# Exponential Audio acquired by Izotope



## nordicguy (Apr 3, 2019)

*Izotope says:
"We are excited to announce that we've acquired the Exponential Audio product line!"
https://www.izotope.com/en/products/exponential-audio-reverbs.html*

I think that reactions from Exponential Audio's customers are going to be mitigate...
To say the least.


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## KallumS (Apr 3, 2019)

Personally glad to see Izotope going from strength to strength. I own plugins from both Izotope and Exponential Audio and they're all top notch, EA will fit in well with Izotope's offerings.


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## nordicguy (Apr 3, 2019)

Edit: https://www.izotope.com/en/products/exponential-audio-reverbs/faq.html
Some info about the whole migration thing...


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## midi-et-quart (Apr 3, 2019)

I honestly don't find it so elegant to present it as "we've acquired" that company.

Just seems like a kind of pure business strategy to make a bit more profits.

I prefer it much more when companies/artists cooperate as strong separate identities, like Spitfire and BT for their Phobos plugin, surely there are other examples but I think you get the point.

_edit:_ Or also like more recently with Galaxy Instruments and Native Instruments for their NOIRE piano 

However, congrats to Michael Carnes, I wish him all the best


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## antonyb (Apr 3, 2019)

The email sent from Michael Carnes was very empathetic and supportive.
It's good for him, being a one stop shop for development, support, sales and marketing is not a small feat. For working in the sowftare industry and having spent time in many (small) startups, I am totally happy for him.
Exponential Audio's reverb quality are top notch (no pun intended) both as reverb tools but also as plugins themselves. You can see the attention to details in the availability of parameters and stability of the plugin itself.
I am sure iZotope will be quick to add a much more appealing "skin" to those plugins, but honestly, that UI roughness is perfectly fine when you get that quality of reverb for that very low CPU usage.
Anyways, good stuff for Michael Carnes, well done.


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## Reid Rosefelt (Apr 3, 2019)

It's interesting how this announcement came right after iZotope's highly-discounted sale on all their products in March. I think if I had known this was coming, I might have waited to buy the O8N2 bundle, because I agree with @ka00 I think it's possible, if not likely, that they will incorporate Exponential Audio technology into future versions of Neutron, Ozone, Nectar, VocalSynth, and other products.

Neutron 3 and Ozone 9 were both definitely coming, but this shows the probable pathway to persuade us to upgrade.

There was a $50 credit for spending $199 on iZotope products in March, which can only be spent in April. I have no doubt that a lot of people will use this to buy a new reverb. 

There's a range of prices from PhoenixVerb ($69) to R4 ($209). Anybody want to make some comments on the advantages of the various products?

Also, how do they compare to Valhalla and Pro-R, both of which are on my someday list?


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## jamwerks (Apr 3, 2019)

That's not really surprising. Michael isn't 25 years old, will maybe want to retire some day.

Izotope has lots more resources than Exponential. Should add value to both lines!
Seems like a win-win-win situation (us included).


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## nordicguy (Apr 3, 2019)

Just received the email from Exponential.
...
edit: Again, details over here <https://www.izotope.com/en/products/exponential-audio-reverbs/faq.html>.


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## storyteller (Apr 3, 2019)

The obvious thing to me isn’t that iZotope wanted a reverb effect in their portfolio, but rather they wanted a reverb guy to continue helping them achieve their vision. 

What vision is that you ask? Glad you did. Neutron has a spatial positioning concept that (at this point) is rather worthless. But if it did what everyone wants it to do, then it would be a huge win for iZotope and the VI composer industry. How do they get there? Reverb. Who is the best? Michael Carnes. 

That said - good for both of them. Good for us on the front. But man do I despise iZotope’s upgrade/release strategy. When I think of a model of how to “do it wrong” - it is iZotope everytime. Then again, I’m not sure from their perspective they have a way to keep the money flowing in without their strategy. So I can see it both ways... I just hate it from a customer side.

Congrats to Michael Carnes though!


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## X-Bassist (Apr 3, 2019)

TigerTheFrog said:


> It's interesting how this announcement came right after iZotope's highly-discounted sale on all their products in March. I think if I had known this was coming, I might have waited to buy the O8N2 bundle, because I agree with @ka00 I think it's possible, if not likely, that they will incorporate Exponential Audio technology into future versions of Neutron, Ozone, Nectar, VocalSynth, and other products.
> 
> Neutron 3 and Ozone 9 were both definitely coming, but this shows the probable pathway to persuade us to upgrade.
> 
> ...



I picked up R2 then R4 a while back during sales, and I don’t find a much use for them. Now that so many new reverbs have come out that give you better controls and display, it seems a bit anitquated. The sound is ok, if a bit digital sounding. There are ways to customize the tails, but it doesn’t best what’s out there now. I would save your money for the two you mentioned (Valhalla is great for the price, Pro-R has great display, controls, presets) and perhaps PCM Reverb bundle for Algo verbs.


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## benatural (Apr 3, 2019)

Very very cool news. Though I will mourn the loss of M7 Control. I hope it still functions for years to come...


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## jamwerks (Apr 3, 2019)

X-Bassist said:


> The sound is ok, if a bit digital sounding.


Yeah we all love the sound of analogue reverbs!!


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## X-Bassist (Apr 3, 2019)

jamwerks said:


> Yeah we all love the sound of analogue reverbs!!



