Exponential Audio - NIMBUS & R4 Reverb Plugins Review with Lij Shaw

NIMBUS: the powerful new reverb unit from Exponential Audio.

While many companies were making convolution reverbs with photorealistic graphics requiring loads of DSP, Exponential’s Michael Carnes was swimming in the other direction with his designs.

That disruptive approach has paid off, with Exponential Audio now regarded as one of the leading effects companies for professionals in music, post-production and games design. Our plug-ins are used on Grammy-winning albums, and top movies that take you to galaxies far-far away or deep into Middle Earth.

Meet NIMBUS, a new and improved reverb unit based on the familiar PhoenixVerb but offering better sound, greater flexibility and new capabilities:

Better sounding: NIMBUS is based on the core of the hugely popular PhoenixVerb, but we’ve combined honest user feedback with a fertile creative imagination to make it sound even better.

No CPU hog: NIMBUS is a native plug-in, requiring no special hardware and offering even more flexibility while continuing to work with its now-famous minimal load on your computer.

Easy to use: We know that workflow matters to our users. While NIMBUS is brand new, existing users will find it reassuringly familiar, and new users will find their way around in a matter of minutes.

Plugging all the gaps

There were always elements - like overdrive - that NIMBUS creator Michael Carnes felt would be helpful in 'warming up' a reverb. He also saw a need to dynamically lower reverb levels in louder parts of a mix: with dynamic tail suppression NIMBUS now has this covered.

Users have long asked for tempo-controllable pre-delay: NIMBUS now has this implemented.

Over 1200 presets and handy new tool-tips: NIMBUS has everything under control to get you started.

Meet R4: reverb royalty from Exponential Audio.

Every generation of engineers and producers has iconic pieces of studio equipment; they act like markers along the path of recording history. Many top engineers will talk about reverbs in the same way, they will speak of the first time they heard some of the classic hardware reverb units which have created a dynasty over the past few decades. Some of these units have Michael Carnes' fingerprints on them, and his new creation R4 is the next reverb in this royal lineage. R4 offers all the class of historic hardware reverb units but with many new features only possible with modern plug-in development technology. R4 is pure class and for this reason, is destined to become a classic.

No CPU hog: R4 is a native plug-in, requiring no special hardware and offering even more flexibility while continuing to work with its now-famous minimal load on your computer.

Easy to use: We know that workflow matters to our users. While R4 is brand new, existing users will find it reassuringly familiar, and new users will find their way around in a matter of minutes.

Plugging all the gaps

There were always elements - like overdrive - that NIMBUS creator Michael Carnes felt would be helpful in 'warming up' a reverb. He also saw a need to dynamically lower reverb levels in louder parts of a mix: with dynamic tail suppression R4 and NIMBUS now have this covered.

Users have long asked for tempo-controllable pre-delay: R4 now has this implemented.

Over 1200 presets and handy new tool-tips: R4 has everything under control to get you started.

What’s new?

R4 features at a glance:

• A character reverb that outdoes all the classics
• A new hall algorithm, as well as updated versions of the R2 algorithms
• Warp section with compressor/expander and overdrive
• Modulated EQ
• Pre-delay and reverb delay now adjustable by tempo
• Tail suppression circuit for more dynamic response
• Gated reverb effects
• Over 1200 presets
• Helpful tool-tips to guide new users.

GET YOUR MIX RIGHT THE FIRST TIME WITH MIXCHECKER FROM AUDIFIED

This ultimate mixing assistant will help you to get better mixes instantly. MixChecker (VST/AAX/AU plug-in) saves your precious time. Plug it in the master track of your project as the last segment of your listening chain and quickly turn your studio monitors into classic reference monitors or several consumer devices.

MixChecker is iLok protected. The hardware key is not necessary, only the License Manager. Please refer to our guide to see how to activate the trial and full versions.

You Mix For The People

Have you ever wondered why your music, your videos, showreels and movies do not sound well when you move out of your studio? Why do they lose punch and clarity that your awesome studio monitors deliver? That is because you do not use the same equipment the real people use. To bring the best quality to your audience, you need to check your mixes as often as possible. That is why we made MixChecker. Because we know You mix for the People.

Do You Hear What They Hear?

