Anyone make use of convolution reverb?

[Lunahorum]

I read an interesting article about applying convolution reverb effects to mimic the acoustic properties of cave or a hall. I am not sure about the process, but it has something to do with recording a beep in the hall or cave and comparing it to the original signal. Anyways I thought it was neat, but I was wondering if any of you have ever used it. Or is the standard cave reverb vst no different to our human perception?

It's too late tonight, but maybe tomorrow I will make a quick mp3 of a banjo in different acoustical atmospheres and see if I can tell the difference.

[Tensei]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Convolution_reverb

In audio signal processing, convolution reverb is a process for digitally simulating the reverberation of a physical or virtual space. It is based on the mathematical convolution operation, and uses a pre-recorded audio sample of the impulse response of the space being modelled. An impulse response is a recording of the reverberation that is caused by an acoustic space when an ideal impulse is played. However, an ideal impulse is a mathematical construct, and cannot exist in reality, as it would have to be infinitesimally narrow in time. Therefore, approximations have to be used; the sound of an electric spark or a gun shot, for instance.

And remember, every time you post a new thread without a difficult to answer (i.e. not google-able) question or a valid discussion topic in it, god kills a kitten. Think of the kittens.. =(

Edit: Fine, fine, I have tried convolution reverb before, but yeah, it was a memory hog and I'm quite sure that in non-orchestral environments it would be pretty hard to make much of a difference in sound quality.

[Sixto]

He was just asking if any of us have used it before.

Yes, Max, I've used impulse reverbs a few times. Problem is the plugin and impulse wavs for reverbs are pretty big resource hogs. So unless you have a pretty powerful machine, I would not recomment using impulse reverbs.

[zircon]

Convolution is pretty powerful, generally speaking, but I generally agree with Sixto. It is too resource intensive unless you plan on using only ONE plugin instance (and then use sends.)

[Fray]

Convolution is pretty powerful, generally speaking, but I generally agree with Sixto. It is too resource intensive unless you plan on using only ONE plugin instance (and then use sends.)

That's exactly what I did for a few of the tracks in CHIPP's Valkyrie Profile mix. One instance didn't hit my CPU that hard, and my machine isn't top of the line by any stretch (Athlon XP 3000+). Of course, I use pretty high latency (~50ms) when mixing. If you want to set your latency low for tracking or whatever, the convo reverb should be one of the first things to go if your CPU usage gets too high.

BTW, I really like how they sound -- I think the general idea is that you can get much better quality out of an inexpensive convolution reverb than you can out of an inexpensive traditional one, it just eats up way more system resource.

[Moseph]

SIR1 is freeware, if you need a convolution reverb VST.

My alma mater has a really nice performance hall, and I'd love to make a project out of recording impulse responses in it.

[dannthr]

I use IRs all the time. I use them on individual instruments in Kontakt and sometimes, as Zircon uses them, a single IR with multiple sends. They are resource intensive and can be annoying in that sense, especially when you have IRs that have tails as long as a few seconds.

I also use IRs in my mastering process as a single post production application on a stereo wav file.

There are several, very fantastic free IRs all over the internet.