# Exponential Audio Verbs: PhoenixVerb, Nimbus, R4. Your Thoughts?



## leo007 (Apr 2, 2020)

Hey Everyone,

Can't decide which to choose, PhoenixVerb sale price is very inexpensive compared to Nimbus & R4.
What are you thoughts on these reverbs?
their comparison from your experience could be very helpful.

thank you


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## jcrosby (Apr 3, 2020)

I bought PhoenixVerb last week and it's really good. I, like many love Valhalla, to my ears it sounds as good and in some ways better. It's really great at creating a sense of depth. (Not to mention it sounds great.) The other thing I'll add is that Izotope bought them out for a reason.. Even thought they've become aggressive with their sales lately Izotope are super smart developers. If they bought their algorithms it's for a very good reason.

Not sure about the other E.A. reverbs, sure they're excellent. That said, seeing that Plugin Boutique had PhoenixVerb for $10 last week, have Exaclibur for $10 this week, I'm going to assume that Nimbus and or R2 will have some crazy sale too over the next few weeks too. One at a time I'm assuming.

Anyway I'd demo Phoenixverb to see what you think.. Just remember its iLok, and you only get one license. (Might want to demo Excalibur as well, a steal at $10. Mind you it isn't reverb, but sound design tool that seems to be based around delays, reverbs, lfos and filters.)






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## vitocorleone123 (Apr 3, 2020)

Nimbus and R4 are my favorite reverbs (along with Sonsig-A). I rarely use VintageVerb anymore. 

Nimbus is very clean and can be very realistic, but you can dirty it up a bit with Warp (it also comes with all Phoenixverb presets and tons of others). Pristine algorithmic reverb.

R4 is the companion - more lush (but not syrupy like seventh heaven), can modulate the early reflections and the tail, gated, etc. More Lexicon sounding. In fact the default preset is a Lex hall called “famous hall”.

I don’t know anything about R2... I’d prob skip it and get R4 anyway.

You can pick them up cheap on KVR with a little risk (I’ll be selling mine, but prob to someone I know - I have 2 more licenses from an izotope bundle).

And, once again, the Exponential guy, Michael Carnes, developed the Lexicon software before founding his own company. Which he eventually sold to izotope. He’s brilliant with reverbs.

I paid a total of $180 for the two, and you can do better than that with some patience and a little risk buying secondhand. That said, I don’t regret the money.


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## leo007 (Apr 3, 2020)

jcrosby said:


> Plugin Boutique had PhoenixVerb for $10 last week, have Exaclibur for $10 this week, I'm going to assume that Nimbus and or R2 will have some crazy sale too over the next few weeks too. One at a time I'm assuming.
> 
> Anyway I'd demo Phoenixverb to see what you think.. Just remember its iLok, and you only get one license. (Might want to demo Excalibur as well, a steal at $10. Mind you it isn't reverb, but sound design tool that seems to be based around delays, reverbs, lfos and filters.)


*jcrosby*
Thanks for your Reply! I got theme ether back then )
had some doubts about Excalibur but added to my collection for that unbeatable price.


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## leo007 (Apr 3, 2020)

vitocorleone123 said:


> Nimbus and R4 are my favorite reverbs (along with Sonsig-A). I rarely use VintageVerb anymore.
> 
> Nimbus is very clean and can be very realistic, but you can dirty it up a bit with Warp (it also comes with all Phoenixverb presets and tons of others). Pristine algorithmic reverb.
> 
> ...



Thanks such interesting explanation

I also got them both Nimbus & R4 as part of izotope MPS bundle.
haven't registered any of them because having serious deleme, which to keep and which to sale to cover a bit the bundle cost because I'm not bill gaits )

it May sound like a bit newbie question but
what do you think if I'm more in to rock oriented. does it means that Nimbus is more then enough to my need for its realistic natural reverb, or R4 would also be handy to keep?


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## jcrosby (Apr 3, 2020)

leo007 said:


> *jcrosby*
> Thanks for your Reply! I got theme ether back then )
> had some doubts about Excalibur but added to my collection for that unbeatable price.


Since you said you do a lot of rock I think you'll find plenty of use for Excalibur. Great for anything, but especially great for _popular_ music, be it rock, EDM, etc...


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## leo007 (Apr 3, 2020)

jcrosby said:


> Since you said you do a lot of rock I think you'll find plenty of use for Excalibur


pleased to be known it worth the investment.


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## vitocorleone123 (Apr 3, 2020)

Unless you’re after sounding like playing in more realistic spaces, I suggest R4. I’d install a demo and try it before registering, though. Also, the user interface isn’t pretty, but after using it a bit, I think you’ll find it very logically organized. I find having some experience with any kind of hardware synth or pedals helps a bit with learning them. If you have Phoenixverb then you have a very very good idea what Nimbus sounds like - Nimbus just has a lot more flexibility and options to it. Nimbus is the “big brother” to Phoenix.

