Smear

Spectral Chaos

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Smear is a tool for spectral morphism.

We have made quite a few spectral effects in our time, but many of them weren’t fleshed out enough to be a single plugin.

Smear takes all of the good processors we’ve made, expands upon them, and allows for extensive layering & spectral mixing using our signature Factor Band system (like in Sweep and Strum). Smear is made for spectral painting.

With a large collection of different processors available; from subtle frequency shapers to aggressive spectral destroyers, every band becomes its own creative playground. Add modulation on top of this and let your sound breathe, evolve, and transform in ways you’ve never heard before.

decorative render of an audio spectrum

Spectral Effects

Traditional audio effects operate in the time domain. They process the audio signal as it flows through time, sample by sample. When you apply an EQ, compressor, or distortion in the conventional way, these effects act on the entire signal at once, treating all frequencies as a unified whole in each moment.

Spectral processing takes a totally different approach. By converting the audio into the frequency domain (usually by using an FFT), the signal is decomposed into its constituent frequencies at a given moment. This reveals the sound’s “spectral content”, a snapshot of which frequencies are present and at what amplitudes. Creating what’s essentially a two-dimensional map of frequencies over time.

With Smear, we take these snapshots, process them, and turn them back into sound, allowing for a wide range of new possibilities.

Highlights

Factor Band System

Instead of processing the effects uniformly, as in processing them in the whole spectrum, you can specify which areas of the spectrum you want given effects to be with Smear’s “spectral mixing” system, available in each effect slot, using factor band controls.

Additionally, some effects can swap between spectral mixing, and using the Factor Bands to control other frequency specific aspects of the processing (such as adjusting the delay time of every section of the spectrum in our delay processor)

Modulate Me

Smear features a modulation system, similar to the one in Glow (with improvements!). Offering up to four modulators which can be optionally synchronized to the DAW’s BPM & retriggered by the DAW’s playback state.

Overview

If you don’t like reading manuals, this video covers a quick rundown of the basics of using Smear:

Processors

This video goes over all of the spectral processors available in Smear, with some funky sound demos:

Updates

Developer blog posts related to Smear

  • Interchangeable spectral processor system
  • Spectral Side chaining (optional)
  • Spectral mixing / spectral parameter adjustment system, using Factor Bands
  • A selection of embedded demo presets
  • Vectorized, resizable interface

Windows: Supports VST3 & AAX

MacOS: Supports VST3, AU & AAX (Intel and ARM)

This plugin requires OpenGL

You can also check out the Lese Knowledge Base for documentation on Smear.