Windows/VST - Mac/RTA “TAL Reverb-IIis the most popular TAL-Reverb. After some user feedbacks had to release TAL-Reverb-II again. It combines the retro sound of TAL-Reverb-I with additional features. Togu Audio Line has released an updated version of TAL-Reverb-4, a freeware plate reverb effect in VST, AU, and AAX plugin formats for digital audio workstations on PC and Mac. The updated version of TAL-Reverb-4 comes with a freshly designed user interface and implements multiple algorithm updates which were aimed at improving the sound quality.Read More. Voxengo OldSkoolVerb. GET OLDSKOOLVERB HERE. Early attempts at reverb processors might not. TAL Reverb-II is a super diffuse and lush reverb effect with a fast build up time. Ideal for ambient reverb sounds.

1. The section I'm most interested in is the frequency control. This lets you apply the reverb to specific sections of the frequency spectrum and the options to the left let you set where each band is located. Download TAL-Reverb-2 for free. Another plugin from iZotope, Vinyl is a great way to give you sounds an old-school vibe.
2. Togu Audio Line’s TAL-Reverb-2 (Windows/Mac, VST/AU) is a free, stereo plate reverb VST effect for Windows. This little plugin with its clean, bright & metallic feel is perfect for vocals and percussions. TAL Reverb-II is the most popular reverb from Togu Audio Line, and combines the retro sound of TAL-Reverb-I with additional features.
3. Since version 2, this free reverb vst now covers Mac VST/VST3 support – and it looks pretty damn nice as well! OrilRiver is a well-respected freeware reverb that can compete with tonnes of commercial products.

Reverb is one of the most important tools for audio engineers. It’s an audio effect used on every mix you’ll ever hear.

There’s so many reverb plugins out there. Deciding which one to use is a big challenge. And sifting through hundreds of plugins can sap your creativity pretty quick.

But if you know your way around the different types of reverb plugins, you’ll have head start on choosing the right tools to create the perfect ambience to enhance your mix.

Here’s a primer on the different styles of reverb and the 15 best reverb plugins for each reverb type.

Electromechanical reverb

In the early days of audio, engineers discovered they could use transducers to create vibrations in a piece of metal.

These vibrations could be captured with an electromagnetic pickup like the kind used in electric guitars.

This led to the development of two main types of electromechanical reverb—spring reverb and plate reverb:

What is spring reverb?

Spring reverb takes advantage of the unique behaviour of a coiled spring. The transducer is fitted at one end of spring and the pickup is at the other.

Spring reverb has a darker, edgier character that can vary widely from spring to spring. It’s often found in classic guitar amplifiers.

Using spring reverbs will give you a sploshy, metallic reverb with lots of character.

Best spring reverb VST plugins

Free:Hotto Spring Reverb

Hotto Spring Reverb is a free, no-nonsense spring reverb that’s effective and easy to use.

Spring reverb has a darker, edgier character that can vary widely from spring to spring.

Cheap:Aegean Music Spirit Reverb

Aegean Music Spirit Reverb is an affordable and authentic way to get spring reverb onto your tracks. It also includes other tone shaping effects like delay and tube preamp emulation.

Pro:PSP Springbox

Using spring reverbs will give you a sploshy, metallic reverb with lots of character.

PSP Spring Box has a ton of control to dial in your perfect spring reverb sound. It can go from realistic vintage spring reverb to seriously weird textures.

Where to use it?

Spring reverb is at home on electric guitars, but you can use it anywhere where you need a grittier flavour of reverb.

What is plate reverb?

Plate reverb is the main style of reverb from the golden age of analog recording. It’s created by exciting metal with a transducer just like spring reverb.

However, giant metal plates are required to create high quality plate reverb, so today these devices are expensive and rare.

They’re well loved for a reason though. Plate reverbs create a very recognizable sound that blends well into a mix and doesn’t overpower the dry signal.

Best plate reverb VST plugins

Free:TAL Reverb 2

TAL Reverb 2 deserves to top the list of best free reverb plugins. It’s a fantastic sounding reverb that’s modelled on a plate but can go from natural and realistic to lush ambient textures.

Plate reverbs create a very recognizable sound that blends well into a mix and doesn’t overpower the dry signal.

Cheap:VallhallaDSP ValhallaPlate

ValhallaDSP makes some of the best value-for-money reverb plugins. Sean Costello’s plugins are widely respected in the pro audio community despite their low price tag.

ValhallaPlate is a fantastic, inexpensive way to get into plate reverb.

Pro:UAD EMT 140 Plate

Universal Audio is the top name in vintage emulation and their plugins run on a dedicated hardware platform.

