New Soundtoys plugin - Space Blender

[jens]

Their software is vital to my workflow. So much so, that I'm actually willing to use an iLok to run their bundle on my computer.

Which is not at all required though - even th4 iLok-bound licenses can be machine-authorized.

[KenBogdanowicz]

Had an opportunity to use it more. The plugin is great. The only issue is - it cranks my CPU to 100% even it's not used (no playback in the DAW at all). I see one comment stating it's less CPU heavy than Blackhole. I can't compare since I don't have Blackhole so it may be an issue with my machine specifically. FYI I use MBA with M2 CPU, macos Sequoia. Same issue in Logic Pro and Reaper (tried AU and VST3).

We've had a few reports about this and we just found what we think is the source of the high CPU issue. Hoping to get a fix out this week!

[KenBogdanowicz]

I guess it is only me?

GUI is terrible. Yes it can be resized... Still it is blurry all the way to me. at 200% as well. Preset browser hurts my eyes (honestly it does!). I am very disappointed this is what Soundtoys deliver in 2025 after years in pain with GUIs that are ultra small.

This will be fixed in a release that we're hoping to get out this week. It only happened with very few people with certain settings of display resolution which is why we didn't catch it before the initial release.

[KenBogdanowicz]

Thought it was some granular delay but it's more of an ambient reverb.

3 things I'd add:
1. a lockable mix knob
2. silence & empty buffers when switching presets
3. HP and LP filters ~ in that order (it annoys me to see LP on the left, and ideally knobs are mirrored, ie HP full left and LP full right mean no filter engaged, like on Supermassive for instance. This point being the only very minor gripe I have with U-HE UX which is otherwise just amazing)

It will not replace any reverb nor Supermassive, but it can create interesting long ambiences indeed, especially for shoegaze, some EDM, soundtrack work etc...

Thanks for the suggestions. You can lock the Mix knob by option-clicking on it. The other two are popular requests even within our team!

[KenBogdanowicz]

Tried it a bit and CPU went crazy. I use MBA (M2 chip).
Sounds good though and it's free. Probably similar sounds can be achieved with a granular fx + reverb.
Thanks to the soundtoys folks anyway.

I think we've got a fix coming soon for the runaway CPU... stay tuned.

[morphex]

Their software is vital to my workflow. So much so, that I'm actually willing to use an iLok to run their bundle on my computer.

Which is not at all required though - even th4 iLok-bound licenses can be machine-authorized.

It can be very convenient to authorize to the computer. But it gave me a false sense of security. I spent almost 3 years with all of my iLok licenses authorized to my Mac. Then the hard drive failed, and took my licenses with it. It was time-consuming, and expensive to replace everything.

I learned my lesson, and I strongly recommend that people who rely on iLok-protected plug-ins to authorize to the iLok USB key, and keep a 2nd on hand in case of theft or loss. It’s great that they give people different options, but I’ll never go back to machine authorizations again.

[markello]

(snip) ...and expensive to replace everything.

Who charged you?

My HD went south with some machine iLok auths on it. Took emails over a couple of days to get everything back but no company charged me. Soundtoys sorted me out in a few hours.

[jens]

Then the hard drive failed, and took my licenses with it. It was time-consuming, and expensive to replace everything.

It happens... all you need to do is to request a reset from one vendor*... the others follow automatically. It takes a few days until all have reacted, but it is absolutely free.

So: I don't know what you did, but if you paid even a single penny you did it wrong.
(And if in doubt about the precedure, you can of course always inquire at Pace directly and they'll explain you what to do.)


*it's your choice - I'd go with Eventide or Soundtoys as both offer splendid support and thus usually react really quickly.

[swilow11]

Had an opportunity to use it more. The plugin is great. The only issue is - it cranks my CPU to 100% even it's not used (no playback in the DAW at all). I see one comment stating it's less CPU heavy than Blackhole. I can't compare since I don't have Blackhole so it may be an issue with my machine specifically. FYI I use MBA with M2 CPU, macos Sequoia. Same issue in Logic Pro and Reaper (tried AU and VST3).

We've had a few reports about this and we just found what we think is the source of the high CPU issue. Hoping to get a fix out this week!

Awesome! I think this will be more a special fx verb but would be nice to be able to throw it around a bit more liberally. Honestly, and maybe a bit of shiny new object syndrome, but this is one of the nicest reverbs I've heard. Thanks for making it free!

