Immanent Audio has released IA De-Esser, a free de-essing and resonance suppression plugin for macOS and Windows.
IA De-Esser does things a bit differently. Instead of a single module, it has four filter slots for taming sibilance, harshness, and resonant peaks. Each slot can work in De-Ess mode, where it automatically responds to sibilance, or in modes designed for broader harshness control.
It’s a cool idea. You can take away just a little bit of harshness with every module and get a compound result that sounds more natural than just slamming a single de-esser.
Auto Mode lets you set the Low-Cut and Hi-Cut range, then lets the plugin choose the depth and Q values for the amount of taming it thinks is appropriate. Smart Mode goes a step further by scanning the spectrum and directing the active slot to the area that needs attention.
The idea is to cut only the harshness you want to remove, without pushing the whole vocal or instrument into that dull de-essed sound. There are also live readouts for attack, release, depth, and Q on the interface, making it easier to understand what the plugin is doing.
IA De-Esser runs with zero added DAW latency, so it’s suitable for tracking or any other situation where latency matters.
I asked Immanent Audio whether the plugin was developed using AI, since we have been seeing more AI-assisted audio tools lately. Developer Jay confirmed that AI was used to speed up the process, but also noted that, as a software engineer by trade, he is not shipping code he does not understand.
IA De-Esser is available as a free download via Gumroad. It is compatible with macOS and Windows in VST3 and AU formats.
Download: IA De-Esser (FREE)
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Last Updated on August 13, 2026 by Tomislav Zlatic.
