However, no more than two effects can operate at the same time. The effects themselves are based on the familiar 'presets with variations' approach, rather than being fully editable - though there are 900 variation permutations to choose from. So how, with all these features, does the Virtualizer still manage to be a budget unit? Well, the aforementioned numeric display helps, and it also uses unbalanced inputs and outputs (switchable for +4dBu or ‑10dBV operation), though it does feature an internal power supply. Internal processing is 24‑bit at a 48kHz sampling rate, which adds up to full audio bandwidth processing with acceptably low distortion. Reverb is still created on a mono‑in, stereo‑out basis, which generally gives the most natural results. Behringer claim to use a proprietary room modelling algorithm to produce very natural sounding reverb, and true stereo processing of the left and right channel signals is possible with the relevant algorithms. There are also eight dual effects, whereby the right and left channel produce different mono‑in, mono‑out effects. The Virtualizer uses 24‑bit input and output converters to realise a 98dB signal‑to‑noise ratio and produces effects based on 32 different algorithms, ranging from reverb, delay and modulation to rotary speaker simulation, distortion and vocoding.
What It's GotĬertainly the outward appearance of the Virtualizer gives few clues to its budget nature - the only obvious compromise is the use of a numeric display rather than a proper LCD text version.
In fact, the Behringer Virtualizer V2 is probably cheaper and more flexible than most of the software 'virtual effect' plug‑ins that purport to replace such hardware. The truth is that professional quality gear is still expensive, even though it's cheaper and better than it used to be, but in the area of multi‑effects, advances in DSP technology have enabled designers to come up with some pretty amazing stuff at very keen prices. After all, if £1500 buys you multitrack recording, mixing, a few native effects and maybe even a synth on a card, how much can an outboard effects box really be worth? In the days when even a basic studio cost several thousand pounds, we accepted that a good studio reverb might cost two or three thousand, but clearly that isn't going to cut much ice with the musician whose entire MIDI + Audio sequencing setup cost under £1500.
But can quality really come at such a low price?Īs more newcomers to recording start to achieve decent results with low‑cost computer‑based systems, the perception of value for money is bound to change. We try out what must be the most cost‑effective programmable 24‑bit effects unit on the market.
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