[morphex]

@jens and @markello - thanks for your replies. I had some good and bad experiences with iLok and Pace way back when it came on a floppy disk that I connected to a Mac G4. Pluggo by Cycling’74, Antares, and the original GRM Tools all required it for authorization, but I had stability issues with the iLok drivers on Mac OS 9, and eventually moved away from Pace entirely.

Years later, UVI’s Falcon, Soundtoys, and some other plug-ins convinced me to adopt the improved iLok authorization method once again. I had never been through the process of reporting my computer as unusable before. So, I admit that it was way more complicated than it needed to be, due to my own ignorance and lack of patience at the time.

I was approaching a very important deadline and didn’t know how long it would take for licenses to show up. I couldn’t wait for 3+ days, so I started the process and decided to purchase another copy of some of my mission-critical plug-ins (UVI, Eventide, GRM Tools, etc.) to make absolutely sure that my work wasn’t turned in late.

That decision was totally on me, and it was part of a learning experience. Overall, I’m glad that I went through it. It prompted me to invest in a better backup strategy, and to move all of my iLok-enabled licenses onto a USB key with Zero Downtime and Theft & Loss coverage enabled and current. That gives me the confidence to know that I can quickly rebound if something ever happens again.

Even though the process is pretty straightforward, it was still 5 days before the important licenses were available, and that would’ve been 2 days too late for my deadline. Lesson learned. Now I work smarter, not harder. And you’re correct jens, both Eventide and Soundtoys have offered excellent support.

[inaheartbeat]

I just had a computer go down the other day that I had several iLok licenses on. I clicked on the deauthorize machine link which automatically notified Pace. They sent an immediate email confirmation and within less than an hour I had all my licenses back for reauthorizing a new machine. All without spending a dime. The only vendor I have had a negative experience with is Chicken Systems. They make you pay a $7.95 fee per license to get you another authorization and they only allow one authorization per software package which is kind of ridiculous.

As for this plugin, I think it is fantastic especially for free.I only wish they would allow resizable GUI's for all my other Soundtoys 5.4 plugins.

[jens]

@jens and @markello - thanks for your replies. I had some good and bad experiences with iLok and Pace way back when it came on a floppy disk that I connected to a Mac G4. Pluggo by Cycling’74, Antares, and the original GRM Tools all required it for authorization, but I had stability issues with the iLok drivers on Mac OS 9, and eventually moved away from Pace entirely.

Years later, UVI’s Falcon, Soundtoys, and some other plug-ins convinced me to adopt the improved iLok authorization method once again. I had never been through the process of reporting my computer as unusable before. So, I admit that it was way more complicated than it needed to be, due to my own ignorance and lack of patience at the time.

I was approaching a very important deadline and didn’t know how long it would take for licenses to show up. I couldn’t wait for 3+ days, so I started the process and decided to purchase another copy of some of my mission-critical plug-ins (UVI, Eventide, GRM Tools, etc.) to make absolutely sure that my work wasn’t turned in late.

That decision was totally on me, and it was part of a learning experience. Overall, I’m glad that I went through it. It prompted me to invest in a better backup strategy, and to move all of my iLok-enabled licenses onto a USB key with Zero Downtime and Theft & Loss coverage enabled and current. That gives me the confidence to know that I can quickly rebound if something ever happens again.

Even though the process is pretty straightforward, it was still 5 days before the important licenses were available, and that would’ve been 2 days too late for my deadline. Lesson learned. Now I work smarter, not harder. And you’re correct jens, both Eventide and Soundtoys have offered excellent support.

Oh, I see - in your case a dongle of course makes perfect sense. Too bad you had to purchase additional licenses.


Maybe I was just very lucky, but the last time I had to make a location reset request, Kevin @Soundtoys replied on the same day, three hours after their immediate automatic response (which claimed "We have received your request and are working on responding to you as soon as possible. Due to increased volume we will respond within 1-2 business days."), taking immediate action. That triggered Eventide to follow up with a reset still on the same day,
Softube and UVI the next day, PSP two days after that, AIR further two days later (okay, so that's indeed five days then) and finally Wavearts after twenty-one months.
(Yes, you read that right )

So yeah, both Soundtoys and Eventide are really pure gold.

[comfortablynick]

It took me about four months to get all my licenses back when I lost a hard drive, so I use two dongles now instead of machine auth. I did use Cloud for a while and that worked well when supported (UAD mostly), but many of my licenses are dongle-only.

[Shabdahbriah]

[Bombadil]

I think it's a pretty cool freebie.