I would recommend you Flux Syrah v3 - The Creative Adaptive-Dynamics Processor - ultra fast and razorsharp. My favourite. Set it to: default + 'look ahead' and 'x3'.

 

Last edited: Dec 13, 2019

Would you buy a red car or a green truck?

 

Syrah is a compressor,no comparison with Soothe sir.

 

Melda Spectral Dynamics

 

This plugin is a powerful tool,no doubt,but for me it's not easy to reach the desired effect.Maybe I need more experience with it.

 

I did not say that it should be used as a 'substitute' for Soothe or Gullfoss. I explicitly said that it is an adaptive Dynamics Processor that I recommend.
By the way, Syrah is not a classic compressor. There are Dynamic Soft and Deep modes making parameters programme‑dependent. As well as compression, the Syrah processing incorporates elements of 'de‑expansion' and level‑independent transient shaping.
Off topic? Yes.

 

Another one that never gets any love and is close to MSpectralDynamic is Soniformer by Voxengo.
Also cool is TDR Nova GE, an awesome problem solver with its smart operations panel.

 

You use it on which sounds in particular,which situations?

 

We were talking about this.

 

To bring out the fine detail, mostly.

 

Yes, TDR Nova GE is an exceptional quality auto EQ plugin, with a very good de-esser too. (And it's free). But I think Harrison De-esser is better, at least it gives you much more control and better visual feedback.

 

Yeah the deess part is good. But the GE is a paid version and it's not just the deessing that is cool, in the paid version you have a smart op panel, that analyses the signal you feed him and then smartly positions and sets its band according to what type of profile treatment you pick. Like so :

More a bit like sooth. Awesome on vocals, also drums all kind of stuffs.

I haven't tested Harrison De-esser yet but I've read it's good might give it a run. I also use DMG Essence. Both Essence and Expurgate are actually also awesome dynamic tools in general for all sorts of applications, very versatiles.

 

I bought the GE version and still not getting any result like soothe does. Soothe is really really good. I wish I had money to buy soothe.

 

Soothe is like the Mohamed Ali. Everyone thought they can do what Ali did. Until they got on the ring and got their teeth knocked out. Some people keep mentioning half a dozen plugins that when tasked with what Soothe does fall short. When you need surgical adjustments coming close is not enough. Melda is not Soothe. Gullfoss is not Soothe. Get it over with. Learn to live with the fact, that for now you either buy it or continue life without it. bought it during Black Friday for $100. It is $ well spent.

 

A great part of Soothe mythology is just the simple fact that most people never used it because it is not cracked. Of course, that is not all you can say about it. But there is no magic or omnipotence in any DSP audio, the basics are very simple and constant.
The majority of DSP plugins are just filters, with different number of bandwidths, different Q factors, coupled with gain adding/reducing feature. Some may have interpolations added (synthesizing) or not, oversampling, compression and like.
The acoustic results (individual listening experiences and judgements) of every plugin are largely subjective and prone to placebo and meme spreading which is coupled in a positive feedback loop.
So saying things like 'continue life without it' is a bit melodramatic, if I may say so, and just contributes to the myth.

 

Yet you have to admit that such mythology is based on the positive reviews of those that own it and use it frequently. Conversely, if reviews were negative we wouldn't be discussing it. So we have to give some credit to Oeksound for creating " a very clever and powerful mix tool that can quickly become hard to work without." https://www.soundonsound.com/reviews/oeksound-soothe

 

Soothe (Mohamed Ali) vs

Soundtheory Gullfoss
Melda MSpectralDynamics
sonible SmartEQ2
SKnote Sound Brigade
Eventide Equivocate
Pro Audio DSp DSM
Toneboosters Sibilance
wavesfctory Trackspacer
SurfEQ
TDR Nova GE
ndeavorFX UnHarsh
Sculptor process in Neutron 3
Zynaptiq INTENSITY
Hornet 31
Sonible smart comp

(list was compiled from contributions to this forum as well as others)

 

Aka the 'distortion box'. Everything through it sounds slightly distorted.

 

As @Marcsal put it, people just throw whatever in there without fully understanding what Soothe does and much less how it goes about doing it. Some of those plugins do not even resemble Soothe. Look at the compressors

 

UnHarsh has to be one of the most ironic plugins I've ever come across.