Funny.  Apologies but I come from the 80’s and 90’s where digital sounding meant it is such a smooth, even tail that it doesn’t sound like any real room, which is much more complicated. Back then they said they didn’t have the processing power in a computer to do such things, but my Lexicon 300L hardware (which I still have and use 25 years later for live shows) always does the job well and was hard to match until the PCM Reverb bundle came along. Yamaha Rev7 and SPX lines, Alesis, and even Lexicon came out with “digital sounding” reverbs that were reasonably priced (I used most of them in studio at the time) but sounded cold and sterile, without anything more than a metallic digital tail. Even the PCM hardware had this digital tail that wasn’t as pleasing as the 480L and later the 300L. You just had to pay the price (I think the 480 was $10k and the 300 was a “steal” for $5k in the mid 90’s).

Nowadays every live console has a built in reverb, but most of them have this same digital quality. Which is why I still lug in my Lexicon hardware, plug it into the system, and mix it in. Event producers always comment on the great sound, a biig part of that is level balance and eq (with good gear) but the secret sauce is the Lexicon. And on films or music it’s the PCM Reverb bundle. I also like using Pro-R, Altiverb, VSS-3, Spaces, Valhalla, and a number of others for different purposes (like film post) but for music secret sauce, it’s still PCM Reverb bundle. Nothing digital sounding about it.


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## ionian (Apr 3, 2019)

jamwerks said:


> Yeah we all love the sound of analogue reverbs!!



Sometimes a nice spring reverb hits the spot, tho...


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## Virtuoso (Apr 3, 2019)

Hmm... mixed feelings. I hope that iZotope can drag the UIs out of the 1990s, but I bet we'll pay a hefty price annually for upgrades.

I wonder if they will kill off Phoenix and R2, since they are effectively superseded by Nimbus and R4.


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## ironbut (Apr 3, 2019)

Congrats to Michael Carnes!
I'm sure this takes a load off of him and probably gives him time to develop rather than answer support/sales questions and deal with website crap.
I've always hated iZotope's business model too. I always figured it was more in line with other software companies rather than a music industry company.
I have R4 and I'd probably use it more often if the gui was better. 
Fingers crossed.


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## nordicguy (Apr 3, 2019)

Here's what Exponential Audio's customers v'got when taking "advantage" from Izotope's "special crossgrade pricing".

I'll take Nimbus as an exemple.
Here's Nimbus's release notes (which applies to them all):

Version 3.0 released April 3, 2019

3.0.0 Release

_*iZotope branding for GUI*_ and User Guide

_*Minor fix in VST logic to make sure input buffer is cleared. In a few rare cases, this had caused a noise at startup.*_


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## Patrick de Caumette (Apr 3, 2019)

X-Bassist said:


> I don’t find a much use for them. Now that so many new reverbs have come out that give you better controls and display, it seems a bit anitquated. The sound is ok, if a bit digital sounding. I would save your money for the two you mentioned (Valhalla is great for the price, Pro-R has great display, controls, presets) and perhaps PCM Reverb bundle for Algo verbs.



Mmm, are you aware that it is Michael Carnes that coded the Lexicon PCM verbs?


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## Geoff Grace (Apr 3, 2019)

iZotope is offering a sale on their bundle of Exponential Audio reverb products:

Exponential Audio Stereo Reverb Bundle

MSRP price is $399 USD. Sale price is $279. If you already own any iZotope product, your price is $199.

Best,

Geoff


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## Virtuoso (Apr 3, 2019)

So all my Exponential Audio plugins are showing up in my iZotope purchase history (Phoenix, Phoenix Surround, R2, R2 Surround, R4, Nimbus, Symphony, Excalibur and curiously the defunct M7Control), but none are showing up in iZotope Product Portal.

I'm confused - do I own the current iZotope versions or not? Or does this mean they expect me to buy/upgrade them all again?

Edit: never mind. All covered by the FAQ which I just found - https://www.izotope.com/en/products/exponential-audio-reverbs/faq.html

They do not appear in Product Portal and you can download and install the current versions. All good.


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## nordicguy (Apr 3, 2019)

I had the same interrogation, here's a link that clarifies things.
https://www.izotope.com/en/products/exponential-audio-reverbs/faq.html
Edit: You beat me up!


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## Patrick de Caumette (Apr 3, 2019)

Not sure what to think of the merger.
One thing that bothered me with Exponential Audio was that there were constantly new offerings that were in reality the verbs' previous generation with more features (R2 to R4, Phoenixverb to Nimbus) . Granted, developers need to pay the bills, and can get more by selling a new product rather than an upgrade, but i find the practice a bit deceiving.


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## wst3 (Apr 4, 2019)

I'm kind of in agreement Patrick, but I did upgrade R2 to R4 and Phoenix to Nimbus, I thought the subsequent plugins offered enough to justify reasonable fees. Would I like everyone to upgrade everything for free? Sure!

I do draw the line at paying for bug fixes, or at least egregious bug fixes. But new features, better sound, and/or more efficient processing are things I'm willing to pay for, to a point.

I hope that iZotope will keep the plugins alive, that's probably my biggest concern. There are other reverbs out there - some quite good ones, but I've gotten quite comfortable with Nimbus and R4.

Time will tell!


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## Patrick de Caumette (Apr 5, 2019)

I totally support upgrade fees Bill!
Turning an upgrade into a new product for a higher profit, not so sure...


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## wst3 (Apr 5, 2019)

It is tricky business for sure, and I agree with you on the upgrades, not quite as sure on the new product vs upgrade part. As long as the improvements are significant I'm not as concerned about what they call it.

As a rule (loosely defined) I look at upgrades and new products through the same lens - what do they do for me?<G> Figuring out whether that's worth the asking price is an entirely different animal, and one I'm still working on.


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## LinusW (Apr 5, 2019)

Win-win I think, Exponential Audio/Michael is strengthened by iZotope and iZotope acquires wonderful reverbs for a powerful product catalog.


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