Baby Audio releases Smooth Operator Pro - Spectral Signal Balancer

[BABY Audio]

Hi all,
We're excited to announce Smooth Operator Pro, the latest evolution of our spectral balancing tool. It's been 4 years in the making since the original V1 and has been improved and expanded significantly.

We hope you'll give the free demo a try since this type of effect can best be evaluated in your own sessions. We'd love to hear what you think!

Free trial and more info available here:
https://babyaud.io/smooth-operator-plugin

Highlights
- Smooth Operator Pro removes the bloated frequency energy your tracks don’t need
- Achieve clarity in your mixes by eliminating mud, harsh resonances and masking
- Fix specific problem areas with surgical control or re-shape the tonal balance entirely

Resonance suppression 2.0
Where other spectral balancers offer global settings to affect the signal, Smooth Operator Pro brings unprecedented depth: Overwrite the global settings for any frequency node to set individual dynamic profiles across the spectrum. (This is effectively like having multiple individual resonance suppressors in one plugin instance, each being calibrated to do exactly what is needed at a certain frequency).

Smooth(er) Operator
We’ve listened and learned. The all-new version incorporates four years of user feedback since V1.
- Enhanced performance and sound quality
- Full control over all dynamic and imaging parameters
- Freely add and remove nodes across the spectrum
- Create individual dynamic processing profiles per node
- Two cutting-edge correction algorithms: Even and Skew

Upgrade price for V1 owners
Owners of the original Smooth Operator can upgrade for $29.

We're excited to hear what you think! Feel free to post any questions in this thread.

[pawder]

whats the difference to a dynamic eq i wonder

[multree]

I loved the old smooth operator.... initial impressions here are very good too. Well scratch that.... impressions are this is a HUGE improvement.

sounds like Even is equal to how the old algo worked and skew is entirely new... m/s mode is also lovely.....

But WHY am I still unable to have the chosen color scheme as a default? this always bugged me with tAIp and also SO1. I know it's not a BIG deal.... but a small one it certainly is. I would have liked a colorwheel (so I can pick whatever color I like and simply have it stay that way). I'll certainly live though. I hope.

[Danpo]

I saw that about the scheme color, it is for sure a bit frustrating to say the least…

[Alexander_D]

Nice... BTW I love SpecCraft honestly. Or this more like Bloom from OEK?

[DJErmac]

Smooth Operator is part of my every-day chain. I sometimes use it only as a de-esser, or to tame any part of frequencies when needed. To me its sound is full perfection : never overdoing anything. Simply taming gently.

And now here goes the pro version... I've just been playing with it some time, and the first thing that I have to say is that yes, you still can obtain the same "set and forget" sound, that only corrects what you wouldn't want to hear.

And more... now it's a powerhouse it seems... I've just scratched the surface and I've discovered ton of things that you can do, such as fine tuning the algo (wasn't possible before), and a new kind of agressive wall mode... I'm more than impressed...

[Funky40]

whats the latency ?


sorry for the ever same question.
(48khz, in cae it plas a role)

and:
it can suck down bass ? can it suck donw bass similar to a gate, based on clamp down only if a frequenzy specific area is lower than the threshold ?
sort of auto adaptive vs. the frequenzy setting ?


which tools can do "that" ?

[HOTF]

whats the difference to a dynamic eq i wonder

A Dynamic EQ does not react to change in the frequency response you have to set frequency and a Q parameter. And without automation it will only duck the frequency region you set. Smooth operator reacts dynamically to the signal. Let's say you want to tame the fundamental of a signal. Even if the fundamental changes from 440hz to 880hz when you do an octave jump smooth operator will react accordingly and duck the fundamental no matter where it is. I hope that helps

[foosnark]

For someone who already has Curve Equator, Wavesfactory Equalizer, and TEOTE, and previously tried and resold Gullfoss, and is getting tired of collecting plugins for this stuff... is it worth checking this out?

I like Curve Equator as a general "slap it on and it sounds better" tool, especially tweaking the mid/side action. But nothing I have tried actually deals with obnoxious, sustained resonant peaks without reaching for a manual EQ and "spot-treating" them. If this is different I might consider it.

[HOTF]

For someone who already has Curve Equator, Wavesfactory Equalizer, and TEOTE, and previously tried and resold Gullfoss, and is getting tired of collecting plugins for this stuff... is it worth checking this out?

I like Curve Equator as a general "slap it on and it sounds better" tool, especially tweaking the mid/side action. But nothing I have tried actually deals with obnoxious, sustained resonant peaks without reaching for a manual EQ and "spot-treating" them. If this is different I might consider it.

It might or might not do a better job but you cant just slap it own anything lower the threshold and expect it to solve your problems without some work (unless you just want to very generally smooth out a signal). You still need to guide the plugin with the nodes and dial in the right amount of "focus". With some work in can probably sound more transpenrent an frankly better than a static EQ. Baby Audio offers free trial : https://babyaud.io/free-trials

[foosnark]

You still need to guide the plugin with the nodes and dial in the right amount of "focus". With some work in can probably sound more transpenrent an frankly better than a static EQ.

Thanks, that's what I wanted to know. (I already do use dynamic EQ for this sometimes, or just apply static EQ in individual spots during an editing phase.)

[pekbro]

Nice plugin, but it’s not going to replace speccraft for me, can’t upgrade either,
so will pass for now at least.

Easy upgrade for those who can though, I expect.

[_al_]

Well Hi Preserve / Lo Preserve got my attention.
Does anyone who's downloaded know if Hi Lo preserve has Per-Node settings, or is it a global setting?

Nice to see a Delta in there too.

Also, anyone compared it's CPU to Soothe or Pro Q 4?
Gonna be a hard sell, as I already have those two.

[pawder]

whats the difference to a dynamic eq i wonder

A Dynamic EQ does not react to change in the frequency response you have to set frequency and a Q parameter. And without automation it will only duck the frequency region you set. Smooth operator reacts dynamically to the signal. Let's say you want to tame the fundamental of a signal. Even if the fundamental changes from 440hz to 880hz when you do an octave jump smooth operator will react accordingly and duck the fundamental no matter where it is. I hope that helps

My main thought is that ducking in smooth operator is the same as in a dynamic eq, but without the need of manually setting frequency areas where to duck. But if you use nodes you work similar to a dynamic eq where you define your frequencies. The biggest difference is the fidelity i'd say. If i set a node in a dynamic eq at 6k Hz its ducking width depends on my Q but with smooth operator (again node at 6k hz) it does not duck bell curve like around 6K but can also duck depending on its resolution (what people call spectral). But to my understanding it still works like a dynamic EQ in respect to ducking whatever exceeds a threshold, just with more fidelity.

[Flogs]

The Hi Preserve/Lo Preserve functions are set individually and are global. You can use the individual nodes with imaging, compression and focus though. It does sound very good, much nicer than Curves Equator. CPU does spike on ratio movement and a few other dials, think this is down to GUI as CPU load reduces drastically when using the plugin in Controls mode in Logic Pro, similar to how Bleass Tides reacts in the same circumstance. Hopefully BA optimises it soon. Pro Q is always going to eat less cycles unless really pushed. Not used Soothe so can't compare.