SPECOPS Review
Unfiltered Audio’s SpecOps is one of the most unique and creative effects out there, a multiband spectral processor, with dozens of different spectral transformation options, and a comprehensive modulation system. Spectral plugins utilize FFT to treat audio in unique ways not otherwise possible, essentially they split the audio into hundreds to thousands of bands (called bins)bins, then they do stuff to those bins separately before summing it all back together. These effects range from subtle tonal changes, to filtering, to frequency alteration, and insane glitchy madness. SpecOps gives you three slots to load any of the effects into, from here you can adjust the amount and the frequency range the effect is targeting. After this you get an additional set of “geometry” effects, and a spectral compander a hybrid compressor/ expander that applies to each bin independently. All of these controls can be modulated which is where things get super fun, being able to create spectral glitching effects that change over time or rhythmic processing for controlled chaotic patterns.
How each of these effects sounds depends heavily on the FFT Size you set. FFT Size determines how many bins are in use, lower amounts have more accurate timing, where higher amounts give you more frequency resolution, but will smear out the timing. SpecOPs gives you anywhere from 128 up to 32K bins and also provides seven different detection algorithms for a wide variety of combinations. There is also a “speed” control which blends the analysis across time, with the lowest setting actually freezing the analysis completely. You’ll likely want to stick with an FFT size around 1024-4096 and “clean” window for the most “natural” results. It’s worth testing other window types just to see if they make a difference. I like to use low FFT sizes around 128-512 for bubbly and chaotic sounds.
At the core of SpecOps is the three multimode spectral effects combining these in various ways while targeting different frequency regions would be an incredible plugin on its own. The wide variety of effects to choose from are broken into 6 categories: Filters, Mixing, Geometry, Freezers, Effects, and Glitchers. Many of these effects are basic utilities that when combined can allow you to create other effects or correct issues created by effects. but the majority of the effects, freezers, and glitchers are all very fun to play with and mix around in combinations. The amount control adjusts the intensity of each effect, this is a little different for each one, start and width are for assigning the frequency region the effect will be applied too. I love that all three of these controls can be modulated meaning you can move the effect across frequency regions dynamically. I wont go into every single effect, but I do want to cover some of my favorites and discuss why they are so fun.
Noise Filter and Contrast: These two are failry similar, they both sorta darken the signal quite a bit, but what’s interesting is that they don’t darken things by simply reducing top end, they pull out detail all across the spectrum, so high frequency signals will still be present, while noise is removed. At their extremes they almost become watery and hollow. You can even run white noise through these and get very interesting results by adjusting FFT size.
Freezers: The freezers all freeze bins in various ways, they are not solid on/off either, as you increase the “amount” control they pick different bins to freeze based on their algorithm. By the time you get to 100% everything should be frozen with most freezers. Glitchy Freeze will randomly pick bins to freeze, slowing down the rate of selection with higher percentage. Threshold freezes the signal based on a volume threshold. Just using any of the freezers to lock regions of audio can be an interesting effect to play with and explore
MP3ify: Reduces the information across bins in a manner similar to MP# compression algorithms, as you turn it up it sounds more and more like the lowest sized mp3 files, giving it that filtered low res watery sound. I love how bubbly and dull this one gets, a great effect to put before other effects as it really creates some interesting harmonic motion.
Glitchy Bubbler: Speaking of “bubbly” glitchy bubbler does some really cool randomization across the bins. It produces a much sharper brighter “bubbly” texture compared to mp3ify, but is quite the chaotic effect. Glitchy bubbler absolute destroys your signal and this is why I love it.
Glitchy Fire: This one randomly swaps bins, it’s also quite chaotic and messy, but has a thinner more twinkly sound compared to bubbler. With low FFT sizes it sounds a lot closer to bubbler, but with high FFT sizes it does some interesting upper harmonic content as bins fade in and out.
These effects are all very experimental and unstable*, high FFT sizes cause latency and often the magic you produce might not come back. I prefer to use SpecOps with resampling, when I need effects that reimagine the incoming signal in bizarre and unordinary ways. By rending out your experiments you can play around with the results in much more predictable and controlled ways. This also allows a bit more freedom in exploring more extreme settings. I will likely write a full review of Unfiltered Audio’s older modulation system on its own, as all of their plugins from this era contain it, so I’d rather not repeat myself. But for SpecOps, this modulation really takes these effects to the next level. Sequencing out glitchers and freezers while the frequency window is jumping around from the sample hold is just pure fun. If you’re into experimental audio or spectral effects and glitch design, this is one to keep on your radar. At times it can sound ugly, but that is to be expected with something this wild.
*note that when I say “unstable” I don’t mean that the plugin is unstable or that the effects are flawed in any way. What I mean is that this style of effect is naturally unpredictable and can be a challenging to replicate exact results with.
You can find SPECOPS at Unfiltered Audio’s website: https://www.unfilteredaudio.com/collections/plug-ins/products/specops