The most important effect of all, I would argue, is reverb (distortion/saturation competes for that designation!). I find it very fascinating how much it can improve the way something sounds, and how critical it often is.
What I find especially fascinating is how, if you put on headphones and listen to a simple saw wave completely dry, it is very hard to listen to, and can even feel painful. But put a little reverb on it and there is a sense of relief. Suddenly it sounds good! What is it about that completely dry sound that makes it uncomfortable? It is as if our brains need the reverb as a cue to tell us what kind of space we're in. It is less uncomfortable to listen to a dry synth through speakers, since, it seems to me, you get some room reverb.
I often suspect that when people say that one synth sounds "better" than another, it is because the presets are better and include some reverb, or better reverb. Dry oscillators and simple filters are pretty similar from synth to synth. I find that having a good reverb and knowing how to use it is more important to my synths sounding good than the particular synth plugin I am using.
And I am not talking about drowning the sound in reverb either. That is nice in many contexts too, but even very subtle and short reverb can make a HUGE difference to especially a synth sound. This is especially true of synths because they are perfectly dry to begin with, whereas recorded instruments and even sample libraries usually (short of being recorded in an anechoic chamber) have some room reverb baked in.
Some forms of reverb that emphasize late reflections still leave the main sound a bit too dry, even if it sits in a sea of reverb wash. I've found that it helps the sound a lot to add at least a small amount of short-decay room ambience with some sharp early reflections, especially when the filter is open or there is otherwise a lot of high-frequency texture. It just somehow makes the sound more present and vibrant, even though reverb can create a sense of distance.
I love reverb! It's the only effect that I put on absolutely every synth sound, even if in very small doses!
I saw a video a while back where someone was demonstrating a real CS-80 and he was saying that actually, something surprising to most people, is that they actually don't sound very good dry, that you need to sweeten the sound a lot with reverb and other things. I don't think this is unique to a CS-80, is it? Perhaps it's less important though with a bass where the higher frequencies are mostly rolled off, as in the way people sometimes use a Moog.
I am curious what others think of reverb and how you generally use it. Do you stack multiple reverbs very often? Where do you place it in your effects chain? Before or after delays? Any other thoughts you want to share on reverb would be interesting for me to read. Is there anyone who likes to use synths completely without any reverb?
What I find especially fascinating is how, if you put on headphones and listen to a simple saw wave completely dry, it is very hard to listen to, and can even feel painful. But put a little reverb on it and there is a sense of relief. Suddenly it sounds good! What is it about that completely dry sound that makes it uncomfortable? It is as if our brains need the reverb as a cue to tell us what kind of space we're in. It is less uncomfortable to listen to a dry synth through speakers, since, it seems to me, you get some room reverb.
I often suspect that when people say that one synth sounds "better" than another, it is because the presets are better and include some reverb, or better reverb. Dry oscillators and simple filters are pretty similar from synth to synth. I find that having a good reverb and knowing how to use it is more important to my synths sounding good than the particular synth plugin I am using.
And I am not talking about drowning the sound in reverb either. That is nice in many contexts too, but even very subtle and short reverb can make a HUGE difference to especially a synth sound. This is especially true of synths because they are perfectly dry to begin with, whereas recorded instruments and even sample libraries usually (short of being recorded in an anechoic chamber) have some room reverb baked in.
Some forms of reverb that emphasize late reflections still leave the main sound a bit too dry, even if it sits in a sea of reverb wash. I've found that it helps the sound a lot to add at least a small amount of short-decay room ambience with some sharp early reflections, especially when the filter is open or there is otherwise a lot of high-frequency texture. It just somehow makes the sound more present and vibrant, even though reverb can create a sense of distance.
I love reverb! It's the only effect that I put on absolutely every synth sound, even if in very small doses!
I saw a video a while back where someone was demonstrating a real CS-80 and he was saying that actually, something surprising to most people, is that they actually don't sound very good dry, that you need to sweeten the sound a lot with reverb and other things. I don't think this is unique to a CS-80, is it? Perhaps it's less important though with a bass where the higher frequencies are mostly rolled off, as in the way people sometimes use a Moog.
I am curious what others think of reverb and how you generally use it. Do you stack multiple reverbs very often? Where do you place it in your effects chain? Before or after delays? Any other thoughts you want to share on reverb would be interesting for me to read. Is there anyone who likes to use synths completely without any reverb?
Statistics: Posted by JO512 — Sat Jan 25, 2025 12:01 am