Techivation have recently started introducing some free plug-ins to their ever-expanding product range, with the first two examples providing users with saturation and transient shaping processors. The latest addition is T-De-Esser 2, and it’s not hard to guess what it does!
The plug-in is said to significantly improve on both the functionality and performance of its predecessor, and has been designed to provide an intuitive, user-friendly way to smooth out sounds with excessive high-frequency content while maintaining a natural, musical sound. As well as the obvious application of sibilant vocal sounds, the company say that the plug-in is also a great choice for taming the likes of overly bright pianos, guitars, snares and cymbals, as well as tackling unruly synth patches.
As with the company’s other offerings, the plug-in sports a clean and simple GUI with the most important control provided by a large central parameter. In this case, it’s labelled Processing, and acts as a threshold control that determines the sensitivity of the plug-in. Some fine-tuning is provided by an Intensity control, which determines the ratio of the compression being applied, and a Sharpness dial which alters the knee and determines how quickly the processing reaches its maximum value. A set of Frequency Range buttons allow users to specify which part of a signal is analysed and processed by the plug-in, with the following choices on offer: Low-Hi (1 – 4 kHz), Mid-Hi (2 – 4 kHz), High (5 – 10 kHz) and Hi-End (5 – 20 kHz).
There’s a Make-Up control that allows some additional gain to be dialled in at the plug-in’s output to compensate for signal loss introduced by the processing, and a pair of Diff and Filter buttons make it possible to audition the difference between the processed and unprocessed signals, as well as just the frequency range being targeted by the plug-in. You also get an A/B setting comparison tool, a wet/dry mix control, built-in undo and redo functions and a range of oversampling rates.
Compatibility
T-De-Esser 2 is supported on PCs running Windows 7 and above, and Macs running macOS 10.11 or higher. VST, VST3, AU and AAX plug-in versions are available.
Availability
T-De-Esser 2 is available now as a free download from the Techivation website.
