Advanced Reverb Presets

This thread has become outdated - see the updated thread here: MAB Advanced Reverb Release 3 + 4 - Rigs

TLDR;
Below are links to presets that attempt to simulate some advanced reverb sounds. I am using the reverb with delay/reverb balance set all the way to the right, so the reverb only processes the delay trails. I also have the reverb 100% wet, so the delay trails are completely smeared into a reverb wash. You lose any dry delay trails (clean echoes), so it's like you only have advanced reverb. The combination of the other delay and reverb settings gives you more advanced control over the reverb tone, capable of getting bloom, particle, shimmer, and modulated reverb.

http://www.foobazaar.com/kemper/mabVerb/mabVerb.zip

These are all effects presets - you have to hold the effects button and browse to see them after importing. Place in Shared\Effects\ and import off your USB stick.

BACKSTORY
I've always been mainly focused on tight rhythm tones and ignored most of the lush/spacy effects on the Kemper. I would usually use a very mild room reverb for rhythm patches with high dampening to make the sound a bit bigger but avoiding reverberating higher frequencies messing with my tightness. For lead tones, I just used a simple slapback delay with a higher reverb setting. Even though I like some "djent" bands and those ambient cleans, I never sought a super lush reverb tone - I just through some basic verb in there and called it a day. With my Pod HD, I did play with the Octo and Particle verbs, but I only briefly played with them and found the Particle was always too out there and the Octo could be dialed in well, but felt like more of a gimmick than part of a legit patch.

After listening to some Plini, I really loved that tone, of which a huge part is the reverb. I began to appreciate reverb more and more, especially when getting more involved with home recording. So then the other day I wanted some super chill ambient guitar on while working, and there's this guy on youtube showing all kinds of different delays and verbs all mixed together, and he was getting really, really lush sounds. I was also writing up something on reverb for another project of mine that I hope to announce soon. Then I decided to listen to the Strymon demoes on their site and started GASing but was like NO! I HAVE A KEMPER. It all hit me - why not throw some bright delays into a darker reverb, to get a kind of more lush sound - the Kemper should be able to do this. OOOOOO...and modulate the delay.

So I tried it out on the Kemper. I've been meaning to 4CM it with my Pod HD, which I could use for multiple reverbs and delays, and parallel chains - I could do all kinds of crazy crap. But I'm pretty satisfied with what I got from the Kemper.

FULL UNDERSTANDING OF WHAT I'M DOING
I'm running this through a mono speaker, but I'm sure it would sound better in stereo. The general idea is that the Kemper provides a couple of parameters that allow you to slaughter the tone with reverb, but still have a completely clear signal come through. The reverb is fully wet (mix 100%/0%) - it only hits the delay trails via the delay/reverb balance parameter - set fully right (+100%). So the delay trails are completely slaughtered, but if they hit the reverb frequently enough, it won't sound like little puffs, but more of a wash.

On the delay, I want the ratios of the note times to have a high least common multiple, so that most of the delays do not occur simultaneously. At the same time, I want to set the rate to be pretty low - so they're just barely noticeable if at all once it goes through the reverb.

The delay mix control now functions basically as your reverb mix. I find mix is a little more sensitive, though - I am between 35 and 80%, most of the time fine-tuning between 50 and 65.

The delay feedback now functions as your reverb time, in conjunction with your reverb time. You can get all sorts of different interactions by moving these in opposite directions. You can keep things short and sweet, or use high settings on both to get a verb that just builds and builds on itself, good for a fully ambient sound.

I'm modulating the delay, which means I'm modulating the reverb. It makes the reverb very thick and lush, but if you go too high, it will sound too detuned and swooshy against a sustained note. I like between 3 and 6.

Now for tone - bandwidth and frequency on both the delay and reverb, as well as the verb's dampening will all have an impact on tone. I wanted a sound that had a kind of shimmer quality to it - with high sparkles. I was hoping initially I could set the delays really bright, but the reverb really dark, but really they just cancel each other out. It's better to leave the reverb more open, but use it's dampening to darken it. The delays lost body if you use too much bandwidth, especially if you are brightening the tone. I ended up using a touch of it. It's not perfect, but with the modulation, it's enough for a lush tone that has a slight bloom as the reverb builds up on top of the delays, then beautifully decays. And it's able to still get it quite lush, even with lower decay time, allowing you to apply a nice thick reverb even for lightning fast leads.

The type of delay and reverb doesn't matter as far as getting the intended effect, but I wanted a very shimmer type sound, so I found the analog delay and ambient reverb gave the kind of tone I wanted.

OTHER EFFECTS
Unfortunately, you can't stick a pitch shifter or chorus/flanger between the delay and reverb, which would really seal the deal, but alas you can't. Which means it's going to hit your dry signal, and you can't isolate it and slaughter it with reverb. This mainly pertains to pitch shifting, which can leave some undesirable artifacts.

I really love the micropitch effect - I don't use any detune - I find too much warble there - I just set the crossover pretty high, like 3500 HZ, and it kind of adds a roundness to the tone, like a mic pre or something - it takes a little off the top, but it's great for a thick lead or rock tone, not a metal tone. Thick Vai's Alien Love Secrets tone.

