Biamp MR/140 Spring Reverb Impulse Library

The Biamp MR/140 is a really interesting spring reverb!

Lets get the obvious stuff out of the way - it's known as the unit used by Martin Hannett on Joy Division's debut album "Unknown Pleasures".

The two features of this spring reverb that have always fascinated me (honestly I had it for years before I knew about the Joy Division thing) are that it features a bizarre "EQ/Blend system" that is like a cross between a graphic EQ and a fixed filter bank, and that it has an automatic limiting system to try and prevent spring-slap (which thankfully doesn't always work well).

I would describe the sound of the MR/140 with sophisticated audio engineering terms like "well behaved" and "smooth". The response is noticeably smoother and richer than something like the Tapco 4400. Indeed, there are some settings where this unit really sounds more like an actual space than it does like an annoyed piece of metal.

A demo:

This library includes 24 impulse responses as 24-bit .wavs, organized and named clearly in groups that represent a collection of useful front panel settings.

For Ableton Live Suite owners, there's an included audio effect rack that models the behavior of the original unit by convolving each band separately in parallel, which allows you to blend the four bands the same way as you would with the hardware. Honestly I was surprised with how well this actually works!