Chamfer De-Esser

Quick start

1. Insert Chamfer De-Esser on a vocal track. If the chip at the top right reads LOCKED, Chamfer stays silent until you activate it or start a trial (see Installation and activation).
2. Play the vocal for a few seconds, then click LEARN. Chamfer places its band where this voice's esses live, sets a starting AMOUNT and calibrates itself to the voice.
3. Set AMOUNT. 100 % (the default) leaves esses sitting naturally in the voice. Turn it up toward 150 % to tuck them further under, or down if words start to lisp.
4. Watch the display: the shaded area in the band is exactly what Chamfer removed, and each "s" appears as a bar in the ESSES strip below.
5. Click BYPASS to compare. Bypass keeps the level and timing the same, so the comparison is fair.

What's new in 0.2.10

What changed since 0.2.0:

• Your own presets. Save, recall, rename and delete presets from the preset menu.
• ABS THR shows the real trigger level in dBFS. The sound did not change.
• REMOVED is exact in LIVE latency with SPLIT and SURGICAL.
• Update notice. The license card tells you when a new version is out (see Updates).
• Sessions always reopen as saved, after every update and under every license state.
• Subscriptions renew by themselves in the plugin.
• Fixes: a crash on macOS 10.15 and 11; Windows user names with accented characters; a license activated in Logic Pro, GarageBand or MainStage that your other DAWs could not see, and the other way round; a frequency axis that did not follow the sample rate; ATTACK and RELEASE trims that did nothing over part of their travel.

The window

The window has a top bar, the display with the ESSES strip, and the controls along the bottom. The settings you set once per source live in the drawer. Drag the corner to resize the window, from 880 x 540 up to 1760 x 1088 pixels; it opens at 1100 x 680.

The top bar

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1. Preset menu. Factory presets and your own; shows the current name.
2. A, B and A→B. Two snapshots to compare, and a copy button.
3. License chip. LICENSED, TRIAL or LOCKED; click it to open the license card.

The display

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1. The band. Where the esses live.
2. Edge grip. Drag one edge alone.
3. RIDE line. The threshold, live.
4. Removed energy. The shaded part inside the band.
5. Spectrum. Your audio, live.
6. Frequency scale. 50 Hz to 20 kHz.
7. ESSES strip. Every detected "s", in time.

The pale curve is your input and the lit curve is what leaves. Inside the band, the shaded area between them is exactly the energy Chamfer removed. Input and output are lined up in time, so the shade never shows reduction that did not happen.

• The band is the region where esses live. Drag its body to move it with its width kept, or drag one edge alone by its grip at the top. Scroll over it to widen or narrow it around its center. Hold Shift for fine moves (a quarter speed). Double-click the band to reset it to 4.5 to 10 kHz, or an edge grip to reset that edge alone. Click it to show exact LOW EDGE and HIGH EDGE fields; type a value in Hz or kHz.
• The RIDE line is the threshold, drawn live. Watch it follow the performance: that is the level ride you would otherwise automate. Esses visibly cross it when they trigger.
• The ESSES strip is a timeline of every detected "s". A bar's height is the depth Chamfer commanded for it; its brightness is how sure Chamfer is that it was an "s".

The inspect card

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1. Header. When the "s" happened.
2. Facts. Depth, confidence and center frequency.
3. Spectrum. That "s" before and after.
4. ESSES strip. Click a bar to inspect it.

Click any bar in the ESSES strip to freeze its inspect card. The header gives the time of that "s". Below it: the depth Chamfer commanded (dB commanded; the lisp guard in How Chamfer protects the voice can apply less), how sure Chamfer was that it was an "s" (conf), and its center frequency. Below, the "s" is drawn before (pale) and after (lit), with the removed energy shaded and a dashed line at its center frequency. Click the card, or press Esc, to close it.

The spectrum is measured only in PRECISE latency with LINK at 100 %, and the header then reads LINKED MODEL. In LIVE, or with LINK in use below 100 %, the card shows the facts and says the spectrum was not measured. An "s" older than the capture history shows the facts only.

The controls

The bottom row holds the controls you reach for while you work. Click the value under a knob to type an exact one; Return applies and Esc cancels.

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1. AMOUNT. The target.
2. RANGE. The hard cap.
3. Style. SMOOTH, SPLIT or SURGICAL.
4. SPEED. Faster or slower envelope.

