EMPlane User Manual
Dynamic resonance suppressor
1. Introduction
EMPlane listens for harsh, resonant peaks in the audio and turns just those frequencies down, only while they happen. The rest of the signal passes untouched. Use it to smooth vocals, tame cymbals and harsh guitars, de-box a room sound, or calm a bright mix without dulling it.
The main controls set how much suppression happens and how it moves. Seven optional nodes let you steer the suppression: push it harder into a problem area, or protect a region you want left alone. The display shows the audio and the reduction as it happens.
2. Quick start
- Insert EMPlane on the track. Raise DEPTH until the harshness starts to ease.
- Adjust SENS to set how many resonances get caught. Higher catches more.
- Choose Soft for gentle, transparent work or Hard for firmer control.
- Turn on Delta to hear exactly what is being removed. You should hear the harshness, not the music.
- If a region needs special treatment, switch on a node and drag it: pull it down to suppress that area more, or push it up to protect it.
3. Interface overview
The header holds the preset menu, the A/B compare buttons, undo and redo, and the settings menu. The display sits in the centre with the stereo and tilt controls on the left, the main knobs along the bottom, and the node panel below the display when a node is selected.
Tip: double-click a value to type an exact number, and Alt-click (Option-click) any knob to reset it to its default.
4. Main controls
INPUT
Level into the processor.
−24 dB to +24 dB · Default: 0 dB
DEPTH
The master amount of suppression. At 0 % nothing happens; raise it until the problem eases.
0 % to 100 % · Default: 0 %
SENS
Sensitivity: how easily peaks are treated as resonances. Higher settings catch more, lower settings only the strongest.
0 % to 100 % · Default: 50 %
FLOOR
The maximum reduction allowed at any frequency, shown as a dashed line on the display. Lower values are a safety net against over-processing.
0 dB to 36 dB · Default: 24 dB
ATTACK
How quickly suppression starts when a resonance appears.
0.1 ms to 100 ms · Default: 5 ms
RELEASE
How quickly suppression lets go when the resonance stops.
5 ms to 500 ms · Default: 60 ms
Soft / Hard
The character of the suppression. Soft is gentle and transparent; Hard grips more firmly.
Soft / Hard · Default: Soft
MIX
Blends the dry input with the processed sound. The dry signal is time-aligned, so any blend stays clean.
0 % to 100 % · Default: 100 %
OUT
Output level.
−24 dB to +24 dB · Default: 0 dB
Quality
How much look-ahead the suppressor uses. Higher settings react more smoothly at the cost of more latency; Linear Phase uses a different engine with the highest latency.
Normal / High / Ultra / Linear Phase · Default: Normal
Low Latency
Removes the look-ahead entirely for zero latency, ideal while tracking or monitoring live.
On / Off · Default: On
Bypass
Passes the audio through with no processing.
On / Off · Default: Off
Delta
Lets you hear only what is being removed. The quickest way to check you are taking out harshness and nothing else.
On / Off · Default: Off
SC
Detects resonances from the sidechain input instead of the main input.
On / Off · Default: Off
5. The display
- Spectrum: the incoming audio, drawn behind everything. The Analyser button switches it on and off.
- Reduction curve: hangs down from the centre line, showing how much is being removed at each frequency, live.
- FLOOR line: the dashed line marking the maximum allowed reduction.
- dB scale: the dropdown sets the vertical zoom of the reduction area: −3, −6, −12, −24, or −36 dB. Display only; it never changes the sound.
- Correlation: a small stereo agreement readout, from −1 to +1, in the top corner.
6. Working with nodes
The seven numbered dots are the nodes. They all start switched off. EMPlane works fully without them. Switch one on to steer the suppression in its region:
- Drag down to suppress that region more (CUT).
- Drag up to protect that region from suppression (PROTECT).
- Drag left or right to move the region’s frequency.
- Mouse wheel over a node changes its width (Q).
- Double-click a node to switch it on or off.
- Right-click a node for its shape, focus, listen, and delete options.
- Shift-click selects several nodes, or drag a box around them, then move them together.
- Click a node’s frequency readout to type an exact frequency.
