DiVerSe has released vocSteady, an "intelligent leveler for vocals", intended to free musicians from the tedious task of automating vocals in the mix.
vocSteady's design causes it to behave less like a normal compressor, and more like an automated fader: it follows the vocalist's dynamics, and attempts to minimize volume differences between phrases, words and even syllables. Lyrics will be easier to understand, occasional bursts (or drops) in energy will be leveled out, and the whole track will feel more "solid".
DiVerSe claims that with vocSteady you'll get a stable and comprehensive vocal track even if your vocalist whispers in the verses and screams in the chorus. vocSteady can be used in situations that need immediate leveling of vocals: Broadcast microphones; Jingle vocalists; Mixes that should be ready by "yesterday"; etc.
Key features:
- An intelligent compression method, optimized for vocals.
- A unique algorithm avoids over-compression.
- One slider operation: no "threshold", "ratio" etc.
- Gate option to get rid of background noises.
- "Dual Mode" for handling extremely dynamic vocals.
- A low-cut filter option, to diminish "poofs" and hums.
- A large and intuitive Gain-Reduction meter with clip indicator.
- Trimmers for release time and output volume.
vocSteady is available for Windows as a VST effect plug-in and costs $64 until March when the price will rise (to what?).
