Audio editing professionals got a new tool on the Mac platform on Monday, as Sony announced a new upgrade for SpectraLayers Pro 2.
The new version of SpectraLayers Pro brings the same novel spectrum-based audio editing interface that was seen in its predecessor, but with a number of tweaks added to improve the application's usability. Chief among these is a considerable bump to the application's performance. Spectral graph explorations throughout the program now move faster in all scenarios.
The application also has a new shape tool tailored to extract audio elements like drum sounds. Users need only point at a shape on the spectral graph and click on it to pull it over to a target layer. Sony has also added a number of new options to display a frequency range. SpectraLayers users can now display different frequency ranges according to their own predetermined logarithmic scale choices.
In addition to those features, Sony has added the ability to cast the frequency signature of one layer over that of another, resulting in a derivative layer that can be phase-inverted, which a user can then edit to better enable others to hear distinctive sounds in a mix.
SpectraLayers Pro 2 also has one-click noise extraction, time-range defined looping, and new resampling and remixing options allowing users to define, route, and mix channels during the resampling process. Sony has also optimized the software to take advantage of the higher resolution on Retina-equipped MacBook Pros.
SpectraLayers Pro 2 is available for purchase from Sony Creative Software's site. Users that are upgrading from SpectraLayers Pro can purchase the new software for $200, while new users can get the application for $400. The software is also available for free trial.
The new software requires an Intel-based Mac with at least a dual-core processor, though a quad-core processor is recommended. Users should be running Mac OS X 10.6, 10.7, or 10.8 with 2GB of RAM and 2GB of free hard disk space for temporary files. SpectraLayers Pro 2 also requires an OpenGL 2.1-compatible graphics card with 256MB, a 1280x720 display resolution, and CoreAudio-compatible audio hardware.