Neural DSP Mantra

Neural DSP step out of their amp‑sim comfort zone, with a multi‑module mix processor aimed at polishing your vocal recordings.

If you have much interest in guitar‑rig simulation, then Neural DSP should be familiar to you: though only founded in 2017, they have quickly established themselves among the leading lights in this sector. Their product range started with some very well‑received guitar/bass rig plug‑ins, including some developed in collaboration with A‑list guitarists, bands and amp brands, before bravely expanding into hardware, with products such as the Quad Cortex and, more recently, the Nano Cortex (reviewed in SOS February 2025). Their latest software, Mantra, is not just another wonderful virtual guitar rig, but rather a vocal processing chain. Could it win Neural an audience amongst producers and engineers? Let’s find out.

Links In The Chain

Mantra is intended to put all the tools you need for vocal production — bar the mic, of course! — in a single AU/VST2/VST3/AAX plug‑in. Elements of the GUI design and layout will be familiar to users of Neural DSP’s guitar rig plug‑ins, and as well as looking modern, it’s super easy to navigate. The processing options are organised into three sections: Correction, Harmonies and Post FX. You can switch between them using the large buttons located towards the top of the display, and double‑clicking on the same buttons toggles the processing for that section on and off. The control set for the selected section fills the main part of the display.

The Correction section features seven individual processing modules.

As the labels suggest, Correction provides a collection of corrective processing tools, Harmonies provides a suite of options for generating automatic harmony parts from a vocal, while the Post FX section provides delay, reverb and modulation effects. That last section also includes a rather neat doubling effect, for when you just want to thicken a vocal part without digging into the details of the Harmonies section.

Tracking mode means Mantra can be used in real time while tracking or even performing live.

In the topmost row of global controls, one that’s worth noting is the Monitoring switch, which selects between two modes. In Mixing mode, you get all of Mantra’s features and the full depth of its processing capabilities, but with a modest latency. Cubase registered 56ms on my test system, which would not be an issue in a mixing context but is obviously too much for live performance and artist cue mixes. Hence Tracking mode: this reduces the latency (to a minimum of 3ms on my test system) by disabling a couple of features and employing some slightly ‘lighter’ processing algorithms. As with Neural’s guitar rig modelling, Tracking mode means Mantra can be used in real time while tracking or even performing live. This is an important element of the plug‑in’s feature set and will, I’m sure, appeal to many potential users.

Processing Options

When the Correction section is selected, a set of seven mini panels is displayed along the bottom of the plug‑in. The signal chain, running from left to right, consists of Tune, Gate, Sculpt, De‑Esser, EQ, Compressor and Saturation. As far as I can tell, this order is fixed, but it has been arranged logically and, in use, it didn’t ever feel constraining.

Each of the mini panels displays one key control for that module, as well as the module’s individual bypass switch. However, clicking on an individual module brings it into focus, expanding its mini panel to show a more detailed control set, and further controls or visual information associated with that module are then shown in the central portion of the GUI.

Gate is...