New Release: Spectral Agent v1.0.0 by Immanent Audio (Unmasking & Dynamic EQ)

[ImmanentAudio]

Hi everyone - I'm excited to announce the release of Spectral Agent, an unmasking and dynamic/auto EQ plugin that's designed to bring out your most important tracks.


https://www.kvraudio.com/product/spectr ... nent-audio

I'm an engineer by trade, but I've been in music my entire life. Much of the mixing I do is heavy on acoustic guitar and piano, so I'm always working to avoid mud between instruments that share so much frequency space.

I wanted to design a tool that compares frequency data between tracks, determines frequency clashes, and dynamically implements notch filters on one to favor the other. Taking this a step further, Spectral Agent works as a full-mix unmasking manager by letting you create an ecosystem of Master/Yielding interactions across all your tracks.

Put up to 64 instances of Spectral Agent on the tracks or buses in your mix, and they will automatically broadcast data to each other. Select one of the other tracks, and the analyzer window will display an overlay of the tracks' frequency data. The plug-in will pinpoint peaks, as well as frequency collision points between the two tracks.

You can then begin to determine which tracks should lead (by setting them to Master), or yield (by setting them to Yielding). The analyzer window will display a new Green curve displaying post-processed data on the Yielding track. Even if a track is Yielding to another, it can still be Master in another interaction. This is where the "ecosystem" concept starts to come alive - the layering of priority settings and complex hierarchy structure.

Each per-pair interaction gets its own parameters to dial in: notch depth, sensitivity, Atk/Rel, freq band, etc. (more detail on these in the product description). Spectral Agent limits the number of notches and uses a weighted priority algorithm to determine the most optimal placement of the notches at any given time - this is to prevent a track from getting completely crushed if it's Yielding to several others.

I took a lot of care to keep Spectral Agent CPU-lightweight, and artifact-free. The data flowing between plug-in instances is only what's necessary to determine notch positions, and the notches are designed to always come in and out smoothly.

To hear it in action, check out the demo video (down below or in the Product Description). The effect may be over-exaggerated in the video to showcase what it's doing more clearly - but it's up to you how subtle you'd want to make the filtering. I also have a demo version available here (it toggles on/off the BYPASS ALL every so often): https://immanentaudio.gumroad.com/l/cveia

Product Page: https://www.kvraudio.com/product/spectr ... nent-audio
Marketplace Page: https://www.kvraudio.com/marketplace/sp ... nent-audio
Direct Gumroad Link: https://immanentaudio.gumroad.com/l/bejaxg

I'd love to hear your feedback or questions regarding functionality/sound. I've been truly excited to release this plug-in and would like to build upon it in subsequent version updates.

Windows and MacOS-compatible (VST3 and AU)

[morphex]

Awwwwwe, bummer! I was getting psyched up while reading about the features, and the way that it can look to multiple instances to carve out space in the mix. And then I got to the very last sentence... “for Windows only currently.”

It sounds like a potentially useful tool, and time saver. This would be really good at giving tracks the room that they need, and without the added mud from frequencies building up or clashing.

Since I’m on a Mac system, I have to pass. But I hope to eventually see a VST/AU for us in the near future. Until then, I’ll keep an eye on Spectral Agent’s progress, and I wish the developer all the best!

[ImmanentAudio]

Awwwwwe, bummer! I was getting psyched up while reading about the features, and the way that it can look to multiple instances to carve out space in the mix. And then I got to the very last sentence... “for Windows only currently.”

It sounds like a potentially useful tool, and time saver. This would be really good at giving tracks the room that they need, and without the added mud from frequencies building up or clashing.

Since I’m on a Mac system, I have to pass. But I hope to eventually see a VST/AU for us in the near future. Until then, I’ll keep an eye on Spectral Agent’s progress, and I wish the developer all the best!

Apologies - I know I'm leaving many people out by being Windows-only. I do intend to create a build for Mac users down the line.

Apart from that, thank you for the support! I know there are other unmasking tools out there, but the typical sidechaining setup feels limiting to me. I hope everyone finds Spectral Agent's interconnected design to be intuitive and powerful.

[sokoleski]

Same here....Looking forward to try the Mac version... down the line

[kernaudioio]

the weighted priority algorithm is the interesting piece here: most sidechain-based unmasking setups fall apart when a track is yielding to multiple masters simultaneously, because there's no arbitration. sounds like you've solved the "crushed yielder" problem with a notch budget per track, which is the right call.

curious how you're handling the notch smoothing at the boundaries of the freq band param. fast transients in the sidechain signal can cause audible modulation artifacts if the notch Q is high. atk/rel helps but doesn't fully solve it in spectral content with lots of short bursts.

mac build is the obvious next step given this community. worth it when you're ready.

[ImmanentAudio]

the weighted priority algorithm is the interesting piece here: most sidechain-based unmasking setups fall apart when a track is yielding to multiple masters simultaneously, because there's no arbitration. sounds like you've solved the "crushed yielder" problem with a notch budget per track, which is the right call.

curious how you're handling the notch smoothing at the boundaries of the freq band param. fast transients in the sidechain signal can cause audible modulation artifacts if the notch Q is high. atk/rel helps but doesn't fully solve it in spectral content with lots of short bursts.

mac build is the obvious next step given this community. worth it when you're ready.