The consumers, the people you are mixing your content for, do not use hi-end studio monitors. They watch TV, listen to music in their cars. They even use their desktop speakers, tablets and smartphones or their earphones. You need your mix to sound great despite of what lousy conditions your audience uses.

Version 1.1 just released - See what's new:

No more extra exports

In past, to ensure your mix sounds right on any device, you had to export your sound and listen in different conditions. Import your mix to your smartphone, burn on CD and listen in your car, get back to your studio, do little tweaks and export again...

Now you can use the MixChecker to perform quick round test that will only take a few seconds. And get back to mixing and corrections while you still know what the problem in your mix was.

What it does

MixChecker functions are divided into two sections. The Simulation offers acoustic models of several consumer devices and classic reference monitors. Pressing a single button will turn your monitors into the selected device.

Not all studio monitors deliver flat frequency response. Therefore we also added the Compensation section. It will allow you to tell MixChecker, you are using average 5" or 8" speakers or headphones. That will change the resulting sound accordingly.

The Bypass button turns all processing off. When illuminated, only clean signal comes through MixChecker.

How we do it

We measured the frequency responses and behaviour of all the devices listed in MixChecker in laboratory conditions to create their true and faithful models that you can rely on. Read more here.

The more people get familiar with our MixChecker, the more questions from the musicians and producers we get. And that is awesome. We are glad you are curious. Those questions deserve answers. We gathered members of our team and let each of them be answered by the most qualified person...

Where does the idea for MixChecker come from?

Jakub (Marketing Director): Our team developed the technology for MixChecker quite a long time ago to be used for some of our other products as well as it served for the purposes of of the Academy of Performing Arts.
The idea for MixChecker itself comes from the needs some of us experienced in our previous jobs. I – for example – used to work in TV Promotion business. We always suffered from the fact, that our TV trailers always sounded great in the studio but listening from a TV set was a nightmare. So we used a TV set as a reference monitor in that time. And it was a hassle. We wished to find a quicker way to get to better sound.

Later we discussed the topic within the Audified team and thought there are more people with such need. They mix not only for TV, but for radio stations, computer games, mobile OS games etc. And the idea was here. Let's make something, that would make their life easier. Just test and go. No setting up, no exporting, no wiring. And the MixChecker was here.

Is MixChecker accurate?

Lubor (CEO): Mixchecker does not simulate each device on consumer market exactly – it would not be even possible. The goal of this tool is not to create a real model of particular device as such. It shouldn't be used as an effect. MixChecker should be considered a guide that shows you the weaknesses of your mix regarding to various types of devices. For example: if you are mixing an advertisement that will mostly be viewed on smartphones – you cannot determine what particular type of phone will be the most used one. But all smartphones have some sound parameters in common – so MixChecker can give you some realistic picture.

You may have noticed our guitar speaker simulator (MultiCabinet – the technology is also used in ampLion Pro and GK Amplification 2), in which you may change the position of the listening point (or miking) using three parameters, but this is exactly what we wanted to avoid when creating MixChecker. We wanted to create just one typical characteristics of each device combining the measurements, and it was not easy.

Is it professional?

Lubor: Absolutely. We have used the best possible conditions for measurements – a professional system which costs thousand times more than the best audio interfaces. Also the results were processed in a complicated way: We have even written an application, computing the characteristics from all the measured results.
So even if MixChecker base is a convolution engine, there is a lot of other work in the final product. The above mentioned MultiCabinet is a plug-in doing only convolution. There is much more behind MixChecker.
Vlada (Lead Programmer for MixChecker): In addition to what Lubor says, we used professional software with DSP toolboxes. Each device was measured in echo-free chamber from several distances with different microphone positions. We made well over 300 measurments instances to create MixChecker models. Then we discussed the measurements with audio professionals and even with professional musicians at the academy, so we have great feedback, which measurements are useful.

I never had such terrible sound from my earbuds, say a lot of users...

Jakub: The users of MixChecker are more than likely people who choose their headphones very carefully. The sound of the earbuds in MixChecker is really weak – but it has a reason. We did not include any kind of hi-end audiophile earbuds – because then you wouldn't get the realistic picture on what the average people would hear (using mostly the earbuds that are distributed with their smartphones etc.).
Vlada: We used a special artificial masuring head to capture the image of the headphones. We believe there is no better way to do it in present days. Also, have you ever thought about the fact how much the sound of your headphones depends on the position and the way you wear them? Well we have. So the models of the headphones and earbuds are the result of the mean of several measurements in different positions and different models. The biggest influence can be noticed on low frequencies – as you may see in the picture. This picture illustrates the measurements of on-ear headphones, five measurements are averaged in this case. After that, the measurement system characteristics is compensated so we get the final result without the influence of the system, including the “ear characteristics” for extra-aural headphones.

