At AES, New York, (Booth #126), Sonnox has introduced a new suite of audio restoration plug-ins: Sonnox Restore is a collection of three plug-ins: Oxford DeBuzzer, Oxford DeClicker and Oxford DeNoiser, designed to accurately restore impaired audio recordings.

Developed over an exhaustive 18-month R&D program, Sonnox says that the Sonnox Restore suite represents "a quantum leap beyond previous restoration plug-in technology". Its advanced algorithms allow fast and effective removal of pops, clicks, crackles, scratches, hum, buzzes and extraneous background noise from virtually any recording. All three plug-ins provide detailed graphical feedback, and include novel features new to the restoration field, such as a specialized dialogue mode in the DeClicker.

"Sonnox Restore represents a genuine milestone for our company." states Managing Director, Rod Densham. "As with all our products, emphasis on audio quality has been paramount throughout the design phase, and an additional focus has been speed and ease of use, which should be particularly beneficial in saving time for our post-production customers."

Oxford DeClicker:

• Separate DePop, DeClick and DeCrackle sections.
• Each section has event detection indicator and activity density meter.
• Advanced algorithms for accurate detection and high quality repair.
• Intuitive display gives visual feedback of energy and duration of events.
• Exclude box to select events that should not be repaired.
• Excitation displays to aid accurate setting of threshold controls.
• Three audition modes including the option to listen to the detected events.
• Dialogue Mode with two separate control sets for speech and background.

Oxford DeBuzzer:

• High performance hum and buzz removal.
• Scalable high resolution FFT shows strongest harmonics and removal filter.
• Very accurate setting of fundamental over 3 frequency ranges.
• Integrating frequency display shows strength of fundamental.
• Tracking mode can be set to Automatic to follow fundamentals that wander in frequency, or Freeze for fundamentals that vary in amplitude.
• Choice of removal filters: Comb for narrow removal over many harmonics, or Parametric EQ for more musical removal over a small set of harmonics.
• Two audition modes, including the option to listen to the removed buzz.

Oxford DeNoiser:

• High quality noise removal using advanced algorithms.
• Separate DeHiss, Detect and Remove sections for intuitive workflow.
• High resolution FFT of input signal showing noise profile.
• Efficient DeHisser for preparation before wide-band noise reduction.
• Detector noise profile can be set to automatic, freeze or manual.
• Noise profile is controllable, including adjustable bias curve.
• Two audition modes, including the option to listen to the removed noise.
• Warmth control for sweetening after noise removal.

Pricing and Availability

The Sonnox Restore Suite will be available at a price of $1,995 / £1,195 in the fall of 2009, and will be compatible with Pro Tools (RTAS), Audio Units and VST platforms.