I’ll be selling the 2 reverb licenses as well to help cover the cost of MPS3 - I needed RX7 for an upcoming side job. Advanced Upgrade is now on sale for an additional $350 or so, but, like you, I’m not mr Gates, so that’s out.


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## sostenuto (Apr 3, 2020)

OT, but intrigued by Audiority - Xeno Verb @ $10. on Plugin Boutique. No expecting much, but read some reviews and surprisingingly positive, even comparing to pricey options. 









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## leo007 (Apr 3, 2020)

vitocorleone123 said:


> Unless you’re after sounding like playing in more realistic spaces, I suggest R4. I’d install a demo and try it before registering, though. Also, the user interface isn’t pretty, but after using it a bit, I think you’ll find it very logically organized. I find having some experience with any kind of hardware synth or pedals helps a bit with learning them. If you have Phoenixverb then you have a very very good idea what Nimbus sounds like - Nimbus just has a lot more flexibility and options to it. Nimbus is the “big brother” to Phoenix.


go the point so I think I'll keep both R4 & Nimbus ) 
thank you


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## leo007 (Apr 3, 2020)

sostenuto said:


> OT, but intrigued by Audiority - Xeno Verb @ $10. on Plugin Boutique. No expecting much, but read some reviews and surprisingingly positive, even comparing to pricey options.
> 
> 
> 
> ...



sostenuto, do you plan to get it in this sale?


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## vitocorleone123 (Apr 3, 2020)

leo007 said:


> go the point so I think I'll keep both R4 & Nimbus )
> thank you


Ha! Definitely demo them and THEN decide, if you can. No sense not selling one or both if you don't end up loving it/them. I didn't mean to talk you out of some $$ 

Just because I love them and they're among my favorites doesn't mean the same will be true for you - reverb is so subjective. They definitely compete in the top level of reverbs, though. But many others swear by many other reverbs.


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## leo007 (Apr 3, 2020)

vitocorleone123 said:


> Ha! Definitely demo them and THEN decide, if you can. No sense not selling one or both if you don't end up loving it/them. I didn't mean to talk you out of some $$
> 
> Just because I love them and they're among my favorites doesn't mean the same will be true for you - reverb is so subjective. They definitely compete in the top level of reverbs, though. But many others swear by many other reverbs.



I raised this topic in different forums to build more objectivity conclusion. 
I can clearly see that based on all replies here and there.
Nimbus and R4 are most worthy reverb among all EA has to offer
and often they are preferred over other reverbs in market.


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## dzilizzi (Apr 3, 2020)

sostenuto said:


> OT, but intrigued by Audiority - Xeno Verb @ $10. on Plugin Boutique. No expecting much, but read some reviews and surprisingingly positive, even comparing to pricey options.
> 
> 
> 
> ...


I like Xeno Verb. I sometimes use it instead of Blackhole for interesting effects. I really like the Shimmer presets. It can do regular rooms also.


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## leo007 (Apr 3, 2020)

dzilizzi said:


> I like Xeno Verb. I sometimes use it instead of Blackhole for interesting effects. I really like the Shimmer presets. It can do regular rooms also.


thank you for sharing


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## Dirtgrain (Jul 1, 2020)

Nimbus is on sale for $29.00, if you have Excalibur or Phoenixverb (you might still be able to get one of those for $10.00--and then qualify for the sale--not sure):





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I just got Valhalla Vintage Verb, I already have Phoenixverb and R2--and a bunch of other reverbs. I'll be thinking about this.


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## vitocorleone123 (Jul 1, 2020)

Dirtgrain said:


> Nimbus is on sale for $29.00, if you have Excalibur or Phoenixverb (you might still be able to get one of those for $10.00--and then qualify for the sale--not sure):
> 
> 
> 
> ...


Holy hells that's a steal. Anyone who likes Phoenixverb should immediately upgrade. Don't worry - Nimbus comes with ALL of the Phoenixverb presets, and LOT more. Nimbus is a major upgrade, but only if you really like Phoenixverb or know you like the Exponential Audio sound.


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## Dirtgrain (Jul 1, 2020)

Well, that didn't take long. I got it. Playing a Halion Sonic acoustic guitar through Nimbus makes it sound great. It sounded great in Phoenix, too, but I'm off to explore Nimbus.


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## Locks (Jul 2, 2020)

I've been using PheonixVerb for a while and absolutely love it. I tend to use it for more subtle sounding reverbs that help things sit in the mix while I'll use something like Valhalla Vintage for longer more ambient type sounds. Just saw the crossgrade offer to Nimbus today and jumped at the opportunity. Haven't had an opportunity to test drive it yet but I'm excited to see what it can do!


