Exponential Audio plugins in 2025?

[atticmike]

Are exponential Audio plugins such as Stratus and Symphony 3D still competitive options for professional audio in music and post-production?

How do they compete with Liquidsonics' Cinematic Rooms for example?

[npapaleo]

They're still quite relevant and sound excellent to my ears.

[atticmike]

Originally Posted by npapaleo

They're still quite relevant and sound excellent to my ears.

Right.

I found it for 30 bucks for Stratus and Symphony 3D and after I got it I also found another classified offering the ilok licenses for 11 dollars, which made me wonder whether there's something wrong with them / the plugins not being competitive anymore.

Any idea why that is? I mean 30 bucks for such a Reverb.

I remember in 2020, they were like 500 and highly revered.

[Dizaineris]

Originally Posted by atticmike

Right.

I found it for 30 bucks for Stratus and Symphony 3D and after I got it I also found another classified offering the ilok licenses for 11 dollars, which made me wonder whether there's something wrong with them / the plugins not being competitive anymore.

Any idea why that is? I mean 30 bucks for such a Reverb.

I remember in 2020, they were like 500 and highly revered.

I'm guessing because they've been updated to
https://www.izotope.com/en/products/equinox

[JFreak]

Michael's plugins are still relevant. Too bad only symphony and stratus made it to ARM-native

[LDS]

Originally Posted by JFreak

Michael's plugins are still relevant. Too bad only symphony and stratus made it to ARM-native

Since the release of stratus and symphony, I haven’t even bothered to install previous versions of Exponential Audio stuff on intel, so I’m not really surprised they never ported them to ARM. Stratus replaced Nimbus which replaced Phoenixverb. Symphony replaced R4 which replaced R2.

Equinox seems like it is set to replace both. It doesn’t seem all that different in sound, but the GUI is nicer and it rolls both Stratus and Symphony in a single plugin. I haven’t used it on any projects yet, but you can get your mitts on for very cheap if you already own the other 3D plugins.


They have been my go-tos for a 6 or 7 years now… but I also think it is swings and roundabouts to a degree. There is great stuff out there using Revibe II. Altiverb is still a staple after all these years. Cinematic rooms seems to be held in high regards. I’ve always loved Matt’s reverbs. Don’t like the GUI though. I guess I just prefer the GUI of Exponential stuff.

[atticmike]

Originally Posted by LDS

Since the release of stratus and symphony, I haven’t even bothered to install previous versions of Exponential Audio stuff on intel, so I’m not really surprised they never ported them to ARM. Stratus replaced Nimbus which replaced Phoenixverb. Symphony replaced R4 which replaced R2.

Equinox seems like it is set to replace both. It doesn’t seem all that different in sound, but the GUI is nicer and it rolls both Stratus and Symphony in a single plugin. I haven’t used it on any projects yet, but you can get your mitts on for very cheap if you already own the other 3D plugins.


They have been my go-tos for a 6 or 7 years now… but I also think it is swings and roundabouts to a degree. There is great stuff out there using Revibe II. Altiverb is still a staple after all these years. Cinematic rooms seems to be held in high regards. I’ve always loved Matt’s reverbs. Don’t like the GUI though. I guess I just prefer the GUI of Exponential stuff.

Cinematic rooms is just way too expensive for me and can't believe I got the license for Stratus and Symphony 3D for 10 bucks.

To me, the exponential reverbs sound very polished, they sound like someone with deep knowledge and understanding of echos created them while most other reverbs have some abrasiveness to them that you have to polish out until they work with a source.

Seems like everyone just dropped everything and got cinematic rooms just because Hans Zimmer is using it?

I really didn't like the reverb on the Dune record btw, it's one of my least favorite ambience sounds of Hans'.

[npapaleo]

I wasn't aware of Equinox til this thread, but it seems like Equinox is just Stratus and Symphony under one hood with some bells and whistles. Stratus and Symphony are two excellent sounding verbs that are a daily part of my workflow and since they're already ported to AAX ARM I don't see them becoming irrelevant anytime soon.

[atticmike]

Originally Posted by npapaleo

I wasn't aware of Equinox til this thread, but it seems like Equinox is just Stratus and Symphony under one hood with some bells and whistles. Stratus and Symphony are two excellent sounding verbs that are a daily part of my workflow and since they're already ported to AAX ARM I don't see them becoming irrelevant anytime soon.

Is the ARM version of Stratus and Symphony by Izotope untampered with? I mean did they just make it native without messing with the plugin and Michael's code?

[JFreak]

Originally Posted by atticmike

Cinematic rooms is just way too expensive for me and can't believe I got the license for Stratus and Symphony 3D for 10 bucks.

To me, the exponential reverbs sound very polished, they sound like someone with deep knowledge and understanding of echos created them while most other reverbs have some abrasiveness to them that you have to polish out until they work with a source.

Seems like everyone just dropped everything and got cinematic rooms just because Hans Zimmer is using it?

I really didn't like the reverb on the Dune record btw, it's one of my least favorite ambience sounds of Hans'.

Good for you.

And yes, Michael Carnes is Mr.Lexicon