I have a Skysurfer reverb pedal that I have been using during live performances with my semi-modular Korg, since the synth is 100% analogue and the latency through my rig is too high to use any real-time onboard digital effects in Ableton.
However, during mixing sessions, I began experimenting with running tracks through it and printing to audio (instead of just using my in-the-box mainstays like Valhalla and iZoTope), and I like the tone so much more than anything I can get from my modeling plugins. I feel that I get a much cleaner, more controlled response from a much wider frequency range, which allows me to filter/EQ the printed verb with much more precision than I can with any plugin.
Why is this?? The SkySurfer is a digital reverb pedal; the only difference between it and something like Valhalla VintageVerb should be the actual algorithms they use. On top of that, I record through a fairly (read: extremely) inexpensive audio interface, so it's even more impressive that the overall timbre of the recorded reverb is still better.
My current best guess is simply that I got used to hearing reverb from pedals and tube amps through years of guitar playing, so now my brain is just saying "yeah, now that's the tone I've been looking for."
Can anyone shed some light on this? Do outboard digital effect units function differently than in-the-box plugins? Thank you in advance!
Submitted March 29, 2017 at 06:32PM by masteriskofficial https://www.reddit.com/r/edmproduction/comments/629noh/outboard_vs_inthebox_why_does_my_80_digital/?utm_source=ifttt
Javier Rodriguez
Wednesday, March 29, 2017