Anything cheaper than iZotope's RX?

[Drew Stephenson]

We've all been there!

[Sam Spoons]

Yup, even the good guys, in my case it's a daily occurrence.......

[Mike Stranks]

The tales I could tell from the last 50 years!

Just a few weeks ago I was asked to run a small sound system for a local village fete. Two radio mics and background music. Simples.

Set-up was fine and all power-lights lit up as expected. Tested mics all fine. Music feed from PC - zilch.

USB lead duff? Change lead: nothing. USB socket gone funny? Different socket: nothing. Laptop got its knickers in a twist? Full reboot: nothing.

Then I turned up the channel gain and all was well....

[BillB]

I'll keep testing but this is starting to look like an embarrassing goof on my part.

The important thing is that a) you found the problem and b) you shared the solution. That way we all get to learn something, including about cheaper alternatives to RX

Plus we get Mike’s priceless tale.

Glad you got it sorted.

[Hugh Robjohns]

Don't think there's any need for embarrassment. We've all been caught out by cunningly hidden settings! But it does sound very likely that the clicks were indeed due to the buffer being too small to sustain glitch-free playback. Glad it was an easy fix!

[Kwackman]

The important thing is that a) you found the problem and b) you shared the solution. That way we all get to learn something.

+1.

[Mixedup]

Cool. Problem solved at source = best possible outcome!

[ken long]

Hi Ken. What is a spectral editor please? perhaps if i can explain more clearly. Let me go through the tracks and find exactly which ones have the crackles. Some tracks were recorded by mic such as vocals and a fender strat. Some were done by DI such as the bass. Im very careful about gain staging and dont record hot at all. In fact the level is quite low. let me see what exactly what is popping and how it was recorded. In the meantime I'll continue searching for a good software tool for this.

OK - seems as though you're talking about noise in the signal rather than any clicks from syncing your convertor.

Many editors have a spectrum view that will allow you to surgically remove the clicks much like photoshop. Izotope has this but so does Wavelab and SADiE. There's also Sony's Spectral Layers etc. Not sure which is the cheapest or which one would provide you with value for money if it's a one-off repair.

[Mixedup]

Many editors have a spectrum view that will allow you to surgically remove the clicks much like photoshop.

Yes, there are many spectral editing tools now but they're not all created equal. I believe only CEDAR and iZotope can intelligently fill the gaps left behind by your spectral edits by interpolation, in the same way that Photoshop can when, for example, removing a telegraph pole from a pic. The others just allow you to remove/manipulate the existing data and perhaps apply crossfades with the adjacent bits

[ken long]

Many editors have a spectrum view that will allow you to surgically remove the clicks much like photoshop.

I believe only CEDAR and iZotope can intelligently fill the gaps left behind by your spectral edits by interpolation, in the same way that Photoshop can when, for example, removing a telegraph pole from a pic.

Well not really. Wavelab is very good at this too (I use it everyday for such tasks). And as I mentioned, Sony Spectral layers takes it a step further with the ability to reveal layers behind layers. There's quite a few options on the market now.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=juD6KKrM0Bs

Glad to hear it was a buffer issue. Makes it much easier to deal with

[Mixedup]

Well not really. Wavelab is very good at this too (I use it everyday for such tasks). And as I mentioned, Sony Spectral layers takes it a step further with the ability to reveal layers behind layers. There's quite a few options on the market now.

Yes, really.

For all their other strengths — which I agree are many — neither Wavelab's spectral editing nor Spectralayers generates new background sound based on analysis of the surrounding material to fill the blanks when removing unwanted noises. Nor do the various others, except RX and CEDAR's software. If they did, without CEDAR's permission, I imagine CEDAR would litigate to enforce their patent; they've done so successfully before...

[ken long]

Well not really. Wavelab is very good at this too (I use it everyday for such tasks). And as I mentioned, Sony Spectral layers takes it a step further with the ability to reveal layers behind layers. There's quite a few options on the market now.

Yes, really.

For all their other strengths — which I agree are many — neither Wavelab's spectral editing nor Spectralayers generates new background sound based on analysis of the surrounding material to fill the blanks when removing unwanted noises. Nor do the various others, except RX and CEDAR's software. If they did, without CEDAR's permission, I imagine CEDAR would litigate to enforce their patent; they've done so successfully before...

