Wizoo Wizooverb W2

Hey gearnuts,

I know that I've been promising a talk about the Wizoo W2 reverb plugin for a while now, but the problem is that not only does it take a long time to get used to a product like this, but because it's so feature rich it takes a long time to write about it too! But here it is...
I've been reticent to jump on the 'new' reverb train because a) reverbs are notorious for being expensive, b) they are notorious for being CPU hungry beasts (in the software versions), and c) while reverb can be important, it does not alone make for a great song. Give me a Radio Shack mic into a cassette recorder with a great song and great singer and I'll be much happier than a full studio full of gear with a tone deaf singer and horrible song. I once worked on a children's version of the "Electric Slide" at world-class Sigma Sound with two tone deaf kids, and two adults pretending to be kids. Nightmare. But I digress...
So, reverb. I made the jump into modern reverb with the Wizoo Wizooverb W2 room emulating reverb. It's made by Wizoo which is now a part of the Digidesign family. Honestly, I had never heard of Wizoo before but I did a bit of digging and read some good things about it although I found no in-depth reviews of this product.
I've had it for about a month and a half now so I don't really remember how the install went. But I guess that's a good thing; must've been easy! I of course am using it with my ProTools LE system as an RTAS plugin. So I opened it up for the first time in a session of minimal complexity to just give it a run through and really 'hear' it for the first time. Inserted it as an Aux send (as is my habit with reverb) and CRASH! Out of CPU power. Bummer! There's nothing I hate more than getting a new piece of equipment, getting really excited about it, only to have a huge problem with it right away. But read on, Javboy does endure.
So after a few mumbling words under my breath, it was off to read the manual to figure out what was wrong. Luckily, the W2 comes with a great manual with excellent and easy to understand directions and explanations.
Bonus #1: Customizable settings to tailor the W2 for working with YOUR computer.
Clicked on the Setup button at the top of the window and changed a couple of the processing settings (much like the hardware profile menu in PTLE). Voila! It works. Not perfectly, mind you, but it works. The problem is that the W2 defaults to start on one of the most CPU intensive presets. So as soon as you open it, you've got a problem. Once you get off that preset, you're ok. Additionally, after I decided to keep and use the W2, I made a CPU/mobo upgrade I was considering anyway (see previous post). Now the preset thing is really no problem and I could change the Setup settings again.
Enough techie stuff, how does this thing sound?! I'm a big preset user as a starting point because in the studio, time is money. I start with a preset and tweak to taste. So I proceeded to try all the presets just to see what sounds this thing is capable of.
Bonus #2: It comes with no less than 100 presets.
All presets are categorized by type to make it really easy to navigate. Plus, depending on where you click, it's one click to switch between them. Ambience, Chamber, Hall, Plate, Church & Cathedral, Non-linear, Post Production, Studio, Room, it's got it all covered. I tried them all and they all have a 'similar' sound. It's funny because most reverb units I've used have a completely different sound for each type. The W2 was very...um...cohesive. I still haven't decided if this is a good thing or not. Not to say that calling up a Cathedral setting will give you the same effect as reverse reverb, but there is just something about the characteristics of all the presets in the W2 that give off the same vibe. Maybe this is a function of all IR (impulse response) reverbs, I don't have a lot of experience with them. But I was able to find a few that I could tell would be my 'go to' effects (love the short vocal reverse).
Ok, beyond the presets you can really get down to the nitty gritty with all of the control Wizoo packed into this unit. You can adjust EQ, frequency response time, early reflections, tail, and more. Here's where it gets really cool. Wizoo built the W2 around what they call HDIR which stands for High Definition Impulse Response. In theory, it's supposed to be what HDTV is but in the IR world. And it does a good job. I didn't hear any artifacts even on long reverb tails. The problem is that HDIR is very CPU intensive because it requires so much more information to be hi-def. So Wizoo in their infinite wisdom also includes AIR which is a traditional algorithmic type reverb. Brilliant! And I really like the AIR function. It sounds good and it's got that sound that I'm used to with traditional reverb units. But wait, it gets better. Let's say you need to save on CPU but you love the reverb tail you're getting with an HDIR preset.
Bonus #3: The W2 lets you mix and match your early reflections and tails. So you can have an HDIR tail and AIR early reflections. Genius!
So with all these tweaking capabilities your options are endless. And then you can do even more! You've got the Width knob. This controls the stereo image being input and output (separate controls) of the unit. One more thing. You can import your own room emulations to really customize your sound. Just think, you could sample the live room of your studio and use it in your mix! Oh wait...Ok, so I will never use this feature. But maybe someone would. It sounds cool in theory. (And for the record, I realize what people would actually use this function for).
All this in a unit that costs less than most others in its class. MSRP $249.95 for RTAS, VST 2.0, and AU. But you can pick it up at any time for $199. Or if you're as cool as me, you can happen to find it on sale at AudioMidi.com for only $99! But not everyone can be that cool.

Watching the indie doc Rock School right now about Philly's own Paul Green School of Rock.

Rock on

Ben
www.javboyrecords.com