MERIS MERCURYX REVERB PEDAL

denzel washington GIF
Now do QC reverbs :sofa
 
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I think I might sod the G3 off for a bit, and just go back to some tap dancing. Mid way through moving pedals to a smaller board.
 
Yeah, the LVX and Mercury X are fire! :love

I am excited to use them on Synths/Keys, Vocals, and Drums.

Totally stoked I grabbed both when I did this past Summer. The LVX
has lived on my board ever since. :chef

I hadn't thought to phrase it like Orv did, but there is definitely some kind
of fatness/bigness that comes with the LVX for me. Takes a size 10 shoe and
makes it leave an impression like a size 13. I've been using it as a quasi-boost
because of that on a few patches.

Just great stuff. :beer
 
Yeah im on their patreon as well! Also don't forget the patchstorage place too for free ones.


 
How does this thing stack up against convolution reverbs?

 
How does this thing stack up against convolution reverbs?

If we only consider the actual reverbs, it's a matter of taste really. But really really convolution is a bit cack most of the time. Very nearly all, if not all, of the IR's in Verbs are sourced from freely available ones on the internet, so you can just search openairlib and load them in your daw to see how it sounds. Maybe you'll like it!

I have a Tasty Chips integral IR verb, but it's for sale now and I grabbed a used Mercury 7 to put in my mixer send to replace it. Great algorithms just do magical things to the sound.
 
If we only consider the actual reverbs, it's a matter of taste really. But really really convolution is a bit cack most of the time. Very nearly all, if not all, of the IR's in Verbs are sourced from freely available ones on the internet, so you can just search openairlib and load them in your daw to see how it sounds. Maybe you'll like it!

I have a Tasty Chips integral IR verb, but it's for sale now and I grabbed a used Mercury 7 to put in my mixer send to replace it. Great algorithms just do magical things to the sound.

I love and have tasty chips integral, however I don't treat it or use it for a beautiful sound more or less. I use it just to upload random samples and turn it into something no other pedal can do! Maybe keep it and pair it with mercury7...
 
If we only consider the actual reverbs, it's a matter of taste really. But really really convolution is a bit cack most of the time.

I pretty much disagree. In case you track down some proper ones (and there's actually a lot of proper ones), they just sound like the hardware they were snagged from - as long as there's no modulations and dynamic things happening in the hardware (which rarely is the case as long as more or less "real" spaces are concerned).

so you can just search openairlib and load them in your daw to see how it sounds.

Openairlib is a pretty bad source for IRs to use in a guitar-ish context. You can find churches, chapels, caves, cars and what not there. Don't get me wrong, that's all great - but no nice halls captured from great, dedicated reverb hardware, which are those working best for guitars IMO.

If you want some decent IRs, here's some 480l ones:
Or the sort of famous factory preset IRs from Samplicity:


And in case you're lucky and the wayback machine will be working properly again, there's also these:

Obviously, there's tons more, but these could give you a decent starting point.

Apart from that, in case you like an algorithmic reverb in your DAW, unless it's dynamic and/or modulating, grabbing an IR of it is pretty much as easy as it gets (just send a dirac spike through it and use the resulting bounce).
 
I pretty much disagree. In case you track down some proper ones (and there's actually a lot of proper ones), they just sound like the hardware they were snagged from - as long as there's no modulations and dynamic things happening in the hardware (which rarely is the case as long as more or less "real" spaces are concerned).



Openairlib is a pretty bad source for IRs to use in a guitar-ish context. You can find churches, chapels, caves, cars and what not there. Don't get me wrong, that's all great - but no nice halls captured from great, dedicated reverb hardware, which are those working best for guitars IMO.

If you want some decent IRs, here's some 480l ones:
Or the sort of famous factory preset IRs from Samplicity:


And in case you're lucky and the wayback machine will be working properly again, there's also these:

Obviously, there's tons more, but these could give you a decent starting point.

Apart from that, in case you like an algorithmic reverb in your DAW, unless it's dynamic and/or modulating, grabbing an IR of it is pretty much as easy as it gets (just send a dirac spike through it and use the resulting bounce).
Openairlib is where nearly everything that's on the poly verbs is sourced from, that's why I mentioned it.
 
as long as there's no modulations and dynamic things happening in the hardware (which rarely is the case as long as more or less "real" spaces are concerned).
Yeah…. no.

All of the best reverbs even now have behaviours that IR’s won’t capture. Reverb designers have long explained why IR’s fall short and why some kind of modulation is required, and accurate. Imagine you are in a concert hall watching a cellist.

Does your head remain completely still? Does the cellist move their body and the instrument at all? Does the temperature and humidity remain constant? What about everyone else in the room at the same time? Are they totally still?

An IR is capturing from a single point source in the stage (the speaker) to a single point (wherever the mic is). What about if you want to adjust these positions? or change the behaviour of the room? It quickly becomes infeasible with IR’s because you need so many.

Reverb designers are well aware of the pro’s and con’s of IR’s, and if they were that accurate and clever they’d use them more often. The reality is, algorithms are superior except for very specific cases.




If you want some decent IRs, here's some 480l ones
480L is an excellent example of a HW reverb that IR’s will not do justice. The modulation of the 480L is part of its identity and sound.

Same goes for the Bricasti, and it’s a big reason why Casey is fine with IR’s existing. Liquidsonics literally created a forum of “dynamic IR’s” to try and capture these behaviours. It gets closer but it’s still not quite the same or as good, but they’re an improvement on regular IR’s.


unless it's dynamic and/or modulating
Like all the best ones do. A couple of older ones like a PCM60 or RMX16 are time invariant so IR’s can do a reasonable job. The flip side of it being they have crusty old converters and noise which can have quite an effect on the sound.

Pretty much all the great reverbs have some form of modulation - it’s not always an obvious wobble, they’ve evolved over time to sound natural and non intrusive. Slapping a chorus over the top of an IR doesn’t work either, and generally sounds like ass.

EDIT: a good explanation from Michael Carnes (formerly of Lexicon and Exponential Audio, worth looking at old forum posts of his too) https://www.audiotechnology.com/regulars/last-word-michael-carnes-part-2
 
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Openairlib is where nearly everything that's on the poly verbs is sourced from, that's why I mentioned it.

Oh, ok, didn't know.
Possibly should've asked some IR makers for a bunch of files. I mean, we all want those nice plates or a TC hall, don't we?
 
An IR is capturing from a single point source in the stage (the speaker) to a single point (wherever the mic is). What about if you want to adjust these positions? or change the behaviour of the room? It quickly becomes infeasible with IR’s because you need so many.

And how often exactly do you need/want to mimic all that stuff in a guitar-ish application?
Not sure about others, but for me the answer is "never".
 
And how often exactly do you need to mimic all that stuff in a guitar-ish application?
Personal preference, but generally on guitars I don’t want the static nature of IR’s and it’s one of the few places I actually enjoy hearing an obvious modulation on the reverb (which can sound terrible on say piano or some vocals).

IR’s just get stuffy sounding really quick, decent algorithms feel more natural and lively. Try for yourself - there are decent 224, 480L, EMT250 etc plugins out there, and then compare to IR’s. Or compare bricasti IR’s to the liquidsonics stuff.

At best, you might not notice much difference or care about what’s being lost. That’s a very low bar to aim for though, when you can have a much better version. Stack up a load of IR verbs in a mix and then compare to decent algorithmic ones, all of a sudden things open up and sound more spacious and less congested.
 
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