Spaces II

Name: Spaces II
Price: 104 USD
Author: EastWest

by EastWest · Reverb · Convolution reverb

Not rated yet

Spaces II is EastWest's convolution reverb with over 1,020 reverbs from churches, concert halls, opera houses, studios, plates and outdoor spaces.

It costs $104 on sale (regular $299).

Best for: Vocals, Acoustic Instruments, Mix Bus, Sound Design. Genres: Ambient & Cinematic, Jazz, Acoustic & Classical.

Keywords: impulse-response based, cathedral, convolution, hall, room, drums, plate, room mics, simple, mixing, orchestra, wide, beginner-friendly, bus processing, cinematic, CPU-light, experimental, full mix, mix bus, piano, samples & loops, smooth, sound design, choir, strings, subscription, vocals.

What it does

Spaces II is EastWest's convolution reverb, made by Doug Rogers and Nick Phoenix from true stereo impulse responses of real halls, churches, studios and unusual spaces. The aim is "contextually appropriate and believable reverb" for almost any stage or setting.

1,020+ reverbs: 353 new in Spaces II, plus everything from the original Spaces.
Churches and halls: spaces such as Berlin Church, Hamburg Cathedral, St. Patricks, Abravanel Hall, Davies Hall, Dortmund Concert Hall and Pasadena Taiko Hall.
Other spaces: caves, forests, courtyards, an opera house, parking garages, plates, rock rooms, studios, a swimming hall, tanks, train stations and warehouses.
Instrument-specific presets: many halls have presets tailored to particular instruments, a concept carried over from the first Spaces.
Filter and decay: high-pass and low-pass filters with a frequency response display, and a Decay Time control to shorten or lengthen the tail.
Envelope: Simple Mode with a single decay, or Full Mode with a multi-node attack and decay envelope.
Stereo control: a width control for stereo and true stereo presets, an option to feed a mono signal into a stereo IR, and a mono output option.

The current version is 2.5. It is also part of the ComposerCloud+ subscription, which has a free 14-day trial.

Source: EastWest product page

When to use it

Spaces II is the pick when you want a real, recorded room rather than an algorithm: an actual cathedral, concert hall or drum room, with presets matched to the instrument. Compared with Seventh Heaven Professional, it offers far more distinct spaces but much less control over the tail. Unlike Pro-R 2, it has only basic shaping (filter, decay, envelope and width) and no visual decay editing or modulation. Next to Cinematic Rooms Professional it sounds more like a specific place, while Cinematic Rooms is more flexible to tweak. Reviewers found its CPU load low for a convolution reverb.

Best for: orchestral samples, choirs, piano and strings that need a believable hall or church, plus studio drum rooms.
Genres: cinematic, classical and orchestral, plus rock and pop mixing.
Look elsewhere if: you want deep algorithmic editing or modulated tails; Pro-R 2 or Seventh Heaven Professional suit that better.
Tip: in Settings, choose "Use as a send effect by default" so new instances load fully wet.

What producers say

Reviewers praise the sound and range of the impulse responses; the criticisms are about basic controls and browsing.

Mix said the reverbs sound "complex, smooth and dimensional", found it easy to use with very low CPU load, and listed no significant cons.
Sound On Sound called it "a superb library of impulse responses" and singled out the LA studio drum rooms.
Criticisms: Sound On Sound found the preset browser and shaping tools basic, with no search or resizable window, and no surround version despite the surround recordings.

Where to buy

EastWest: $104 (regular $299)
Plugin Boutique: $104 (regular $199)
PluginFox: $104 (regular $199)
AudioDeluxe: $104 (regular $199)

Tutorials and reviews

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