to choose from, some subtle, others not so subtle) to a sound, and one might, like chk071 ultimately did, not liking that kind of sound.
I remember getting in to some reddit.drama with someone who didn’t like me giving people suggestions about what synth to buy; his attitude was “you can’t suggest stuff unless you use it yourself.” I disagree: I think a lot of musicians just starting out recording get a lot of help when given some general guidelines, and then they can choose to move on once they get more experience. chk071, for example, used to really like VVV, but then decided its sounds was more colored, and now uses Eventides stuff along with a bit of Valhalla Room — which also works.
I have known Sean online for seven years and finally started using his stuff eight months ago; I knew his stuff was going to sound great because he has a passion for making reverbs I haven’t seen from others. You’re lucky to get a plugin with nine algorithms; most plugins have only a single reverb algorithm. VVV has 15 algorithms, Valhalla Plate has 12, and Valhalla Room also has 12. That’s 39 different virtual chambers, each with its own distinct sound, and each nearly infinitely adjustable, for less than what a lot of competing plugins with one algorithm cost.
The only complaint I have heard people say, and it’s a valid one, is that the reverbs can sound a bit metallic. Sometimes, in my own experience, VVV’s “Smooth Random” can have a cluster of subtle standing waves (frequencies which resonate like a tuning fork); while this metallic sound can be desired, the best way to remove them is to use EQ (either surgical EQ, if you know the frequencies the standing waves are at, or just dial out the entire range where they appear) to remove the metallic sounding frequencies. They are more subtle when size is set to 100% or when using sounds with a lot of frequencies; and where VVV can have subtle standing waves with long tails, other reverbs (including, yes, the excellent Eventide 2016 reverb, which is great with short tails, not so much with long ambient washes) end up sounding more like feedback and less like a reverb using the same source.
So, get VVV if making 80s or electronica stuff; Plate if making Rock and Roll or jazzy stuff; Room if making classical or acoustic stuff; it’s an excellent place to start from while learning to record and make music.
Sam Trenholme — Software developer, electronic musician — Listen to my music: http://caulixtla.com/music
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- KVRist
- 238 posts since 3 Apr, 2016
Also add Shimmer for ambient and Übermod for weird stuff to that.
I agree that it's not a bad thing to recommend gear that has been proven to work well for certain tasks to less experienced people. Once they have the experience and the knowledge they can build their own sound palette.
I agree that it's not a bad thing to recommend gear that has been proven to work well for certain tasks to less experienced people. Once they have the experience and the knowledge they can build their own sound palette.
