SSL's FlexVerb On Crazy Sale Price (But Please Demo It First)

PaulieDC said:

Short and sweet: I'm a Lexicon PCM fan/user/snob and I love Berlin Studio since I'm an OT fanboy as well, but I started putting the SSL FlexVerb through its paces last night and it's nice--great tails, great UI and very... um... flexible. It's now in my Top 3, and the fact that it's 18 bucks right now is nuts. The Lex is on my tower (w/mandatory hardware iLok), but the SSL is my main laptop reverb and I couldn't be happier.

If you are on a super tight budget and want a great sounding workable algorithmic reverb, for eigtheen bucks, it's a no-brainer. I'm not certain how long the sale lasts though.

SSL Native FlexVerb

SSL Flexverb

store.solidstatelogic.com

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I bought it, but I'm a little disappointed. Unless I'm doing something wrong (and that's a possibility), part of the verb sound is wide and beautiful, but the final tail shifts noticeably to the center in mono. Is it supposed to be like that? And, if so, why?

It came bundled with my SSL 2+ I’d say it’s worth $15-20 bux for sure. I’ve read people describe it as having a “cold tone” which I think I understand - it’s accurate and not a bad thing.

I’d say it’s a bit too complicated for a me and I get inconsistent results - but it’s possible to make it sound “great” so I blame myself lol

robgb said:

I bought it, but I'm a little disappointed. Unless I'm doing something wrong (and that's a possibility), part of the verb sound is wide and beautiful, but the final tail shifts noticeably to the center in mono. Is it supposed to be like that? And, if so, why?

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Great question, I need some more time with it myself. There's enough adjustments in that UI, I would think that could be addressed. Interesting, I'll give it a go.

TheWhat said:

It came bundled with my SSL 2+ I’d say it’s worth $15-20 bux for sure. I’ve read people describe it as having a “cold tone” which I think I understand - it’s accurate and not a bad thing.

I’d say it’s a bit too complicated for a me and I get inconsistent results - but it’s possible to make it sound “great” so I blame myself lol

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Interesting, my SSL 2+ came with Vocalstrip 2 and Drumstrip, but not with Flexverb.

JSteel said:

Interesting, my SSL 2+ came with Vocalstrip 2 and Drumstrip, but not with Flexverb.

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I can't remember exactly why but I got my SSL 2+ in June of 2020 and it came with a 6 month trial of the SSL Native (Vocalstrip, Drumstrip, XComp, and Flexverb) - SSL tech support had me do something that nuked the plugins for a few days and after we figured it out they gave me a NFR version of the SSL Native (VS,DS,XC,FV).


Anyway I never use the Drumstrip or the Vocalstrip but I love the XComp on electric Fender Jazz bass and I use the Flexverb from time to time. The other 2 (VS,DS) suck donkey balls imho

i like it so far

I've asked for a refund on this reverb. The tail shifting to the center, where it loses all width and sounds almost mono, really annoys me. Unlike any other reverb I've used, which means I will probably never use it. Yes, it's only sixteen bucks, but that's sixteen bucks wasted.

robgb said:

I've asked for a refund on this reverb. The tail shifting to the center, where it loses all width and sounds almost mono, really annoys me. Unlike any other reverb I've used, which means I will probably never use it. Yes, it's only sixteen bucks, but that's sixteen bucks wasted.

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Looks like you found the 8dio of reverbs. Let us know how the refund request goes. Hope it works out for you.



perhaps I will give this one a try between now and the next time it goes on sale. Never heard of the issue you are referring to. Sounds like that would be pretty weird.

@robgb Is the mono artifact you describe happening in this demo?

TheWhat said:

@robgb Is the mono artifact you describe happening in this demo?

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No, but this video is unhelpful. I think the best way to determine the value of a reverb is to use short staccato notes and let them ring out, so you can listen to the tail as it fades away. My complaint is that there doesn't seem to be any width control. But as I said in my first comment, I may be doing something wrong.

SSL (narrows to center):

View attachment SSL REVERB.mp3

STRATUS (flows toward center but stays wide):

View attachment SRATUS REVERB.mp3

That said, I have a dozen other reverbs that I can use that don't sound like SSL to my ears.