I guess I missed the bit where you wrote "intelligently". Wavelab is probably a little behind in this respect as it's still a bit of a manual task. But you can still analyse the surrounding areas. It's just not as automatic.

[TNGator]

All in all...there seem to be a few software packages out there that can do this sort of cleaning. Although it seems i got out of jail on this occasion, it would do no harm to have this sort of toll in the toolkit going forward. Although expensive, it seems a lot of folks here have mentioned the iZotope software (and Cedar too). As an existing iZotope user i'll touch base with them and keep an eye out for deals for existing customers.

[James Perrett]

neither Wavelab's spectral editing nor Spectralayers generates new background sound based on analysis of the surrounding material to fill the blanks when removing unwanted noises. Nor do the various others, except RX and CEDAR's software. If they did, without CEDAR's permission, I imagine CEDAR would litigate to enforce their patent; they've done so successfully before...

Unless I'm using RX's spectral repair in the wrong way I don't see it as being particularly intelligent. If I'm removing clicks then I find Audition's 'Fix single click' to work far better than attempting the same thing in RX. If there is a transient close to the click then RX has a habit of removing the transient - even though it is outside the selected area - which sounds very odd. Unfortunately my version of Audition only repairs clicks in this way so it can't be used as a general spectral repair tool.

[TNGator]

Don't think there's any need for embarrassment. We've all been caught out by cunningly hidden settings! But it does sound very likely that the clicks were indeed due to the buffer being too small to sustain glitch-free playback. Glad it was an easy fix!

Thanks Hugh. Nice to get friendly support even you screw up

[TNGator]

Cool. Problem solved at source = best possible outcome!

yep...hammer over the head...thats how I feel LOL

[TNGator]

I'll keep testing but this is starting to look like an embarrassing goof on my part.

The important thing is that a) you found the problem and b) you shared the solution. That way we all get to learn something, including about cheaper alternatives to RX

Plus we get Mike’s priceless tale.

Glad you got it sorted.

Thanks for the support Bill. Nice to to be able make goofy mistakes and come clean and not get laughed. Some forums out get some really nasty smart remarks. Thanks again all for the tips and help

[TNGator]

The tales I could tell from the last 50 years!

Just a few weeks ago I was asked to run a small sound system for a local village fete. Two radio mics and background music. Simples.

Set-up was fine and all power-lights lit up as expected. Tested mics all fine. Music feed from PC - zilch.

USB lead duff? Change lead: nothing. USB socket gone funny? Different socket: nothing. Laptop got its knickers in a twist? Full reboot: nothing.

Then I turned up the channel gain and all was well....

We are clearly related. Probably even take the same meds

[TNGator]

Well gang... you have all been really helpful as usual when I have a question so let me throw a must have bargain your way as a thank you. Izotope are doing about 6 or 7 elements packages for $49 . Yep..49 not 490 You get RX, Trash, Nutron, Nectar, DDLY
I already have most of them but getting RX for 50 bucks (ok Irish tax is a further 11 bucks but still). Have a look here. I jsut got mine. great deal. Ironic that earlier in this thread some suggested I hold out for one of Izotopes sales and get RX and whaddaya know.

https://www.izotope.com/en/products/bun ... erm=Jun+21

[Agharta]

Izotope are doing about 6 or 7 elements packages for $49 . Yep..49 not 490 You get RX, Trash, Nutron, Nectar, DDLY. I already have most of them but getting RX for 50 bucks (ok Irish tax is a further 11 bucks but still). Ironic that earlier in this thread some suggested I hold out for one of Izotopes sales and get RX and whaddaya know.

Keep in mind that for Spectral Editing you will need the Standard version or higher:
https://www.izotope.com/en/products/rep ... rison.html

One of the cheapest ways to get RX Standard is often with the Music Production Suite.
JRRShop have the upgrade from Elements (any) for ~£277 with group discount code. Sell on the included Melodyne license and you have the rest of the Suite for ~£240:

Nectar 3 | RX 7 Breath Control | Ozone 8 Advanced | Neutron 3 Advanced | RX 7 Standard | VocalSynth 2 | Insight 2