r/broadcastengineering • u/sam_typicalofficial • 1d ago
I Built Spectra, A Audio Processor Built for Competitive FM Sound
I’ve been working on a broadcast processor called Spectra, and we’ve just reached the point where I’m comfortable releasing it as a standalone Windows application and VST plugin.
The main goal was to build something that could produce a competitive but clean FM & streaming sound while still being intelligent about how it processes the audio, rather than simply pushing everything harder and harder into a clipper.
The current processing architecture includes a wideband AGC, five-band compression, six-band limiting, dynamic EQ, adaptive processing stages, intelligent dynamics, a dedicated bass path, and the Edge clipper.
A big part of the development has been the adaptive or “intelligent” side of the processor. Instead of having every stage behave the same way regardless of what’s going through it, the processing can react to the characteristics of the program material and back off when additional processing isn’t actually helping based on target values you set
A dedicated bass path is also integrated into that overall approach, giving you the big, full low end you’d expect from a competitive FM processor without the rest of the sound getting crushed in the process.
We’ve spent quite a bit of time listening to Spectra against existing broadcast processors and tuning it with different types of program material. At this point, we’re really happy with how competitive the sound has become.
Spectra is now available as a standalone Windows processor and VST plugin, so it can be used in an FM, AM, HD Radio, DAB or as a live stream audio enhancer.
A single license supports up to 32 processing cores, system-dependent. It’s $99.99 one-time & 7 day evaluation period.
This is something we’ve built from the ground up in our family of products , so I’d genuinely be interested in feedback from people who actually work with broadcast engineering gear on how we can improve or modify.
What would you change or add to a modern software FM processor?
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u/Embarrassed-Gain-236 1d ago
Are you inspired on Orban audio processors? That's what most FM radios use
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u/Slasher1738 1d ago
how many inputs can it process at a time?
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u/sam_typicalofficial 1d ago
You can have up to 32 stations in one instance so up to 32 inputs & outs + backup audio that you can choose. but we will soon accept additional inputs for external SCA & RDS inputs
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u/praise-the-message 1d ago
What percentage of this is you vs AI?
Also, some formatting would really help your post...