A Reverberator Based on Absorbent All-pass Filters

Artificial reverberator topologies making use of all-pass filters in a feedback loop are popular, but have lacked accurate control of decay time and energy level. This paper reviews a general theory of artificial reverberators based on Unitary-Feedback Delay Networks (UFDN), which allow accurate control of the decay time at multiple frequencies in such topologies. We describe the design of an efficient reverberator making use of chains of elementary filters, called “absorbent all-pass filters”, in a feedback loop. We show how, in this particular topology, the late reverberant energy level can be controlled independently of the other control parameters. This reverberator uses the I3DL2 control parameters, which have been designed as a standard interface for controlling reverberators in interactive 3D audio.