Unfiltered Audio SpecOps: Available Now

[Dasheesh]

desperately needs a side chain!

[Firebird]

I love SpecOps, I find myself using it often as kind of harmonics generator for percussions...

+1

Here are some settings for doing just that:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0nXhZiH ... e=youtu.be

Very cool, thanks for the link.
The settings bring out some nice details on drums tracks.

SpecOps seems to have some nice versatility in usage.
The current deal is a plus.

[yellowmix]

desperately needs a side chain!

What would that do differently from input follower applied negatively to mix?

[Dasheesh]

desperately needs a side chain!

What would that do differently from input follower applied negatively to mix?

I could use it as a multi-band spectral audio morpher.

[V0RT3X]

I used SpecOps, G8 and Sandman Pro to get these crazy sounds.

This sound started out by creating a bunch of crazy "warp" edits on a custom beat I made in Bitwig and then ran that through SpecOPs using a super high FFT rate.

Actually I'm finding G8 is a great sample creation tool because you can create "Hit" sounds with it if you use the right settings and feed the crazy shit into it. By "hit" I mean you can take a stream of percussive sounds all playing and isolate a single hit. I probably should demonstrate this but most people might know already what I'm talking about.

Presswerk was used on the master output in Limiter mode.

https://soundcloud.com/user-841453413/glitche

[scott_free]

I used SpecOps, G8 and Sandman Pro to get these crazy sounds.
This sound started out by creating a bunch of crazy "warp" edits on a custom beat I made in Bitwig and then ran that through SpecOPs using a super high FFT rate.

I love the sound of crazy warp edits in the afternoon. Nice one!

[V0RT3X]

I used SpecOps, G8 and Sandman Pro to get these crazy sounds.
This sound started out by creating a bunch of crazy "warp" edits on a custom beat I made in Bitwig and then ran that through SpecOPs using a super high FFT rate.

I love the sound of crazy warp edits in the afternoon. Nice one!

Warp editing a drum loop into something freaking different is always fun.

[V0RT3X]

Decided to run 4 instances of Bazille and create this weird experimental drone track. I used 4 custom patches in Bazille and then ran each through their own custom patched SpecOp instance running at 2048 bins. The only DAW automation that was used was on the Filter and Dry/Wet Knobs in each instance of SpecOps.

BPM:100

Everything was exported at 96khz, 24bit audio so download the original 138.2MB .Wav file if you want the quality.

The Glue was used on the master.

https://soundcloud.com/user-841453413/b ... pecial-ops

[Hez]

Does anybody else get this strange issue where SpecOps starts making quite a high pitched 'whining' noise after the plugin has been loaded for a while? It doesn't seem to happen with all filter settings/FFT sizes, and changing the FFT size up or down then back to the original size stops the issue for a while, until it starts to occur again. It almost feels like there's feedback occurring in one or two bins that somehow builds up after some period of time. I have a feeling it's related to the Smear algorithm, as this is probably the filter mode I use most frequently, but I'm not 100% sure.

[thelizard]

Does anybody else get this strange issue where SpecOps starts making quite a high pitched 'whining' noise after the plugin has been loaded for a while? It doesn't seem to happen with all filter settings/FFT sizes, and changing the FFT size up or down then back to the original size stops the issue for a while, until it starts to occur again. It almost feels like there's feedback occurring in one or two bins that somehow builds up after some period of time. I have a feeling it's related to the Smear algorithm, as this is probably the filter mode I use most frequently, but I'm not 100% sure.

What sort of material are you sending through it, and how long do you estimate it takes for the whining to appear?

We use transient detection to periodically reset the phases of the STFT, and a timer will reset it every 20 minutes or so to prevent the worst artifacts. Still, it's very possible that there might be a bad interaction somewhere. If you have a preset where it happens very consistently, send it over to us and we'll investigate.

[Hez]

Does anybody else get this strange issue where SpecOps starts making quite a high pitched 'whining' noise after the plugin has been loaded for a while? It doesn't seem to happen with all filter settings/FFT sizes, and changing the FFT size up or down then back to the original size stops the issue for a while, until it starts to occur again. It almost feels like there's feedback occurring in one or two bins that somehow builds up after some period of time. I have a feeling it's related to the Smear algorithm, as this is probably the filter mode I use most frequently, but I'm not 100% sure.

What sort of material are you sending through it, and how long do you estimate it takes for the whining to appear?

We use transient detection to periodically reset the phases of the STFT, and a timer will reset it every 20 minutes or so to prevent the worst artifacts. Still, it's very possible that there might be a bad interaction somewhere. If you have a preset where it happens very consistently, send it over to us and we'll investigate.

Ah interesting - that makes sense. I often have projects where I end up running audio at very low levels into SpecOps, and frequently just little bits of noise etc. that I want to dirty up to run under a drum part or whatever. Definitely a lot of stuff that would typically not trigger any transient detection algorithm. I'll have a play around and see if I can find a patch where I would expect the safeguards you've mentioned above to trigger but they aren't.

It sounds like from the above I might be better off running louder audio into SpecOps (assuming the transient detection algorithm has some sort of dependency on absolute level?) to hopefully get this reset to occur more often.

While I have your attention (:D) I just recently noticed an issue with the VST3 version of SpecOps where the Filter Mode setting is not being recalled properly when opening a saved project - the filters all default back to the default values. This doesn't appear to happen to any other parameters, and only occurs with the VST3 version. I'm not sure whether it's a Bitwig-related issue but I submitted bug reports to both Bitwig and Plugin Alliance today about it.

[cthonophonic]

I've noticed that high level signals will sometimes produce windowing artifacts when pitch-shifting, so I'll have to lower the input gain and raise the output to get a clean effect.

[foosnark]

About a week and a half ago, I wrote up a bunch of notes on several plugins that I use, but SpecOps was accidentally left out... in retrospect it was really a glaring absence.

That turned out to be a good thing though. There's a lot in SpecOps, and it's one of those plugins I felt like I'd never really used to the fullest. I owned it for years and kind of poked at it at random on occasion, but that was it for a while.

When Synthesis Technology announced the E520 effects processor for Eurorack, I preordered one. But I discovered that there was a limited set of spectral effects that I really found myself using, and SpecOps could do most of them. But I still didn't do a deep dive and really figure the plugin out.

Finally I have done that, come up with some general methods as well as specific understanding of each effect and how I can use it. Those notes are here.

The plugin may be a few years old but it's still a delight and still fully capable of surprises. (I do wish the patch cables were easier to grab with the mouse, though!)

[Srae]

SpecOps2 soon? When DrumSynth1?

[Neon Breath]

SpecOps2 soon? When DrumSynth1?

I really doubt it.

Unfiltered Audio doesn't have a history of updating their plugins with major 'V' versions, except for some simple maintenance. Once they are out, they stay pretty much the same.