Audio Plugins

• CEDAR VoicEX Voice Extractor Audio Plugin

  

  The CEDAR VoicEX voice extractor audio plugin is close to being a magic button and is so simple to use that novices and experts alike can achieve results that would have been unthinkable just a few months ago.

  Some time back, we started developing the AI-based DNN (deep neural network) technologies used in CEDAR VoicEX Voice Extractor. We were sure that these would offer a noticeable improvement over our existing noise reduction technologies, although we didn’t know to what degree. But we were stunned when we first heard VoicEX, and the past few months have been spent creating a version for all of our plug-in customers.

  This leap forward has been made possible by adopting a completely new approach to voice extraction. Rather than try to gauge the noise level at each frequency and suppress this, we train an algorithm called a neural network to identify the voices in the signal and create two audio streams – one containing just the voices, and the other containing everything else. This approach makes VoicEX very simple to use. Where you might expect numerous controls, you’ll find just two knobs – one to determine the loudness of the background, and the other to control the loudness of the speech. Reduce the former to make noise and excessive reverberation go away. Reduce the latter, and the voices go away. Increase either to emphasise that part of the signal. It’s incredibly simple to use and takes no time at all to master, but the results can be truly amazing.

  Once in a while a transformative technology appears. Artificial Intelligence (or AI) is one of these, and its impact on the audio industry is going to be huge.

  We started down the road toward AI as far back as 1994 when we introduced the CEDAR DH-1 dehisser, the world’s first digital broadband denoiser that didn’t require an audio fingerprint. This was something that we had been told was impossible, but the DH-1 worked, and often worked extremely well, and it proved to be a significant step forward in the art and science of noise reduction. Over the following years, we developed improved products based upon unique data driven models, and continued to lead the world with hardware and software products that would win Emmy®, Academy®, IABM® and Cinema Audio Society awards. In 2015, our Learn algorithm marked another milestone, and the introduction of our deep neural networks has fuelled another leap forward. We believe that VoicEX gives an indication of what will be possible in the future when AI is applied to all manner of audio processing requirements.

  It’s a new world.

  For more information, please visit this product's webpage.