CEDAR Audio’s all-new Icons plug-in series has just gained its newest member, Blade. Described by the company as a“hyper-resolution analyser EQ”, the new arrival combines the company’s long-standing expertise in Spectral Analysis with a powerful IIR EQ in an effort to help solve frequency problems with surgical accuracy.

Blade offers the ability to zoom further into the frequency spectrum than is possible with normal analysers, from the full range signal down to a 20Hz-wide window at any frequency. As a result, it’s able to reveal narrow resonances, tonal artefacts and problematic frequencies that can often go unnoticed when using traditional analysis tools. Boasting Q values of up to 100, the plug-in is capable of implementing surgical EQ adjustments that can target specific frequency ranges while leaving surrounding areas untouched. 

The new plug-in is said to be ideal for audio mastering, audio restoration and forensic applications alike. It’s capable of removing constant tones as well as brick-wall filtering, and the company say it should be considered the go-to tool for compensating for inappropriate applications of analogue EQ. 

“CEDAR Audio invented spectral editing and real-time audio restoration. The unique spectrum analyser in Blade is not an FFT analyser, which is what you will find in other audio workstations and plug-ins. These suffer from poor resolution (which is especially limiting at low frequencies) and are not suitable for precise audio analysis. The Blade analyser is more like those found in dedicated signal analysers and electronic design laboratories, and it offers a maximum resolution of 0.02Hz at any frequency. This lets you identify unwanted tones with almost unparalleled accuracy.” - Andy Trott, CEO, CEDAR Audio

Blade is supported on PCs running Windows 10 or above, and Macs running macOS 10.13 and higher. VST3, AU and AAX plug-in versions are available. 

Blade is available now, priced at $159£142.80 including VAT / €139.

cedaraudio.com/plugins/blade