Following on from its 10-year anniversary, oeksound’s flagship plug-in has just reached its third major version. Soothe3 has been rebuilt from the ground up, and is now powered by a redesigned algorithm that promises a significant improvement to processing transparency and a wider ‘sweet spot’, as well as introducing support for immersive channel layouts and more.
Described as a dynamic resonance suppressor, Soothe3 retains all of its predecessor’s features while introducing a whole host of new functionality. The Sharpness and Selectivity parameters have been merged into a single Detail control, a move which is said to make it quicker and easier to tackle harsh-sounding resonances, while the side panel now features new Tilt and Max Cut parameters alongside the existing stereo controls.
Although the plug-in has been treated to some new features, oeksound are keen to point out that the headline feature for Soothe3 is that it simply sounds much better! Thanks to the newly designed algorithm, the plug-in’s processing is said to be far more transparent, while the addition of new parameters — and adjustments to existing ones — promise to deliver the goods in less time. The Soft and Hard modes introduced in Soothe2 have been tweaked, too: Soft mode is now almost completely level-independent, meaning it’s better suited to dealing with resonances, while hard mode offers a more compressor-like behaviour.
“Soothe2 definitely has a characteristic sound to it when pushed. The fundamental research challenge for us was to minimise this recognisable character while still keeping the process pinpoint accurate at fixing the actual problems. This is the major difference compared to Soothe2: Soothe3 is more aware of the overall tonal balance of the source, making it more selective and better suited especially for full range processing. This also results in a wider sweet spot, that in turn makes it faster to use and less likely to introduce new problems while fixing existing ones.” - Tommi Gröhn, Principal DSP Architect, oeksound
Also new to Soothe3 is a low-latency mode that makes it possible to deploy the plug-in during tracking sessions or live sound applications, along with multi-channel support for layouts up to 9.1.6.
What’s New?
Here’s a quick breakdown of everything that’s been added to Soothe3:
New, Improved Algorithms
- Soft Mode: Our most transparent resonance suppression, with an adaptive threshold. Ideal for most sound sources, works especially well with dynamic instruments.
- Hard Mode: In the style of Soothe2, with a fixed threshold. Ideal for more aggressive control and popular side-chain effects.
Low-latency Mode
- In low-latency mode Soothe3 adds zero samples of latency at base sample rates and ~1 ms at higher sample rates, enabling tracking and live applications.
Workflow Improvements
- Detail Parameter: Combines Soothe2’s Sharpness and Selectivity under one control for more streamlined use.
- More Flexibility With Nodes: Create or delete nodes, and choose between eight different band shapes, including band-pass and tilt, to make adjustments quickly.
- Collapsible Side Panel: Keep essential controls at hand and more advanced settings out of the way when working fast.
More Advanced Controls
- Multi-channel Support: Soothe3 supports up to 9.1.6 channel configurations with full control over the linking of channel sets.
- Customise Soothe’s Response With Tilt Controls: Scale Detail, Attack and Release frequency-dependently.
- Max Cut Parameter: Drive Soothe harder while keeping the biggest cuts in check.
- Linear-phase Mode: can be useful for parallel processing, or when using unlinked processing in Mid-Side to prevent changes in panning
Compatibility
Soothe3 is supported on PCs running Windows 10 or above, and Macs running macOS 10.14 and higher. VST3, AU and AAX plug-in versions are available. Authorisation is carried out by PACE’s iLok system, although a USB dongle is not required.
Pricing & Availability
Soothe3 is available now, priced at $259£199 / €229. Upgrades from Soothe2 are available for $55£45 / €50. GBP prices include VAT.
