Klean Boy - amazing

[himalaya]

Hi,
I just wanted to give feedback about the Klean Boy noise reduction plugin.

It is simply amazing. Absolutely top quality noise reduction.
So far I have used several noise reduction plugins, and Klean Boy is the best yet! I'm by no means a newbie when it comes to using such processes. In my time I had to use noise reduction on many different tasks, from live concerts, dodgy voice overs, to noisy vintage gear.

I bought Klean Boy just recently (last week) as I have been struggling with cleaning some noise from vintage analogue synth tracks. I used my usual plugin (won't name it) and despite being very versatile, despite me tweaking it extensively, it affected the main audio signal too much. I then used the Klean Boy demo, and with one click ('Sample Noise') all the noise was gone with minimal artifacts. I then realised that there was an automatic 60% noise reduction applied by default and when I dialed in a lower percentage, there was no artifcats and still no discernible noise! Brilliant!

For the price this is simply unbelievable and at the moment I can't see myself ever needing a more expensive plugin.

Highly recommended!

[sonicpowa]

And FreEq Boy is good if one wants to draw freely an eq curve.

[himalaya]

BUT! After further use on more material, I have to say that sadly, it needs improving in one particular area, namely: Klean Boy desperately needs the Noise Floor Baseline threshold/envelope to be fully user editable. Not like it is now, where one slider sets the threshold, but it needs to be like an EQ curve, where I can double click on any point of the threshold line, create a node and grab it to reduce/add at that particular point. See how Voxengo's Redunoise does that.

This is essential. Reason is, I have a sound with high frequency content and loud broadband noise(s) and pops. Klean Boy can certainly eliminate all noise/pops but it does so at the expense of high frequencies which get nuked at the same time. The in-built EQ is not really suitable to bring back the missing frequencies (I tried it but it's just not right for the job). I also tried external EQ, post Klean Boy, but again, I just could not bring back the same lush hi freq shine. The only option is to set the Floor Baseline threshold lower at a chosen frequency point. In my particular example I'd love to be able to set a high Shelving slope to let the original audio through unaffected, which above 4Khz does not have any pops or noise which is disruptive. Only hiss which actually adds to the original sound.

Elevayta, any ideas if it's possible to implement (soonish?)

[Space Boy]

Hi himalaya,

Thanks for the feedback. I have tested Klean Boy against all the major competition and closed the code only when I was convinced that it was actually better than most and not less than equal to the best. I tested on various material and didn't find the real need for a user drawable noise floor, although it is possible and, indeed Redunoise offers it. Given that Klean Boy offers some very high quality and unique features like, real-time adaptive noise floor estimation, and that I wanted to keep what is already a complex process as simple as possible, I didn't consider to implement a hand drawn noise floor. I think that the price/performance is already easily the best in the market and need to consider how adding new features would influence this.

A possible work around may be to duplicate the audio on two tracks and apply a low pass filter prior to Klean Boy on one track with a high pass filter on the other un-processed track. In fact, FreEq Boy may be the tool for this. It has the possibility to specify a variable width notch filter at any frequency (make a high pass or low pass just by shifting the notch frequency). It also can import an ascii description of a filter. Two instances could be used to apply complimentary filters. Maybe worth to check the demo.

Again, thanks for the feedback. I am somewhat biased (no pun intended), but Klean Boy was designed to do a very good job at a riduculously low price. I sometimes think I should be charging 10 times the price.

Paul
Elevayta

[himalaya]

Hi Paul,

Thank you for your reply.

It's a pity that user drawn threshold is out of the question. It really wouldn't spoil the ease of use, as it would be an option, and you could definitely charge more, since Klean Boy is a bargain as it is and it will be the first noise reduction plugin I turn to in each task.

Eq is really not suitable for the job I'm doing. Everything was perfect, Klean Boy has managed to get rid off the noise, but the high frequency sheen was also eliminated, something which could have been remedied with that user editable threshold. So you can imagine my frustration. But yeah, otherwise, it's an excellent plugin.

V2 would be very welcomed though.