Muddy results?

SpectraLayers
1

Didn’t really know what to title this post with ? I’ve been occasionally using the Cubase Pro basic internal version to separate bass ,drums, vocals etc, and find the results pretty muddy. Although I’m quite happy to buy Layers Pro12, could someone please tell me that there is a vast difference in the quality of results from the Pro version. Just want to avoid 250 quid on more of what I already have ! :+1: Thanks folks.

2

I love Spectralayers and I’d say it is my main tool in editing for post production.
It is immensely powerful but IMO music stem separation isn’t (and shouldn’t be) its main strength.

If that is all you want from it, if I were you I’d stick to specialized tools that can keep up with the fast paced development of machine learning and the newest algorithms.

3

I gonna chime in and say the opposite is true. I’d say if user knows what they are doing in the spectrogram, high end can be greatly exaggerated. Expecting “out of the box” modules to deliver the audio result user wants with no manual work and/nor understanding manipulation of the spectrogram means user wants an automated solution…and that’s just hoping user gets what they desire out of SLP.

I also work mostly like @henrique_staino : performing NR of location recordings. I have dabbled in running plenty of stem separation module for attempts at music unmixing and I still feel SLP is only so capable. For all things unwanted noise and human voice, SLP is fantastic.

Previously, I was using Acon Restoration Suite and Sonnox Restore and, altho I could arrive at acceptable NR results using those overall filter techniques, the tradeoff was wanted audio was being degraded (artefacts and muddy eq).

With SLP we can:
_remove wind noise, clicks and pops, etc, etc, etc and we can reclaim wanted HF noise
_cover deleted sounds with heal or clone tools
_easily remove hum and buzz
_re-mix noise against unmixed voice
to cover just a few

Audio Post options are frankly amazing.
Now, that said, users can get very stuck in and spend months using manual tools for NR and stem separation. Unmix noisy speech is a massive time saver for audio post processes.

Music unmixers might want to solo stems and that tech is advancing daily across many apps and services, most of which I am unaware. I feel SLP is just in the unmix of music infancy, and many other software devs working at that.

Again, I work similar to Henrique and I agree, SLP being able to effectively separate multiple human voices speaking/ making noise at the same time in one audio source would be much more welcome for me than musical stem separation improvements. As far a eq control, I apologize, yet users need to understand reading and manipulation of the spectrogram transforms better and the skills will come if users put in the time.

4

There sure is a vast difference in quality between Cubase’s internal stem separation and that of SpectraLayers. The Stems in SpectraLayers are more clear and defined.

To me the Cubase stem separation does not deliver usable results but SpectraLayers sure does.

5

There are free online sites that may produce cleaner separations, depending on what your source material is. The only reason I can think of not to use them would be copyright or confidentiality issues.

Just download the trial version of SpectraLayers Pro and try it on your own material.

6

Thank you,I downloaded the Pro demo, but it delivers only the “Go” version giving only Vocal separation, no instruments ? (I now have 8/9/10/11 & 12Go installed :woozy_face: ! ) so no good for comparisons with Cubase internal version.

7

Thanks to all for advice & replies. I’m also conscious of the rapid development of this medium, playing the waiting game may make sense for that “super app” but in the meantime I think I’ll give the Pro version a shot !

8

Remeber that the best part of SL is what you can do to the stems after you separate them!

Enjoy!

9

Did you get a trial license, redeem it and activate the trial license in Steinberg Activation Manager?

10

Mr Sound - They say that wisdom comes with age ? Well not in my case ! I did the trial download before activating which why I only got the Go version to open. Thanks to your prompt I now have the full version for a month. Looks like we’ll be up all night now. :grinning_face: Thanks :+1: