I'm not sure I understand what you mean "open as an instrument" and "opened as an FX". In Reaper, as far as I know, it is all done in the same window, opened by that little FX button, you open an instrument followed by FX, or whatever, or open an FX as the first in the list, all in the same place. Did you actually get any sound out of those other channels beyond 1 and 2? Seeing them open is one thing, hearing them is quite another!!!
Since Reaper always opens Altiverb with 6 outs, but so far only 2 inputs, I am beginning to suspect that the plug-in reports its >possible< 6 outputs to the DAW that then creates the potential 6 channels routings, BUT if the IRS is only stereo, I will only get stereo, even with the other channels existing.
So, does Altiverb have some quad or 5.x impulses among all their goodies? This is getting into some rare detail, I'm afraid. I think I'll bug Audioease and see what they say. I suspect even they don't know.....

 

well, now I am a bit confused. Thanks for the example. That doesn't look like any Reaper configuration I've ever seen. As far as I know, the "mixer" option in Reaper just replicates the same set of buttons, switches etc that are in the individual tracks. I have never seen that routing option window pop up in Reaper. Did you hit the FX button? Or is there some other way to load a track with an instrument as opposed to an effect.
I should try it with SAM and see what happens.

I have also taken a look at the Avosound link you sent along earlier. Worth giving it a try, but I wonder if theirs are the same quality as Audioease? Only one way to find out, of course.

 

Last edited: Sep 18, 2019

Correct. If you have a 2 channel IRS, that is all you will get. Output on 1 and 2.

It did pop up when I opened Altiverb. Later I will try the routing options with different IRS.

 

As to my Reaper experience this is not correct. Like in so many other cases Reaper doesn't care what you do with a track (in a good way, that is).

 

That's the key.

Right click on a empty space in the track area (left side) -> 'Insert virtual instrument on new track' and select Altiverb.

 

I couldn't open it as instrument, as Altiverb doesn't appear there. I had to drag & drop from the VST folder thing. I did right-click on it and selected "inform plugin when track channel count changes" or w/e. I made sure that output range went from 1-8 in device settings. Adding it from the VST folder seemed to give a "build routing" dialog to select outputs correctly in Reaper. I'm not exactly that familiar w/ Reaper, tho!

There are sorta fake (I imagine) stereo - quad impulses w/ vanilla Altiverb 7 that seem to work:

Spoiler

edit: most IRs have a quad option. In the religious section, there are only two that don't. Glad you got it to work, btw! Now if only I could..

 

Last edited: Sep 18, 2019

Yep, that did it. Thanks much! That same option is also in the Track menu. I have always loaded VSTi thru the FX button.
So far I have found only one altiverb IRS that has a quad option, the concert hall in Barcellona. When that was loaded, Reaper even showed 6 in as well as 6 out.
Apparently one can do some manual fiddling to make others which I will try.
thanks also to famouslut for trying things out. Once you click on the Insert virtual instrument, you can load anything you want, even an FX (like Altiverb)... if Reaper likes it, it will become an instrument, if not, not. The solution turns out to be ridiculously easy once you know where to click. But, of course, that's the TRICK!!!

 

AAAARRGHHHH. Spoke too soon. After several hours of fiddling and diddling, I think I can safely report that Altiverb does not output to anything beyond stereo. The one IRS with quad output, the Barcellona concert hall, fails to put any sound into channels 3 and 4, even though the graphic image shows 4 sources. It may be a Reaper problem. But generally Reaper works quite well with surround\multi-channel outputs, never caused problems up til now.

If anybody has managed to get sound out of more than 2 channels with Altiverb, please tell me how you did it.

Of course an alternative, less satisfactory, solution is to use more than one Altiverb with closely related impulses, i.e. two or more different IRS sets that are similar, but not the same to avoid close correlation.

It is definitely possible to import .wav files to make interesting non-reverb convolution sounds.... works nicely.

As somebody wrote here, you can't have everything.... where would you put it? (in channels 5 and 6 for starters!)

 

It's clear your Altiverb won't work in surround.

If you MUST use convolution, use IRs https://tovusound.com/shop/edv3rb-lite/ + mcfx_convolver ex http://www.matthiaskronlachner.com/?p=1910 , but you need to make the configuration file.

 

Last edited: Sep 20, 2019

Altiverb is not opening those chancels because it likes to occupy real estate. Monday when I'm back at my place, I will make it work.

 

Thanks much, I will play around with these, too. I was unaware of these units, and am always interested in creating different "flavors" of space.

It's not a matter of "must" as far as convolution is concerned, rather it's hoping to get that wonderful Altiverb sound into at least 4 channels in the proper fashion. I am going to try it in Samplitude and see what pops up. As I wrote earlier, there are workarounds if necessary, but quite awkward.

 

LATEST UPDATE. Altiverb in surround mode works perfectly in Samplitude\Sequoia. The problem is definitely Reaper.

It really sounds extraordinary in full surround mode. Definitely worth the trouble.

Thanks to everybody who participated with suggestions and ideas.

p.s. to the P. if you DO get it working in Reaper, I am all ears, of course.

 

Last edited: Sep 22, 2019

Please don´t say it´s not correct, because you did´t understand what i wrote ;)

what i was saying (because the O.P didnºt specify his Audio setup) is right click on the master track and set it to 6 track channels for 5.1, then route the master track channels to the right outputs of the audio hardware..


in reaper create a new track with 6 channels then try with Altiverb

 

It can be fixed in Reaper by changed a compatibility setting for Altiverb. Add Altiverb, click the plus, then compatibility settings, and check "inform plug-in when track channel count changes". Then remove and re-add altiverb and it will obey the proper channel count. This is the only reverb i have that doesn't automatically do this and requires this setting, but once checked on it works as expected and follows track channel count.

 

Stepped by to just say I've resolved the issue writing my own VST3 wrapper for VST2 version of Altiverb 7 XL with
pre-enabled surround capabilities by default.

https://github.com/szymontex/AltiverbSurroundWrapper

The wrapper automatically handles the 5.1 channel configuration and presents Altiverb as a native VST3 plugin to your DAW. No more stereo-only limitations - you get full access to all those beautiful surround impulse responses.

Works great in Studio One, Cubase, and other modern DAWs. Obviously requires your own legal Altiverb license - this just solves the technical format barrier.
Figured this might help others who've been stuck with the same multi-channel output limitations.
The code's open source if anyone wants to check the implementation or contribute improvements.