I also use Space sometimes. This smears the whole thing a little bit, but not to where you feel any latency. It's fun when you can sacrifice a lot of attack, but if you need more of your accented picking to come through, I'd turn it off.

PRESET DESCRIPTIONS
These are described in the order they were created - you'll see a natural "evolution" if you look hard in all the details. I'll describe what I liked and didn't and how I tweaked along the way.

MAB SHIMMER - This is the first one I did - the "prototype" for all of these. This is the first time I felt I had all the knobs dialed in pretty well. After about 10 more seconds, I realized the pre-delay on the verb and length of the delays was too long, not getting strong enough while I was playing, leaving a kind of awkward pause if I released a note, and too much spillover where reverb from prior notes was interfering with current ones.

MAB SHIMMER8 - 8 iterations later I had this - I had tried varying the reverb mix a little bit and other things to try to get the verb to come in quickly enough and everything but it never worked out well - there was always something artificial going on. I found 0 ms pre-delay was crucial - the delay is already providing it!

I also moved to the analog and ambient reverbs - I had originally forgotten to even check what type was on the patch I started tweaking.

This is the one I use for fat, slower leads.

MAB SHIMMER$ - This one is refined quite a bit for all the timings and tone and such. This is my favorite, and works all-purpose for the most part.

MAB VERB LD - I sought to get it tight for a more shred tone. Not as big as the others to get as lush, but tracks very quickly.

MAB SHFT VERB - I used a chromatic pitch shifter to add 2 octaves above, with the formant on to keep it's resonanct peak from getting too high. You can't go too heavy since you'll get a touch of chipmunk sound, but if you keep the mix lower and let it blend into the reverb, you get a nice, choir type sound.

MAB SPACE VERB - Here's the same thing but with Space instead of the pitch shifter. A bit more ambient - more useful for clean/crunch.

MAB SWELL - This one has super high feedback/time settings to build up this huge wall of regenerating reverb. I find it sounds best when swelling in. Also you have to keep the distortion low or off.

All the others are older ones, but you may like them.

No time to post clips anytime soon - anybody want to help out?

oh also be sure to hold Rig and turn off tap tempo to get the delay settings right.

A little more info from some more playing around:

Unfortunately, the analog and free delays only let you specify ratios that are pretty sync'ed up (1:4, 2:4, 3:4, 4:4). The tap delay is a little better. 3/16 and 5/16, 5/16 and 7/16, or 6/16 and 7/16 provide a bit more space between the delays, but you need to do a short tap tempo to get it to sound right, and even then, 5/16:7/16 and 6/16:7/16 leave a bit too much time between your playing and when the delays kick in. It sounds like a big pre-delay.

I've tried various methods to get around that. I tried to reduce Reverb mix from 100% wet (100%/0%) to something more like 100%/100% - but then your delays come through too clean, and it becomes distracting. You can instead set delay/reverb balance a bit lower, like 80% to the right instead of 100%. That works, but it can get pretty thick quickly. The other option is to use Space in the X or Mod slot - that will give you an immediate verb-like setting, but it will smear the transients of your dry signal, so it doesn't work across the board. It's fine for swells or super ambient tones, but it doesn't work well for a basic lead or distorted rhythm verb.

A lot of my presets might sound like crap initially - if there's a chromatic pitch effect on there, you'll need to turn that off before you'll have a somewhat "normal" sounding tone.

I have a couple new ones I'll post this weekend, along with clips.

update: I've been refining and making a few new presets in the headphones. these do not hide the warts at all.

I'm finding that I much prefer the Hall reverb over the Ambient now. The Ambient has way too much of a regular metallic flutter. Try changing the reverb type - the other settings will persist.

I noticed the micropitch crossover on many of the presets is like 9000 HZ. Moved to 3500-5000 HZ to get the effect I wanted. New presets will have the correct setting.

I made some "bloom" presets that use a higher delay feedback and frequency with various delay time settings. Starts dark and builds up brightness then decays dark again. Great for slow arpeggios on clean/crunch tones.

I made some "particle" presets that don't use any reverb dampening and really get this grainy, slightly metallic wash, but it's not super prominent. I was able to make a couple with lower duration that can be used for distorted leads.

A few new "shimmers" that get a smoother tone, with a couple short enough for distorted leads.

I will be preparing a new pack that's more highly edited (trying to keep it to 12 max) with better naming, so you know the basic tone as well as what context it is best used.

love it, darth!

new pack:
http://www.foobazaar.com/kemper/mabVerb2.zip

Clips:

EDIT:
In case you were wondering what presets are being played in the above clip, I can't say for sure, but I'm basically just going through all the presets in the new pack one at a time. So it's blooms, then particles, then shimmers, then swells. I did not demo the "space" one.

The higher the number/symbol, the more refined they probably are, but sometimes it's just a variation. For example, on the blooms, the only realy difference is the delay time setting I'm using - I increase it with each revision.

glad everyone is liking these. are there any specific tones requested...or any advice on how to make them better?

also, remember, start by tweaking Delay Mix to get the desired wetness - the reverb mix is always full wet. Delay Feedback or Reverb Time can be used to lengthen or shorten the decay, and each have somewhat different effects. I found using the Bandwidth/Frequency on the delay works best, while using 0 bandwidth on the reverb; but the Dampening parameter on the reverb is quite useful to add more "life" to the decay.