Zynaptic / "Intensity" (detail, clarity, density, loudness)

[Piet De Ridder]

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A new Zynaptic release: Intensity, "a new kind of audio processor for mixing, mastering and sound design. Built on techniques typically found in facial recognition algorithms, Zynaptiq say Intensity brings out a sound's inherent detail, increases its perceived loudness and density, and adds what they describe as "maximum clarity".
The unique algorithm carves out important signal features – making sounds sound more like themselves – and is operated with essentially one control. Between the proprietary algorithm and an optional soft-knee saturating limiter in the plug-in's output stage, Intensity also excels at attaining maximum loudness and creating a beautifully aggressive tone."

The key INTENSITY features at a glance:
- Mastering-grade processing for more detail, clarity, density and loudness.
- Intuitive and fast workflow using a streamlined set of controls.
- Proprietary INTENSITY circuit with optional frequency-dependent BIAS function.
- Additional precision soft-knee saturating limiter at the output stage.



Intro price (until June 30th): $149 / €149
Regular price: $379 / €379

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[Guy Rowland]

Huh... audio MSG? I only have the laptop this evening away from base (and forgot to pack my cans, dummy that I am), so can't get a great sense of it from the video yet, but it's clearly up to something.

So of course, question one is - what is it actually doing? EQ? Transients? Compression? What about that bias control?

Here's a snippet from Denis from Zynaptiq over at the KVR forum - https://www.kvraudio.com/forum/viewtopi ... 6&t=506693

It's definitely not the most efficient use of INTENSITY if you use it when you're already pushing your chain.

I typically start from scratch. Most of the time I like settings for INTENSITY of around 0.2.

It does compress in the sense that it reduces dynamic range (by bringing up low-level information). It does not, however, compare the RMS to a threshold and then reduce gain according to attack ,release and ratio settings.

I'll try to find some time to demo. Not yet convinced this is genuinely useful, and isn't just doing some cheap parlour tricks under the hood. But don't wish to unduly write it off either.

[Lawrence]

I live for cheap parlour tricks...that work.

[wst3]

My first impression - and I reserve the right to change my mind!

I think my expectations are very high for anything that comes out of the Zynaptiq factory. UnVeil, UnChirp, amd UnFilter are absolutely magical tools that do things I didn't think possible. And while they aren't you usual suspects, I do find great uses for Morph, Adaptiverb, and Wormhole.

So I expected Intensity to be that sort of amazing plugin, and thus far I'm not feeling it.

The other thing, I wonder if I might not be the target audience for this, so far I'm not hearing anything I couldn't do with other plugins I already have.

More time with it is definitely required!

[tack]

I think my expectations are very high for anything that comes out of the Zynaptiq factory.

That, and a regular €379 price tag (!!).

"Audio MSG" -- great term, Guy.

[Piet De Ridder]

I'll post a few audio examples over the coming days. I bought it.

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[wst3]

Hey Piet!

I'm about as big a Zynaptiq fan boy as they come (and not just for the scotch they share at their trade show booths, although that doesn't hurt!), but I'm really not reaching for my wallet yet - and I might be missing something here. Can you share a little about what convinced you?

If could also be a horses for courses thing, but this is only the second of their plugins I didn't immediately grab (the other being UnMix:Drums - it is very cool, but I don't do a lot of drum replacement.)

Thanks!

[Guy Rowland]

*watching with interest*

In some of the back and forth at the KVR discussion with Denis, I do wonder if Zynaptiq aren't a bit guilty of claim-inflation with this one. They seemed to argue you could make something sound louder without affecting the peak or average loudness, which they've since backtracked on. Clearly there's more to Intensity than "making things sound louder" though, I have a feeling that it will be too much of a blunt instrument to want to throw on an entire mix, but I'm a little more interested if it can push perceived detail through on instruments, slightly Clariphonic-like perhaps. Bill, what sort of stuff have you tried it on?

[Piet De Ridder]

For me this is a sort of Clariphoniflator Deluxe. Enhancing not just the highs of a track/mix, but addressing the entire frequency spectrum if you so desire, or any chosen range(s) in that spectrum.

I only have a few hours of experience with it, so my insights in Intensity are embarassingly limited for now, but the way I see it (at the moment anyway) is that the key to this plugin’s unique powers is not so much the Intensity-slider, but rather the Bias/EQ section (the right side of the GUI) which acts, metaphorically speaking, as a sort of ‘audio lens’ through which the incoming audio refracts, the type of refraction depending on either the chosen bias-curve or the (custom) settings of the 9 EQ-bands. Seriously clever stuff, I find.
The Intensity-slider and the Bias-section work together of course — you have to pay attention to both to get good results — but from what little experience I have with this, I’d say it is the Bias-section that sets this software apart from similar tools.

I wouldn’t say this is an indispensable plug-in — if you feel wholly confident using EQ’s, multi-band dynamic processors, exciters and maximizers (and are happy with the results), there’s no real need for Zynaptiq Intensity — but it is undoubtedly a high-quality, remarkably powerful and surprisingly versatile tool. More than worth the introduction price, I believe.

Working on an audio example. I’ll try and capture it in a video so that it will be clearer how the plug-in works.

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[tack]

Thanks Piet, looking forward to your undoubtedly well-crafted examples. "More than worth the introduction price" is good to hear, because certainly for me at least the MSRP is well beyond what I'm willing to pay for a fancy sound-betterer.

[Stixman]

Instant magic.....Instant buy!

[Luke]

Working on an audio example. I’ll try and capture it in a video so that it will be clearer how the plug-in works.

Before your post I was thinking that it’s likely close enough to Sonnox’ Inflator, with its more rudimentary “Curve” function. But after your description I’m looking forward to your video to understand better what and how this handles.

