sonible's new smart:chain channel strip is $99 through September 28, jumping to $179 after — worth grabbing now if an all-in-one channel strip is on your list.
smart:chain bundles EQ, compression, de-essing, gating, input riding, saturation and leveling into one plugin, and the seven processors share the same analysis so they work together instead of fighting each other channel to channel. A depth-staging feature also lets you sort elements into front, middle and back layers and has the plugin adjust processing to carve out separation automatically — useful for cleaning up a dense mix fast without manually gain-staging every channel.
It runs as VST3, AAX and AU on Windows 10+ and macOS 11+, authorized machine-based or via iLok, with each license covering two computers. Students and lecturers get an extra 40% EDU discount on top of the intro price.
The $99 intro price ends September 28, 2026.