Their loving reproduction of the classic EMT 140 tube plate reverb is a smash hit. It’s incredibly authentic and sounds eerily close to a real plate.

Plate reverb uses

Vocals, snares, or anywhere else you need an even sounding reverb with smooth early reflections and distinctive character.

Free Tal Vst Plugins

Algorithmic reverb

Algorithmic reverb uses digital trickery to create reverb. It usually works by using many cascaded digital delay lines to create the illusion of acoustic reflections. The earliest electronic reverb devices were algorithmic, so many of the classic sounds we associate with studio reverb were created this way.

Algorithmic reverbs aren’t always realistic since processing power was so limited in the early days. But they can still create a desirable and characteristic reverb sound that works in tons of mixing situations.

Best algorithmic reverb VST plugins

Free:Smartelectronix Ambience

Smarteletronix Ambience was one of the first quality free reverb plugins on the scene. And it’s still a great option for dreamy, ambient, algorithmic reverb.

Cheap:VallhallaDSP VintageVerb

Valhalla VintageVerb is a versatile algorithmic reverb with vintage style modes to simulate the frequency and sample rate limitations of 70’s and 80’s hardware reverbs.

Algorithmic reverbs aren’t always realistic since processing power was so limited in the early days. But they can still create a desirable and characteristic reverb sound that works in tons of mixing situations.

Pro:UAD Lexicon 224

The UAD Lexicon 224 is a painstakingly accurate replication of the classic vintage hardware. The original Lexicon 224 was one of the first readily available digital reverb units introduced to studios in the late 1970’s. It’s responsible for so many classic reverb sounds from that era.

Algorithmic reverb uses

Algorithmic works best for Synth pads, effects, or anywhere else you need a stylish, enveloping reverb.

Convolution reverb

Convolution reverbs create ambience through a mathematical process called (wait for it) convolution.

These reverb plugins use Impulse Responses to create their effect. Impulse responses are made by measuring the reverberation of a real space with a microphone and a specialized tone called an impulse.

Algorithmic works best for Synth pads, effects, or anywhere else you need a stylish, enveloping reverb.

The impulse response is a sonic profile that the plugin uses to apply its specific reverberation characteristics to your sound.

To put it simply, convolution reverb lets you use the ambience of any real world space inside your DAW.

Hot tip: Convolution can also be used to model things like speaker cabinets for electric guitar.

If you have an all purpose convolution plugin, you can use IRs of speaker cabs to get a convincing sound when you record amps direct.

Best convolution reverb VST plugins

Free:SIR Audio Tools SIR1 (Windows) LAConvolver (Mac)

These free simple convolution tools are capable of loading great sounding impulse responses. That’s the beauty of convolution! They may not be the most full featured plugins out there, but they can totally get the job done.

Cheap:Liquid Sonics Reverberate Core

Liquid Sonics Reverberate Core is an effective, inexpensive convolution reverb solution. It has the ability to load and tweak parameters of any impulse response.

Pro:Audio Ease Altiverb

Audio Ease Altiverb is the gold standard for studio convolution reverb. Its powerful convolution engine and IR collection are capable of creating extremely realistic and compelling acoustic spaces.

Convolution reverb uses

Close mic’d instruments or wherever you need natural, realistic sounding spaces. Convolution reverb is a great choice for acoustic instruments like strings and piano.

Non-linear reverb

There’s a few classic reverb sounds you might know that I haven’t covered yet.

I’m talking about special effects like gated and reverse reverb. These sounds are all examples of “non-linear” reverb.

Electromechanical, algorithmic and convolution reverbs all attempt to model real spaces—with varying degrees of success. Even though some examples are quirky and not at all realistic, they still have a “linear” decay.

Convolution reverb is a great choice for acoustic instruments like strings and piano.

That means the reverb rings out with the normal, uniform decrease in energy that would happen a real acoustic space.

Non-Linear reverbs throw that idea out the window. They’re the classic reverb “effects” from the 80s like gated and reverse reverb.

Best Non-linear Reverb VST Plugins

Free:Longsound MicroVerb VST

Longsound MicroVerb VST is an emulation of the Alesis Microverb hardware unit. This entry-level hardware reverb is known for its three non-linear presets, which sound pretty weird in all the right ways.

Cheap:ValhallaDSP VintageVerb

We’ll have to give this one to Valhalla VintageVerb again for its fantastic nonlinear algorithms.

Pro:UAD AMS RMX16

The hardware AMS RMX16 is another early digital reverb that has been painstakingly modelled by Universal Audio. It’s nonlinear presets are responsible for many of the gated reverb sounds on recordings from the 1980’s.

