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In the world of pro audio, Behringer are known as inveterate imitators of other companies' designs, yet when it comes to products that are a little harder to copy, such as platform-specific software, Behringer often show that even unassisted, they can still deliver a decent product that can't be beat for the price. The Virtualizer Pro DSP2024P, which replaced and improved upon both the old Virtualizer and the Modulizer, has been with us for over five years now, and it's still a current product and a strong seller. Despite its shortcomings, therefore, it must be doing something right.
It's difficult for me to give a fair comment on most effect types the Virtualizer offers as I preferred to use dedicated units or better (and mostly more expensive) processors, but I did work with the reverb, the delay, and the compressor quite a lot. I liked the delays best: you get up to 5.4 seconds, which is enough for most applications, you can specify the exact time in milliseconds, something I really miss on the budget bracket units nowadays - there is no tap tempo, however - and the feedback can be both low- and high-pass filtered. With both stereo delay channels sharing the dry/wet setting, there is also no dual mono delay like there is on the Midiverb 4 - a rather unfortunate oversight. The compressor is actually useful (unlike the Ultramizer, which is the multi-band variation), certainly much better than I expected and about on par with the ones found in the later Yamaha SPX's, and it proved a functional stand-in when one of my Composers developed a problem. Since it doesn't feature in Combinations, however, it probably won't get used much by most people, so that's only a minor plus.
Finally, the reverb, which is actually a bit of a sore spot for the Virtualizer. Most of the algorithms aren't even close to simulating actual spaces - well, maybe if they were named "Tin Container" 1 through 12 - and only the Early Reflections algorithm is in true stereo, which I also found slightly disappointing. Still, most reverb types are nicely configurable and as long as you don't use the unit on vocals or complete mixes, you should be fine. I used it mostly on drums and got decent results - get in touch to hear it in action - but I do feel the engineers at Behringer should've spent more time with the reverb algorithms. At a glance, the rest of the effects sounded passable, except for the distortions, which are hopeless, along with most of the other guitar-oriented effects, and the psycho-acoustic effects, where you often can't tell what they're supposed to be doing to the input sound beside ruining it.
I guess it sounds like I'm coming down hard on the Virtualizer, but I am keeping in mind its price at all times, as well as the curious fact that Behringer's own V-Verb, which Americans can nowadays get for $99 (the steal of the century as far as I'm concerned, and it's only 2007), has become unavailable in Europe. Really, for less than 100€, the Virtualizer pays for itself as a delay unit alone, especially since it appears to be built quite well and looks like it could hold up on stage. I also appreciated its internal power supply and added XLR inputs and outputs, two things which the Midiverb 4, which used to be Virtualizer's main competition, doesn't have despite costing twice as much. Still, at the end of the day, I prefer the Alesis unit for some reason. As far as character is concerned, its shimmering, sparkly, animate reverbs give even the V-Verb a run for its money, and its independent parallel effect combinations are a truly brilliant feature. With TC and Lexicon units also slowly coming down in price, there is less and less going for the Virtualizer, particularly in the US, where you can pick up its slightly more studio-oriented successor for the exact same price. My Virtualizer served me well for several years and it gets a 6/10 for that, but I doubt I'll ever own another one.
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