■ Plugin formats: VST, VST3, AU, AAX (64-bit).

■ Platforms supported: Mac OS 10.11 and up (including Native Apple Silicon M1/M2/M3 Compatibility). PC Windows 10 and newer.

■ DAWs supported: All major DAWs, including Ableton Live, Pro Tools, Logic Pro, FL Studio, Cubase, Studio One, Bitwig, Reaper, Reason etc.

💾 Download Manual

Yes, and we highly recommend you test Smooth Operator Pro in your own sessions to hear for yourself what it does. Get the free trial HERE.

Below are a few of our favorite use-cases.

■ Bring clarity to any track
Most signals, whether individual tracks or full mixes, suffer from having excess frequency energy in certain areas. You may not notice fatiguing frequency build-up until you start trimming it away. When you do, you’ll hear your tracks become lighter and clearer.
Smooth Operator Pro’s most effective use-case is to make this job easier than ever. In fact, it’ll do it for you! Because the plugin works dynamically, it will only target frequencies that surpass the threshold, updating its focus areas and intensity in realtime as your signal changes. Use Smooth Operator Pro as an instant track cleaner by selecting an appropriate preset and moving the global threshold knob. Or go as deep and surgical as you need to achieve optimal clarity for any sound source.

■ Reduce harsh resonances
Harshness can creep up in any source signal when there’s lots of sonic information present. Notching it out band by band with an EQ can wreak havoc on the sound’s original character and introduce problems like phase shift. Smooth Operator Pro reduces harsh resonances by targeting excess frequency build-up only when and where it happens, leaving the rest of your signal untouched.

■ Low-end control
Smooth Operator Pro works equally well across the entire frequency spectrum. Low end harmonics can often be a struggle to control, even with sophisticated tools like multi-band compression. When you’re dealing with conflicting kick samples or unruly bass that seems to change with every note, it may be a sign that harmonic resonance is building up in the wrong places. Use Smooth Operator Pro’s shelving filters to zoom in on your low end and carve out harmonic space where it matters most.

■ Sculpt the stereo field
Sometimes your source sound is just right, except for one pesky area in the left or right channel. Reducing problematic material between channels rarely works well with traditional tools. Smooth Operator Pro’s powerful imaging controls let you adjust harmonics independently of their location in the stereo field. With per-node L/R or M/S imaging options, Smooth Operator Pro can solve problems in complex stereo signals with ease.

■ Umask your mix
Masking is the phenomenon that explains why sounds cover each other up when mixed together. The culprit is the concentration of energy across similar parts of the spectrum. Skilled engineers can reduce the effect of masking with EQ, but it’s always a compromise between the two sounds in question. Spectral dynamics control can’t eliminate the cause of masking, but it can help reduce it faster and more effectively.

Enable Sidechain mode to use the spectral content of another track in your mix to rebalance the current signal.

Example: Use the lead vocal as the sidechain input on a guitar track. The guitar will now be tamed in the areas where the vocal has the most frequency energy. This effect is dynamic, of course, so as the frequency profile of the vocal changes, the processing of your guitar track does too, ensuring that both signals can always breathe without getting in each others’ way.

Another example is using the kick drum as the sidechain input when processing a bass track with Smooth Operator Pro. Where ordinary sidechaining just ducks the volume of one source when the other is present, Smooth Operator Pro will instead reduce the bass more in the frequencies where the kick has the most energy – and less where it doesn’t.

If you’ve been sidechaining the old way, we welcome you to a new paradigm of precision!

Yes, Smooth Operator Pro utilizes linear-phase processing for the highest sound quality.

Smooth Operator Pro already gives you the highest audio quality allowed by your DAW’s sample rate. Because the plugin operates in the frequency domain (utilizing Fast Fourier Transform), it doesn’t introduce any harmonics that would improve audibly from oversampling.

■ Add Node: Double-click anywhere on the spectrum
■ Remove Node: Double-click on node
■ Bypass Node: Ctrl+click node
■ Change Node Width: Scrollwheel + hover on node
■ Instant/Click-Free Plugin Bypass: Click Baby Audio Logo
■ Activation Screen: Click Smooth Operator Pro logo

No. Your Smooth Operator V1 license will remain valid and you can continue to download, activate and use Smooth Operator 1 without upgrading. Smooth Operator Pro runs on a separate license key so if you choose to upgrade you will just own licenses for both versions.

Having said that, if you’ve enjoyed V1 even the slightest, we’d highly recommend upgrading to the Pro version, which is infinitely more powerful and flexible.