Soundhack Spectral Shapersormats: PC VST, Mac OS 9 VST, Mac OS X VST & Audio Units
http://www.soundonsound.com/sos/apr04/articles/pluginfolder.htmTom Erbe's Soundhack program has been an essential part of the Mac sound designer's armoury for the last 12 years, and is described by its creator as "a collection of spectral filters which emphasise the creative manipulation of sound". Recognising that many people now find it more convenient to work with real-time plug-ins in a sequencing environment, Erbe is now in the process of adapting Soundhack's tools for the VST and Audio Units plug-in formats. The first fruits of this are the four plug-ins in the Spectral Shapers suite.
plug Spectral Compandplug Binaural
Morph Filter, Spectral Gate, Spectral Compand and Binaural are available by download from the Soundhack web site, and authorised using a simple serial number system. All of them are fairly high-powered, and require at least a 500MHz processor to run.
The basis of the interface is the same in each of the first three: a spectrum display shows an analysis of the incoming audio, with frequency along the X axis and amplitude along the Y, and the mouse is used to draw a 'shaping line' by clicking and dragging. This shaping line has a different function in each of the plug-ins.
In Spectral Gate, the input signal is divided into 513 frequency bands, each of which is gated or ducked independently. The shaping line you draw sets the threshold at which the gate kicks in for any given frequency, in conjunction with a global Threshold control and Tilt, which provides a 'quick fix' for balancing low and high-frequency content. A Learn button 'freezes' the spectral shape of the current input sound and uses it to create a shaping line, while with Peaktrack activated, the shaping line continuously follows the input sound.
Spectral Compander works on the same principle, except that instead of being gated, each frequency band is put through its own compressor or expander. Again, the shaping line can be used to set a frequency-dependent threshold, and again, you can analyse incoming audio to help generate a shaping line automatically.
The results are often fairly similar, though Spectral Gate tends to be more extreme. Spectral Compander can be used fairly effectively to reduce broadband noise, with an Invert button allowing you to audition only what's being removed. Both it and Spectral Gate, however, will probably appeal more to those who are interested in creative audio mangling. They are perhaps most useful on loops and other complex sources, where they can do anything from toning down a nasty resonance to changing the balance of the instruments in a mix. You can emphasise transients to make drums stick out of a mix, or use Spectral Gate's ducker mode to eliminate them almost completely. Using the 'learn' feature allows you to derive a shaping line from one mix and impose it on another; this is not a substitute for a dedicated EQ ripping tool like TC's Assimilator, but is great for making a bunch of random loops sound like they're part of the same song.
In Morph Filter, the shaping line defines a formant filter response, and a host-sync'able LFO can be used to morph between two different shapes. Again, the Learn button analyses incoming audio to set a shaping line automatically, though in this case, the shape is not a 'snapshot' but is built up over the period you leave Learn switched on. Suggested uses for Morph Filter include removing room resonances from a recording, and like Spectral Compander, it allows you to impose the frequency response of one sound onto another, though you wouldn't want to use it as a mastering tool.
Finally, Binaural is a stereo processor which can change the apparent position of sound in the stereo field. Two different algorithms are available, and a simple Angle control is used to determine whether the sound appears to come from right, left, front or rear of the sound stage. This, in turn, can be controlled by a tempo-sync'able LFO or using the built-in envelope editor. The results can be impressive (and highly disorienting!), but like most such effects, are limited in application by the fact that the process only really works properly on headphones.
In action, I found Spectral Gate and Spectral Compander much the most useful of the four, with real creative potential. These are not ideal mastering tools, but if you're struggling to fit a loop into a busy mix, if you want to 'dry up' a sample with too much reverb, or if you want to bring the drums to the fore, these could be just the job. At more extreme settings, you can also create fantastic ambient textures. Anyone interested in sound design will enjoy tinkering with all of the plug-ins here, and the free 14-day demo download gives everyone an opportunity to try them out. Sam Inglis
Topic: Soundhack Spectral Shapers (Read 4132 times)