Node 1 covers the low end (20–700 Hz), nodes 2 to 6 cover the full range, and node 7 covers the top (1–20 kHz). Middle nodes stay in order. They cannot be dragged past their neighbours.
7. Node controls
Selecting a node opens its control strip below the display.
On
Switches the node on or off.
On / Off · Default: Off
Freq
The frequency the node works at.
Node 1: 20–700 Hz · Nodes 2–6: 20 Hz–20 kHz · Node 7: 1–20 kHz · Defaults: 35 Hz to 12 kHz
GAIN
The node’s push: below centre suppresses the region more (CUT), above centre protects it (PROTECT), centre is neutral (FLAT).
CUT 100 % … FLAT … PROTECT 100 % · Default: FLAT
Q
The width of the node’s region.
0.5 to 40 (2 to 40 on nodes 1 and 7) · Defaults: 1.5 / 2.0
Shape
The shape of the node’s region: Bell for a normal band; Low/High Shelf and Low/High Cut on the edge nodes; Band Pass, Band Stop, and Tilt on the middle nodes.
Bell, Shelf, Cut, Band Pass, Band Stop, Tilt · Defaults: Low Shelf / Bell / High Shelf
BANDWIDTH
For the Band Pass and Band Stop shapes: the width of the region in octaves.
0.2 to 4.0 octaves · Default: 1.0 octave
PEAK Q
Fine adjustment of how sharply the node’s cut behaves. Negative is rounder, positive is sharper.
−50 to +50 · Default: 0
Focus
Aims the node at one part of the image: Stereo affects both channels, Left / Mid focuses the left channel (or the mid in M/S mode), Right / Side focuses the right channel (or the side).
Left/Mid · Stereo · Right/Side · Default: Stereo
Listen
Solos the node’s region so you hear exactly what it targets. One node can listen at a time.
On / Off · Default: Off
8. Stereo and tilt
L/R · M/S
Whether the two channels are processed as left/right or as mid/side. Mid/side is useful when the harshness lives in the centre or the width specifically.
L/R or Mid/Side · Default: L/R
LINK
How much the two channels’ suppression moves together. 100 % keeps the image stable; lower values let each channel be treated independently.
0 % to 100 % · Default: 100 %
FOCUS
Biases the suppression toward one channel: left/mid one way, right/side the other.
−1 to +1 · Default: 0 (centred)
BALANCE
Tilts the sensitivity across the spectrum, toward the lows (LF) or the highs (HF).
LF … HF · Default: centred
ATTACK / RELEASE tilt
Tilts the attack and release times across the spectrum, so the highs can react faster than the lows, or the other way round.
−1 to +1 each · Default: 0
LF / HF
Emphasis controls that push the suppression harder below (LF) or above (HF) roughly 1 kHz.
0 % to 100 % each · Default: 0 %
9. Surround
On tracks with more than two channels, a Multi channel button opens the surround strip: each channel gets its own depth slider, solo, and bypass.
Link
How the channels’ suppression is linked: Off treats every channel independently, Groups links matching pairs, All links everything.
Off / Groups / All · Default: Groups
Excl LFE
Keeps the LFE channel out of the processing.
On / Off · Default: On
10. A/B, presets and settings
- A / B: hold two complete setups, including the node curve, and switch between them. A > B copies the current one across.
- Undo / Redo: step backwards and forwards through changes.
- Preset menu: factory presets plus your own saved settings; set a default that every new instance starts from, or reset to the factory default.
- Settings menu: interface size from 50 % to 200 %, the About panel with your licence information, and licence management.
11. Specifications
Item
Detail
Plug-in formats
Available in VST3, AU, AAX, and AudioSuite for macOS and Windows.
Trial Versions
The trial versions are fully functional with no feature limitations. After purchasing a licence key, you can unlock the trial without reinstalling.
macOS
Universal binary (Intel and Apple Silicon)
Windows
64-bit
Channel support
Mono, stereo, and surround up to 16 channels (9.1.6)
Sidechain
Optional mono or stereo sidechain input
Latency
Zero with Low Latency on; otherwise 2.5–10 ms look-ahead depending on Quality (higher for Linear Phase), reported to the host
Licence
Activation required, with a 20-day trial
EMPlane User Manual · Belgrave Audio Mastering