[Piet De Ridder]

Here's a first little video, fiddling about a bit with various parameters of Intensity. (Drums:: TT Custom&Vintage, bass: MODO, keys: Waves Electric88.) Should give some idea of the possibilities. I'll see if I can do something in a more orchestral vein as well this weekend.

There's also this (lots of good info and some level-matched comparisons):
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[Guy Rowland]

I dunno Piet. This is a very difficult product to assess, in large part because of the huge volume changes. Here's a waveform of what happens on that PT Expert video at 3.25 when the bypass is pressed



...and this is supposedly with volume compensation on. Safe to say this is a huge change in LUFS. Same problem with your video too Piet. Is it really making things better or just louder via compression and EQ? At the moment I'm just thinking it's a different, possibly faster and easier, way to get already common results. But I may not be doing it justice, it might well have more subtle hidden tricks.

This is where Ozone is great as a host, it has genuine volume compensation monitoring.

[Piet De Ridder]

What's the point of volume compensation when evaluating a plugin that is specifically designed, in part, to increase the perceived volume? Absurd, no?
Also, the apparent volume gain is only half, if that, of what Intensity is all about, I would have thought the above videos illustrate.

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[Erik]

You've got a point here, Piet.

[Guy Rowland]

Good heavens Piet, no. Boost your LUFS, you'll get turned down on almost all platforms now, so the point is pretty much moot. And yes, of course that's only half of the equation, but you can't assess one half while the other is not like for like. Is it just nice EQ and compression? Sorry to say neither your video nor Pro Tools Expert's illuminate this for me. If the LUFS is the same - as it would be on any distribution platform - and you A/B, then its much clearer what is going on.

Zynaptiq seemed to be claiming at some point you could increase your perceived loudness WITHOUT boosting LUFS. If that magic is true, I've yet to see any evidence for it.

[tack]

Given it's well established that humans tend to think louder things are better things, if you're trying to determine if you like the magic secret sauce an audio processor is doing, I agree with Guy that you need to separate the magic from a basic gain increase (which I think we can all agree is not magical), lest we fall into placebo traps. I like to use Ian Shepherd's Perception plugin for those types of comparisons.

[Erik]

Then you've got a point there, Guy - Oh Lord, I'm tired of myself now...

[Guy Rowland]

Here's a very quick, rough and ready volume compensated test (hope this is ok Piet, I've stolen a very brief section of your audio). This is about 7 seconds around the first bypass in and out in Piet's video at around the 18 second mark - https://www.dropbox.com/s/km7act52ljg70 ... 1.wav?dl=0 . The LUFS difference was about 5db, so I've raised the gain of the bypassed section by this amount. Immediately I can now hear what Intensity is doing to the piece - compressing / limiting of course, then a pleasing EQ which accentuates the mids and highs and removes the boominess of the bass. Of course, that's just those settings, on another section of the video Piet demonstrates different bias curves, which will have different EQ effects. This default setting may share some DNA with the Clariphonic actually, though of course the Clariphonic doesn't affect the LF, its otherwise creating the perceived effect of being both more present and higher-fi / detailed.

I appreciate this is much more fiddly and time consuming to demo though, and an inexact science too, but it is far more revealing to me anyway (and I think many will assume when LVL Comp is in circuit, it will be compensating for level difference which it clearly is not, so that seems misleading to me on Zynaptiq's part). As it is, my feeling is that its probably a pretty useful one stop shop to doing what is already achievable, and there's absolutely nothing wrong with that as long as you understand it going in.

[Erik]

As always, thanx to both of you for taking the time and bare the hassle to enlighten us.
I’ll dwl the plugin to demo it for myself. I do not have the Clariphonic V2 alas - couldn’t upgrade because the guy who sold it to me didn’t have the original serial or something, so Kush told me I had to buy it « all again », which I didn’t do.
As I said before, Clari is the one and only plugin I could fire the brand « will do magic » onto. Sorry for the OT...

[Lawrence]

I have more pressing needs for this amount of dough, but in my world-the music supervisor hears a perceived (or real) loudness boost and some pleasing eq without distortion? Awesome. I’ve just sold something.

As Jason said, louder is often perceived as better.

[Guy Rowland]

Er, yes, perceived louder is better but surely there is nothing new in this? Also worth remembering how a music supervisor hears your track - I'm guessing all library portals are now Loudness compensated, and if so rending the whole issue moot.

Don't get me wrong, I still think there is value in some good maximising, mostly because Loudness compensated is still not absolutely universal. But I really do think that focusing on the Loudness boost of Intensity is sorta missing the point. I think it's that EQ that is more likely to help. In the volume compensated clip in my previous post, the parts with Intensity in circuit simply sound better (on that material).

[X-bassist]

Tried the demo out on a track that had a sample (made by another artist) that was all bass and little to no highs. Dropped this in to see if any high end detail would emerge- and it did! This bassy muddy sample that was looped in the track suddenly had some detail and edge. I’m not sure I could get the same out of my fabfilter EQ, and it’s the best I have. Like with Clariphonic, it seems to add something I can’t any other way- which I also tried on this muddy sample, but no dice. Didn’t work as well as Intensity. In addition I didn’t see the CPU spike of some other Z products.

I too would probably never add this to an entire mix- but for samples or a dull instrument needing life, it may be a fast fix. For anyone curious just try the 30 day demo- its a full working version with no gimmicks or artifacts- you just need an ilok account. I will probably buy it before the intro is gone.

[wst3]

I am revising my opinion - a little bit anyway.

My first attempts to use this were on the 2-mix, and I do not think it is terribly interesting in that application, in spite of the fact that it seems to be geared towards working on a mix.

Today I spent some time using it on individual tracks, and I like the results a bit more. It is certainly worth my time to investigate further.