Reverb is one of the most important tools for audio engineers. It’s an audio effect used on every mix you’ll ever hear.

PSP SpringBox is an emulation of a hardware spring reverberator (VST, AAX and RTAS for Windows; AudioUnit, VST, AAX and RTAS for Mac OSX). It recreates several features typical of a spring reverb, such as a convincing “boing” on transients and a repeatable resonating musical character with an adjustable presence. Use the Spring Reverb plug-in for that classic spring reverb sound. Just don't kick your computer trying to get the springs to rattle! The Spring Reverb plug-in models an analog spring reverb. An analog spring reverb is an electromechanical device much like a plate reverb. AIR Multi-Delay.

• Vintage Spring Reverb + Baxandall EQ. Springs is a plugin that features a collection of vintage spring reverbs paired with an authentic Baxandall EQ emulation. Springs features emulations from 11 types of spring reverbs, ranging from a long 6-spring pipe to a tiny battery-powered single-spring unit. We have used a combination of convolution and modelling to recreate the vintage character of.
• Best Spring Reverb VSTs Plugin For 2020. Spring reverb is a useful and unique effect that uses springs to create a distinct type of reverb for musical recordings. The original way to get this effect can be somewhat complicated, and it requires the use of several metal coils. There is an easier way for you to get a spring reverb effect on your.

There’s so many reverb plugins out there. Deciding which one to use is a big challenge. And sifting through hundreds of plugins can sap your creativity pretty quick.

But if you know your way around the different types of reverb plugins, you’ll have head start on choosing the right tools to create the perfect ambience to enhance your mix.

Here’s a primer on the different styles of reverb and the 15 best reverb plugins for each reverb type.

Electromechanical reverb

In the early days of audio, engineers discovered they could use transducers to create vibrations in a piece of metal.

These vibrations could be captured with an electromagnetic pickup like the kind used in electric guitars.

This led to the development of two main types of electromechanical reverb—spring reverb and plate reverb:

What is spring reverb?

Spring reverb takes advantage of the unique behaviour of a coiled spring. The transducer is fitted at one end of spring and the pickup is at the other.

Spring reverb has a darker, edgier character that can vary widely from spring to spring. It’s often found in classic guitar amplifiers.

Using spring reverbs will give you a sploshy, metallic reverb with lots of character.

Best spring reverb VST plugins

Free:Hotto Spring Reverb

Hotto Spring Reverb is a free, no-nonsense spring reverb that’s effective and easy to use.

Spring reverb has a darker, edgier character that can vary widely from spring to spring.

Cheap:Aegean Music Spirit Reverb

Aegean Music Spirit Reverb is an affordable and authentic way to get spring reverb onto your tracks. It also includes other tone shaping effects like delay and tube preamp emulation.

Pro:PSP Springbox

Using spring reverbs will give you a sploshy, metallic reverb with lots of character.

PSP Spring Box has a ton of control to dial in your perfect spring reverb sound. It can go from realistic vintage spring reverb to seriously weird textures.

Where to use it?

Spring reverb is at home on electric guitars, but you can use it anywhere where you need a grittier flavour of reverb.

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What is plate reverb?

Plate reverb is the main style of reverb from the golden age of analog recording. It’s created by exciting metal with a transducer just like spring reverb.

However, giant metal plates are required to create high quality plate reverb, so today these devices are expensive and rare.

They’re well loved for a reason though. Plate reverbs create a very recognizable sound that blends well into a mix and doesn’t overpower the dry signal.

Best plate reverb VST plugins

Free:TAL Reverb 2

TAL Reverb 2 deserves to top the list of best free reverb plugins. It’s a fantastic sounding reverb that’s modelled on a plate but can go from natural and realistic to lush ambient textures.

Plate reverbs create a very recognizable sound that blends well into a mix and doesn’t overpower the dry signal.

Cheap:VallhallaDSP ValhallaPlate

ValhallaDSP makes some of the best value-for-money reverb plugins. Sean Costello’s plugins are widely respected in the pro audio community despite their low price tag.

ValhallaPlate is a fantastic, inexpensive way to get into plate reverb.

Pro:UAD EMT 140 Plate

Universal Audio is the top name in vintage emulation and their plugins run on a dedicated hardware platform.

Their loving reproduction of the classic EMT 140 tube plate reverb is a smash hit. It’s incredibly authentic and sounds eerily close to a real plate.

Plate reverb uses

Vocals, snares, or anywhere else you need an even sounding reverb with smooth early reflections and distinctive character.

Algorithmic reverb

Algorithmic reverb uses digital trickery to create reverb. It usually works by using many cascaded digital delay lines to create the illusion of acoustic reflections. The earliest electronic reverb devices were algorithmic, so many of the classic sounds we associate with studio reverb were created this way.

