RO-SPR

Name: RO-SPR
Price: 49 USD
Author: Black Rooster Audio

by Black Rooster Audio · Reverb · Spring reverb

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A spring reverb plugin with six physically modelled spring tanks from the 1960s to the 1980s, rooted in Hammond springs and the 1963 Fender Vibroverb.

It adds a seven-position spring length control, three-band EQ and up to 500 ms of pre-delay, for $49 at Plugin Boutique.

Best for: Guitars, Vocals, Keys & Synths, Drums, Sound Design. Genres: Rock & Indie, Lo-Fi, Electronic & EDM, R&B & Soul.

Keywords: spring, 60s, electric guitar, dub, 80s, mixing, physical modelling, vocals, 70s, keys, tube, convolution, creative, drums, dry, hi-fi, impulse-response based, lo-fi, snare, sound design, tight, vintage.

What it does

RO-SPR is a "Vintage Spring Reverb" with six spring tanks from the 1960s to the 1980s. Black Rooster Audio physically modelled each tank and plays them back through real-time convolution.

Six tanks: A, a late-1970s British stereo unit; B, a 1960s dub tube spring; C, a 1970s home hi-fi spring; D, a 1980s Japanese medium echo unit; E, a 1960s Austrian oil-bath spring; F, a large American guitar-amp spring.
Spring Length and Decay: a seven-position Spring Length switch, from tight to a long atmospheric ring, and a Decay control for short to long tails.
Spring Mode: Mono, Stereo or Mono2Stereo.
EQ and Bass Cut: a three-band EQ (Low, Mid and High) and a Bass Cut high-pass filter from 10 Hz to 1 kHz.
Pre-delay: up to 500 ms, to separate the reverb from the dry sound.
Mixing: a dry/wet blend, a Dry Mute switch for 100% wet send/return use, and input and output gain with a link option.

A free 14-day trial is available.

Source: Black Rooster Audio product page

When to use it

RO-SPR is the better pick when you want several different spring tanks in one plugin rather than one unit modelled in depth. Compared with UAD AKG BX 20 Spring Reverb and Arturia Rev SPRING-636, which each centre on a single classic unit, it covers six tanks from dub tube springs to an oil-bath unit and a guitar-amp spring. Unlike general reverbs such as VintageVerb or Pro-R 2, it does only springs, so it is a speciality tool rather than an all-rounder.

Best for: guitars, vocals, keys and snare that need vintage spring drip and splash, and dub-style send effects.
Genres: rock, surf, reggae and dub, soul and lo-fi.
Look elsewhere if: you need natural rooms or halls; VintageVerb or Valhalla Room fit better.
Tip: the developer suggests Dry Mute for 100% wet send/return use, so you can put one instance on an aux and feed several tracks to it.

What producers say

The little coverage it has is very positive about the sound and the range of tanks.

Magnetic Magazine (2021 plugin guide) said it "sounds so fresh out of the gate it's inspiring", praising the six springs, the filtering and the hardware-like interface, and called it great value.
Developer store: customers rate it 4.9 out of 5 from 15 reviews.

Where to buy

Plugin Boutique: $49

Tutorials and reviews

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