Overview
De-esser listens to the band above Frequency and turns down only when it gets too loud. Split band lowers only that band; Wide band lowers everything for each s.
Getting started
- Press Listen and move Frequency to where the s is loudest; release Listen, lower Threshold until the s sits right.
Controls
| Mode | Split band or Wide band. |
| Listen | Plays the band it listens to (never saved). |
| Threshold | How loud the band must get. |
| Range | The most it turns down. |
| Frequency | Where the band starts, 2 to 16 kHz. |
| Release | How fast it lets go. |
Settings
The gear in the header opens the settings panel; it covers the lower panel until the gear is clicked again.
| Lookahead | Off or 2 ms. |
| Detection | Linked or Per side. |
What the screen shows
The band’s level over five seconds, the threshold, and the reduction hanging from the top.
Tips
- Most voices sit between 5 and 8 kHz.
Technical notes
- Split band never makes any frequency louder; with no reduction the sound passes bit for bit.
Common to every plugin
| The header | Every window opens with the same header. On the left a dot-matrix display shows the main reading large and the details under it; text that does not fit scrolls. Next to it a hint with a coloured dot says what the plugin is doing or what to do next. On the right: Undo and Redo arrows (up to 100 steps of everything done in the window), the Bypass button, and the gear, which opens the plugin's settings panel when it has one. |
| Bypass | With Bypass lit, the plugin lets the sound through untouched. It is the same switch as your DAW's own bypass for the plugin, so either can be used and automated. The input is held back by exactly the plugin's latency, so the timing stays right, and switching fades over 10 ms, so it never clicks. Bypass is not part of Undo. |
| Input and Output | Most plugins have a column on the right with a pair of VU meters for the input and the output, each with its own gain knob (plus or minus 24 dB). Analog shows the classic VU scale, dBFS the digital one. A click on a meter opens a large view of it. The CLIP lamp lights when a sample reaches 0 dBFS. |
| Knobs | Drag a knob up or down to turn it. Knobs that go both ways, or that have a natural middle, catch briefly at their centre. A double-click returns a knob to its default. |
| About and the demo | A click on the xsidfx logo in the footer opens About. In the demo version the plugin's name ends in (demo), its settings are not saved with your project, and About opens each time the window does. |
