Find the related code in the branch 002-reverb-effect
On my way to have fun, a reverb is more important than the actual capability to play different notes 😀
So I gave it a try, without reading documentation. I want to challenge my capabilities to reverse engineer a reverb.
So a reverb effect is similar to the change of your voice you can hear when you are in a big hall or a church. It is not a “delay” — that echo of your voice from a distant mountain, you know? It is much shorter.
My first assumption was: If I can create a buffer and apply a small percent of the oldest part of this buffer to the sound, I would offset this small percentage and it should be working… Or is it?
After some tweaks to ensure the reverb effect is also applied in the reverb buffer, I got the expected result:
My main oscillator is a SAW, so it should normally just go up and then reset to -1. With the reverb effect applied, we can see an offset repetition and fade every time it gets repeated.
So visually, it is a WIN! 🎉
…well… until you realize it just does not sound like a reverb effect… at all! At best I got a short time vibrato when changing the frequency… Hum… NOT APPROVED!
My next tentative is to store in the buffer ONLY the reverberation (and not the final oscillation level). This way, I can have 2 different rates. I can apply a 20% rate on the first reverb calculation and then make a 95% rate on the reverb itself. This will enable the reverb effect to last longer.
Indeed, in the previous picture, we can see the reverb effect fade too quickly — that is my hypothesis why we just do not hear it much 🤔
That’s somehow a little bit better… But definitely does not sound like a reverb!
I will have to start documenting myself a little big I guess…
See ya for the next one!
