Eventide Audio, one of the earliest pioneers of digital audio has released the “world’s first musical reverbs,” Temperance Lite and Temperance Pro. Temperance Pro adds 29 modal spaces, advanced sequencing capabilities, MIDI control, and specialized modal and temper controls for creating ambiences that are distinctive.
Temperance Pro operates on the 12-note chromatic scale, and “speaks the language of music.” Eventide states that “users can now create spaces that feel musically intentional rather than incidental. Temperance Pro lets you control what notes bloom and what notes wither. This unique modal approach models reverb as collections of thousands of independent resonators.”
A central dial labeled “Temper,” surrounded by a dial to select the chromatic scale, controls the amount of resonance. You can select notes, triads, or more complex chords and either emphasize the selected notes or deselect them. Using a high amount of positive Temper creates effects that sound like a synth reinforcing the space, and the effect can be quite beautiful, even on drums or non-pitched sounds. You can create notes and chords solely with a beat. With zero Temper, the plugin behaves as a normal reverb. Selecting Negative Temper will deemphasize any resonant notes. The Note Width Control can scroll between richer sounds and purer tones. Temper can also work in conjunction with the Temper Range control. You can use this control to select a section of the audio spectrum to produce a frequency selective resonant reverb.
Target Select controls when tempering happens in time, choosing whether selected notes bloom with early reflections, with the late reflections during the reverb tail, or both. Note Width defines how many nearby modes are included in each note, with lower settings offering more musical precision and higher settings affecting more of the overall reverb for broader, more pronounced results.
Note selection methods add depth and creative control. Manual Mode offers note-roll style input with access to chords, scales, modes, or intervals through the Choose Scale dialog. Sequence Mode programs note changes to follow chord progressions. MIDI Mode provides real-time keyboard control with Octave Repeat, offering hands on modifications.
Three modal controls offer ways of shaping space. Position adjusts the balance between early and late reflections independently from tempering. Density controls how many modes are active, from full quality reverb to progressively fragmented, lo-fi tones. Offset shifts the center frequencies of all modes by up to ±500Hz independent of temper settings, changing the timbre of the entire space.
Temperance Pro delivers 29 spaces spanning rooms, grand halls, lush mechanical reverbs, and experimental synthetic spaces. The collection includes faithful recreations of renowned acoustic spaces, and original spaces built to showcase modal reverb technology. The plugin features over 100 creative and production-focused presets including 11 tutorial presets.
Temperance Pro is a novel and innovative approach at reverb. It’s easy to use out of the box and users will benefit from experimentation to truly unleash the power of this unique effect. It’s deep. For contemporary pop and electronic music creators it can be used as a compositional tool much the way a synthesizer can. Or simply as a traditional reverb, it sounds excellent. $179
