“A highly creative plugin, with enormous capacity that extends way beyond vocal usage”: Antares Vocal Reverb review

Antares Vocal Reverb: What is it?

It’s very rare for a trademarked product to enter the vocabulary, but that’s exactly what Antares managed, by accident or otherwise. The mere mention of Auto-Tune will have even non-producers imagining a type of hard-tuned vocal quality. It’s an association far beyond the company’s remit of subtle pitch correction.

Fast forward 27 years, and the Antares product range has significantly expanded, with echoes of the original product resonating throughout the lineup. Its latest plugin is an excellent case in point. Vocal Reverb does not provide pitch correction, but it does listen to your track and try to assist you with your reverb choices. Still, do we really want AI to tell us which reverbs to use on a vocal track?

Antares Vocal Reverb: Performance and verdict

We started by loading up a vocal stem and applying the Vocal Reverb plugin. Intrigued by the Assist button, we gave it an immediate press, and after only a few seconds of listening, the plugin identified the register of the incoming vocal audio, suggesting its input type/register and asking a series of questions relating to stylistic and sonic preference. 

These questions are simple enough; did we want a vintage plate, tight room, concert hall or cosmic? What size of room did we prefer? And did we want a tone that was bright, natural or dark?

A second page of questions follows; these questions really piqued our interest, with regards to more creative diversification. Did we want a gritty sound, or an ’80s colour? There was even questioning relating to shifting the pitch up or down an octave. The resultant reverb, which can be previewed before applying, was impressive but not entirely what we were looking for. Not a problem though, it appears, as you can override any of these settings at any stage, which possibly underlines the strength of the plugin. It can provide you with some very helpful suggestions, but if they don’t quite fit the bill, you can noodle until you are happy. 

The relatively large GUI follows a logical signal path, so making adjustments is easy on the eye, and the ear. Even with all of the AI magic in the world, what most readers will really want to know is how it sounds, and the quick and easy answer is: impressive. From the main plugin window, it’s quite nice to switch reverb styles, between plate, room, and hall settings, while adjusting all of the settings that you would associate with applying reverberation, such as pre-delay, room, size, damping, mix, and much more. It’s easy to hear why Vocal Reverb nails its remit to the mast, and that’s because it sounds very good on vocal tracks. It can sound crisp and clear, or be placed on the back burner, to shore up vocal lines, without the reverb tail getting in the way. 

The added extras

The curious thing about Vocal Reverb (apart from the fact that it’s an incredibly respectable reverb, which sounds impressive on vocals) is that its versatility lends itself to creativity on so many levels. Sure enough, it provides many enhancements to a vocal signal beyond reverberation. 

With an in-built delay and pitch shifter, creating thick vocal textures is both easy and rather unique, while the post-reverb Tone Shaper EQ is equipped with filtering, to sculpt the output perfectly. Transport these functions to other instruments or synths, and you really do have quite a creative effect plugin, which extends way beyond the perceived remit. We even had Vocal Reverb providing a sub-tone to a bass synth, and while there was a small degree of perceptible latency in the signal, it nevertheless added a dimension that was unique. And all of this before we even got to the 45-second reverb tail, available in the Hall reverb setting.

What, no instruments?

However, there is a nagging doubt that by calling this plugin Vocal Reverb, it might put off producers who work in the instrumental realm. Let’s make no bones about it, this is a highly creative plugin, with enormous capacity that extends way beyond vocal usage.

Apart from the reverb elements, you will also find onboard EQ, pitch shifting, reverse gate and a back-end compressor. It’s a total powerhouse for creativity in musical projects, as we discovered for ourselves very quickly when we started to apply it to other acoustic and synthetic instruments. On this basis, whatever your production style, you would be foolish to ignore the strengths that this plugin has for experimentation purposes; whether you’re working in the realms of vocal manipulation or otherwise! 

MusicRadar verdict: If you struggle to get the perfect vocal reverb, this plugin can provide a useful helping hand to get you going, as well as boost creativity in all forms of production.

Antares Vocal Reverb: The web says

"Antares Vocal Reverb by Auto-Tune offers an interesting new approach in a sea of plugin reverbs. With the company’s unique, vocal-centric features and added AI assistance, Vocal Reverb helps you answer the question, “Do I want to welcome another reverb into my plugin folder?” with an informed and emphatic, “Yes.”"
Recording Magazine

Antares Vocal Reverb: Hands-on demos

Auto-Tune® / Antares Audio Technologies

Chris Selim - Mixdown Online

Help me Devvon

That Logic Pro Guy

Antares Vocal Reverb: Specifications

• macOS VST3, AU and AAX
• Windows 10 and 11. VST3, AAX
• CONTACT: Antares