Nave

Nave is the big room: stereo diffusion into a sixteen-line network with every line gently moving, so long tails stay smooth with no metallic ringing. Decay runs from half a second to a full minute, and Shimmer feeds an octave-up copy of the tail back in, for the rising, glowing pads ambient music is built on.

The controls

Predelay

A gap before the reverb starts, so the dry sound stays clear in front of it.

Size

How big the space is.

Decay

How long the tail lasts, from 0.5 seconds to a minute.

Diffusion

Low is grainy, with echoes you can hear; high is smooth and dense.

Modulation

Gentle movement in the tail. More is lusher and chorused; less is more natural.

Shimmer

An octave up fed back into the tail. A little adds sparkle; a lot is the ambient 'shimmer' pad.

Low Cut

Keeps rumble out of the tail.

High Cut

Darkens the tail, and makes the highs die away sooner.

Width

From mono to extra wide.

Mix

How much reverb. On a send, set it to 100%.

Best for

• Strings, pads and choirs: a real concert-hall space
• Ambient and cinematic music: huge tails and shimmer
• Vocal ballads: a long, smooth hall
• Guitars: a big, washy atmosphere

Starting points

Load Nave, set these, then adjust by ear. In the plugin, Level match helps you judge the sound, not the loudness.

Hints and tips

• Use Predelay of 20 to 60 ms on vocals so the words stay in front of the reverb.
• Low Cut at 200 to 400 Hz keeps a long hall from muddying the mix.
• Shimmer feeds on sustained notes: try it on pads, pianos and guitars rather than drums.

Chains it works best in

Every Original works in a chain with the others and with members' hardware. These are good places to start.

• Rebound then Nave: delays smeared into a big hall: the classic ambient guitar
• Tandem then Nave: a doubled vocal in a wide hall
• Sieve then Nave: a filtered pad into an endless space

Watch out for

• Long decays on fast, busy parts: the tail blurs every note together.
• Full Shimmer on a mix bus: it's a sound-design effect, not a mix reverb.