Airspace by BPB
I know ModeAudio as the team behind some of the most meticulously crafted sample/loop packs I've ever heard, as well as stellar synth presets for the likes of Serum and Vital.
The small team of expert sound designers has entered the world of audio plugins with their debut release, Airspace.
What is Airspace?
Airspace is a hybrid convolution reverb and stereo delay plugin that promises a blend of space and texture, seemingly limited only by your imagination.
With that in mind, Airspace tackles everything from subtle character adjustments to the most expansive evolving soundscapes.
We can attribute the plugin's versatility to its three-tier processing architecture featuring a stereo delay module with a dedicated modulation section sandwiched between two convolution reverb modules.
Experiments through Colour and Space
These two modules are both convolution reverbs. Colour and Space are identical in every way; the intention is all that separates them.
The initial intention for each module is to do as the names suggest; the first is to colour or add texture to your sound (primarily the early IR categories), and the second is to add or create space, as slight or dramatic as required.
Rather than split the IR categories between the two modules, ModeAudio gives us creative carte blanche to use any IR on either module.
To give you an example of the more experimental IRs, the Kitchen category features a Coffee Pot, a Chopping Board, and my current favourite obscure choice, a Cracker Packet.
If you want to get really crazy, you could virtually stand your vocalist on a chopping board at the front of McEwan Hall (or St. Albans Cathedral, a Nuclear Reactor Hall, a Chocolate Factory Warehouse, or anywhere else ModeAudio visited).
I take my hat off to ModeAudio for the randomness, quantity, and, most importantly, quality of these IRs.
The creative carte blanche extends further when we look at the identical controls offered by Colour and Space.
Each module displays the waveform of the selected IR and the curve of the amplitude envelope applied to the IR.
You can alternate between the IR and EQ views with an optional four-band EQ to shape the sound of the IR.
The EQ alone changes the general character of the IR, but you can adjust how the sound behaves in more detail using the envelope controls: Attack, Hold, Release, Predelay, and Env Curve.
The three remaining controls are Mix, IR Gain, and IR Size. The IR Size (up to 500%) is especially useful because the character of a short IR made longer/larger is very different from an already long IR, so that's a nice touch.
I can already see what ModeAudio describes as an ecosystem of reverberation and reflection from just these two modules.
Whether looking for the most subtle character adjustment, a little space to breathe, a slight shimmer, or to drown everything in bottomless ethereal waters, I can do it quickly and easily.
What's the Delay?
Airspace has a stereo delay; you can set the left and right delay time and feedback amounts independently. Alternatively, you can link the left and right channels for duplicate settings.
A tempo sync feature syncs the delay time to the tempo in your DAW, changing the time parameter from milliseconds to beat divisions (including dotted and triplet rhythms).
The delay adds rhythm and movement, and depending on your settings, that can be sparse or create intricately woven melodically pleasing patterns.
You can also run wild with the feedback amount to make an ominous, ever-growing wall of sound with no strict tonal centre.
As cliché, as it may be, the cinematic and immersive wall of sound signalling a nearing threat before coming to abrupt silence is incredibly powerful, and Airspace does it incredibly well.
The Crossfeed function (feeding the left delay into the right and vice versa) creates even more complex delay patterns. Some precision amongst the potential chaos comes from the delay's High Pass and Low Pass filters with dedicated resonance controls.
The Delay Mod section is arranged into sub-sections: delay time mod, pitch shifting, and pan mod.
The delay time mod and pan mod sub-sections utilize an LFO with a switchable shape (sine, triangle, square, random, and smooth random). Delay time mod settings modulate the left and right delay times, and pan mod ping-pongs each channel back and forth.
The modulator I like most is the four-octave pitch shifter; you can create clever arpeggiated patterns, but what I enjoy even more is leaving just enough pitch variation not to overpower the original harmonic content.
It creates ambiguity with a drifting pitch that never quite reaches the expected destination before the core harmony returns, and nothing creates cinematic tension quite like ambiguity.
Straightforward rhythmic delays, interwoven patterns, harmonic/melodic highlights, utter chaos, and everything in between.
I love it when a plan comes together!
OK, so Airspace does many things, both big and small. There's validity in using each module individually, but the magic comes in blending all three. Combining all three modules transforms Airspace into more than meets the eye.
Each module has a dedicated volume control (with a meter) to create the perfect mix.
I imagine the creative decision to develop a hybrid convolution reverb/delay with such vast variety through the processing chain was far easier than the practicalities of developing it.
Verdict
I don't have anything negative to say; if I had to clutch at straws, I found that the volume could drop significantly from one input source and IR to another. But it's not a problem.
ModeAudio's meticulous attention to detail, which I admired through their sample packs, is evident in Airspace.
My first couple of hours with Airspace were largely unproductive, in a good way. While I didn't record anything with future value, I got lost in exploration, so much so that I had to remind myself to come back and write about it.
I'm a notorious hoarder of virtual instruments, and Airspace made me feel like I had lots of new instruments. It might not replace your go-to plugin for the most basic reverb/delay duties, but it might become one of your favourite sound design tools.
It's almost like ModeAudio has condensed years of hard work and sound design expertise into a few simple knobs and sliders.
At its best, it's magically transformative; it turns nothing into something. You could cook up an entire ambient soundtrack with Airspace and a single note/sample; even Gordon Ramsey couldn't make something so convincing with so few ingredients (unless it's soup, but soup doesn't impress me).