Algorithmic reverbs aren’t always realistic since processing power was so limited in the early days. But they can still create a desirable and characteristic reverb sound that works in tons of mixing situations.

Best algorithmic reverb VST plugins

Free:Smartelectronix Ambience

Smarteletronix Ambience was one of the first quality free reverb plugins on the scene. Vst bandpass filter free. And it’s still a great option for dreamy, ambient, algorithmic reverb.

Cheap:VallhallaDSP VintageVerb

Valhalla VintageVerb is a versatile algorithmic reverb with vintage style modes to simulate the frequency and sample rate limitations of 70’s and 80’s hardware reverbs.

Algorithmic reverbs aren’t always realistic since processing power was so limited in the early days. But they can still create a desirable and characteristic reverb sound that works in tons of mixing situations.

Pro:UAD Lexicon 224

The UAD Lexicon 224 is a painstakingly accurate replication of the classic vintage hardware. The original Lexicon 224 was one of the first readily available digital reverb units introduced to studios in the late 1970’s. It’s responsible for so many classic reverb sounds from that era.

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Algorithmic reverb uses

Algorithmic works best for Synth pads, effects, or anywhere else you need a stylish, enveloping reverb.

Convolution reverb

Convolution reverbs create ambience through a mathematical process called (wait for it) convolution.

These reverb plugins use Impulse Responses to create their effect. Impulse responses are made by measuring the reverberation of a real space with a microphone and a specialized tone called an impulse.

Algorithmic works best for Synth pads, effects, or anywhere else you need a stylish, enveloping reverb.

The impulse response is a sonic profile that the plugin uses to apply its specific reverberation characteristics to your sound.

To put it simply, convolution reverb lets you use the ambience of any real world space inside your DAW.

Hot tip: Convolution can also be used to model things like speaker cabinets for electric guitar.

If you have an all purpose convolution plugin, you can use IRs of speaker cabs to get a convincing sound when you record amps direct.

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Best convolution reverb VST plugins

Free:SIR Audio Tools SIR1 (Windows) LAConvolver (Mac)

These free simple convolution tools are capable of loading great sounding impulse responses. That’s the beauty of convolution! They may not be the most full featured plugins out there, but they can totally get the job done.

Cheap:Liquid Sonics Reverberate Core

Liquid Sonics Reverberate Core is an effective, inexpensive convolution reverb solution. It has the ability to load and tweak parameters of any impulse response.

Pro:Audio Ease Altiverb

Audio Ease Altiverb is the gold standard for studio convolution reverb. Its powerful convolution engine and IR collection are capable of creating extremely realistic and compelling acoustic spaces.

Convolution reverb uses

Close mic’d instruments or wherever you need natural, realistic sounding spaces. Convolution reverb is a great choice for acoustic instruments like strings and piano.

Non-linear reverb

There’s a few classic reverb sounds you might know that I haven’t covered yet.

I’m talking about special effects like gated and reverse reverb. These sounds are all examples of “non-linear” reverb.

Electromechanical, algorithmic and convolution reverbs all attempt to model real spaces—with varying degrees of success. Even though some examples are quirky and not at all realistic, they still have a “linear” decay.

Convolution reverb is a great choice for acoustic instruments like strings and piano.

That means the reverb rings out with the normal, uniform decrease in energy that would happen a real acoustic space.

Non-Linear reverbs throw that idea out the window. They’re the classic reverb “effects” from the 80s like gated and reverse reverb.

Best Non-linear Reverb VST Plugins

Free:Longsound MicroVerb VST

Longsound MicroVerb VST is an emulation of the Alesis Microverb hardware unit. This entry-level hardware reverb is known for its three non-linear presets, which sound pretty weird in all the right ways.

Cheap:ValhallaDSP VintageVerb

We’ll have to give this one to Valhalla VintageVerb again for its fantastic nonlinear algorithms.

Pro:UAD AMS RMX16

The hardware AMS RMX16 is another early digital reverb that has been painstakingly modelled by Universal Audio. It’s nonlinear presets are responsible for many of the gated reverb sounds on recordings from the 1980’s.

If other verbs are sounding just too…normal, try a non-linear style for a change of pace.

Non-linear reverb uses

Use non-linear reverb to create psychedelic special effects. If other verbs are sounding just too…normal, try a non-linear style for a change of pace.

Early reflections

You need a sense of space in your recordings for them to sound natural and inviting.

That’s why reverb is an essential element of every mix. And to use it properly, you have to know your tools.

Spring Reverb Free Vst Presets

So to recap:

The best reverb plugins are…

Whether you’re adding a realistic ambience to an acoustic guitar, creating a cavernous space for a synth pad or just trying to nail that classic 80’s gated snare, knowing which reverb to reach for is key.

Plate, spring, convolution, algorithmic and non-linear reverbs all have helpful applications in your music.

