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Revelation, Cubase’s ‘upmarket’ algorithmic reverb, isn’t the resource hog that you might expect.Revelation, Cubase’s ‘upmarket’ algorithmic reverb, isn’t the resource hog that you might expect.



Cubase Pro 8 gives you four different reverb plug-ins to choose from, but which one should you be using?



John Walden



It’s not that many years since Cubase’s reverb plug-ins seemed to be the butt of a fair few forum jokes, but Steinberg have made considerable progress on this front in recent years and Cubase 8 Pro boasts four decent reverbs. Two, Roomworks and Roomworks SE, were first introduced with Cubase 4. Roomworks is an algorithmic reverb which supports both stereo and surround formats, and the SE version is a streamlined version which places a lower strain on your computer’s CPU. In Cubase 5 Steinberg upped their game further by introducing Reverence, a convolution-based reverb capable of both stereo and surround-sound operation. Finally, Cubase 7.5 brought with it a new stereo-only algorithmic reverb called Revelation.



We may be spoiled for choice, then, but do you know which is the best reverb to opt for in your project? Two obvious factors might influence that decision. First, the sound, pure and simple: in different circumstances, you may be after different end results. You might require realism, you might prefer classic sheen, you might want to focus only on early reflections, or you may yearn for a lo-fi sound, and so on. The second factor is how efficient a reverb you require, which depends on the complexity of your project and the processing ‘grunt’ of your computer. A particularly CPU-hungry reverb plug-in might not always be the best option — it’s not as if you can ‘freeze’ an effects channel in the way you can an audio or instrument track. So, I’ll look at CPU load and sound quality here, and in that order...  


Published in SOS September 2015