You're spot on with that modulation question. I encountered that issue in early testing - but more from normal transients than frequency band boundaries. The peaks on Master tracks move around quite a bit (as you can imagine). If the center of the notches on a Yielding track follows those movements tightly, you will get modulation artifacts.
The plugin will keep a notch locked in-place, even if that corresponding Master peak is oscillating slightly at that spot. The notch will only release once that Master peak moves far enough away such that the plugin deems the filtering is no longer effective (there are predetermined thresholds, and Q is a factor).
Aside from this, I didn't really experience issues with the frequency band boundaries during testing. Notch movement is designed to always be smooth enough to prevent abrupt changes - even if you're teetering on the edge of a freq band boundary.

And I'm glad you like the notch budget design. It wouldn't make sense to have layers of filtering stack on top of each other in the same frequency ranges, and you'd certainly be in trouble if you added 7/8 new notches for every additional Yielding interaction.

I'm gathering there are a lot of Mac users on KVR...

[ImmanentAudio]

Hello all - I'm just dropping in to say:

I heard you; and a Mac version is now in the works. Stay tuned!

[rj0]

Interesting. What are your thoughts regarding when tracks/instruments change priority (eg. a solo for an instrument that was in the background becomes the new focus of the song), particularly if it's a gradual transition?

[wheatBread]

The GUI looks great! The spectral display is very intuitive and looks easy to read. I really like this style.

[ImmanentAudio]

Interesting. What are your thoughts regarding when tracks/instruments change priority (eg. a solo for an instrument that was in the background becomes the new focus of the song), particularly if it's a gradual transition?

Good question - this should be feasible using your DAW's automation capabilities.

You aren't limited to one Spectral Agent instance per track. So if I was going to approach this, my workflow would probably look something like this:
1) Put 2 instances on my track that needs to change priority
2) Name one something like "Gtr Solo" and the other "Gtr Background"
3) Set up my Gtr Solo to be Master over most/all other tracks; set up the Gtr Background as I would've normally - Yielding to most or a mixture of Master/Yielding.
4) Use my DAW's automation to begin with the Gtr Solo instance bypassed
5) Gradually fade in a bypass of the Gtr Background instance while fading out the bypass of the Gtr Solo instance, when the time comes.

Some of the automation process may look different depending on the DAW, but I hope you'd be able to get the same effect whether that be with a gradual bypass or a wet/dry knob. When I tested in my environment, this ended up sounding like a natural transition.

Of course, all of this requires a few extra steps outside the plugin itself. Streamlining this process may be worth a look in future versions. Thanks for the insightful question!

[ImmanentAudio]

The GUI looks great! The spectral display is very intuitive and looks easy to read. I really like this style.

Much appreciated! Tried my best to keep it "clean"

[Dr.Gunjah]

Looks interesting, will try it later today. Should be far easier to use without the need of side chaining.
How does the copy protection look like?

After watching the video a feature request that seems obvious would be the plugin automatically naming the instances by the DAW track name. This should be possible with VST3 as some plugins already do this, like Pro Q4, for example.

[ImmanentAudio]

Looks interesting, will try it later today. Should be far easier to use without the need of side chaining.
How does the copy protection look like?

After watching the video a feature request that seems obvious would be the plugin automatically naming the instances by the DAW track name. This should be possible with VST3 as some plugins already do this, like Pro Q4, for example.

No license required to use - you're welcome to copy it around and use it on several different machines.

And yes, good call on that feature request. I actually made an early attempt at that functionality, but it didn't pan out for me and I never got back around to it. I'll add it to the list and take another look for v2. Still learning here

[Dr.Gunjah]

I've tried the plugin now. I think the idea is great and the usability is fine, but the UI is way too small. I'd also prefer a min/max style band selector instead of 4 fixed bands with a combo box selector.

I can't say that much about the sound because the demo is quite the catastrophe honestly. The demo bypass doesn't seem to be synced and 15 seconds is just way too small of a window. It would be more reasonable to make this something like 60s and then bypass all at the same time for x seconds. I've added only 4 instances to my sesssion and basically one of them is always on bypass. How am I supposed to even test what the plugin does?
It also doesn't help that the bypass all function doesn't work in the demo at all. Reaper has me covered here but I could imagine not all DAWs make it that easy.

[ImmanentAudio]

I've tried the plugin now. I think the idea is great and the usability is fine, but the UI is way too small. I'd also prefer a min/max style band selector instead of 4 fixed bands with a combo box selector.

I can't say that much about the sound because the demo is quite the catastrophe honestly. The demo bypass doesn't seem to be synced and 15 seconds is just way too small of a window. It would be more reasonable to make this something like 60s and then bypass all at the same time for x seconds. I've added only 4 instances to my sesssion and basically one of them is always on bypass. How am I supposed to even test what the plugin does?
It also doesn't help that the bypass all function doesn't work in the demo at all. Reaper has me covered here but I could imagine not all DAWs make it that easy.

Oh no! That is not the intended functionality of the demo. I will put out a hotfix ASAP.

I’ve gotten that feedback about the window size/resizing from other folks as well. Near the top of my list of things to address. Min/Max frequency selection is also a good idea- I’ll plan on implementing that feature in some way.

Despite the demo catastrophe, thanks for taking the time to try it and reach back out. I’ll be sure to post here as soon as the demo is in a more usable state!