GPW De-Esser PRO is out now and it is free. It is a two-band de-esser for Windows that tames sibilance and harsh highs while keeping the air in a sound. Use it on sharp vocal consonants, bright cymbals or the top end of a full mix. It runs as a VST3 in any DAW that hosts VST3 plugins, and as a Standalone app.
Two bands, each with its own dynamics
Both bands tune anywhere from 2 kHz to 20 kHz, and each one gets its own threshold, range, ratio, knee and timing. Range sets a limit on how far the processing can go, so the consonants and the shimmer stay in the sound.
- LOW band: Notch or Band Pass, for a focused bite on the consonants and resonances that jump out of a performance.
- HIGH band: Notch, Band Pass or High Pass, for broader control across the upper frequencies.
Stereo, mid/side and monitoring
Work in stereo or switch to M/S to treat the center and the sides apart. Gang the two channels for matching edits, or unlink them and adjust each one on its own. SOLO lets you hear what a band is targeting, and MON lets you hear exactly what it removes. A parallel MIX control, an external sidechain input, A/B comparison and 10 factory presets complete the set.
Latency
The normal mode uses linear-phase filters and reports its latency to your DAW for compensation. LOW LAT switches to a lower-latency filter path for tracking.
The download is free: enter your email on the plugin page and it starts right away. New versions arrive through the plugin itself. A macOS version is coming soon, and you can ask to be emailed the day it is out.