Alesis Midiverb

[partezvous]

Considering buying the midiverb II because a lot of bands i like use them, but am finding the midiverb III to be more abundant and a tad cheaper on the bay. I'm looking to get some crazy long reverbs (slowdive/MBV) esque. Also looking to use with a volume pedal to swell into ambient sound. Is the III much different than the third? anybody have opinions on these two units?
thanks a lot fellow offsetters!

[Mobius1]

I use the Alesis XT:c rack unit. It's got plenty of reverb and ambient settings (hold/drone, reverse, etc) and I'm pretty sure the XT series can be found pretty cheap, too. I think I paid about $50 for mine 10 years ago.

[partezvous]

do you find it hard to match the output volume of the unit with the level of your guitars volume? I've played the nanoverb with a footswitch and had a hard time making the pedal the same volume as my guitar when on/off.

[westarttodrift]

A lot of those older shoegaze bands (Lush, MBV, Slowdive, Chapterhouse, list continuing endlessly and endlessly) used the Yamaha SPX-900 or the Alesis Quadraverb. I've never used the yamaha, but the Quadraverb is great for that type of music, I just wish it had a rotary encoder as the up/down buttons are a pain.

[partezvous]

so for sound quality these units would cut it? i think i'll just get a true bypass footswitch to turn it on and off. I'll probably use it for only one sound....huge cavernous reverb for more intense parts of songs since i already use delay and reverb to "moisten" my tone if you will. I'm looking at the eventide space as well but that's way out of my price range.

[quarterpound]

I bought a quadraverb in 2000 for like $25. It was the absolute tits. Shame it was too big to travel. Now I use redline's lexicon plug. It's not as good but it's ok...

[electric12]

I have had Midiverb II, III and IV.

I got rid of the III and IV because they didnt sound as good as the II. They are more versatile as far as programmability goes, but the mark II was just so much more immediate; the sounds in it were just 'right'.

[askthedust]

If this is for recording you might also consider the new Valhalla plugin "Ubermod" which has a true reverse reverb algorithm that gets you instantly in MBV territories!

[71Smallbox]

I can't vouch for the III version, however the II is a nice unit. MBV used it for the "Isn't Anything" album, and the "Loveless" was the Yamaha SPX-90 mainly. Both awesome units, but you can really nail some cool sounds w the Midiverb. The Quadraverb wasn't used by MBV, it was used by the Verve(A Storm In Heaven) but its awesome as you can tweek alot of the settings on it to tailor your sounds more like Alesis's version of the Yamaha SPX-90. The Stone Roses used the Midiverb II for the tour after their first album and you can nail some of those sounds if you use a tube screamer and a chorus pedal set for really slow on program 23? or 26? There is a link for getting the sounds somewhere, I'll dig it up if you like.

[Z*Z*Z]

quadraverb or quadraverb plus... can do all the things as the previous versions, organic sounding and teh dreampop/shoegaze...

[inadifferentplace]

I recently tried out a II and a III alongside each other, and ended up returning the III. I'd agree with electric 12 above - the II was more immediate and gratifying, although maybe I was just lazy in my exploration. To an extent it was the pre-set reverse reverbs that made the difference.

I also found these program guides useful in exploring them:

Midiverb II Programs:

http://www.synthfool.com/docs/Alesis/Mi" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false; ... mChart.pdf

Midiverb III Programs:

http://pdf.textfiles.com/manuals/STARIN" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false; ... 0Chart.pdf

[inadifferentplace]

Sorry - I forgot to say that I, too, was looking for an MBV/Slowdive/Cocteau Twins thing...and despite choosing the II thought that the III could give some really good approximations of Robin Guthrie's sounds.

[Sir Simon Milligan]

I found my Midiverb II on Craigslist a few months ago for $25, so you might check your local Craigslist (or equivalent if you're not in the States). You might also check the websites for Rogue Music (used Pro Audio section), Guitar Center's used gear site, and The Starving Musician's website. I rarely buy old stuff like this on eBay because of the inflated prices.

I was pleasantly surprised by the effects. There are some really useful programs on it and it doesn't adversely affect my signal when having it at the end of my effects chain when I have it after my pedalboard and before the amp.

Another suggestion--if you're wanting shoegazey effects, you might keep the Yamaha FX500 in mind. It has some of those symphonic reverbs like the SPX-90 and of course, Soft Focus. It even has a halfway decent sitar (flanger) setting. Nice choruses, too.

[dren68]

I recently bought a Midiverb II for a decent price, and I have to say I'm impressed with it. I wasn't expecting much, but it DOES sound very warm and organic - even with distortion. Some reverbs can sound very cold and digital with distortion or fuzz, but not this. It really comes alive when you use two amps, too. I just might try to snag a Quadraverb now, since the patches are a little more tweakable, and you can use multiple effects. I haven't tried any of the other versions, but I'm definitely going to hang on to this one.

[Neon]

i have a Midiverb II on the way.. can't wait!

i love the old 16bit reverbs.. properly warm and tasty. i'm concerned about the lack of parameter editing on it, but i need to check out the X Large Hall (15sec decay apparently!) and the Bloom modes. i'm not in it for MBV reverse reverbs, and they all seem to have quite short times.. i hear MBV used patch 43 which is 200ms in the manual