Reverb Shootout – Can A $50 Plugin Beat A $16,000 Hardware Effect?

Spitfire Audio has shared a 2018 edition of their ‘Reverb World Cup’ – a comparison of some of the most revered hardware and software reverbs.

Host Christian Henson is joined by Spitfire’s Chief Engineer Jake Jackson for a head-to-head (or maybe tail-to-tail) comparison of these reverbs:

The orchestral standard TC6000 hardware surround reverb ($16,000 new!,

Can a $50 plugin hold its own against much more costly alternatives?

Check out the video and share your thought in the comments!

20 thoughts on “Reverb Shootout – Can A $50 Plugin Beat A $16,000 Hardware Effect?

  1. This is a bit misleading since the FabFilter R plugin itself is not $999, the total suite of all their effects is. The standalone version is $199. However, when bought as a plugin for Auria Pro on the iPad, it’s only $39.99!!!

  2. I think Christian took that pretty well really, not so sure I would have been laughing at a $50 plugin standing shoulder to shoulder with my £16000 unit. Top man.

  3. There was a point where the onscreen thing showed lexicon, then it mistakenly showed Valhalla, then it went back to Lexicon again.

    I think their process was interesting, but if I was designing the test track, I’d have made it a little shorter, and included a moment of some sparse percussion– a snare hit, or a cross stick that rings in the space. As it was more tastefully balanced with the track, it was demanding to discern a preference.

    I don’t like the bricasti or the valhalla very much. The others sounded nice to me.

  4. Does the average music listener know or care about the differences?

    As far as recording/sound quality Is concerned, many famous/popular songs and albums from decades ago sound like crap compared to today’s recordings, but many people still prefer these old songs/albums.

    It’s about the music. So much music nowadays sounds great as far as recording quality is concerned, but the songs are ho-hum.

    1. You make a good point. Always the music is WAY more important. But the content creators have that job. The mix engineers have the job of dealing with reverbs, etc. And they will split hairs.

      We used to joke about how the last 1% of improvement was the most expensive.

    2. Would they hear this difference? Maybe not. But when you find a 1% improvement here and another there, they start to compound. And 10 or more of those improvements starts stacking up to “sound like a record.” I remember scoffing at good cable, but when I replaced ALL of my cables at once from Hosa to Mogami I heard a big jump.

      I just listened in headphones which isn’t fair, the last time I did this test at home I used my ADAM monitors in a treated room. The main thing I heard in my hardware was depth behind the speakers, which doesn’t come across in headphones or YouTube. When I tested it, I thought it went #1 Lex PCM96S, #2 Bricasti, #3 Valhalla Room, #4 Lexicon Native Hall. (I do hear a difference between Lexicon hardware vs. plugin.)

    3. It’s the good old diminishing returns law. A free plugin is good enough for an amateur, a good paid software is more than enough a good studio performance, a pricey physical gear is as good as it gets, an absurdly priced 16000$ monster is almost a scam (though a scam with a pretty nice LCD screen). The more you spend after a certain point, the less you’re going to get, to the point that anything above 200-300$ basically gives you nothing sound-wise, whether you’re a musician or a professional producer.

      1. Amateurs don’t need professional features and don’t understand them, so they always think that pro gear prices are absurd and that the people that pay those prices are idiots.

        1. Do you understand what 16000$ means? It’s the price of a car. I believe that the video above is a clear proof of what I said. Now, tell me why the TC6000’s worth 32 Altibert’s. It’s as if someone told me “hey, I know there’s the Moog around, but I can show you a 30000$ synth”: there’s no way paying such absurd prices is going to give you anything more (just like a tribute guitar isn’t better than its standard counterpart).

  5. In these tests source material are carefully recorded Spitfire audio samples. These have been smoothed out, levelled, and have already a neutral special acoustic. Although this allows a good a/b comparison it is not really testing how a reverb unit copes wit a full range of dynamics and timbres.

    Try placing some of these reverbs on a raw live recording of and orchestra and see how they cope.

    I use Altiverb, Lexicon, Avid Space and 2c software reverbs and they are all great in context. The Altiverb and Space allow some real precision in designing an acoustic, which I rely on a lot.

    In the Studio though may go to reverb is the Lexicon 960L which has 4 separate processors with a Larc remote which allows very quick adjustment on the fly

    Its selling point is that it is transparent, versatile and can be used live on every kind of music. I use it on classical , jazz and world music recordings. It copes with all transients and can quickly create an acoustic which beds in any mix.

    Its horses for courses. You don’t need to spend big bucks for most work but for hi expense, quick tunaround work it pays dividends.

  6. I have a couple inexpensive convolution engines and a VERY nice collection of IRs. I know it isn’t apples to apples, and there are things a pure convo can’t do. But in combination with some other plugs, you can do what is needed very nicely.

  7. Nicely done, but it also brought home how often I’ve employed two reverbs in series. You obviously don’t need to do this if you possess a $16k tool. The deal has long been that even early on, a grainy half-rack Boss reverb and a cheapo Yamaha could be creamy together where either alone was like having sand in your shorts. That’s sure changed with Strymon and others offering great hardware boxes. Its easy to cross-pollinate effects in software now, but I learned a lot about getting them to play well together when it was all about the cable jungle. These days, a little plate reverb followed by a nice hall = space cadet bliss.

  8. Hats off to Sean at Valhalla for getting in this race. A fantastic reverb. I do get it how a good reverb can “attach” itself and hug the audio a bit. I heard that for sure in the hardware and FabFilter.

  9. Indeed. Doesn’t really matter though. He can’t raise his rates because he’s got a certain plugin in the studio. 😉

  10. This isn’t the only shootout where Valhalla Room did favorably compared to the best reverbs. Gears***z did a comparison back in 2013; it was a blind comparison, comparing Valhalla Room to the UAD Lexicon 224, Lexicon LXP Hall, Relab LX480 (perfect 480L clone), Lexicon PCM hall, and SSL Duende reverb. More than one poster said Valhalla Room sounded the best, comparable to the 480L clone plugin.

    Personally, my favorite Valhalla reverb is VVV (Valhalla Vintage Verb); but the sound I go for is very 1980s. Valhalla Plate is probably best for a Rock and Roll or Jazz vibe.

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