Vela, a new reverb from Sonic Academy’s Sonic Sounds line, is now in open beta. And yes, I’m here to tempt your RAS – Reverb Acquisition Syndrome again. The range of reverberation emulations here, combined with node-based editing, might mean you do need another reverb. (Sorry/not sorry.)
I’ve been testing a late beta; Sonic Sounds quietly switched on the public beta over the weekend. Here’s a quick demo of what this can sound like:
There’s no spec sheet or manual yet, but let me summarize what’s in there:
- Multiple reverb emulations: They can’t call them all by their names, but you get TC Electronic’s VSS3, various real spaces (Sydney Opera Hall!), some delays, and a bunch of classic digital (Bricasti M7, Lexicon PCM 70 and 480L, FabFilter Pro-R, EMT250, so not just your 224, though they’ve got that, too).
- Ducking with live visual feedback.
- De-essing module.
- Pre- and post-EQ with draggable parametric controls. (You have to enable the module before you can grab them.)
- Dedicated early and late settings
- Density, decay with envelopes you can control over time
- Stereo spread/width, diffusion controls
- Visual filter controls
- See also input width, seed, modulation speed/channels/amount, pre-delay, output trim
But the best part of this is really the ability to make these elegant curved envelopes for decay and density. Combined with the visual controls elsewhere, this is the most visual reverb I think I’ve ever used. It’ll feel instantly comfortable to anyone who’s used FabFilter stuff and the likes. We got this sparkly visualization from Apple and Chromaverb, but the visual controls are nothing like I’ve seen before. So, sure, you can easily get Impulse Response files for the various gear represented here elsewhere. But it’s rare to be able to take those basic reverberations and shape them over the sound spectrum and time domain quite like this, quite this visually.
I couldn’t find stereo and mid/side modes, which would have been nice for some of these controls, but this is still a beta.
Oh crap, this angel on my shoulder just appeared.
Oh dearie! No, you don’t need another effect plug-in. Be a good producer, child, and learn to use what you’ve already got, for it is through humble application of ski—aaaaaaaaa
The devil’s back, baby! Naww, give in! You want to download a reverb and turn the mix up to 100%!
Seriously, it is really good. And, hey, angelic reverbs. Do what thou wilt with this one. Enjoy!
Also, RAS evidently stands for Reticular Activating System, which seems to be a good name for an ambient act/compilation. If it’s not taken already.
Oh, and… this is what is playing in my head all the time, if you weren’t already visualizing it:
