# Exponential Audio R2 vs. R4



## arznable (Jun 14, 2020)

Wondering does R4 have all the presets/functionalities of R2, and R2 is straightly a subset of R4? Or there are presets/functionalities that R2 has but R4 doesn't?

I am asking because Exponential Audio R2 is selling for $29 at Plugin Boutique right now. If I am going to buy R4 in the future, do I need R2? Although $29 is cheap, but if it is absolutely redundant to have both, I don't want to waste any money, thanks a lot.


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## vitocorleone123 (Jun 14, 2020)

R4 is definitely better. I don't have R2, and would probably use VVV or similar, instead. R4 has more EQ options, freeze, and some others. I don't really know the fine details. R2 is older, too. If you like EA reverbs, pick up R4 "used" on the cheap side from people who buy izoptope MPS.

R4 might be my favorite reverb right now (along with Nimbus and Relab Sonsig-A).


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## Virtuoso (Jun 14, 2020)

arznable said:


> Although $29 is cheap, but if it is absolutely redundant to have both, I don't want to waste any money, thanks a lot.


Granted it's only $29, but there's absolutely no point having R2 if you're going to get R4.

R4 has everything from R2 but adds loads more presets, modulation options, a better Hall algorithm, EQ and filtering, gating for tail suppression, Warp (compression/expansion/saturation), freeze, probably more that I've forgotten.

Then there's Symphony... 

Good review here:-





Exponential Audio R4


Exponential Audio have hot-rodded their ‘character’ reverb, and the results are even more characterful!




www.soundonsound.com


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## arznable (Jun 15, 2020)

Virtuoso said:


> Then there's Symphony...


Thanks a lot. Wondering does Symphony has everything from R4? Is R4 absolutely redundant if one already owned Symphony? If so, I will take a look if I really need the functionalities provided by Symphony. If so, I will skip buying R4 all together. Don't want to waste any money on redundant stuff.


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## Scoremixer (Jun 15, 2020)

arznable said:


> Thanks a lot. Wondering does Symphony has everything from R4? Is R4 absolutely redundant if one already owned Symphony? If so, I will take a look if I really need the functionalities provided by Symphony. If so, I will skip buying R4 all together. Don't want to waste any money on redundant stuff.



Yes, if you already own Symphony there's no point in getting r4. If you own neither, then it's only worth getting Symphony if you're going to be doing surround, otherwise stick with r4.


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## arznable (Jun 15, 2020)

Scoremixer said:


> Yes, if you already own Symphony there's no point in getting r4. If you own neither, then it's only worth getting Symphony if you're going to be doing surround, otherwise stick with r4.


Thanks. Not doing surround at all, so will be getting R4. In the future if surround is needed and upgrade to Symphony, is it possible to sell my R4 license?


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## arznable (Jun 17, 2020)

arznable said:


> Thanks. Not doing surround at all, so will be getting R4. In the future if surround is needed and upgrade to Symphony, is it possible to sell my R4 license?


I see many people are selling their R4 and Nimbus licenses from the iZotope MPS3 bundle, so should be able to sell the R4 license in the future after any upgrade. Please let me know if I am wrong, thx.


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## vitocorleone123 (Jun 17, 2020)

Yes it is possible to sell your license one time, no ilok fee to the buyer. You can't ever sell an R4 (or whichever you sell) again, according to iZotope.

I sold my previously purchased Nimbus and R4 when I got MPS.


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## Virtuoso (Jun 17, 2020)

Before you make a move, I would encourage you to try Liquidsonics Cinematic Rooms. It's a pleasure to use and sounds superb.

A cautionary note - I own all the Exponential Audio reverbs apart from Stratus and have used them extensively over the years. I was disappointed when the developer sold the business to iZotope. They haven't done anything with them in the 15 months since they took over (other than massively devalue the entry level products!), and I have no idea what their future plans might be. The same developer's previous Lexicon reverbs have also been pretty much abandoned by Harman Audio since he left.


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## dzilizzi (Jun 17, 2020)

You must buy it whether or not you will use it! It's a requirement of GAS. Cheap price, must buy. 

This reminds me. I think I have extra copies of these, I should sell them before Plugin Boutique sells them all for $9.99 each.


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## David Kudell (Jun 17, 2020)

Virtuoso said:


> Before you make a move, I would encourage you to try Liquidsonics Cinematic Rooms. It's a pleasure to use and sounds superb.
> 
> A cautionary note - I own all the Exponential Audio reverbs apart from Stratus and have used them extensively over the years. I was disappointed when the developer sold the business to iZotope. They haven't done anything with them in the 15 months since they took over (other than massively devalue the entry level products!), and I have no idea what their future plans might be. The same developer's previous Lexicon reverbs have also been pretty much abandoned by Harman Audio since he left.


I am pretty impressed with Izotope‘s Dialog Match plug-in, they incorporated the reverbs so you can match ADR to location dialog and it automatically applies the matching reverb.

