Subhankardas releases De-Esser NXT, a FREE de-esser plugin (source code)

From developer Subhankarda comes De-Esser NXT, a native Windows 11 VST3 plugin that aims to remove sibilance, leaving you with the cleanest audio possible.

The developer chose to make De-Esser-NXT a Windows 11 exclusive to take advantage of the operating system’s enhanced audio infrastructure. As such, you can also choose your driver mode from WASAPI Shared, WASAPI Exclusive, WaveRT, and ASIO.

Any Mac users who feel like they are missing out will be glad to hear that the previously Windows-exclusive fy_nicetape is now available for macOS, which is awesome news.

If you’re looking for a cross-platform de-esser, check out GARUC Audio’s free Deess-ertic Lite.

One advantage of sticking with Windows 11 is an optimised DSP hot path that allows processing four 64-bit samples per CPU cycle. You should be able to run as many instances of De-Esser-NXT as you need without issue (on modern Windows 11 hardware).

The plugin also boasts what the developer calls “truly double-precision DSP,” for more accurate detection, cleaner transients, and no degradation at extreme settings.

Plugins that clean or repair audio issues, sibilance or otherwise, typically have a point of diminishing returns where you start to lose the good when removing the bad. If you can push De-Esser-NXT to the limit on severe cases without degradation, it’s an interesting prospect.

De-Esser-NXT has two modes: Relative Mode and Absolute Mode.

Relative Mode adapts to varying vocal levels, whereas Absolute Mode provides threshold-based detection suited to more consistent sources.

There are also two types of Processing: Split and Wide. Split processing only attenuates the detected silibant band, and Wide applies gain reduction to the entire signal, which is ideal for those more severe cases.

Additional features include Peak/Lowpass filter modes, Lookahead up to 20ms, per-sample stereo link, and internal/external sidechain options.

The interface looks very good, and still favors function over style, with some nice touches like draggable min/max handles on the frequency response display.

Everything looks and sounds good here, so it would be great to get some feedback from Windows 11 users in the comments.