The information in this document is subject to change without notice and does not represent a commitment on the part of ACCUSONUS INC. The software described by this document is subject to a License Agreement and may not be copied to other media. No part of this publication may be copied, reproduced, or otherwise transmitted or recorded, for any purpose, without prior written permission by ACCUSONUS INC, hereinafter referred to as Accusonus. All product and company names are trademarks or registered trademarks of their respective owners.

 

ERA Audio Clean-Up Assistant is covered by at least the following patents:
https://accusonus.com/patents

Copyright  ACCUSONUS INC.
All rights reserved.

Accusonus Inc.
Lexington, Massachusetts
USA

 

Introduction

Welcome

Thank you for choosing accusonus ERA Audio Clean-Up Assistant. In order to better understand the main concepts and operation of Audio Clean-Up Assistant, please take the time to read this user manual.

You can also check our Accusonus Help Center out or our Blog for educational content. Also, follow us on Facebook and YouTube for useful tips & tutorials.

Overview

Audio Clean-Up Assistant is the fastest way to repair and enhance your audio. With Audio Clean-Up Assistant, you can now take advantage of the abilities of all individual ERA plug-ins, under a centralized and easy-to-use tool.

The plug-in now features the brand new ‘Assistant’ mode. It automatically detects the audio problems of a dialogue recording and suggests the essential ERA tools for you. Audio Clean-Up Assistant also offers a big arsenal of high-quality presets, each one tuned on a specific, real-case scenario. Achieving great audio quality is now just a few clicks away!.

Accusonus ERA Audio Clean-Up Assistant

 

Features

• Simple and streamlined user interface
• Automatic audio repair and enhancement
• Compatible with all ERA One-knob tools
• Centralized usage of five ERA One-knob plug-ins at once
• High-quality built-in factory presets
• Ability to create custom presets
• Main ON/OFF Switch for quick comparison before and after the processing
• Re-ordering of the loaded ERA tools
• Resizable UI
• Info button with tips & tricks

 

Installation & Activation

You can find Audio Clean-Up Assistant in the latest ERA Bundle installer under the Downloads section. For more information about the installation procedure visit the How to install & uninstall ERA Bundle Help Center section. For information about the activation procedure, please visit the Activation & Deactivation section.

 

System requirements

Your computer must have:

• a modern architecture CPU
• Intel Core i7 - 6th gen. or higher is recommended
• AMD Ryzen Series 1000 or higher is recommended
• a minimum of 8GB RAM memory
• at least 100MB free space on your hard disk
• a minimum screen resolution of 1280×720 pixels

Supported formats

Audio Clean-Up Assistant is available as a mono or stereo audio effect plug-in in the following formats:

Mac

• AU (64-bit)
• VST (64-bit)
• VST3 (64-bit)
• AAX Native (64-bit)
  
  

Windows

• VST (64-bit)
• VST3 (64-bit)
• AAX Native (64-bit)
  
  

Supported sample rates

Audio Clean-Up Assistant supports the following sample rates: 44.1 kHz, 48 kHz

Supported Audio and Video Editors

Please have a look at the Compatible Audio and Video Editors with ERA plugins section to check the compatibility of Audio Clean-Up Assistant with your video/audio editor.

Warning: Audio Clean-Up Assistant is designed to be used as an audio effect plug-in inside Audio Editors or Video Editors. Only the plug-in formats listed above are supported. ERA Audio Clean-Up Assistant does not operate as a stand-alone application.

Warning: There are just too many combinations of Editors and plug-in formats out there, so there’s always something we might have not tested. If you don’t see your Editor in the list above, you can always download the free, fully-functional 14-day trial and see if Audio Clean-Up Assistant is supported for yourself. If you encounter any problem, contact us and we would be happy to help.

 

ERA Audio Clean-Up Assistant Operation

Audio Clean-Up Assistant is divided into 2 sections. In the upper section, you will find the Assistant button and the Presets menu. This is the best place to start in order to get a great starting point to repair and enhance your audio fast and effortlessly.

 

ERA Audio Clean-Up Assistant - Upper Section

 

Assistant button

At the center of the upper section, you will find the Assistant button. This new feature fully embraces the role of the tool as an audio editing assistant. It automatically detects what is problematic or improvable in a dialogue recording. Simply enable the Assistant, and playback some audio. The Assistant will analyze it and suggest a processing chain with the essential ERA plug-ins, all set at customized processing settings. Then you can focus only on what’s important! A few tweaks to get it sounding exactly like you want, and you’ll have a polished dialogue with zero problems.

ERA Audio Clean-Up Assistant - Assistant Button

Once you enable the Assistant button, you’re into Assistant mode. A dedicated screen will popup. You may exit any time by clicking the Cancel button.

ERA Audio Clean-Up Assistant - Assistant Mode

 

This screen informs you with simple instructions on how to get the most out of the Assistant feature. Let’s have a look at all of them.

• Step 1: Set your editor’s playhead at the beginning of the dialogue you want to repair and/or enhance. This will help the Assistant listen to as much dialogue as possible and detect all of the audio issues that might exist. 

