The intelligent channel strip
This AI-assistive channel strip offers eight connected processors and mix-wide control. Get balanced starting points faster and manage your mix from one place.
€599.00
Complete sonible audio plug-in collection for mixing, mastering and metering. Get intelligent processing and specialist tools for your whole workflow. Save 54% by buying the bundle.
FAQ
smart:chain combines its processing modules into one integrated system. The modules share a single analysis of the source and work together within a fixed signal flow. This also makes smart:chain significantly more CPU-efficient than running the equivalent individual plug-ins at the same time. The plug-in additionally provides session-wide features such as multi-instance control, Groups, Front/Middle/Back depth staging and Auto Leveling.
The individual plug-ins offer more detailed control over their respective processing tasks. They are a good choice when you want access to every specialized parameter, need a different signal-flow order or only require a particular processor.
No, smart:chain is an integrated intelligent channel strip, not a plug-in host. You cannot load existing sonible plug-ins or third-party plug-ins into it.
The EQ, compressor, gate, de-esser/de-harsh, Input Riding and saturation modules in smart:chain were designed as one connected processing system. They share information about the source signal and respond to changes made in other parts of smart.
Auto Leveling analyzes the relationships between all learned smart:chain instances in the project and creates an initial level balance. You can refine the automatic starting point using several controls:
These controls do not change the underlying analysis. They allow you to adapt the automatically generated balance to your own mix and creative intentions.
Important: For reliable results, make sure that the correct profile is selected for every instance. Learning should be performed during a representative part of the track where the intended instrument or voice is clearly playing at a suitable level. Avoid learning sections that contain only silence, background noise or spill from other sources.
In Low Latency mode, smart:chain processes with zero latency. Gate and De-Esser/De-Harsh are disabled because these modules require additional signal context for their intelligent detection. Oversampling is also disabled. These features remain unavailable while Low Latency mode is active.
In Normal mode, all smart:chain modules are available. smart:chain reports the latency required by Gate and De-Esser/De-Harsh even when these modules are switched off. This keeps the latency consistent when they are enabled later.
Low Latency mode is therefore the appropriate choice when recording or monitoring through smart:chain.
Groups let you organize related smart:chain instances and position them in Front, Middle or Back layers. The layers describe the intended depth and priority of the tracks within that Group.
Moving an instance between layers influences the intelligent EQ processing, the compressor’s internal attack and release behavior and - when Auto Level is active - the level relationship of the tracks.
A Group can contain up to ten smart:chain instances. Groups also make it possible to select, edit, learn or bypass multiple instances from one window.
No - the processing order in smart is fixed. The modules have been arranged to work together as one system. Some modules use information from other stages of the chain, so changing their order would interfere with the intended interaction between them.
You can enable or disable individual modules, but you cannot rearrange them.
smart:chain is designed primarily for use on individual tracks. The processing modules can technically be used on a bus, but bus instances should not participate in Auto Levelling, as Auto Levelling was designed to balance individual tracks. For reliable Auto Levelling results, use smart:chain on the individual source tracks only - or disable Auto Levelling when using smart:chain on tracks and busses.
Due to the technical limitations of DAWs, a plugin can only ever “hear” an incoming audio signal. Therefore, you need to play a bit of your project to smart:chain to utilize the intelligent processing.
“I think smart:chain is a really good answer to the question how new technologies can be used to not destroy the creative process but to enhance it.”
– Sam McGuire
“I'm all about speeding up my workflow and sonible smart plugins have done just that for me. They've saved me so much time over the years.”
– JesseMcCune
“It's incredible what you can achieve with one single plug-in. With smart:chain you get 80-90% of the mix done.”
– Amner Hunter
Features, specs & changelog
