Audio Ease have announced the launch of the long-awaited upgrade to their popular convolution reverb plug-in. Altiverb 8 introduces a range of new features including support for Dolby Atmos, a new browser design, native support for Apple Silicon processors and much more.
Key Features
All of the features that made the plug-in popular remain, with an extensive collection of impulse responses accompanied by a comprehensive set of controls that allow users to fine-tune the reverbs to suit their needs. A Decay control makes it possible to reduce reverb times without changing the character of the room sound, whist a Brightness parameter adds additional high-frequency content by mixing in an algorithmic reverb with the impulse response. Low, Mid and High Damp controls then control the reverb length of three separate frequency bands, which can be adjusted using a pair of crossover controls.
Size, Brightness, Attack and Pre-delay parameters offer further shaping of the effect, and a note symbol allows the pre-delay time to be sync’ed to the tempo of the host application. There’s also a four-band EQ for the processed signal, the high and low bands of which employ a Baxandall-style shelf that has been designed to minimise phase shifts in order to reduce the chance of comb filtering and cancellation effects.
New In Version 8
There are two versions of Altiverb 8: Regular and XL. The first supports mono and stereo inputs, and the latter is capable of handling channel layouts from mono up to 9.1.6. When working in mono or stereo, a Positioner tab allows users to move their input around a virtual space, with a set of four parameters providing adjustment of the direct sound and reflections. When working with higher channel counts, the Positioner is replaced by a new Cloud Size control, which causes the reverb to follow the channel’s input pan position.
Altiverb's new browser system makes it easier than ever to search for and load impulse responses.Now that Altiverb supports immersive formats such as Dolby Atmos, Audio Ease have updated nearly all of the concert hall, church, cathedral, studio and scoring stage impulse responses using additional recordings that have been made during the development of previous versions. As a result, the majority of existing rooms can now be utilised in Atmos mixes. All of the newly added spaces also benefit from Atmos compatibility, and it’s not just venues designed for music, the collection extends to industrial spaces and vehicles including a Tesla and some camper vans, even a selection of buckets and bins!
The plug-in’s browser system has been redesigned with the aim of making it quicker and easier to search and find impulse responses that suit the task at hand, and a new IR Tool allows users to create their own impulse responses, with support for output formats up to 9.1.6.
As well as native support for Apple Silicon processors, there’s now a VST3 version to ensure the plug-in is compatible with the likes of Ableton Live, Cubase, Nuendo and Digital Performer, and the new version is fully backwards compatible with Altiverb 7.
Compatibility
Altiverb 8 is supported on Macs running macOS 10.14 and above. There is currently no Windows support, but it is planned for a future update. VST3, AU and AAX plug-in versions are available.
Authorisation is carried out via PACE’s iLok system, and the plug-in can be activated either to the computer or a USB iLok key (iLok Cloud is not available).
Pricing & Availability
Altiverb 8 is available now, with Regular priced at €499, and XL costing €849.
