Spectral Audio Plugins

[Anjali Reyome]

Someof that brain-bending research from Paris' famed IRCAM is coming your way in plug-in form - even (partly) for free. It's a spectral remixing, sound morphing, audio shaping powerhouse that landed from some advanced alien civilization, but it's...

SoundMagic Spectral is a freeware suite of 23 Audio Unit plug-ins that implement real-time spectral processing of sound. This set of effects give you unprecedented control and creativity in the processing of audio, whether from static audio files or live audio streams.

In the world of audio production, achieving the perfect sound is both an art and a science. Musicians, sound engineers, and producers constantly seek ways to shape, mold, and refine audio signals to create captivating and unique sonic experiences. One of the powerful tools in their arsenal is spectral shaping, a technique that allows them to manipulate the frequency content of audio signals with precision.

At its core, spectral shaping involves the alteration of the frequency spectrum of an audio signal. Unlike traditional EQ or filtering, which primarily target specific frequency ranges, spectral shaping provides a more nuanced approach. It allows you to sculpt and mold the spectral content of audio signals with incredible detail.

To effectively apply spectral shaping, audio professionals rely on a variety of plugins and software tools. These plugins are designed to provide a range of spectral processing capabilities, from subtle corrections to creative sound design. Here are some of the common tools used:

1. Techivation M-Clarity: The M-Clarity by Techivartion is a powerful resonance suppressor plugin designed to suppress unwanted muddy, boxy, and harsh frequencies and resonances in any sound. It combines simplicity and power, employing a unique spectral shaping algorithm to deliver accurate results. The reason we picked this tool as the number one spectral shaping plugin in 2023, is because of its ability to offer precise and artifact-free results.

2. Spectrasonics Omnisphere: While primarily known as a synthesizer, Omnisphere also offers powerful spectral processing capabilities, allowing you to shape and manipulate audio in creative ways.

3. MeldaProduction MXXX: MXXX is a modular effects plugin that includes spectral processing modules, offering a wide range of tools for spectral shaping, manipulation, and enhancement.

4. Cableguys ShaperBox 2: ShaperBox 2 is a versatile plugin that includes various modules for shaping audio, including TimeShaper, VolumeShaper, FilterShaper, and PanShaper, which can all be used for spectral processing.

5. Kilohearts Multipass: While not exclusively a spectral shaping plugin, Multipass is a multiband effects processor that allows you to apply different effects to specific frequency bands, making it a powerful tool for shaping the spectral content of audio.

Having the noise from both tracks A & B isolated in a new track looks promising but since the noise wavefrom either form track A or track B is now inverted it seems like a dead end when working with waveforms. Right?

By shifting the frequency range of the audio track to here and there it is possible to get a more natural noise but then than the vocals become blubbery instead. I assume therefore that the plugins are not resolving all frequencies evenly.

ApeSoft has Moebius (which offers some decent spectral possibilities) and Sparkle (which allows you to combine two sounds spectrally using FFT). Moebius is IAA/Audiobus only unfortunately, though it's very good. Sparkle is an AUV3.

@cian said:

ApeSoft has Moebius (which offers some decent spectral possibilities) and Sparkle (which allows you to combine two sounds spectrally using FFT). Moebius is IAA/Audiobus only unfortunately, though it's very good. Sparkle is an AUV3.

csSpectral is a real-time, Csound-based, multi-effects processor featuring a Streaming Phase Vocoder and six other FFT-based spectral algorithms. The diverse collection of real-time DSP effects let you create unique textures and timbres by transforming your voice, instrument, or iTunes library. csSpectral also supports Audiobus, allowing you to send and receive audio from other apps, making the processing possibilities nearly endless.

yah thats the one I was referring to. Not AU though. It actually was updated at one point to 64bit after the dev seemed like they wanted to clean it up and also seemed aware of the other issues but still it is not up to scratch for proper connectivity and does crash after a while. I do like it for making sample fodder but it takes annoying seemingly random-ish steps to do. So I can't recommend it.

Spectral effects access the hidden world of audio signals - the spectral domain.Designing such tools is often very hard and in analogue devices it is generally impossible.These tools usually focus on pitch shifting, but there are many other marvellous things that the spectral domainlets us accomplish, and we are just getting started!

Spectral domain processing lets us analyze the contents of the audio material directly and change it in someway.A classic purpose of saturation is to create higher harmonics to enrich the signal.The problem is that saturation (and any other distortion) produces not only the harmonics, but also lots ofdifferent unrelated frequencies, which causethe "distorted" sound. In spectral domain processing we can create only what we want and that's what thefollowing tools do.

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SpecOps is dozens of plugins in one. Inside its easy-to-use interface is a jam-packed armory containing 36 diverse and flexible spectral effects, ranging from subtle to extreme. How you use these potent tools is truly limited only by your creative imagination: transform synthesizer presets with new sonic qualities, add throbbing grunge to drum loops, fatten up instrument tracks, delicately clarify full mixes, or decimate organic instruments and vocals beyond recognition to create one-of-a-kind special effects.

M-Clarity is a dynamic resonance suppressor plugin designed to suppress unwanted muddy, boxy, and harsh frequencies and resonances in any sound. It combines simplicity and power, employing a unique spectral shaping algorithm to deliver accurate results.

Achieving a balanced and clear sound can be difficult due to the presence of unwanted muddiness and boxiness in most cases. However, with M-Clarity's spectral shaping technology, you can easily eliminate these issues while retaining the essential frequencies in your audio.

There are various ways to reduce unwanted muddiness and boxiness in mixes, but some methods are more effective and efficient than others. Although you can use tools such as EQ, dynamic EQs, or multi-band compressors to address these issues, none are as effective as M-Clarity.

Whether you're aiming for a cleaner kick drum with minimal room resonances, a well-balanced bass in your mix, or a clear and solid vocal track, a more solid overall mix the M-Clarity is the perfect solution.

It controls the scale of resonances the plugin targets: at low intensity, it suppresses fine spectral peaks without affecting the overall contour, while at high intensity, it looks for larger, more wide-band resonances.

View the audio levels of the input and output signals before and after processing. These meters provide real-time feedback on the input and output levels, allowing you to monitor the changes in amplitude that occur during the spectral shaping process.

This control is responsible for adjusting the output volume of the processed audio signal. As spectral shaping is a frequency-specific processing technique that targets and manipulates individual frequency components within the audio signal, the input signal level does not have a direct effect on the processing. Therefore, there is no need for an input control in the plugin.

The interface scaling feature in M-Clarity allows you to customize the size of the GUI to suit your preferences and optimize your workflow. With a range of scaling options available, from 80% to 150%, you can personalize the interface to match your visual and working style

The plug-in features a dedicated bypass/on control, which allows for the swift enabling or bypassing of the effect. This user-friendly control is designed to help avoid potential clicks or audio artefacts that may occur when toggling the effect on or off directly within the DAW host.

The M-Clarity plug-in comes equipped with the handy feature of built-in 'Undo' and 'Redo' options, providing added peace of mind while working on your audio processing. With these functions, you can easily revert to previous settings or redo changes that were made in error, saving time and eliminating the stress of potentially losing valuable adjustments.

The A/B buttons provide a convenient way to compare different options and find the optimal setting for your audio processing needs. With just a click, you can easily switch between two different versions of the same processing chain and compare the results.

A handy 'tooltips' option that you can enable or disable from the plugin's menu. When this option is enabled, you can see a brief description of each part of the user interface by simply holding your mouse over that particular section. Tooltips are an excellent way to quickly learn about the various controls and settings in the plugin, making it easier to navigate and use the interface effectively.

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