If other verbs are sounding just too…normal, try a non-linear style for a change of pace.

Non-linear reverb uses

Use non-linear reverb to create psychedelic special effects. If other verbs are sounding just too…normal, try a non-linear style for a change of pace.

Early reflections

You need a sense of space in your recordings for them to sound natural and inviting.

That’s why reverb is an essential element of every mix. And to use it properly, you have to know your tools.

So to recap:

The best reverb plugins are…

Whether you’re adding a realistic ambience to an acoustic guitar, creating a cavernous space for a synth pad or just trying to nail that classic 80’s gated snare, knowing which reverb to reach for is key.

Plate, spring, convolution, algorithmic and non-linear reverbs all have helpful applications in your music.

Try any of the plugins from this list see how the how the different types work for you.

Looking for some quality free VST plugins to use with your DAW such as FL Studio 20 for example? I feel like using VST plugins and mastering these can really improve the quality of your music productions.
In this article, I will share some of the best free VST plugins / Audio Units (AU) that are available for both Windows and Mac, based on my own experiences.

What is a VST?

A Virtual Studio Technology (VST) is an audio plug-in software interface that integrates software synthesizer and effects in digital audio workstations (DAW). FL Studio 20, for example, comes with a few stock VST plugins, but you can also download more and install them. Some are quite expensive, others are affordable but there are also a lot available for free.

Tal Reverb 2 Plugin

What is an AU?

AU stands for Audio Unit(s) which is a system-level plug-in architecture provided by Core Audio in Apple’s macOS and iOS operating systems. Virtually all Mac audio plugins come as AU. It can be seen as Apple’s architectural equivalent to Steinberg’s Virtual Studio Technology (VST).

5 Free VSTs

In no particular order, here is my pick of 5 great free VSTs you can download and should check out if you like to improve your beats for example.

1. Wider (by Polyverse Music)

Wider is an easy-to-use freeware VST plugin that does its job really well. Polyverse Music teamed-up with Infected Mushroom and gave us this amazing stereo widening tool. Wider features only one control parameter, which makes it simple to use. The slider affects the amount of stereo processing. I like to use this plugin often on pianos and guitars, for example, to give it a wider sound.
It can be downloaded for free via: https://polyversemusic.com/products/wider/

2. TAL-Reverb-2 (by Togu Audio Line)

Basically, I was looking for another reverb VST plugin for vocals, instead of the stock plugin Fruity Reeverb 2, and I found this free little gem. It has an easy to use interface and produces nice effects. You can play with it and adjust the low, mid and high cut of the reverb, the room size, stereo width, pre-delay, and the dry and wetness. I really like the sound of this plugin and it gives a different vibe that I’m looking for in certain situations than the stock plugin, which is also a very nice plugin that I also use quite often.
It can be downloaded for free via:
https://tal-software.com/products/tal-reverb

Vst Plugin Tal Reverb 2.0

3. Pancake 2 (by Cable Guys)

Best Free Vst Reverb Plugins

This is a versatile auto-panner plugin which can help you create a more dynamic sound. You can make use of the presets or easily draw curves in yourself to produce gentle transitions or sharp bends in the waveform. I also like the precise display of channel left/right volume a lot, which provides a helpful visual control. It’s great to use on drums, vocals or any sound you like actually.
This VST plugin can be downloaded for free via: http://www.cableguys.com/pancake.html

4. Temper (by Creative Intent)

Vst Plugin Tal-reverb-2

Creative Intent Temper is a saturation plugin that creates unique digital distortion effects. You can use the variable saturation curve to add warmth and edge to your sound and let the phase distortion bring character and clarity through your mix. I like to use this plugin on vocals to give it more power.
This VST plugin can be downloaded for free via: https://creativeintent.co/products/temper

5. DJMFilter (by Xfer Records)

This is a really simple easy-to-use VST plugin which I use quite often to give more character to my drums for example. It is basically a High-Pass / Low-Pass Filter with one knob. You can play with it and set it to LP or HP.
This VST plugin can be downloaded for free via: https://www.pluginboutique.com/products/2446-DJMFilter

Want more free VST plugins, drum kits etcetera?

For more tips about making music, please check out the Blog Section on my website. Make sure to follow me on Instagram to stay updated about new blog posts and be the first to know: https://www.instagram.com/cruzumusic
If you got any requests or questions, don’t hesitate to direct message me as well.

Also, check out this great blog post in which more free VST plugins are being recommended: https://beginnerguitarhq.com/vst-plugins/