Voxessor

Name: Voxessor
Price: 115 USD
Author: United Plugins

by United Plugins · Vocal Tool · Voice-over channel strip

Not rated yet

Voxessor from Soundevice Digital (sold by United Plugins) is a voice-over processor for video, film, podcasts and spoken word, combining EQ, compression, gating, de-essing and automatic leveling.

Voice matching and a one-knob dynamics section keep setup short; $145.

Best for: Vocals. Genres: all genres.

Keywords: dialogue, podcast, vocals, single knob, minimal controls, simple, auto-gain, beginner-friendly, bright, film & game audio, built-in mix knob, organic, resizable UI, skeuomorphic.

What it does

Voxessor is a Soundevice Digital channel strip for spoken voice, sold by United Plugins, aimed at videos, films, podcasts, YouTube, commercials and audiobooks. The developer's pitch is a "perfect voice-over in no time", with most processing preset internally for dialogue.

Mode and Intensity: a Mode pointer sweeps the EQ character from deep male to bright female voicing, and Intensity sets the wet/dry mix.
Intelligent matching: a Learn/Analyze function listens to the speaker and tailors the processing, set with a Match knob.
De-esser: a two-control de-esser with tunable frequency.
One-knob dynamics: a compressor and a gate, each on a single knob and preset for dialogue.
Autolevel: automatic volume correction that evens out level changes in the performance, plus automatic gain compensation.
Interface and CPU: a resizable photorealistic GUI, smart bypass with click prevention and latency compensation, a sleep mode during silence, and 64-bit processing at any sample rate.

It comes with free updates. A free 15-day trial has no limits.

Source: United Plugins product page

When to use it

Voxessor is the better pick when the job is speech and you want a finished voice-over sound from a handful of controls. Compared with Nectar 4, it does far less, with no pitch tools or detailed per-module editing, but it is built around dialogue and is quicker to set up. It covers ground that would otherwise need several single-task plugins: its Autolevel does a simpler version of what Vocal Rider does, and its two-knob de-esser is far simpler than Pro-DS. The trade-off is control, since the processing is largely hidden behind the Mode and Match settings.

Best for: podcasts, voice-overs, YouTube narration, audiobooks and dialogue recorded on modest microphones.
Genres: any; mainly spoken-word content.
Look elsewhere if: you are mixing sung vocals or want to see and set every stage yourself; Nectar 4, or Pro-DS with Vocal Rider, give more control.
Tip: set the Mode dial and Intensity first, then run the Match analysis on the speaker's voice, and listen carefully so you don't over-process.

What producers say

Sound On Sound found it a quick, natural-sounding fix for spoken voice, with a warning to use your ears.

Sound On Sound (Paul White, November 2021) praised the Match mode, the two-knob de-esser and a compressor that adds "welcome bit of weight and consistency", and felt its speed could greatly help users of budget microphones.
Criticisms: Sound On Sound noted that it is easy to over-process, and that the proprietary processing makes it hard to know exactly what it is doing.

Sound On Sound review

Where to buy

Tutorials and reviews

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