UNCHIRP

CODEC ARTIFACT REMOVAL & TRANSIENT RETRIEVAL

UNCHIRP is a plug-in designed to remove the most annoying artifacts associated with lossy audio encoding and other FFT-based processes, such as spectral de-noising. Reduce musical noise, suppress high-frequency chirping (also known as underwater sound, warbling, or tweeties), fix transient smearing, and restore lost high frequencies – UNCHIRP does it all in one go. If you need to rescue poorly encoded music, speech that has gone through a low bitrate uplink, material that has been over-de-noised, or recordings made with consumer mobile devices – or if you simply want to add contour and vibrance to already good-sounding recordings – then UNCHIRP is your (only) friend.

The main features of UNCHIRP:

• Suppression of high-frequency "chirping" artifacts.
• Reduction of "musical noise" artifacts.
• Transient Synthesis to enhance or replace smeared, over-limited, or otherwise compromised transients.
• Psycho-Acoustically optimized Treble Boost circuit with Enhance and Excite modes.
• Break-Point Curve Editor based frequency-dependent processing.
• Side-only algorithm mode for working with joint-stereo encoded material.
• HD algorithm mode for increased quality processing with higher CPU load (off-line processing recommended).
• SYNC parameter allows processing to be synchronized with signal transients to increase clarity.
• Output limiter for unattended use in batch processing applications.
• Highly time-saving workflow and UI.

The Problem

Both lossy codecs and many of today's DSP processes (like de-noisers) make intensive use of a process called Fast Fourier Transform (FFT). This method has some major advantages. It also has some major disadvantages, which are the cause of a range of artifacts, such as Musical Noise, High Frequency Modulation (also called Chirping), Transient Smearing, and general "blurring" due to low localization in the time domain. Due to the way human hearing works, these artifacts are very obvious and sound distinctly unnatural. Additionally, lossy codecs and de-noisers often cause a loss of high frequencies, further degrading your audio. UNCHIRP is the remedy for all these artifact types.

Two is More Than One

UNCHIRP identifies birdies and applies proprietary processing to make them disappear. It offers two different, simultaneously available algorithms to achieve this, Musical Noise Reduction and Dechirping, each with its own technological approach, unique sonic characteristics, and its own breakpoint curve editor for frequency-dependent processing. At Zynaptiq, we like to overdeliver.

Snap!

Like our award-winning de-reverberator UNVEIL, UNCHIRP allows bypassing transients for naturally sounding results, even with extreme settings. But we didn't stop there – we've added frequency dependency to the bypass threshold and frequency-dependent transient damping/boost. The new Transient Synthesis can replace transients compromised by FFT processing like lossy encoding, or by excessive dynamic processing. Finally, the Sync function synchronizes processing with the signal's transients, adding overall clarity and coherence. These algorithms work equally well to fix problematic material as well as to augment already good-sounding recordings, adding impact, detail, and contour. It's like pulling back a curtain. Try it, you'll love it.

The Brilliant

And then there's Treble Boost, which addresses the fact that low bitrate encoded audio can exhibit a "dead zone" in the treble range - there's simply a hard limit to what a given bitrate can capture in terms of frequency. Regular EQ won't help because there's nothing to boost. The Treble Boost circuit offers two ways to restore some of that treble: a psycho-acoustically optimized Enhancer – equalization tailored in a way that implies frequency content in the dead zone to the listener – and an Exciter, which synthesizes new harmonics to "fill the gap". These sound so good, you might end up turning to these for your treble processing in general – even with already good-sounding signals – to add shine and vibrance to your audio.

Supraluminal

Since time is the most scarce resource, we at Zynaptiq are obsessed with saving it for you. UNCHIRP has a range of workflow features to help you get results faster than light. There's an output limiter to enable unattended batch processing without overs, an I/O difference function to quickly hear what you're precisely removing, frequency-dependent processing for all key parameters using breakpoint curves with snap-to-zero and copy/paste functionality, and our preset manager, which writes presets that you can then use across all platforms and formats. Start using UNCHIRP and go ahead and book another week of vacation.

Synergies in Abundance

UNCHIRP is available for purchase separately as well as bundled with our award-winning reverb removal, adaptive equalization, and polyphonic pitch processing plug-ins UNVEIL, UNFILTER, and PITCHMAP, as part of the ZAP Bundle. As a team, these tools give you unprecedented access to the heart of your audio, and do so efficiently, making you wonder how you managed without them all these years.