Rave Generation: Midnight Verb

Reverb
Rave Generation: Midnight Verb
Three 1980s rack processors in one plugin: a 1985 reverb, a 1986 delay and effects unit, and a 1986 second-generation reverb. All 228 factory programs run the original algorithms at each machine's own sample rate and converter depth, in 16-bit fixed point over the same 16K memory, so they sound, and overload, the way the hardware did. On top: tempo-synced pre-delay, tone, lowpass, stereo width, ducking, program size, a variable device clock and the second-generation unit's analog input and output stages.

Features

  • 228 Factory Programs, Three MachinesThe 1985 reverb: 64 reverbs from 0.2 to 20 s in small, medium and large rooms, bright, warm and dark, with gated (51-59) and reverse (60-63) programs. The delay unit: 64 delay programs, from single echoes and 2- and 3-tap delays to regenerating delays, slaps, multitaps, thickeners and stereo generators. The second-generation reverb: 100 programs across Reverb, Gate, Reverse, Flange, Chorus, Delay and EFX.
  • The Real Clock RatesThe 1985 reverb and the delay unit run at 23,437.5 Hz with a 13-bit converter, the second-generation reverb at 31,250 Hz with 16 bits, both derived from the crystals on the original schematics. The rates are exactly 4/3 apart, so the second-generation machine is the brighter one and its programs are shorter, as on the hardware.
  • Overloads Like The BoxInternal math saturates at full scale instead of wrapping around, so pushing the input gives the hardware's clipping rather than digital crackle. The OVLD lamp watches the input and holds for about 150 ms, so a single clipped peak is visible.
  • Vintage CharacterAdds the second-generation unit's analog stages, taken from the service manual schematics: a resonant 13 kHz lowpass that lifts the region around 8.5 kHz, a 31 Hz highpass and an 11 kHz output filter.
  • Size And ClockSize scales every delay time in the program from 25% to 175%, with the hardware's timing at the centre of the knob. On the flange and chorus programs it scales the LFO sweep instead. Clock runs the whole machine at 0.5x to 2x its true rate: slower is longer and darker, faster is shorter and brighter.
  • Tempo-Synced Pre-delayClick the metronome and Pre-delay switches from milliseconds to 17 note divisions, 1/64T to 1/2 with dotted and triplet values, locked to host tempo. Stays in time at any tempo down to 60 BPM, where a 1/2 note is 2 seconds. Hosts that report no tempo fall back to the millisecond value.
  • Cut-Only ToneOne knob tilts the effect 20 dB between dark and bright with shelves at 340 Hz and 2.7 kHz. It only ever cuts, so it cannot push the algorithm into overload.
  • Input-Driven DuckingPulls the effect down while the source is playing and lets it swell back in the gaps, so a long reverb or delay stays out of the way of the dry signal.
  • Three Preset BanksEvery factory program as a preset, organised by machine and category. A second bank holds all of them again at 30% Mix for use straight on a track. The Midnight folder adds ten presets that push the longer programs with Size, Clock, Lowpass, synced pre-delay and Vintage, controls the originals never had.
  • Program ReadoutThe display shows the machine, program number and name, numbered as the hardware numbered them.
  • Silence GateAfter 16 seconds without input the wet signal fades out over 6 seconds, so the emulated noise floor does not hiss through quiet passages. It reopens the moment signal returns.

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