McDSP - SA-3 Spectral Processor

The McDSP SA-3 Spectral Processor builds on the Emmy Award-winning SA-2 Dialog Processor, going from five bands to over 1,000. It's for dialogue, vocal and music engineers who need to catch resonances and harsh spikes wherever they appear.

How it works

Over a thousand bands of processing are shaped by a user-programmable Bias Curve, with Focus, Range and Density controls deciding how the spectral processing behaves. Detect and Monitor controls help you find spikes and persistent overtones, and it can track and remove persistent peaks at almost any frequency. Side chain and mid/side processing are included, and the main display can show gain reduction, output or the removed signal.

The sound

Smooth and detailed. It tames harshness and ringing without the hollowing-out you get from static notches, and listening to the removed signal makes it easy to check you're only taking out what you want.

Native only

SA-3 Spectral Processor is a Native plug-in: it runs on your computer in AAX Native, AU and VST3. There's no AAX DSP version for Pro Tools HDX.

Features

• Over 1,000 bands of processing
• User-programmable Bias Curve
• Focus, Range and Density controls
• Detect and Monitor controls for spikes and persistent overtones
• Side chain and mid/side processing
• Double precision processing
• Mono and stereo versions

System requirements

• Version: 7.3
• Mac: macOS 10.13 High Sierra to macOS 26 Tahoe. AAX Native, AU and VST3. Native on Apple Silicon and Intel
• Windows: Windows 10 and 11. AAX Native and VST3
• RAM: not specified by McDSP
• Licence: iLok, on an iLok2 or iLok3 USB key, your computer or iLok Cloud (a free iLok account is needed). Two activations per licence

SOUND7 is an authorised McDSP reseller. Digital delivery: licence activation code sent by email.

Demo