Reckless Technology

VST plugins / Time and space

Plugin

Reckless Oldsverb

v0.21

Three reverbs behind one set of knobs: a hall, a room with its walls' first reflections, and a shimmer whose tail climbs an octave at a time.

The Reckless Oldsverb plugin panel.

From the user guide

The three modes

  • HALL — a hall whose tail darkens as it dies and gently wanders, so it never rings metallic. Its own knob is RATE.
  • ROOM — a smooth tail behind the first reflections of a room about the size of a large living room. Its own knob is EARLY.
  • SHIMMER — a large space with a pitch shifter in its loop: on every pass a share of the tail rises an octave (or an octave and a fifth, or two octaves). It adds a third row of knobs and grows the window.
SHIMMER's third row: Bloom, the three harmonics and Tone.
SHIMMER's third row: Bloom, the three harmonics and Tone.

Switching modes crossfades while you play. The shared knobs keep their places and values, and the modes are matched in loudness, so MIX means the same in each. Picking a mode by hand sets DAMPING to that mode's starting point; automation, a session or a preset moves nothing. A preset carries the mode with the knobs.

The waterfall shows the reverb's spectrum over the last second, the wet alone. The header lamp glows with the shifted sound in SHIMMER.

The waterfall with a guitar through the hall, and the lamp in SHIMMER.
The waterfall with a guitar through the hall, and the lamp in SHIMMER.

Controls

ControlRangeDefaultWhat it does
MODE, close up on the Reckless Oldsverb.MODEHall / Room / ShimmerHallWhich reverb.
PREDELAY, close up on the Reckless Oldsverb.PREDELAY0–200 ms10 msHow long after a note the reverb begins.
SIZE, close up on the Reckless Oldsverb.SIZE50–200 %100 %How big the space is.
DECAY, close up on the Reckless Oldsverb.DECAY0–10050Tail length, read out in seconds for the mode.
DAMPING, close up on the Reckless Oldsverb.DAMPING1–16 kHz4 kHzAbove this the tail fades sooner.
LOW CUT, close up on the Reckless Oldsverb.LOW CUT20 Hz–2 kHz100 HzKeeps the low end out of the tail.
DIFFUSION, close up on the Reckless Oldsverb.DIFFUSION0–100 %75 %Grainy and tight to a dense, soft wash.
MOD, close up on the Reckless Oldsverb.MOD0–100 %40 %How much the tail drifts; 0 is a fixed ring.
WIDTH, close up on the Reckless Oldsverb.WIDTH0–100 %100 %Stereo spread of the tail; 0 % is mono.
MIX, close up on the Reckless Oldsverb.MIX0–100 %20 %Dry against wet; 100 % for a send.
RATE (HALL), close up on the Reckless Oldsverb.RATE (HALL)0.01–10 Hz0.1 HzHow fast the tail's wander moves.
EARLY (ROOM), close up on the Reckless Oldsverb.EARLY (ROOM)0–100 %50 %Level of the walls' first reflections.
SHIMMER, close up on the Reckless Oldsverb.SHIMMER0–100 %50 %How much of the tail turns into harmonics each pass.
BLOOM, close up on the Reckless Oldsverb.BLOOM300–2000 ms500 msHow long after a note its harmonics arrive.
2ND, close up on the Reckless Oldsverb.2ND0–100 %100 %The octave's share of the shimmer.
3RD, close up on the Reckless Oldsverb.3RD0–100 %50 %The octave-and-a-fifth's share.
4TH, close up on the Reckless Oldsverb.4TH0–100 %50 %The two-octaves-up share.
TONE, close up on the Reckless Oldsverb.TONE1–16 kHz2 kHzHow bright the harmonics come back.

Tips

  • Mix tools. 10 to 30 ms of PREDELAY keeps a vocal's attack clear; LOW CUT at 150 to 300 Hz keeps a long tail off the bass.
  • Drums in ROOM. DECAY under a second, EARLY up.
  • A shimmer halo. SHIMMER around 20 %, DECAY long, TONE low.
  • Organ. 3RD up alongside 2ND on a held chord.

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