Reverb
Reverb adds the natural reflections of a room — from a small booth to a big hall — so a dry, close-up sound feels like it's actually in a physical space. Without it, a source recorded up close (like most microphones) can sound flat or claustrophobic; a touch of reverb gives it air and dimension.
Reach for it when:
- your voice or source sounds too dry, close or "in a box";
- you want to place a sound in a believable space — a small room, a hall, something in between;
- you're after a creative effect rather than realism — a big, obvious tail can be a deliberate style choice.
FX inserts can be added and set up on Free, but they only affect the sound with Premium.
Adding it
On a channel's FX tab, click + Node ▾ → Time/Space → Reverb. It drops into the chain just after the selected node. To edit it, pin one of the dock's two panels to it with ⇅, or set a panel to ⟳ Follow FX tab selection and click the node.
In Simple mode, add it from the Effects block's ⚙ instead — see Simple mode.
Where it sits in the chain matters: put it near the end, after tone-shaping and dynamics — reverb reacts to whatever's already been processed, so let EQ, gating and compression finish shaping the dry sound first.
Reading the panel
The panel has two graphs side by side.
The left graph shows the decay envelope — how long the reverb's tail rings out over time, shaped by ROOM and PRE DLY. A longer, slower-falling curve means a bigger, more spacious-sounding tail.
The right graph shows damping — how quickly the tail's high frequencies roll off as it decays, controlled by DAMP. More damping means a darker, softer-sounding tail (like a room full of soft furnishings); less means a brighter, more lively one (like tile or bare walls).
WET doesn't reshape either curve — it only tints how strongly the decay chart's fill is drawn, since it's a simple dry/wet blend rather than something that changes the room's character.
Controls
| Knob | Range | Default | What it does |
|---|---|---|---|
| WET | 0…100 % | 30 | How much reverb you hear mixed in with the untouched original. 0 % = bone dry; higher = more "in a room". |
| ROOM | 0…100 % | 75 | The size of the space. Bigger = a longer, more spacious-sounding tail. |
| DAMP | 0…100 % | 50 | How quickly the tail's brightness fades as it decays. More damping = darker, softer tail; less = brighter, more lively. |
| PRE DLY (Pre-Delay) | 0…100 ms | 20 | A short gap before the reverb starts, separating the dry sound from its tail. A little makes speech clearer and the sense of space feel bigger, since your ear hears the direct sound distinctly before the room's reflections arrive. |
A good starting point
- Add it near the end of the chain, and start with WET low (10–20%) — reverb is easy to overdo, and a little goes further than it seems like it should.
- Set ROOM for the size of space you want — smaller for a tight, natural lift; bigger for an obvious, spacious effect.
- Use DAMP to match the character — brighter for a lively, open feel; darker for something warmer and less present.
- If speech starts to sound smeared or hard to understand, add a touch of PRE DLY to separate the voice from its tail, or lower WET.
For a voice or podcast, reverb should be felt rather than heard — if a listener consciously notices "there's reverb on this", it's very likely too much.
Presets, bypass and reset
- PRESET ▾ in the panel header applies a saved setup, or saves the current one under a name. Once one is applied the header shows Preset: name — see Knowing what preset is applied. Ready-made spaces can be found in the Workshop — Workshop ▸ Browse, filter chip Reverb.
- ON / OFF bypasses just this node — the quickest way to hear whether it's helping.
- RESET returns every knob to its default.
Related
- Delay — distinct, repeating echoes instead of a continuous room tail; the two are often used together (a short delay before a longer reverb) for a more three-dimensional effect.
- Effects Rack — adding, ordering and rewiring nodes.