Reduce the high-end sparkle of the tail with Damp¶
The Damp knob controls how quickly high frequencies fade within the reverb tail. Raising it removes the bright, airy shimmer that can make voice reverb sound unnatural on air.
Before you start¶
- The Reverb stage must be enabled in the CHAIN widget. If it is not, the Aetherial FreeVerb applet is hidden and Damp has no effect.
- The Aetherial FreeVerb applet or its floating editor must be visible. See Aetherial FreeVerb overview if you have not opened it yet.
Steps¶
- Open the Aetherial FreeVerb editor by double-clicking the VERB stage in the CHAIN widget. The frameless window titled "Aetherial FreeVerb — TX" opens.
- Locate the Damp knob — third knob from the left in the five-knob row.
- Turn Damp clockwise to increase damping. Higher values cause high frequencies to decay faster, reducing brightness in the tail.
- Turn Damp counter-clockwise to let high frequencies persist longer, producing a brighter, more open tail.
- Release the knob. The value is saved immediately to
ClientReverbTxDamping.
What each control does¶
| Control | Default | Range | Setting key | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Size | 50 % | 0 % – 100 % | ClientReverbTxSize |
Linear mapping. Sets the modelled room size. Label displayed as percentage. |
| Decay | 1.20 s | 0.3 – 5.0 s | ClientReverbTxDecayS |
Exponential mapping (0.3 * (5.0/0.3)^n, ~16.7x). Label 'X.XX s'. |
| Damp | 50 % | 0 % – 100 % | ClientReverbTxDamping |
Linear mapping. Higher values damp high frequencies faster in the tail. Label displayed as percentage. |
| Pre | 20 ms | 0 – 100 ms | ClientReverbTxPreDelayMs |
Linear mapping. Pre-delay between the dry signal and the first reflections. Label 'X ms'. |
| Mix | 15 % | 0 % – 100 % | ClientReverbTxMix |
Linear mapping. Dry / wet balance. Label displayed as percentage. |
| Reverb visualisation | — | — | — | ReverbVizBox — live visualisation showing the dry sine packet (cyan), first-order reflections (yellow), and reverberant tail (magenta). 90 px tall. |
Live visualisation¶
The Aetherial FreeVerb editor displays a compact real-time diagram (90 px tall) above the knob row. It updates immediately as you adjust any knob and shows three overlaid elements:
| Element | Colour | What it represents |
|---|---|---|
| Dry sine packet | Cyan, gradient-faded to the right | The unprocessed signal passing through |
| First-order reflections | Yellow | Early reflections; spacing set by Size, amplitude by Mix and Damp |
| Reverberant tail | Magenta | The full reverb tail; length set by Decay, brightness by Damp |
The visualisation is purely informational. It does not affect audio processing.
How Damp appears in the visualisation¶
- Raising Damp causes the magenta tail to decay more steeply and reduces the amplitude of successive yellow reflection bursts.
- Lowering Damp produces a flatter magenta decay curve and more even yellow reflection amplitudes.
Themes and knob colours¶
The Aetherial FreeVerb applet uses a dedicated theme container (applet/reverb) for its knob components. This enables per-applet colour overrides. The following knob colours are drawn from the theme system:
| Theme key | Purpose |
|---|---|
color.knob.background |
Background ring of the knob |
color.knob.foreground |
Value arc showing current setting |
color.knob.handle |
Pointer line from centre to arc |
color.text.secondary |
Label text below the knob |
color.text.primary |
Value text displayed in the knob centre |
If you change themes, knob colours update automatically. Custom theme files can assign distinct colours to the applet/reverb container to make the reverb knobs visually distinct from other DSP knobs.
Tips¶
- A value around 50–70 % suits most voice work. It softens the tail without making the reverb sound muffled.
- If the tail sounds dull or indistinct, lower Damp toward 20–30 % to let more high-frequency content through.
- Damp interacts with Decay: a long decay with low damping produces a bright, lingering tail that can mask speech. Raise Damp if you also raise Decay.
- Use the live visualisation to confirm the interaction between Damp and Decay before transmitting.