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## vitocorleone123 (Jul 3, 2020)

Nimbus = more control + compression/saturation/crush


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## storyteller (Jul 31, 2020)

Just upgraded to Nimbus myself before the deal runs out. As far as reverbs go, SP2016 is still my personal favorite for most stuff I do (pop/country/rock/mainstream/etc)... but man is Nimbus spectacular. I really didn't think it was going to be that much better than Phoenix Verb, but it definitely is. It will be my #2 moving forward and maybe my #1 for orchestral... will have to wait and see.


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## SampleHoarder (Jul 31, 2020)

storyteller said:


> Just upgraded to Nimbus myself before the deal runs out. As far as reverbs go, SP2016 is still my personal favorite for most stuff I do (pop/country/rock/mainstream/etc)... but man is Nimbus spectacular. I really didn't think it was going to be that much better than Phoenix Verb, but it definitely is. It will be my #2 moving forward and maybe my #1 for orchestral... will have to wait and see.


Please let us know.


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## Beat Kaufmann (Jul 31, 2020)

Hi leo007
What one thinks of Phoenix, Nimbus and R4 is indeed a question one can ask. But it is also a question of what you want to achieve with the Hallplugins. 

Do you want a nice tail? 
Do you want to push instruments into the deep?
Do you want vocals to fade away or orchestra
If you want to support real recordings with Hall...
Is it important what the reverb on the right does with the signal from the channel on the left?
...

It would also be good to ask what people don't like about Phoenix & Co.
An Example: Once I bought PhoenixVerb because it was recommended exactly like here, ...I never actually used it after buying it. One of the main reasons was because you can only lower wet signal either in the upper in the low frequencies with the EQ. Because you usually have to lower the high frequencies of a tail, there's no more possibility to do that as well with the lower frequencies and that's for me No Go. The tail sounds often too thick...

You may be able to read a little of the frustration from my text. In my career I have thrown out a lot of money in reverb plugins and I have never met the perfect reverb until now which is able to do all the jobs we expect from a modern reverb PlugIn. Although new reverb plug-ins come out almost every day... So it really depends on what tasks a reverb has to solve.

Beat


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## vitocorleone123 (Jul 31, 2020)

Pretty sure Nimbus and R4 can do that. I might not be following you, though.

I skipped over PhoenixVerb straight to the ones above, so don’t know what it has or doesnt.


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## gussunkri (Jul 31, 2020)

Beat Kaufmann said:


> Hi leo007
> What one thinks of Phoenix, Nimbus and R4 is indeed a question one can ask. But it is also a question of what you want to achieve with the Hallplugins.
> 
> Do you want a nice tail?
> ...


Go back and study it more. There is damping in the tails in addition to the eq. Also in the eq, use band pass and you attenuate both hi and low.


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## labornvain (Aug 1, 2020)

Beat Kaufmann said:


> Hi leo007
> What one thinks of Phoenix, Nimbus and R4 is indeed a question one can ask. But it is also a question of what you want to achieve with the Hallplugins.
> 
> Do you want a nice tail?
> ...


I'm sorry, I may have missed it. But what is this perfect Reverb you have found?


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## Beat Kaufmann (Aug 1, 2020)

labornvain said:


> I'm sorry, I may have missed it. But what is this perfect Reverb you have found?



You haven't missed it. It doesn't make sense to recommend products. Question 10 people, which is the best reverb tool, you will get 10 different answers. In some cases, there are almost wars of opinion about the respective products. If someone is interested in which Reverb products are generally considered the best, are used the most, then you can find it out here:
https://www.kvraudio.com/plugins/effects/paid/reverb/most-wanted#results
(just change the search mask)
Note: I deliberately chose only commercially available plug-ins. But again, it depends on the work a reverb has to do and maybe also in which kind of music it is used.

---------------------------​_"But what is this perfect Reverb you have found?"_
Let me say it again in slightly different words: I use about 3-4 different reverbs, which I have found for different purposes over the years. They do a great job for me in the respective tasks and I need them in my daily work. This has one advantage: Because I always use the same tools, I know them very well.

The following tasks reverbs have to do for me:

A) Tail "over all" (e.g. live recordings, classical music, brass band music, jazz, sample mixes)
B) Tail for vocals (entertainment, hits, etc. Record emulation)
C) Early-Reflection section only (to move the instruments in depth when playing music with samples. Here I have a few good IRs that are suitable. The convolution reverb behind it must be able to shorten the IRs and compensate the coloration with an internal EQ.
D) Reverb, to create spatiality with mono signals.
E) ....

If you have ever found any tools, you can fortunately concentrate on the work. Sometimes, when a new tool comes out, I think, "Ah, that'll be it!" The experience here: Revolutions are rare, but there are reverb plugs coming out every day.

Because "reverb" is also a matter of taste, I would always make use of the possibility of trying a PlugIn out. So you can compare from the sound to the CPU load of several instances.
Finally, so add the tools Phoenix, Nimbus and R4 to the list "try it out". They're worth it. But there are others out there - depending on the task...


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