DeFilter

Name: DeFilter
Price: 50 USD
Author: Acon Digital

by Acon Digital · EQ · Automatic corrective EQ

Not rated yet

An automatic equalization plugin that balances tone and removes resonant peaks, comb filtering and room coloration.

It builds its correction from speech, music or custom reference profiles, and can match the timbre of one recording to another.

Best for: Vocals, Acoustic Instruments, Mix Bus, Mastering. Genres: all genres.

Keywords: dialogue, colored, corrective, full mix, podcast, built-in analyzer, bus processing, clean, mastering, mix bus, mixing, spacious, thin, visual feedback, vocals.

What it does

DeFilter is Acon Digital's automatic EQ for fixing tonal problems: it aims to "balance tone and reduce resonances for a cleaner sound." It analyzes the incoming audio and applies a correction curve against a target profile, handling comb filtering and room coloration while keeping the source's character.

Target profiles: automatic correction based on speech, music or custom reference profiles you create.
Resonance and comb filter removal: suppresses resonant peaks and the comb filtering caused by nearby reflections or mic spill.
Reference matching: matches the timbre of one recording to another, useful for aligning takes recorded in different places.
Custom correction curves: frequency-dependent control over how much correction is applied, with filter length adjustable from 1 to 20 ms.
Analysis: dual real-time spectrum analyzers, sample rates up to 96 kHz and surround up to 7.1.6 channels.

The current version is 1.x. A free trial is available and needs no credit card.

Source: Acon Digital product page

When to use it

DeFilter measures the material, compares it with a speech, music or custom reference and draws a static correction curve. That puts it between soothe3 and Curves Equator, dynamic resonance suppressors that react moment to moment, and FabFilter Pro-Q 4, a manual EQ with its own match feature. Pick it when you want a quick tonal fix for dialogue or room-colored recordings, or need several recordings to sound alike.

Best for: dialogue and voice-over cleanup, boxy or roomy recordings, and matching the tone of takes from different sessions.
Genres: genre-neutral; most useful in post-production, podcasts and acoustic recordings.
Look elsewhere if: you want hands-on surgical EQ (Pro-Q 4) or resonance control that follows the performance (soothe3).
Standout: reference matching combined with comb filter removal in one automatic process.

What producers say

Opinion is thin; the main published review found it effective on speech but less predictable on music.

MusicRadar (2015): found it user-friendly and good at improving speech intelligibility, but said on music "the result with either is often just... different."
Gripe: the same 2015 review of the first release noted unpredictable results across material and no way to refine the curve by hand; the current version adds customizable correction curves.