AMOUNT moves the destination, not a raw gain, so it works on gentle and harsh esses alike. In LIVE latency, SURGICAL runs as SPLIT and the switch says so.

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1. Listen. BAND, VOICE or REMOVED.
2. OUTPUT. Output trim.
3. LEARN. Fit the band to this source.
4. DRAWER. The settings you set once.
5. BYPASS. Compare with the dry sound.
6. OPTIONS. Tooltips, updates and shortcuts.

How Chamfer protects the voice

• It cannot lisp. A built-in guard never pushes an "s" more than 10 dB below the voice around it, whatever the settings say.
• It leaves non-esses alone. Chamfer scales each cut by how sure the detector is that the sound is an "s", so a click, a breath or a bright vowel gets little or nothing. You can read its confidence in the ESSES strip.
• Identical esses come out identical, and style changes glide without clicks.

The drawer

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1. THRESHOLD. RELATIVE or ABSOLUTE.
2. LATENCY. PRECISE or LIVE.
3. DETECT. STEREO, MID or SIDES.
4. OFFSET. Biases the ride.
5. SENSE. How easily it calls an "s".
6. LINK. Shared or separate channel depth.
7. ABS THR. The fixed threshold.
8. ATTACK. Engage speed trim.
9. RELEASE. Release speed trim.

Click DRAWER (key D) for the settings you set once per source. A control that does nothing in the current mode reads STORED after its name: it keeps its value for when you switch to the mode that uses it.

The mid is what both channels share (the center of the image); the sides are what differs between them (the width).

Keyboard and mouse

Keys work when the Chamfer window has keyboard focus: click an empty part of the window once. While you type in a value field, the field keeps the keys.

In Pro Tools, fine drag on knobs is Cmd + drag (Ctrl on Windows) and reset is Option + click (Alt on Windows).

Recipes

These are starting points from the factory presets. Aim for esses that sit level with the vowels around them, not under them, and click REMOVED to check that you hear only "s" sounds. Every voice, mix and room is different, so adjust by ear and compare with BYPASS.

De-ess a pop lead vocal

Keep up with fast rap

Tame stacked backing vocals

Tame harsh hi-hats

De-ess while tracking or on stage

Ease a harsh full mix

Presets

24 factory presets, named for sources. Each was checked on real material for its source before it shipped.

A preset sets AMOUNT, RANGE, the band, the style, SPEED, SENSE, LATENCY, DETECT and LINK. It also returns THRESHOLD to RELATIVE, OFFSET to 0 dB, and ATTACK and RELEASE to 0 %. It never changes the listen buttons, BYPASS, OUTPUT or ABS THR.

Your own presets

1. Open the preset menu and choose Save preset..., then type a name.
2. Your presets appear under User in the same menu.
3. Rename preset and Delete preset manage the list; Show preset folder opens the folder on disk.

The files are in ~/Library/Application Support/Vitric Audio/Presets/Chamfer De-Esser on macOS and %APPDATA%\Vitric Audio\Presets\Chamfer De-Esser on Windows. Saving and loading your own presets needs an active license or trial; factory presets always work.

Specifications

• Detection: per event, with a threshold that rides the performance (RELATIVE) or a fixed level (ABSOLUTE).
• Styles: SMOOTH, SPLIT, SURGICAL.
• Band: low edge 1 to 16 kHz, high edge 2 to 20 kHz.
• Ranges: AMOUNT 0 to 150 %, RANGE 0 to 24 dB, SPEED ±50 %, OUTPUT ±12 dB.
• ABS THR: a sine peaking at the shown level just triggers; on an RMS meter, band noise triggers about 3 dB below the figure.
• Listen: BAND, VOICE, REMOVED.
• Latency: 191 samples at any sample rate (PRECISE), reported to your DAW, or none (LIVE).
• Channels: mono, stereo, or mono in and stereo out.
• Window: 880 x 540 to 1760 x 1088.
• Formats: VST3 and AAX on macOS and Windows; AU on macOS; an optional standalone app on Windows.
• Systems: macOS 10.15 or later on Intel, macOS 11 or later on Apple Silicon; Windows 10 or later, 64-bit.

Not included

• There is no external sidechain input.
• Chamfer works on mono and stereo tracks. It does not support surround or Atmos formats.

Installation and activation

Install

1. Download the installer from vitricaudio.com/downloads or your account at vitricaudio.com/account.
2. Save your work and quit your DAW.
3. Run the .pkg (Mac) or .exe (Windows).
4. Open your DAW. If Chamfer De-Esser is not listed, rescan plugins.

