Reverb & Delay Bundle

About the Reverb & Delay Bundle

Three spaces and an echo, each built on a different physical mechanism. The Reverb & Delay Bundle exists because a steel plate, a gold plate, a spring and a tape loop each colour a source in their own way, and that colour is what you're really choosing between when you reach for a reverb.

Two plates, two metals

RO-140 is the EMT 140, the sheet of steel that became the studio standard from 1957 onward, when engineers wanted a room that didn't sound like a room. It's dense, it's even, and it flatters vocals the way engineers have relied on since the first one shipped. RO-GOLD takes the same idea to a single 24-karat gold plate: brighter, slower to decay, with a top end that stays out of the way of the source. It's also the one plug-in in this bundle that's free on its own, so treat it as the reason to try the approach rather than as part of what you're paying for.

Spring, for when it should sound mechanical

RO-SPR is rooted in the Hammond spring line and the 1963 Fender Vibroverb. Springs drip, splash and clang, and that's the feature. Surf guitar, dub, organ, anything that should sound like it came out of an amplifier rather than a chamber. A plate makes a source sound expensive; a spring makes it sound like it has a history.

The echo

TD-201 is the Roland RE-201 Space Echo, with the free-floating quarter-inch tape loop, the multiple playback heads and the spring reverb built into the original. It's the unit behind dub and roots reggae, and the reason it still gets used is that the tape degrades the repeats. Each echo is darker and more smeared than the last, which is what makes a long delay sit behind a vocal instead of competing with it. Run it after RO-140 and you have most of the depth decisions covered.

Choosing between them in practice

Vocals and strings: RO-140, short, as a send. Anything that should sound like it came through an amplifier: RO-SPR. A second, brighter space that sits above the first: RO-GOLD. A delay that disappears behind the source rather than answering it: TD-201. All four are machines, and they sound like machines, which is exactly why records have used them for sixty years: a plate, a spring and a tape loop each impose a character a real room never would, and that character is what makes a mix sound produced.