Tight
total / 128
A very short gap — typically 1–8 ms at common tempos. The reverb starts almost immediately after the dry signal, hugging the source. Use on drums, snares and transients where you need the reverb to glue without smearing the attack.
Balanced
total / 64
A medium gap — roughly 10–60 ms. The dry signal breathes first, then the room opens up behind it. This is the classic vocal / lead / guitar setting: the source stays present while still feeling placed in a space.
Loose
total / 32
A long gap — 30–125 ms or more. The reverb arrives as an obvious separate event, creating real distance. Works on pads, synths and ambient parts where you want to hear the room as its own layer.
Pre-delay
The silent gap between the dry signal and the start of the reverb tail. It pushes the reverb back in time so the attack of the source stays clean. Longer pre-delays imply bigger, more distant rooms; shorter ones feel close and glued.
Decay
How long the reverb tail takes to die away. Short on drums to stay punchy, longer on vocals and pads to breathe.
Total
Pre-delay + decay, locked to a musical bar length. Your reverb breathes with the tempo instead of dragging behind it.
Use your ears
The divisors are starting points, not laws. If a "Tight" pre-delay sits better on a pad than "Loose" does, that's the right answer for that mix.