Sony Spectral Layers Software

[JonUrban]

This showed up in my email today. Expensive.

http://www.sonycreativesoftware.com/spectralayerspro

I wonder if it would be an interesting tool to use for stereo to surround manipulation?

Anyone heard of it? There's a "free trial" I may check out this weekend, but $400 is pretty steep.

[boondocks]

I saw that on a bootleg site recently and wondered about it. (no I don't have it, was just curious) I would be willing to bet the tools aren't that great, but who knows? Try it out and let us know, Jon.

[DKA]

We've seen a bunch of these type of tools before, and the results are always the same, meaning that they're a complete joke. Can Sony do better? Maybe. Maybe not.

We know what the issues are. We also know what success using SPECtral layers looks like.

You don't promise anyone "discrete." It's pretty much impossible to deliver.

[DKA]

This comes from probably my most trusted source on the topic:

Spent a couple of hours on this today. On a stereo track, and on a mono track.

This is very similar to sonic worx isolate. In some ways better, in others worse. Guess I should fire up Sonic worx isolate on the same tracks to know for sure.

The main advantage of sonic worx isolate is live play back of what you are selecting, which helps you quickly identify if you are on the right spectral wave form or not.

The problem with both of these tools for what we do is it's very hard to identify the wave forms in dense music (lots of instruments and drums) and impossible to isolate, say, an acoustic guitar and a vocal playing the same melody line. Then of course there's the labor. You have to extract pretty much one phrase or held note at a time. Yes, with hours of practice you would get better, but it's going to be very dependent on the source and spareness or non overlapping it is.

Possibly handy for the problem source here and there, but not generally practical.

However, please don't let me discourage others from trying it out. Perhaps if you have more patience than I do, and are willing to put in hours of work on each track, this could bear fruit. Also possible that it well be a good tool for mono to stereo or mono to surround, again given the source and your willingness to put in the time.

That is all in the context of surround conversion. For dialog cleanup etc. this will be awesome!

In other words, this confirms my initial thoughts on the software.

[Old Quad Guy]

DKA, thanks for sharing the info. Didn't we play around with similar software a few years ago? As I recall, it produced nice colored lights of different wave forms, but did not extract the different audio elements as promised. It really didn't do anything if I remember correctly. The program itself ran so bad, it was all we could do to uninstall it. Bummer.

Would be cool though if this actually does get invented though.

Edit: 63 minute video from the Sony website about this program:

http://www.sonycreativesoftware.com/...rsintrowebinar

[boondocks]

Yeah, OCG, that sounds familiar. I haven't tried the Sony software, but I imagine no matter what pretty face they give it, it's probaby similar in function to AA's spectral tools. Trying to pull one instrument out of a mix with this type tool is very hit or miss.

[DKA]

DKA, thanks for sharing the info. Didn't we play around with similar software a few years ago? As I recall, it produced nice colored lights of different wave forms, but did not extract the different audio elements as promised. It really didn't do anything if I remember correctly. The program itself ran so bad, it was all we could do to uninstall it. Bummer.

Would be cool though if this actually does get invented though.

Edit: 63 minute video from the Sony website about this program:

http://www.sonycreativesoftware.com/...rsintrowebinar

Oh god, I remember that. Just awful.

I assume this is better than that. Still, never promise me that I can extract instruments in overlapping frequencies. It's smoke up my ass if you do.

[timbre4]

I got that email too. My first thought was fixing some musical jams that are very special to me, nothing more.

[JonUrban]

Thanks guys. Figured as much. Sounded pretty good but alas, these things never work.

[timbre4]

Cheaper for me to go back and record Taurus pedal notes on a separate track and bring it up to compensate where the energy drops on the original recordings. One simply gets too excited playing to pay attention to foot driven slider changes for volume.

[ChristopherLees]

It might be very good for getting rid of the camera beeps, on the Beatles Get back nagra tape reharsals at Twickenham film studios.

maybe even take the guitar feedback out of Teddy Boy

[strat54]

This software was announced last year, written by Divide Frame which looked very promising. Unfortunately it was taken over by Sony and the price skyrocketed like they did with Sound Forge. It's probably now filled with Sony bloatware and .Net crap they are so fond of. There are some videos on YouTube showing capabilities. It seems to have more AI than the Audition plugins.
http://www.divideframe.com/?p=spectrallayers
http://www.engadget.com/2011/06/25/s...otoshop-style/

[DKA]

This software was announced last year, written by Divide Frame which looked very promising. Unfortunately it was taken over by Sony and the price skyrocketed like they did with Sound Forge. It's probably now filled with Sony bloatware and .Net crap they are so fond of. There are some videos on YouTube showing capabilities. It seems to have more AI than the Audition plugins.
http://www.divideframe.com/?p=spectrallayers
http://www.engadget.com/2011/06/25/s...otoshop-style/

The Divide Frame page, as well as the Sony YouTube video, makes reference to a "multichannel" mode that the trial version doesn't seem to have. Whether any of this makes a difference is beyond me.

People want a magic bullet when working from stereo they don't actually need most of the time.

[JonUrban]

If it was $99 I'd give it a shot. Not for $300+. I know I would be disappointed with the results.

I tried that Roland R-Mix on my iPad, and it was totally underwhelming.