Spectral dynamics

> When a band's detector mode is set to **Spectral**, the band stops behaving like a single gain reduction and starts working bin-by-bin in the frequency domain. Resonances get pulled down without the

When a band's detector mode is set to Spectral, the band stops behaving like a single gain reduction and starts working bin-by-bin in the frequency domain. Resonances get pulled down without the rest of the band losing energy.

How it works

Each Spectral-mode band shares a single STFT engine: 4096-point Hann periodic FFT, 75 % overlap (hop 1024), perfect reconstruction. The engine extracts the spectral envelope of the band-passed signal, finds bins that protrude above that envelope, and reduces gain on those bins individually. The result is similar to Soothe2 or Pro-Q 4's spectral mode — resonances vanish, body stays.

Latency when active: 4096 samples (reported to the host via PDC). The engine only runs while at least one band is set to Spectral; when no band uses it, latency drops back to zero.

Controls

Selectivity

How far above the cepstral envelope a bin has to sit before it gets reduced. Range −30 to +30 dB. Lower (negative) values make the detector more aggressive — it grabs more bins, including ones that are only slightly above the average. Higher values mean only the obvious resonant peaks get touched.

Ratio

How hard the offending bins get pulled down once they cross the threshold. Same gestalt as a compressor ratio but applied per bin: 4:1 is moderate suppression, 20:1 is near-elimination of the resonance.

Knee

Soft-knee width in dB. 0 dB is hard-knee — bins are either fully reduced or untouched. Larger knee values blend the suppression in gradually, which sounds more natural on sustained material.

Density

Width of the Gaussian smoothing applied to the spectral gain map. 0 keeps the suppression bin-tight (extremely targeted); 1 widens it across multiple bins for a softer, more musical drop. A small Density value sounds like a surgical de-resonator; a high value sounds like a wide dynamic EQ.

Mask

Spatial scaling of the gain reduction. 1 applies the full per-bin reduction; 0 suppresses nothing. Use Mask to dial the effect strength in and out without changing the per-bin character.

Tips

For resonance hunting on vocals, set Selectivity around −10 dB, Ratio 6:1, Knee 6 dB, Density 0.3, Mask 1.0 — then sweep the band frequency while soloed in BandpassListen mode (see Solo) until the resonance jumps out.
Multiple Spectral bands stack cheaply because they share the engine. A single instance can comfortably run all eight bands in Spectral mode if a track needs it.
Spectral mode doesn't replace dynamic EQ — they're different tools. Use the time-domain detectors when you want the whole band to react together, and Spectral when you only want the misbehaving bins inside the band to be touched.