Try any of the plugins from this list see how the how the different types work for you.

Recently, I was lucky enough to spend a few weeks recording down in the Caribbean. Working off a nicely equipped portable system in a cliffside house, we got a lot of tracking done for a variety of projects, including a lot of sun drenched TV cues for the Food Network. But since the amps we had didn’t work for all our needs, we went in the box. Using multiple amp simulator plug-ins, the thing that was really missing was the depth of a good reverb. With that in mind, here are 5 useful plug-in spring reverbs each with their own flavor.

Clean And Lean

Here’s an example of a clean telecaster, playing a reggae chop. The amp is Universal Audio's Fuchs Overdrive Supreme 50, which is a Dumble inspired boutique amp for UAD Apollo rigs. To get the clean sparkling tone, I’ve turned the Gain way down, left it in Jazz mode, and pushed the Accent up for sharpness. It’s a nice thick sound that still retain proper top end for the kind of sound the track required. Now, the only thing it needed was some good reverb.

Altiverb Fender Super Reverb

Ok, this one was my first go-to, since I’ve used it for quite some time now. It’s an impulse response of a Fender Super Reverb amp from Joe Gore. Originally released in 1963, Super Reverbs were all tube designed amps with a spring reverb in it. From 1968 on, they were ‘silverface’ models, which this Altiverb IR is from. It's extremely bright and clean, almost to the point of being too bright. What I usually do is simply turn down the treble and kick up the bass in the EQ section. The Altiverb plug-in is on a stereo AUX bus, so it’s mono guitar, stereo reverb. I will often put an EQ after the Altiverb plug-in for more tonal control over the bright/dark mix, but in this case, I used the simple treble and bass offerings in the reverb itself. It’s a classic amp for a reason!

Avid Black Spring

One of my surprise finds of the trip was the Avid Black Spring. I didn’t even know about the plug-in before stumbling across it in the Reverb folder of our Pro Tools 12 rig. It’s based on the Fender Spring reverb from the ‘blackface’ era. Since this is a mono ‘stomp box’ plug-in, I inserted it directly onto the guitar track, instead of running it as an Aux Bus Send/Return. It doesn’t get any easier to use too. It’s got Mix, Decay and Tone knobs. Since it is directly on the track, the Mix works as a wet/dry control, allowing you to put as much or as little in as you like. Decay will give you more length, and Tone of course controls the overall brightness and darkness. It’s a nice creamy thick spring sound that I’m really glad I came across.

One thing you can do if you want full stereo is to create 2 separate mono busses, pan them to opposite sides, put the Mix to fully wet and tweak each one differently. I wish this wasn’t an HD plug-in only, it's that good that they should let everybody in on this one.

REVIBE II

Free Vst Fl Studio

Still inside of Pro Tools, we tried out the AAX Native Revibe II, which is actually a room modeling plug-in. However, we stumbled across some Guitar Amp Spring presets, which are quite good. It's highly flexible, because there are many parameters to tweak. Under Room Coloration, you can quickly adjust Coloration, High Freq and Low Freq to brighten or darken the spring. Also, you can go up to Size and make the spring shorter or longer in duration. By pushing up the Pre Delay in the main reverb section, you can even get some short ‘slaps’ if you want to go there, or add some extra depth. Overall thought, it’s a highly adjustable, good-sounding spring that works nicely on guitars and since there is a a Dry Wet slider in the Mix section, you could choose to add it directly on the track if you want.

SONNOX OXFORD

The Sonnox Oxford is a highly versatile plug-in that covers a lot of ground. In this instance, I called up the Guitar Spring preset and went right to the EQ tab. From there, you can grab any of the 5 EQ bands and cut or boost the spring frequencies as needed. Since the Telecaster was already bright, I cut the HF around 6 kHz with a slight shelf. This took some of the harshness out of the spring and allowed me to turn it up louder. To thicken the sound up even more, I did a slight boost around 80Hz. Also, another benefit of the Oxford Reverb is that you can control the Reverb Mix in the Output section blending between Tail and ER (Early Reflection). On this track, I used a bit more of the ER and blended in just a bit of tail. Also, by using more ER, you can make the spring a bit ‘shallower’, meaning it has more front end sound than depth. That can come in handy if the production needs an upfront tighter reverb.

AIR SPRING

Spring Reverb Free Vst Synth

This is part of the Creative Collection in Pro Tools from Air Music Technology, and is also available in AU/VST format. The Air Spring Reverb is another one that has only a few controls but can go a long way. I called up the Slap Back Reverb preset, and pushed up the Pre Delay until there was a nice slap on the initial guitar transients of each chop. Tightening the Reverb Time to a short 1.3 seconds and pushing the Diffusion up the around 75%, it became a quirky, dark reverb with a very unique sound. I like that you can just move a few knobs around and within seconds, get a useful tone out of this plug-in.