ValhallaRoom EQ request

[trance_lucent]

I know, I am not the first who request this feature, but builtin EQ would be very useful for ValhallaRoom. Yes, I remember, there is some sort of presets compatibility problem if add new parameters, but may be it is possible to create new version of ValhallaRoom (ValhallaRoom 2) which could be installed together with older version?

If I use Valhalla room in classic way (send to bus), there is no problem, because I can use additional plugin EQ. But I often use it in track, and if I want different EQing of dry and wet signal, and to process sum with other plugins and add sending to other busses, the routing in Logic becomes too much complicated instead of just one track object.

[mjudge55]

Seconded!

[valhallasound]

At some point (i.e. after I've finished and released the next plugin, and after I update ValhallaShimmer to 64-bit OSX VST), I want to add a Low Cut slider to ValhallaRoom. This is a useful way of quickly shaping the tone, and won't blow out the complexity of the plugin.

Anything beyond that, you should really use an EQ plugin on a send. The reasons for this:

- Adding a full-fledged EQ to VRoom would make it a considerably more complicated plugin, where my current goal is to move in the opposite direction. I want to create plugins with as few parameters as necessary, to make things easier to use.

- I'm not that good at writing EQs. In the development stage, I had some shelving EQs in VRoom. They sounded horrible.

- Unless you are creating a special effect with 100% reverb, you should use a reverb on a send. This allows you to blend multiple tracks together with a single reverb, which does all sorts of good things towards unifying a mix. Plus, it's more CPU efficient.

Sean Costello

[trance_lucent]

Well, there are some cases when reverb unit used as part of sound synthesis scheme with wet<100%, and some other cases (mostly FX) of using reverb plugin in track.

But, indeed, if consider VRoom as general purpose reverb (95% of uses), sending to bus is ok. But then HP filter is not necessary too because it is possible to use other eq/filtering plugin.

[valhallasound]

EQ could - and should - be part of the sound that's been dialled, i.e. should be saved with the reverb's preset, e.g. the Sonnox Reverb. Correct me if I'm wrong but I think most natural spaces don't have a flat frequency response.

Most rooms have an exceedingly complicated frequency response, that would require a few hundred thousand parametric EQs to even begin to approximate. However, the *averaged* EQ response of most rooms follows the rules of physics, and it turns out that simple highpass and lowpass filters do a decent job of approximating this.

Obviously EQ is useful on reverb, but it is useful on EVERYTHING. Since this is the case, it makes more sense to separate the high quality EQ functions from the reverb/delay/chorus/compressor/what have you, in order to divide things up into nice little modular chunks. This way, you can learn the EQ(s) of your choice, and apply it to everything.

Sean Costello

[karrikuh]

- Adding a full-fledged EQ to VRoom would make it a considerably more complicated plugin, where my current goal is to move in the opposite direction. I want to create plugins with as few parameters as necessary, to make things easier to use.

I like your philosophy and agree.

[tehlord]

If you add an EQ after a reverb as an insert, you're still basically achieving the same result anyway.

[djscorb]

Hi Tehlord

For some sounds maybe but by no means all. Sometimes the point is that the main Dry sound has prominent lower mids and you want the reverb to have less of these to keep the sound from getting muddy or overblown. No problem on a send with an additional EQ plugin, but sometimes when you want to follow the entire signal path, reverb and all, with additional processing, an insert is more useful and this is where some additional control of the lows in the reverb path within VRoom itself would be of great benefit.

Bmanic mentioned he is carving 6 to 10 dB out of the lower mids using an EQ after VRoom on sends as a matter of course and after trying the same I have to agree that it does help a lot more often than not.

I love VRoom and it is my go to for 90% of reverb use but a switchable 6dB/12dB High Pass or shelf with control over both frequency and gain in the wet path would would be very welcome and make an already great plugin even better!

Cheers

Scorb

[Architeuthis]

Did you know white noise is equal amplitude across all frequencies? And Pink noise is white noise, but with a 3db lowpass to make it SOUND like equal volume at all frequencies. That's why pink noise is a lot more pleasing to the ear.

Reverb can be very close to sounding like white noise. Sculpting white noise with EQ is actually a great way to create artificial reverb.

MY POINT?: 3db lowpass filters are awesome for smoothing out the frequency response of a sound. I don't know why 3db filters are not included in any plugins.

[whyterabbyt]

Did you know white noise is equal amplitude across all frequencies?

No, it doesnt. It has equal energy across all frequencies. Energy is linear, volume is not, its a significant difference.

And Pink noise is white noise, but with a 3db lowpass to make it SOUND like equal volume at all frequencies.

No, pink noise is pink noise, ie noise with equal energy per octave. A 3db lowpass on white noise approximates that.

[faun2500]

I would like a simple hi-pass filter added to it.

[E-KL!PSE]

As a general rule of thumb for a reverb or other time based effect. You would have it setup as an Auxiliary effect. On the first insert you could have an EQ of your choice and on the second you would have Valhalla Room.

But,

Like others have said, an added high pass/low cut on the high cut fade would be nice.
Just for when you would like to use it on a channel strip instead of an aux.

[Architeuthis]

ok, anti-trolling felt good, now i should delete the post to avoid any further trolling.

[valhallasound]

MY POINT?: 3db lowpass filters are awesome for smoothing out the frequency response of a sound. I don't know why 3db filters are not included in any plugins.

3dB filters are HARD. Filters naturally want to have slopes in multiples of 6 dB, both in the digital and analog world. Most "pink noise" filters either average together a bunch of noise sources, or have a fixed cutoff. I don't know if I've ever seen a variable filter with -3 dB per octave. This would be very different than a shelving filter with a 3 dB cut.

A 1st order lowpass filter (-6 dB/oct) can sound very natural with some reverb sounds. Most of the ValhallaVintageVerb algorithms use this. ValhallaRoom uses a 2nd order lowpass filter (-12 dB/oct), so it will always sound a bit darker.

Sean Costello

[Architeuthis]

Alright Sean, thanks for that explanation. I didn't know that 3db filters were difficult even in the digital realm. I guess spectral EQ is the way to go for non-6db slopes.