Soundtoys SpaceBlender: Create Infinite Unique Texture Samples

Soundtoys' insanely good reverb plugin, used to create an endless supply of unique textures that add depth and atmosphere to our tracks.

We take a look at the plugin itself, run through the key parameters, then put it to work as our custom texture maker.

The controls in brief

• Time: the decay length, with Sync to lock it to your DAW's tempo.
• Colour: works much like high and low frequency damping on a traditional reverb, pushing more highs or more lows into the tail.
• Texture: behaves like a low-pass filter on the tail. Turn it up to let more top end through, down for a darker, bassier tail.
• Mod: movement in the decay.
• Freeze: holds the reverb so you can play with the space in real time, and it can be automated.
• Warp: a tape-stop style effect, with no artefacts.

The texture technique

1. Put SpaceBlender on an aux and send your loop to it with the mix at 100% wet.
2. Create a new audio track whose input is the SpaceBlender aux, arm it to record, and turn its monitoring off so you don't hear the reverb twice. You're recording only the wet reverb, not the loop.
3. Find a snippet of tail you like, hit Freeze, and play with the parameters (try Sync on for some rhythm) while you record.
4. Do a few runs, pick the best one, normalise it and save it as a texture.
5. Loop it with short fades, then process it. In the video we use FabFilter Saturn 2 to lift the mids, Soundtoys FilterFreak to sweep the low-pass, and a pumper-style sidechain effect.

Because the texture comes from your own loop, it's already in the same key as your track. Change the source (vocals, basslines, drums, pads), the processing or the settings each run and you get a different result every time: atmospheres, risers, drops, all ready to fill up your sample folder. It's not a natural-sounding mix reverb, so treat it as a creative tool.

Get the sound: Soundtoys SpaceBlender

Also used in the video: FabFilter Saturn 2, Soundtoys FilterFreak, and samples from Above Trance and ANA7OG 7EQUENCES.

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