Compact Reverb Unit for Headphone I/O?

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<< So, an ideal answer then would be to find a physically-small, simple,
low-noise, inexpensive reverb unit that can take the Mac's
stereo-headphone output as an input and produce a reverberated headphone
output. >>

Physically small & inexpensive would be the Alesis Picoverb (or is it the
Nanoverb?), & if it sounds like the 1/3rd racksize Microverb, sort of sounds
decent too.


Scott Fraser

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"ScotFraser" <scotfraser@aol.com> wrote in message
news:20040801102505.29625.00002430@mb-m16.aol.com...
> << So, an ideal answer then would be to find a physically-small, simple,
> low-noise, inexpensive reverb unit that can take the Mac's
> stereo-headphone output as an input and produce a reverberated headphone
> output. >>
>
> Physically small & inexpensive would be the Alesis Picoverb (or is it the
> Nanoverb?), & if it sounds like the 1/3rd racksize Microverb, sort of
sounds
> decent too.
>
>
> Scott Fraser

Gary,

Nanoverb is the "classic", it is 1/3 RU and pretty decent. They do make an
even smaller one now, it has less options but might work for what you want.

I was curious about this, so I just patched one in and tried it, a stereo
insert cable in to the Nanoverb and one out to headphones. The headphone
amp from the mixer overloads the Nanoverb input easily, have to adjust the
gain carefully - amp down, Nanoverb input up, Nanoverb output at max. The
level is not too bad this way with efficient low-impedance sealed headphones
(I used Senn HD280), but it's certainly not as loud as using the mixer's
headphone direct. The reverb/delay/chorus works well, using the Mix
control. However with less-efficient phones (I used AKG 240DF) the volume
is very low, probably not acceptable.

I've read that Radio Shack sells a little gain booster for cheap (battery
powered?) Maybe plug that in the Nanoverb outputs, but I doubt it's stereo.
I think you'd do best with an outboard headphone amp, lots of small cheap
ones for this (ART, Samson, Presonus, etc.)

Steve

Archived from groups: rec.audio.pro (More info?)

I use the Alesis Wedge reverbs as outboards for my Furman HRM 16 remote
mixers. They are excellent for this purpose and can be found on EBay for
around $60.00.

Very cool boxes for the $$$.


"Gary Morrison" <mr88cet@austin.rr.com> wrote in message
news:Nf6Pc.12627$Zm3.8063@fe2.texas.rr.com...
> Here's an admittedly-somewhat-odd need that somebody may perhaps a
> suggestion for:
>
> I'm now running Sibelius, with its associated software synth (NI's
> Kontakt - for "proofreading" the score) on my new PowerBook. The
> PowerBook is a 1.5GHz, 17-inch Mac. Even with reverb applied to
> Kontakt's playback, it works pretty well, but the reverb does chew up a
> fair amount of CPU power. It seems to me that reverb could easily be
> done by an external reverb unit, and leave more CPU-power margin.
> Granted, that would reverberate everything including normal system
> beeps, but no big deal.
>
> So, an ideal answer then would be to find a physically-small, simple,
> low-noise, inexpensive reverb unit that can take the Mac's
> stereo-headphone output as an input and produce a reverberated headphone
> output. Do you know of any such thing? I'm willing to plug a headphone
> output into a normal-audio input, if I have to in keeping the amount of
> physical baggage low.
>
> Yes, I do realize that the "proper" solution would be to use a separate
> audio interface with a real audio-level output, and a separate reverb
> unit, but I don't want to tack on any more hardware than I have to, this
> being a portable computer, after all.
>
> Any ideas along those lines?

Archived from groups: rec.audio.pro (More info?)

> I was curious about this, so I just patched one in and tried it, a stereo
> insert cable in to the Nanoverb and one out to headphones.

Thanks for conducting those experiments.

>
> I've read that Radio Shack sells a little gain booster for cheap

Come to think of it, I do have a simple little Radio Shack power amp
nominally intended to drive speakers, but it might drive headphones OK.

Dumb question: What impedance do headphones typically have? 8-ohm?
16-ohm?

Archived from groups: rec.audio.pro (More info?)

Gary Morrison wrote:

>> I was curious about this, so I just patched one in and tried it, a stereo
>> insert cable in to the Nanoverb and one out to headphones.
>
>
> Thanks for conducting those experiments.
>
>>
>> I've read that Radio Shack sells a little gain booster for cheap
>
>
> Come to think of it, I do have a simple little Radio Shack power amp
> nominally intended to drive speakers, but it might drive headphones OK.
>
> Dumb question: What impedance do headphones typically have? 8-ohm?
> 16-ohm?

Usually more than 16, but it depends.

--
Les Cargill

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On Wed, 04 Aug 2004 02:18:40 GMT, Gary Morrison <mr88cet@texas.net> wrote:
> In terms of what I'm looking for being headphone-level input, in concept
> at least, one could deal with that by simply putting a
> headphone-impedance load across it. Does anybody make something kinda
> like a series terminator to do that?

You'd probably have problems with the reverb unit driving your
headphones.

Is there any reason why you just can't patch something in BEFORE your
headphone amp?

Even a PC soundcard has a limited effects capability.

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On Mon, 02 Aug 2004 12:03:31 GMT, Gary Morrison
<mr88cet@austin.rr.com> wrote:

>> If this is
>> for score proofreading, the less flattering sound would surely be
>> preferable anyway?
>
>That in the sense that, if I can make it sound lively enough without
>reverb, then it'll sound even better with reverb?

In the sense that you're basically looking for wrong notes. Will
reverb help?

CubaseFAQ www.laurencepayne.co.uk/CubaseFAQ.htm
"Possibly the world's least impressive web site": George Perfect

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> In the sense that you're basically looking for wrong notes.

Ah. Well, I'm looking for a little more than that: "Does this
melodic-development approach have the effect I'm imagining in my head,"
for example.

In any case, reverb just keeps it from sounding ... let's say,
"distractingly dead." I'm certainly not looking for really superb
performance or audio quality though.

--

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