Giulioz Smol Rack RRV-10 is a new free plugin (macOS/Windows) that emulates the Boss RRV-10 Micro Rack reverb from the 80s.
The world used to be different, even in music production. In the 80s, musicians couldn’t just load a reverb plugin. Hardware was a must. Otherwise, adding reverb to your music was impossible unless you recorded it in a microphoned large, empty room.
One of the budget ways to get a reverb was the Boss Micro Rack reverb. It was a small rack box with several algorithms at an affordable price, and many musicians still enjoy it today. A developer named Giulioz has now emulated this unit from the 80s and packed it into a free plugin.
Giulioz Smol Rack RRV-10
The Smol Rack RRV-10 is a new free reverb plugin that emulates the Boss Micro Rack RRV-10 reverb from the 1980s. According to Giulioz, he used the HG61H20R36F chip emulator from the MUNT project to create the Smol Rack RRV-10 plugin.
Like the original unit, it comes with nine algorithms: room 1 (small), room 2 (large), hall 1 (small), hall 2 (large), plate 1 (small), plate 2 (large), multi-tap 1 (delay), multi-tap 2 (reverse), and gated reverb.
The available parameters are also identical to those of the vintage hardware unit. The reverb tone is shaped by an adjustable decay time and a pre-EQ. Effects (dry/wet) and direct parameters are also available.
There is an effect on and off the switch on the left side that gives you a hardware feel. On the right side, there is an on/off switch, which doesn’t work for me in the current version.
Nice: Guilioz is working on several Smol Rack, i.e., Micro Rack emulations, including the Chorus Ensemble, Digital Delay, RSD-10 Sampling Delay, RPD-10 Panning Delay, and the RPS-10 Digital Pitch Shifter. Many of them are based on different chips, which makes replicating them difficult.
First Impression
I downloaded the plugin from the Github repository, and it works great in Ableton Live 12 on macOS Silicon. Sonically, it’s not a top-class, smooth reverb like ValhallaDSP or Eventide reverb. But it sounds very nice and is fun to work with. I can’t say how authentic it is because I’ve never had the hardware.
Giulioz Smol Rack RRV-10 is available for free download on the developer’s GitHub repository. It runs as a VST and AU plugin on macOS (native Apple Silicon + Intel) and Windows.
More information here: GitHub
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