What sets PhiVerb apart
When telling people about PhiVerb, I sometimes get some question along the lines of “Doesn’t something that already exist?”. It is an entirely justified question, and with the multitude of reverb plugins available in the market today, we certainly owe an answer to it.
One answer could be that I really like reverb. No other effect fills out the sonic space so effectively, and I certainly have been guilty of overanalyzing the silkiness and realism of reverb tails (or the lack thereof). That is all good and well, but it won’t do as an answer. For this, I would ask you to try to put yourself into the shoes of someone who is starting out with getting serious about music production.
At this point it is likely that you would want the right reverb sound for any given situation. Whether it be some plate reverb for those smooth pop vocals, some room reverb to add a general spatial dimension to the mix, or an almost over-the-top amount of hall to add to the epicness of that solo. At some point many of us approach a point where the stock plugins leave something to be desired.
I have found myself at this point. And on setting out to find the right reverb plugin, I wasn’t entirely happy with what I found. Yes, I found several plugins that sounded amazing and to be fair, I did get everything that I needed in the end. However, to cover all of my reverb needs, I ended up getting three plugins when I really only wanted to get one. That is because I saw myself needing to get one plugin that covered the the hall and room sounds and one that was a dedicated plate reverb, while the third plugin simply didn’t sound very good.
The fact of the matter is that I spent more money and time on the matter than I set out to, due to the lack of a proper all-in-one reverb solution. Of course, some plugins claim to be able to handle all sounds, but more often than not the “plate” mode would be the same algorithm with a few behind-the-scenes parameter tweaks that make it behave more like a plate reverb, but not really sound like one.
This directly led to the inception of PhiVerb. Its four modes each feature a distinct algorithm, allowing it to cover all of the reverb essentials, all while being able to compete with the very best in terms of sound.
Of course, it is entirely possible that you are a veteran of reverbs and have already found your match for everything that is to be desired. In that case I must admit that PhiVerb will not offer anthything substantially new to you - barring of course the convenience of the all-in-one package, the sophisticated sound-shaping capabilities or the integrated ducking.