Psycho Dither
by Stillwell Audio · Utility · Adaptive dither
Not rated yet
Psycho Dither is an adaptive dither that reacts to the signal in real time with psychoacoustic noise shaping, to keep as much dynamic range as possible.
It has two dither colors and costs $59.
Best for: Mastering, Mix Bus. Genres: all genres.
Keywords: mastering, full mix, bus processing, finishing touch, mix bus, perpetual licence, utility.
What it does
Psycho Dither is an adaptive dither for the last step of a master: it "reacts in real time to the signal" to keep as much dynamic range as possible when reducing bit depth. It came originally from Schwa, the developer's partner on several plugins.
- Adaptive dither: dither and noise shaping change with the program material, hiding the noise behind the loudest parts of the signal.
- Red color: TPDF dither with high-pass filtering that increases as the psycho power control is raised (per the developer's forum explanation).
- Green color: an extra-adaptive mode that applies no dither at all in silent passages.
- Psycho power: a psychoacoustic noise-shaping control that sets how soft or hard the shaping is.
- Any target: works for reduction to any target bit depth, such as 24-bit masters going to 16-bit.
- Placement: the final plugin in a mastering or mix chain, after the limiter and before export.
This is version 4.1.2. A free evaluation copy is available, and updates are free with no subscription.
Source: Stillwell Audio product page
When to use it
Psycho Dither is the pick when you want a dedicated, adjustable dither stage instead of the one built into your limiter. Compared with the dither in Pro-L 2, which offers three noise-shaping options, it adds signal-adaptive shaping and a mode that goes fully silent in quiet passages, which helps on fades and gaps. Unlike the rated utilities such as Insight 2 or SPAN, it is not a meter and shows nothing about loudness or spectrum; it does one job. It costs as much as the developer's full processors, so it mainly makes sense if you master often or want the same dither in every host.
- Best for: the final bit-depth reduction when mastering to 16-bit or lower, especially quiet or highly dynamic material with fades.
- Genres: any; most useful for classical, jazz, acoustic and ambient music, where dither noise is easier to hear.
- Look elsewhere if: your limiter's built-in dither, such as Pro-L 2's, is enough, or you want metering in the same plugin.
- Tip: use Green when a track has true silence between songs or at the end, so no dither noise is added there.
What producers say
There is little review coverage; the main discussion is a 2008 thread on the developer's forum about how it works.
- Stillwell forum thread (2008): a user called it the first noise shaping over 9th order they had seen and asked for comparisons with iZotope, Waves and POW-R dithers; the developer explained the Red and Green modes.
- Criticisms: the same user found the psycho power control confusing next to the usual choice of dither type and noise-shaping order.
Where to buy
- Stillwell Audio: $59
Tutorials and reviews
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