Steinberg DAC SpectraLayers Pro 13 Education Version for Students & Teachers

SpectraLayers delivers audio empowerment by showing sounds as visual objects. You can explore, reach in, take and transform, working wonders on tasks ranging from repairing and restoring audio to freeform sound design. Unmatched selection tools developed over many years are now joined by new artificial intelligence-driven audio extraction and repair processes, making this the most significant version of SpectraLayers yet.

SpectraLayers 13 builds on the application’s core strengths with powerful new post-production options and workflow enhancements that span the entire application. Working in the spectrum is now more flexible than ever, while new tools for creative unmixing, speech refinement, audio reconstruction, and noise control make this edition ideal for contemporary workflows.

Here's a taster of what's new:

Unmix Sound Effects

This new process separates short sounds from continuous environmental and ambient background sounds, such as wind, crowd, traffic, and nature. Ideal for audio post, it enables fast, precise isolation of a very wide range of sounds, extracting them to their own dedicated layer while retaining the background texture. This can then be shaped and smoothed using other new processes in this version.

Ambience Heal

Automatically fill empty spaces in the audio spectrum left by unmixing and cut-to operations. For example, empty spaces previously occupied by voices on a source layer can be filled with the surrounding background texture (environment, room tone, etc) already present in the layer. The process references user-designated foreground layers containing content extracted from the source layer.

Reconstruct

This new module resynthesizes selected spectral data. It analyzes and reconstructs tones (by tracking before and after selections), transients (by tracking above and below selections), and noise. Reconstruction amounts are configurable for all three components.

Attenuate

Attenuate relatively high-amplitude content within selections, based on the maximum spectral power of the surrounding content. This facilitates easy, natural-sounding blending with selection-adjacent content.

Voice DeClick

Remove unwanted mouth noises, such as lip smacks and tongue clicks. Threshold, pixel width, and reduction ratio controls are provided for fine-tuning the process.

Unmix Two Voices

Automatically separate two voices without having to register voice profiles. This is one of the workflow speed and efficiency improvements which are a hallmark of the new edition.

Voice DeCrosstalk

Separate non-target voices (background or foreground) from the primary voice, even when they are overlapping. Speech unmixing has never been easier!

Level Check

Quickly calculate and display a variety of loudness data, including True Peak and a host of LU measurements. Calculations update automatically and can be made on spectral selections, as well as any combination of layers. In addition, clicking on various fields in the module interface makes the playhead snap to the exact project locations where instantaneous data was gathered.

Fade

Apply fades to selections within single layers, or crossfade between two selected layers in a project. Choose fade in, fade out, or let the module automatically determine the fade type, based on the selection location in the timeline. Four fade types are provided.

Improved DeNoise

Noiseprint-based noise reduction is alive and well! This classic SpectraLayers process is now improved with the addition of controls which add increased precision and variable spectral smoothness.

Improved Unmix Components

It’s a sound designer’s delight! This process is now improved to provide more accurate detection and separation of discrete tones, transients, and noise.

• The vanguard of spectral editing applications
• Touch, sculpt, and shape audio on a spectral graph
• Automatic, artificial intelligence-driven processes
• From repair and restoration to freeform music creation

Artificial Intelligence. Sensory Integration

Looking at audio on a spectrograph display is one thing, but the ability to easily touch, sculpt and shape what you see is what sets SpectraLayers apart. And now you have a skilled, highly trained AI partner that can sense patterns, perform operations and speed you on your way to perfect audio.

A foundation for AI-enhanced processing

The manual selection tools in SpectraLayers allow everything from broad brush editing to microscopic intervention. AI-assisted processes bring even more speed and precision, making the SpectraLayers tool set and layers-based workflow more powerful and flexible than ever.

From pure science to free improvisation

Use AI speed and precision to split a sample into layers and create freeform mixes. Automatically unmix tracks into stems, and stems into component parts. Quickly identify, isolate, and work on the tone, transients and noise signatures of extracted instruments. Do you make experimental music? Get granular and mold sound with surgical precision in SpectraLayers. It’s a freeform music creation tool… a genuine musical instrument.

Repair and restore

Find and erase errors and unwanted sounds, reduce noise, repair clips, remove clicks, tame transients and much more — manually or automatically — with the new AI-assisted processes in SpectraLayers. Work with speed and precision, and enjoy the satisfaction as you routinely salvage tracks and perform audio enhancements in ways you never thought possible.

The ARA era

Today’s audio production platforms need to work in both the waveform and spectral domains. What engineers want is serious application power, coupled with the flexibility to deliver the best in creative options, accessibility and workflow. Thanks to advanced ARA 2 technology, which is designed to build bridges between audio editing applications, SpectraLayers can be launched inside Nuendo, Cubase and a host of applications from other developers to provide comprehensive, non-destructive visual editing right on the DAW timeline.

Audio refabrication

Use high-precision tools to make super-detailed audio selections on the spectral display. Extract this material to independent layers for processing, in SpectraLayers or anywhere in the DAW ecosystem. Mix and render, or keep your edits preserved on the DAW timeline. With ARA 2 support, you can launch SpectraLayers directly into the Cubase/Nuendo waveform display window for the ultimate in real-time program integration.

Your personal pathway

SpectraLayers delivers AI-assisted spectral editing capabilities and seamless DAW integration. The entry-level Elements edition can perform precise error correction and includes automatic noise and hum reduction processes, as well as selected AI-assisted processes including vocal unmixing. The Pro edition features more comprehensive tools, along with the most sophisticated AI implementation. Now with second-generation AI and enhanced ARA 2 support, SpectraLayers is a standalone powerhouse and a superb extension for Cubase and Nuendo, bringing SpectraLayers magic directly into the DAW timeline.

• File import: AAC, AC3, AIFF, ALAC, AU, CAF, FLAC, MP3, OGG, Opus, RAW, WAV, WMA
• File export: AAC, AC3, AIFF, CAF, FLAC, MP3, OGG, Opus, RAW, WAV
• Maximum Sample Rate: 384 kHz
• Maximum Number of Channels: 16
• Meta Data Editing: Yes
• Markers Editing: Yes
• Plugin formats: ARA2 VST, ARA2 AAX, AAX Plug-in
• Maximum Number of Layers: Unlimited

System requirements

• Operating systems (Windows): 64-bit Windows 10 Version 21H2 (or higher), 64-bit Windows 11 Version 21H2 (or higher)
• Operating systems (Mac): macOS Sonoma, macOS Sequoia, macOS Tahoe
• Apple silicon–based Mac@ Rosetta 2 App, Native App: CPU minimum (Windows): Intel® Core™ i5 (4th Generation) or AMD Ryzen™ or Qualcomm Snapdragon™ X
• CPU minimum (Mac): Intel® Core™ i5 (mid 2013 or later) or Apple silicon
• RAM minimum: 8 GB
• RAM recommended: 16 GB
• Hard disk free space: 8 GB
• Display resolution minimum at 100% UI scaling: 1920 x 1080
• Graphics minimum (Windows): DirectX 11 compatible graphics card (DirectX 12 recommended for AI processing)
• Graphics (Mac): Graphics card with OpenGL 3.3 support
• OS compatible audio hardware: Yes
• Internet connection for: account sign up and product registration, installer download, license activation