Other than that, I hope they update the look of the Exponential plugins soon.


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## Virtuoso (Jun 18, 2020)

David Kudell said:


> Other than that, I hope they update the look of the Exponential plugins soon.


Me too - they sound great but the UI is very last century! 

Michael Carnes (the developer) is now retired, so any further work will be down to iZotope.


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## branshen (Nov 29, 2021)

dzilizzi said:


> You must buy it whether or not you will use it! It's a requirement of GAS. Cheap price, must buy.
> 
> This reminds me. I think I have extra copies of these, I should sell them before Plugin Boutique sells them all for $9.99 each.


The prophet has spoken.


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## tomosane (Nov 30, 2021)

R4 (and probably R2 as well) is a fantastic reverb which iZotope is giving away for half-free every now and then these days. But it's important to note that iZotope has now announced that they have no plans of porting the Exponential Audio reverbs as native plugins for Apple Silicon/M1 processors: 



https://support.izotope.com/hc/en-us/articles/4407777831699-iZotope-Compatibility-with-Apple-silicon



I'm not sure but my understanding is that iLok protection presents huge problems to developers who could otherwise port their plugins to Silicon. I'd be very wary of spending any serious money on iLok-protected software going forward


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## Markrs (Nov 30, 2021)

tomosane said:


> I'm not sure but my understanding is that iLok protection presents huge problems to developers who could otherwise port their plugins to Silicon


I didn't realise that iLok was an issue with porting the libraries over. Though I'm not sure if any of the old Exponential Audio FX will ever be updated, irrespective of iLok issues.


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## tomosane (Nov 30, 2021)

Markrs said:


> I didn't realise that iLok was an issue with porting the libraries over. Though I'm not sure if any of the old Exponential Audio FX will ever be updated, irrespective of iLok issues.


Yes of course, in the particular case of iZotope they'll obviously want people to switch to Neoverb which they do plan to port. I don't have Neoverb myself, but I hope it will be a decent replacement for the Exponential Audio reverbs by if I ever migrate to M1.

edit: Here's a blog post from Liquidsonics detailing the limitations imposed by iLok/Pace when it comes to porting plugins: https://www.liquidsonics.com/2020/1...cos-big-sur-and-the-apple-silicon-transition/


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## branshen (Nov 30, 2021)

tomosane said:


> R4 (and probably R2 as well) is a fantastic reverb which iZotope is giving away for half-free every now and then these days. But it's important to note that iZotope has now announced that they have no plans of porting the Exponential Audio reverbs as native plugins for Apple Silicon/M1 processors:
> 
> 
> 
> ...


Shame about the lack of M1 support. I'm running windows, so as long as windows 11 doesn't break the plugins, it will be worth it..


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## dzilizzi (Nov 30, 2021)

I kind of wonder if Apple thinks because some consumers buy every new iteration of their products, it is a good thing to keep making new products incompatible with prior products. Keep all software engineers employed! Not thinking about the fact that most of these fixes are going to be free to the consumer because they aren't an actual upgrade. 

Glad I'm on Windows.


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## Crowe (Nov 30, 2021)

dzilizzi said:


> I kind of wonder if Apple thinks because some consumers buy every new iteration of their products, it is a good thing to keep making new products incompatible with prior products. Keep all software engineers employed! Not thinking about the fact that most of these fixes are going to be free to the consumer because they aren't an actual upgrade.
> 
> Glad I'm on Windows.


No kidding. I find it very troubling that developers are expected to keep up with Apple's utter contempt for their supporting products and get the brunt of the backlash when they don't. It's definitely not their fault but Apple's. Bizarre stuff. I'm glad I stepped away from that company long ago.


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## vitocorleone123 (Nov 30, 2021)

Crowe said:


> No kidding. I find it very troubling that developers are expected to keep up with Apple's utter contempt for their supporting products and get the brunt of the backlash when they don't. It's definitely not their fault but Apple's. Bizarre stuff. I'm glad I stepped away from that company long ago.


Apple's hubris also impacts Windows users, in that developers are stuck always trying to keep up with the latest breaking change from Apple, rather than creating new or innovative features or products. Slows down the whole industry, when so many plugin and library developer teams are 1 - 5 people.

And then I also see several Apple users mad or frustrated with developers for not dropping everything to support their platform of choice, when it should be Apple that they direct their feelings towards (for the most part).


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## easyrider (Nov 30, 2021)

David Kudell said:


> I am pretty impressed with Izotope‘s Dialog Match plug-in, they incorporated the reverbs so you can match ADR to location dialog and it automatically applies the matching reverb.
> 
> Other than that, I hope they update the look of the Exponential plugins soon.


They are legacy EOL products no longer supported by Izotope



https://support.izotope.com/hc/en-us/articles/4407777831699-iZotope-Compatibility-with-Apple-silicon


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