Offset reflections from the dry signal with Pre¶

The Pre knob adds a gap between the dry signal and the onset of the reverb tail. Use it to keep your voice distinct and upfront while still letting the reverb bloom behind it.

Before you start¶

The Reverb stage must be enabled in the CHAIN widget. The applet is hidden until the stage is active.
Open the Aetherial FreeVerb applet or the floating editor. To open the editor, double-click the VERB stage in the CHAIN widget; the window is titled "Aetherial FreeVerb — TX".

Steps¶

Locate the Pre knob in the five-knob row (Size, Decay, Damp, Pre, Mix).
Turn Pre clockwise to increase the delay between the dry signal and the first reflections, or counter-clockwise to reduce it.
Monitor the label beneath the knob; it reads in milliseconds (for example, 20 ms).
Stop when the reverb tail feels separated from your voice without sounding disconnected.

What each control does¶

Control	Default	Valid range
Size	50 %	0.0 to 100 %
Decay	1.20 s	0.3 to 5.0 s
Damp	50 %	0.0 to 100 %
Pre	20 ms	0 to 100 ms
Mix	15 %	0.0 to 100 %
Reverb visualisation	ReverbVizBox — live visualisation showing the dry sine packet (cyan), first-order reflections (yellow), and reverberant tail (magenta). All five knob values feed the rendering so the display follows knob edits in real time. 90 px tall.	Replaces the curve widget used by other DSP applets. Rendering algorithm matches StripReverbPanel::GridBox.

Inline value editing¶

Starting in v26.5.2.1, each knob supports inline value editing. Click the value label beneath any knob (Size, Decay, Damp, Pre, or Mix) to enter edit mode. The label transforms into a text input field with a subtle dark inset and cyan border to indicate the editor is active.

Type a numeric value and press Enter to commit the change. The value is clamped to the knob's valid range automatically. Press Escape or click elsewhere to apply the edit and return to normal display mode.

To edit a knob value using the inline editor:

Click the value label beneath the knob. The label becomes an editable text field with a cyan border.
Type the desired value. Locale-aware parsing supports both point and comma decimal separators (for example, 25.5 or 25,5).
Press Enter to apply the value. The knob updates to match, and the label reverts to its default appearance.
To cancel without changing the value, press Escape.

The inline editor is always available when the applet is open. No configuration is required to enable or disable it.

Live visualisation¶

Starting in v0.9.7, the Aetherial FreeVerb applet includes a real-time reverb diagram displayed above the knob row. The visualisation is a compact 90-pixel-tall panel with a dark background and grid lines. It updates immediately whenever you move any of the five knobs.

The diagram shows three overlaid waveform layers:

Cyan — dry signal. A sine packet representing the unprocessed audio. Its amplitude decreases as Mix is raised, reflecting the shift toward the wet signal.
Yellow — first-order reflections. A series of short sine bursts that begin after the pre-delay gap. Their spacing widens as Size increases, and their amplitude decays faster as Damp increases.
Magenta — reverberant tail. An exponentially decaying oscillation that starts at the same offset as the reflections. Its horizontal extent grows with Decay, and higher Damp values cause the tail amplitude to collapse more quickly.

The position at which the yellow and magenta layers begin shifts rightward as you increase Pre, directly showing the gap between the dry signal and the first reflections.

No configuration is required. The visualisation is always visible when the applet is open and the Reverb stage is active.

Tips¶

A Pre value of 0 ms causes reflections to start immediately, which can blur transients. Values in the 15–30 ms range are common for voice to preserve intelligibility.
Pre interacts with Decay: a short Pre with a long Decay can make the tail appear to start before you expect it. Increase Pre if the reverb seems to swallow the leading edge of words.
Both the compact applet knob (labeled Pre) and the floating editor knob control the same ClientReverbTxPreDelayMs setting and stay in sync.
Use the live visualisation to confirm that the yellow reflection bursts begin clearly to the right of the cyan dry packet. If the two layers appear to overlap, increase Pre.
Use inline value editing to type a precise Pre value instead of turning the knob. This is especially useful when matching a specific millisecond setting.

Colors¶

Starting in v26.6.1, knob colors in the Aetherial FreeVerb applet are driven by theme settings rather than hard-coded values. The color.knob.background, color.knob.foreground, and color.knob.handle entries in the active theme control the ring background, value arc, and pointer respectively. The color.text.primary and color.text.secondary entries control the value and label text below each knob. The applet container is set to the applet/reverb color namespace, which allows per-applet color overrides in custom themes. Default themes provide a consistent, high-contrast appearance for all knobs.