Convolution reverb
What it does
Example: You're writing a piano concerto, and you want to hear what your piece would sound like in a full concert hall, so you add reverb, selecting the Medium Piano Concert Hall reverb preset. Because the orchestra is playing to a full house, you turn the Send Level knob down a touch, simulating the acoustic response of the hall being slightly damped by the large number of people standing in the aisles.
The CFX Concert Grand includes a convolution engine for high-quality sampled reverb. Convolution reverb uses impulse responses, which are the recorded reverberations of a space when an impulse sound is played within that space. The impulse responses are used to accurately reproduce the character of the space, including the imperfections and nuances that give the space its unique identity.
When you're using convolution reverb, you're effectively placing the piano in the sampled space. Lifelike reverb is an important part of any project, as it provides continuity of perception and authenticity to the listener.
To turn reverb on or off (bypass reverb)
Turn reverb on or off so that you can easily hear the CFX Concert Grand with either no reverb or with the current reverb settings.
- Click the Studio button. The Studio view appears.
- Click the Reverb button to turn reverb on or off.
- Reverb is on when the light is on:
. - Reverb is off when the light is off:
.
The Reverb button works exactly like the bypass option commonly available to audio plug-ins.
To add reverb
- Click the Studio button. The Studio view appears.
- Turn reverb on.
- Click the Reverb menu, and then choose a reverb preset from the drop-down menu that appears.
- AdjustClick and drag the knob up or right to increase and down or left to decrease. the Send Level, Return Level, Decay, and Size knobs until you achieve the desired reverb sound.
- The Send Level knob is your wet/dry knob, determining how much of the piano signal to send to the reverb. The higher the Send Level knob, the "wetter" the sound.
- The Return Level knob determines the volume of the reverb.
- The Decay knob controls the time it takes for the reverb reflections to fade away into silence.
- The Size knob controls the size of the room. Note that long reverb time (decay) and small room size do not mix well. For natural sounds, the room size should correspond with the length of the reverb time.
Both Send Level and Return Level knobs must be up in order to hear any reverb. If you're using a reverb preset of a larger space or concert hall, you may want to try combining reverb with a small amount of Ambient Pre-Delay and a lower ambient mic volume.
Selecting a preset loads an impulse response, and a picture representing the space appears underneath the Reverb button.
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CFX Concert Grand User Manual
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