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ericthegreat « strong unit that you need in your rack »
Published on 12/12/11 at 01:29The Alessis Microverb 4 is a digital reverb unit in the form of a rackable piece of outboard gear. It will take up two rack spaces and I believe it has both 1/4 inch and XLR connections, but I'm not 100% sure - I use this in a studio where the Microverb was pre-mounted.
UTILIZATION
The configuration of the Alessis Microverb 4 is the units worst quality, as it is pretty hard to follow. Like most early digital units, the menus are somewhat hard to follow. There are a lot of sections on this unit that I have never used because I'm not sure how they work. This being said, I usually use this to get a basic reverb sound. It is easy to get your typical reverb sounds, but it can be somewhat hard to follow the deeper you go. I don't have a manual for this, but it would definitely be helpful when learning this machine.
SOUND QUALITY
The reverb effects from the Alessis Microverb 4 digital reverb are good and usable, but I wouldn't call the effects great. I have used this unit on everything from lead vocals and back up vocals to guitar and have found it useful in a few different applications. While the reverb is useful and sound pretty good, it isn't the best outboard reverb I have used by any stretch and actually prefer a few different reverb plug-ins over this unit as well.
OVERALL OPINION
I've been using the Alessis Microverb 4 digital reverb for about four or five years and while it has served me well and has been useful, I don't use it all that much for a simple reason. While the sound quality of this unit is pretty good, unless an outboard reverb is top notch, I find myself using plug-ins more and more as I have found some reverb plug-ins sound better than digital reverbs like this one and are much easier to use. I suspect that sub par effect outboard gear like this will die out as plug-ins sound better and better.
UTILIZATION
The configuration of the Alessis Microverb 4 is the units worst quality, as it is pretty hard to follow. Like most early digital units, the menus are somewhat hard to follow. There are a lot of sections on this unit that I have never used because I'm not sure how they work. This being said, I usually use this to get a basic reverb sound. It is easy to get your typical reverb sounds, but it can be somewhat hard to follow the deeper you go. I don't have a manual for this, but it would definitely be helpful when learning this machine.
SOUND QUALITY
The reverb effects from the Alessis Microverb 4 digital reverb are good and usable, but I wouldn't call the effects great. I have used this unit on everything from lead vocals and back up vocals to guitar and have found it useful in a few different applications. While the reverb is useful and sound pretty good, it isn't the best outboard reverb I have used by any stretch and actually prefer a few different reverb plug-ins over this unit as well.
OVERALL OPINION
I've been using the Alessis Microverb 4 digital reverb for about four or five years and while it has served me well and has been useful, I don't use it all that much for a simple reason. While the sound quality of this unit is pretty good, unless an outboard reverb is top notch, I find myself using plug-ins more and more as I have found some reverb plug-ins sound better than digital reverbs like this one and are much easier to use. I suspect that sub par effect outboard gear like this will die out as plug-ins sound better and better.