Is MixChecker for me?

Jakub: Everybody should be aware of the problem and everybody should check their mixes somehow. MixChecker can be substituted in several ways. You may exportyour mixes and do round checks on several devices, write down your thoughts and feelings and than make corrections in your mixes and do the same round again. But this may cost a lot of time and time (in professional studio) means a lot of money. In some conditions (broadcast...), you even do not have the chance to do so. So the answer depends on how much you value your time. MixChecker can save a few hours on a project. That can make few days a month or weeks a year. And that is a hell lot of time.

Is MixChecker going to gain any new features in future?

Lubor: MixChecker is a living product, there will be evolution, but we would like to keep it as simple as it is now. Yes, we have gathered some thoughts for the first update already. And we are open to any more suggestions. Even if they don't concern the MixChecker – we will be happy if you write us.

Audified U73b Compressor

New in version 2

• External side-chain added
• Auto Output parameter added
• Plugins built in newer IDEs with more effective code.
• Color settings dialog added
• Default calibration parameter value mechanism added, calibration parameter range changed.
• English language added
• Oversampling added
• GUI improved, retina support
• Software can be used on 2 computers per ID simultaneously. (User gets 2 licenses)

Controls

The compressor's controls are very easy, but the effect of this unique device is audible at the same moment you turn it on:

Compressor/Limiter switch – is the upper U73b knob and it switches between Compressor mode (Kompr), Bypass (Durchschalt) and Limiter mode (Begr). The compressor mode has lower threshold setting and very gentle increasing ratio, in opposite, the limiter mode provides higher threshold setting with higher ratio but still with smooth knee.

Release time – the first three positions offer fixed release time, the other three positions (marked red) provide adjustable program content dependent release time option.

IN – adjust input gain before the compressor/limiter circuit

OUT – adjust output gain after the compressor/limiter circuit.

Key input – selects the signal source used for controlling the gain reduction

HPF – U73b is a vintage device and as such it may not meet present mastering demands. We added a bass management button that simply switches between original sound and desired modern sound (without low frequencies bypass).

Valve saturating plug-in based on the circuitry of the famous U73b Compressor

Almost anything is possible in the digital world. With the right skills and technology you can create absolutely anything you like... like the U78 Saturator. So we took the circuitry of the legendary U73b compressor and played around a bit to come up with some seriously satisfying saturation!

More than modeling

To start with, we removed our award-winning U73b Compressor plug-in's compression function. Filters were added, together with the tone control, and, finally, a strong gain control completed the U78 Saturator. We kept the heart and soul of the machine to deliver the beautifully musical tube sound. The result is a saturator that sounds like no other. The U78 Saturator is even better than the real thing, being blessed with the things that dreams are musically made of.

U78 Saturator is iLok protected. The hardware key is not necessary, only the License Manager. Please refer to our guide to see how to activate the trial and full versions.

U78 Saturator Controls

Gain - adjusts the input gain of the saturation circuit. (The higher the settings, the more rich the sound that can be achieved.)
HiPass - sets the cutoff frequency of the high-pass filter, which comes before the saturation circuit in the signal path. (The range is from 30 Hz to 800 Hz - turn the knob to minimum to turn off the HiPass filter.)
LowPass - sets the cutoff frequency of the lowpass filter, which comes before the saturation circuit in the signal path. (The range is from 1 kHz to 8 kHz - turn the knob to maximum to turn off the LowPass filter.)
Tone - controls the U78 Saturator's unique tone filter. (Lower settings produce darker sounds with more low frequency content; conversely, higher settings result in brighter, sparkly sounds.)
Mix - controls the dry and wet signal ratio. (The dry signal is delayed to match the wet signal path latency to prevent phasing issues.)

The presets

The plug-in is mainly intended to be used on bass, drums
and vocals, but creativity knows no boundaries. The presets for the device are prepared by experienced producers such as Baby Brown (represented in the preset list with BB initials) or Boris Carloff (BC).