Mode Audio have entered the plugin game. Over the years this UK samples and preset shop has put out so many heavy packs and in so many genres, that I have lost track of how many are out there by now. But they are all of great build quality with a lot of effort put into them. I picked up my first packs some 10 years ago and still use bits from them today.
When hot air is good
Enter Airspace, a hybrid plugin mixing delay and the power of Impulse Response driven convolution reverb. As an Ableton user, it’s not like I don’t have options in either effects category. But the ease with which you can mix delay and reverb using Airspace, especially from a sound design perspective, is quite evident even after just a few minutes use.
The presets that come with the plugin are all useful for adding anything from subtle to more sound altering movement. Add a little flutter or go ballistic on snares and synths, adding depth and character with relative ease. I like the one page layout, with only one thing hidden in a tab: The EQ on the Colour and Space sections. But it’s OK, since you’ll hardly be dialing in on both space shape, size and character simultaneously with tweaking EQ, since EQ is almost always something you would want to do to fine tune a source. But never say never, of course.
If I wanted to do something similar in Ableton Live, I’d have to set up a range of devices.
Anyway, I think Mode Audio have created a bit of a monster with Airspace. It will sit in any arsenal of delays, reverbs and other multi effects like Turnado and Movement, with a certain ability to work in the gap that exists, sound design wise, between delay and reverb – between time and space. If I wanted to do something similar in Ableton Live, I’d have to set up a range of devices. And I would have no presets to work from after the setup. This is where Airspace is a real time saver. Of course there’s a bit of way to challenging something like Vintage Verb or Blackhole on the part of the reverb, but on the other hand, these reverbs do not have the added delay section, or the deeper EQ controls.
If I could wish for a few things, it would be the ability to set a start point on a given impulse response. That’s basically the only thing missing to have full control over the IR samples inside the plugin for my use. Using the predelay and a gentler attack setting only gets you part of the way, since some scenarios want a full source sound right when it hits, but not the initial transient of the IR. Also, even though Airspace comes with 246 presets, they are all based on a fixed selection of impulse responses. If, at some point, Mode Audio would consider adding IR sample import, I would add delay for days to my claps for this already fine release.
Off to a great start
Having said this, however, Airspace is a pretty bold first plugin release by Mode Audio. It covers a gap in the market not currently populated by that many other plugins. I think the way Airspace combines what it does, while keeping it all more or less visible and highly tweakable directly on the one page layout, is really what makes it a useful plugin.
Having direct access to the manual, linking to a PDF at Mode Audio’s website, is also smart thinking, as is the ability to scale the plugin and of course save any presets you create yourself, seems obvious, but is often partly or wholly missed by other plugin developers. I’m looking forward to any updates and/or new plugins from Mode Audio after my first days and weeks with Airspace.
Airspace retails at around 80 USD, with a free trial available as well.