Jrides said:

perhaps I will give this one a try between now and the next time it goes on sale. Never heard of the issue you are referring to. Sounds like that would be pretty weird.

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Maybe I'm just crazy.

Why do people blindly buy plugins that offer a demo without utilizing the demo first? Is the whole buy-to-try mentality from the sample library industry so deeply ingrained into peoples' psyches here?

Trash Panda said:

Why do people blindly buy plugins that offer a demo without utilizing the demo first? Is the whole buy-to-try mentality from the sample library industry so deeply ingrained into peoples' psyches here?

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yes. Next question.

Trash Panda said:

Why do people blindly buy plugins that offer a demo without utilizing the demo first? Is the whole buy-to-try mentality from the sample library industry so deeply ingrained into peoples' psyches here?

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I tried to find a demo for this plugin and couldn't. Unless I completely missed it, Plugin Boutique didn't seem to be offering one, and the SSL website didn't seem to have one either. Otherwise I would have tried first.

But people on this forum buy plugins without the benefit of a demo every single day. How often do we get to demo sample libraries that cost considerably more? So your comment seems fairly silly.

robgb said:

I tried to find a demo for this plugin and couldn't. Unless I completely missed it, Plugin Boutique didn't seem to be offering one, and the SSL website didn't seem to have one either. Otherwise I would have tried first.

But people on this forum buy plugins without the benefit of a demo every single day. How often do we get to demo sample libraries that cost considerably more? So your comment seems fairly silly.

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SSL offers a 30 day trial period for all of their plugins.

robgb said:

No, but this video is unhelpful. I think the best way to determine the value of a reverb is to use short staccato notes and let them ring out, so you can listen to the tail as it fades away. My complaint is that there doesn't seem to be any width control. But as I said in my first comment, I may be doing something wrong.

SSL (narrows to center):

View attachment SSL REVERB.mp3

STRATUS (flows toward center but stays wide):

View attachment SRATUS REVERB.mp3

That said, I have a dozen other reverbs that I can use that don't sound like SSL to my ears.

Click to expand...

I do hear what you are referring to. So I d/led and tested violin spiccato both collapsed to mono and in native stereo and then into the reverb. With Voxengo MSED its easy to see the ratio of mid/side is just a bit more mid than most reverbs is all. Easy enough to trim to taste with MSED, just turn the mid down a touch and the side up a bit and then it has tail width similar to a lot of other reverbs.

FWIW I rarely use reverbs without MSED directly after it for precisely the purpose of adjusting the mid/side ratio. To me the SSL sounds great and responds to M/S the way I would expect, so I'm a buyer at this price.

Thanks OP for the heads up for a good deal.

robgb said:

I tried to find a demo for this plugin and couldn't. Unless I completely missed it, Plugin Boutique didn't seem to be offering one, and the SSL website didn't seem to have one either. Otherwise I would have tried first.

But people on this forum buy plugins without the benefit of a demo every single day. How often do we get to demo sample libraries that cost considerably more? So your comment seems fairly silly.

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You have to use their plugin installer and then install the reverb plugin. It will do an iLok prompt to either activate or try (demo).

nortiks said:

You have to use their plugin installer and then install the reverb plugin. It will do an iLok prompt to either activate or try (demo).

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Ahh. Good to know.

nortiks said:

I do hear what you are referring to. So I d/led and tested violin spiccato both collapsed to mono and in native stereo and then into the reverb. With Voxengo MSED its easy to see the ratio of mid/side is just a bit more mid than most reverbs is all. Easy enough to trim to taste with MSED, just turn the mid down a touch and the side up a bit and then it has tail width similar to a lot of other reverbs.

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Tried it. Excellent plugin and yes, it makes all the difference in the world. Too bad this capability isn't built in (unless I'm missing something). But the Voxengo plugin is free, so...

robgb said:

Ahh. Good to know.


Tried it. Excellent plugin and yes, it makes all the difference in the world. Too bad this capability isn't built in (unless I'm missing something). But the Voxengo plugin is free, so...

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Yeah, it was kind of a secret weapon for reverb...not a secret anymore, lol. FWIW Stratus often gets the opposite of what I did to SSL. The MSED plug opens up a lot of flexibility for all reverbs imo.