£89, lewitt-audio.com
Lewitt is best known for its broad range of quality microphones, but its latest release dabbles in the world of software. You might not have the best room to work in, or easy access to multiple playback speakers, but that’s where Space Replicator comes in. The plugin aims to provide realistic virtual acoustic spaces that you can use to refine your mix via headphones.
There is no shortage of options in this field, with products like Slate VSX, dSONIQ Realphones, and Waves’ Nx, to name a few. Lewitt Audio’s offering is a simple and affordable alternative, with support for an impressive 600+ headphone models, but a lack of focus and editability means it falls short of true greatness.
Space Replicator runs as a plugin inside your DAW, placed as the last item in the chain. You first start by selecting your specific brand and model of headphones from a large list, which loads a frequency-balancing calibration file. The next step is to create a binaural profile for your ears. This is a unique listening test feature that’s not present in the competition, and in theory, it should help to deliver a more realistic 3D sound that’s more specific to you. You visit the Lewitt website, where you make 10 choices between an A or B extract of audio, with a goal of selecting the most natural-sounding stereo image each time. In practice, it’s not the easiest concept to grasp, as you don’t really have a reference point for the type of room that you’re listening to. My first attempt results in an overly-wide sound, so I dive back in and create a second profile that favours narrower results. However, this also changes the spectral spread, so you might need to repeat the process several times to get results that sound natural. Once completed and saved, the binaural profiles are seamlessly synced to the plugin.
The plugin itself is relatively simple; you just select a space and go. There’s also an overall volume dial, plus a useful Safe Headroom button to reduce the output to compensate for any additional boosts that the headphone correction profiles, spaces and modelled playback systems introduce. There are 10 virtual spaces, some of which have several speaker options, plus modelled sets of headphones, taking the total list of listening profiles up to 30. Lewitt has confirmed that more spaces will be coming soon (however, whether they’re a paid extra remains to be seen).
There are big variations in how these sound, with different feelings of distance from the speakers. This often leads to the ambient sound of some rooms being a little strong, making you feel quite far away from the speakers. This could work for certain types of music, but it could make precise transient and bass work difficult. On the plus side, the rooms have been well captured, and you get a decent sense of 3D space.
In fairness, the nature of these kinds of plugins (or any new set of speakers or headphones) is that it takes time to learn, and the more you work with them, the more you get used to how they sound. This can make it tricky to review. For example, it took me over six months to truly learn the sound of Slate’s VSX system. What I can do though, is compare the sonics and features with other products on the market. A lot of the other plugin options offer a way to control the amount of room ambience, so hopefully that might be something that Lewitt will add in a future update, since Space Replicator doesn’t currently allow this option. Ambience aside, I do also have a bit of an issue with the White Sea Studio room, which has several unwanted resonances in the low-mids. This could lead to you making some unnecessary EQ moves.
Thankfully, the beauty of a system like this lies in having a variety of sources that you can learn and check your mix on to help build something that translates. And it’s arguably here that the plugin shines. You get a variety of phones, tablets, laptops, Bluetooth speakers, internal TV speakers, a soundbar and the inside of a car from several seat positions. Especially useful for some is the inclusion of the main floor and DJ booth of Berlin’s (recently closed) Watergate club, with a handy extra option to add a crowd. These spaces in particular are ultra-effective at giving you the feeling of being in a real room. On top of this, you get five sets of modelled headphones and earbuds, plus a ‘Transparent’, ideal headphone frequency response.
I test Space Replicator using several sets of headphones alongside VSX and Realphones. To my ears, VSX gave the best sounding results, with the punchiest bass and transients, but it’s also a lot more expensive as you have to buy the specific VSX headphones. Realphones also yields pleasant results, with extra tweakability, but the number of profiles is overwhelming and confusing. Space Replicator lacks any form of deeper editing, but is concise and easy to use, making it a respectable, reasonably-priced alternative that works with headphones you already own.
Outside of selecting the profiles and spaces, there’s a welcome Auto-bypass on the render function that stops you from accidentally bouncing your track with the effect left on. There’s currently no system-wide version that can run on your whole system audio, although it’s being discussed as a future update. To the brand’s credit, Lewitt seems active on forums and is looking for feedback on ways to improve the software; there’s even a shortcut from within the plugin to provide comments. Ideally, I’d like to see the option to control the sound of the room more, alongside some recognisable referencing staples such as NS-10s and an Avantone Mixcube added.
In its current state, though, Space Replicator is still a decent option that could help you refine your mixes by testing them on a range of systems.
I’ve included a few audio examples for headphone listening, so you can get an idea of the different profiles. These have been rendered on the default headphone and binaural settings, which should be relatively neutral, but bear in mind that the sound will differ according to your headphone model.
Key features
- VST3, AAX, AU virtual monitoring plugin
- 600+ headphone compensation files
- Experience realistic virtual acoustic spaces on headphones
- 5 studios, including Vienna Synchron Stage A & B
- 25 additional reference profiles
- Check mix translation on smartphone, club and more
- Consumer headphone simulations and ‘Transparent’ ideal headphone profile
- Internet connection required for initial setup process and then every 4 weeks
- 14-day free trial available
The post Lewitt Space Replicator review: Affordable virtual mixing plugin with room to improve appeared first on MusicTech.
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