Use AU in Logic Pro, AAX in Pro Tools and VST3 in other DAWs. The Mac installer puts the plugins in the standard folders:

• AU: /Library/Audio/Plug-Ins/Components
• VST3: /Library/Audio/Plug-Ins/VST3
• AAX: /Library/Application Support/Avid/Audio/Plug-Ins

On Windows:

• VST3: C:\Program Files\Common Files\VST3
• AAX: C:\Program Files\Common Files\Avid\Audio\Plug-Ins
• Standalone app (optional in the installer): C:\Program Files\Vitric Audio\Chamfer De-Esser

Activate your license

Until you activate a license or start a trial, Chamfer passes no sound, the chip reads LOCKED and a large LOCKED mark sits over the window. The license card opens by itself once each time you open the window.

1. Click the license chip to open the license card.
2. Paste the VT-... key from your purchase email or account page. Lost it? vitricaudio.com/license can resend your keys.
3. Click Apply license. The chip changes to LICENSED.

A full license works offline after activation and runs on up to three computers at a time.

Activate a computer that is offline

1. On the offline computer, open the license card and click Copy code to copy its machine code (it starts with VTM1-).
2. On any computer that is online, open vitricaudio.com/license, enter your key and the machine code, and download the license file.
3. Copy the file to the offline computer, open the license card and click Load file.

Try it free for 72 hours

1. Open the license card and click Start free trial. The trial page opens with the product and machine code filled in.
2. Sign in with the emailed link and click Start my 72-hour trial.
3. Click Copy trial key, paste it into the license card and click Apply license. Or click Download license file and use Load file. A backup copy is emailed to you.

The trial has every feature, runs 72 hours from issue and needs an internet connection while you use it. There is one trial per product, person and computer, and no payment details are needed. When it ends, Chamfer goes silent but keeps every setting in your projects.

Updates

Chamfer asks vitricaudio.com once a day, while its window is open, whether a newer version exists, and sends only the product, your version and your platform.

1. Click the license chip. When a new version is out, the license card shows UPDATE AVAILABLE with the new version and yours.
2. Click Download (the button shows the new version number) to open the product page and get the installer. The notice stays on the card until you install the new version.
3. Quit your DAW and run the new installer over the old one. Your sessions reopen as saved.

Turn off Check for updates in OPTIONS to stop the checks.

Troubleshooting

Chamfer does not appear in my DAW

Rescan plugins and restart the DAW. In Logic Pro, use Logic Pro > Settings > Plug-in Manager and Reset & Rescan Selection. On Windows, make sure your DAW scans C:\Program Files\Common Files\VST3.

It went silent, or sounds thin

• The license chip reads LOCKED: Chamfer has not been activated, the trial ended, or the license needs attention. Click it. A trial needs an internet connection while you use it.
• A listen button is lit: BAND, VOICE or REMOVED replaces the normal output. Click it again to turn it off.

LEARN reads LEARN?

There was not enough sibilance in the last few seconds. Play a passage with clear "s" sounds, then click LEARN again.

It is not catching some esses

Check that the band covers where the esses are, lower OFFSET or raise SENSE in the drawer, and raise RANGE if the depth is capped.

It sounds dull or lispy

Lower AMOUNT toward 100 %, or lower RANGE. Click REMOVED: if you hear parts of words rather than "s" sounds, narrow the band or lower SENSE.

I hear a delay while tracking

Set LATENCY to LIVE in the drawer. Switch back to PRECISE to mix.

LINK, OFFSET or ABS THR reads STORED

That control does nothing in the current mode and keeps its value for later. LINK needs PRECISE, STEREO, and SPLIT or SURGICAL, all three; OFFSET works in RELATIVE; ABS THR works in ABSOLUTE.

Shortcuts do nothing

Click an empty part of the Chamfer window once so it has keyboard focus. Some DAWs keep certain keys for themselves; use the mouse for those.

The preset menu says "User (unlock to use)"

Your own presets need an active license or trial. Activate Chamfer, and the menu items come back.

I lost my license key

Enter your email at vitricaudio.com/license to have your keys sent again, or find them in your account at vitricaudio.com/account.

Support

Write to support@vitricaudio.com with your Chamfer version, operating system, DAW and version, plugin format and the exact error if there is one.

Every purchase comes with a 14-day refund, no questions asked.