Tip: Avoid scrubbing the playhead, because the Assistant may be falsely triggered and start learning. To move the playhead, prefer clicking on the timeline.

ERA Audio Clean-Up Assistant - Assistant Mode Step 1

• Step 2: For optimal results, select an audio region that is longer than 10 seconds. This way the Assistant will have access to sufficient information to produce the best possible results For shorter regions, you can Loop Playback.

Tip: We recommend selecting regions where only one person is speaking. This will help the Assistant produce an optimal result for each speaker.

ERA Audio Clean-Up Assistant - Assistant Mode Step 2

• Step 3: Play your audio back and wait for the Assistant to analyze it uninterrupted. This typically takes up to 10 seconds.

ERA Audio Clean-Up Assistant - Analyzing your audio

Tip: Cancelling the Analysis stage will get you back to your previous settings.

 

That’s it! The Assistant has analyzed your audio and has automatically opened a custom chain of ERA tools for you.

ERA Audio Clean-Up Assistant - Successful Analysis

You now have a great starting point for repairing and/or enhancing your dialogue. Feel free to modify the settings on each ERA plug-in and fine-tune the results to make it sound exactly the way you want.

ERA Audio Clean-Up Assistant - Assistant’s Suggestion

 

Important: You cannot undo the analysis results. Once the Assistant has successfully analyzed your audio, there’s not yet a way to automatically go back to the previous settings. If you want to keep the previous settings intact, we recommend saving them as a custom preset before starting a new analysis.

Warning: There might be times when the analysis may not complete successfully. The following screen will appear:

ERA Audio Clean-Up Assistant - Unsuccessful Analysis

 

This may happen when you have stopped playback earlier than expected or moved the playhead to another region while the Assistant was analyzing the audio. If you come across this screen, hit the Try Again button and let the Assistant analyze as much audio as possible without any interruptions.

 

Important: The Assistant mode currently does not detect breaths and reverb. Hence, De-Breath and Reverb Remover will not open automatically. You can open them manually.

Presets Menu

Another way of getting a really good starting point to repair and enhance your audio, is via the Presets Menu. The Preset Menu includes a set of high-quality factory presets.To open the preset menu, just click the Preset Button.

ERA Audio Clean-Up Assistant - Presets

 

You can create custom presets and save them in the presets folder as well. In order to create a custom preset:

1. Use the Assistant button to create a chain of ERA tools or manually load the ERA tools you need
   
2. Adjust the settings
   
3. Click the Preset button
   
4. Click Save As
   
5. Enter Preset Name
   
6. Click OK
   
   

Note: You can modify the settings of the Default or Factory presets. A pop-up window will prompt you to save a new version instead of overwriting the current one.

Workflow Tip I: If you are a home-based podcaster or vlogger, you can create and save your custom preset for your project, so you can quickly load it at every session.

Workflow Tip II: If you are a videographer, you can create and save custom presets for the edited scenes. Next time you’re going to edit a similar project/scene, you can quickly load and start working on it.

 

Info: After the installation, the Factory Presets are stored by default in the following paths:

Windows: C:\user\Documents\Accusonus\ERA-Bundle6\Presets\Audio Clean-Up Assistant

macOS: User/UserName/Documents/Accusonus/ERA-Bundle6/Presets/Audio Clean-Up Assistant

Any custom or modified factory preset is stored in these folders, too.

Warning for Windows Users: When you uninstall Audio Clean-Up Assistant, all factory presets will be deleted. Your custom presets however will remain untouched!

 

Slots Section

The Audio Clean-Up Assistant can host up to 5 ERA One-Knob tools in real-time. You can manually add, remove and replace any ERA tool, using the drop-down menu above each slot.

ERA Audio Clean-Up Assistant - Slots 

The processing is serial, which means that the audio signal travels through each slot from left to right. For example, if Noise Remover is loaded on the first slot, Voice Leveler on the second, etc., the signal will pass Noise Remover first, then Voice Leveler, etc. Empty slots don’t affect the signal flow or processing.

Tip: Use the scroll-bar at the bottom of the user interface of Audio Clean-Up Assistant to navigate through the available slots. Hover your mouse over the scroll-bar and use the mouse wheel to control it.

ERA Audio Clean-Up Assistant - Scrollbar

 

ERA Tools

Audio Clean-Up Assistant supports all the ERA On-knob tools and you can load them using the drop-down menus above each slot. Below is a list of all supported ERA plug-ins:

• Noise Remover
• Voice autoEQ
• Voice Deepener
• Voice Leveler
• De-Breath
• De-Esser
• Mouth De-Clicker
• Plosive Remover
• Reverb Remover
• De-Clipper

All the operations of the ERA plug-ins are fully supported without any compromise on the sound quality. If you need a reminder, please check the corresponding product manuals here.

Info: You can only automate the processing knob of each plug-in when you load it on the Audio Clean-Up Assistant.

Warning: Audio Clean-Up Assistant cannot host ERA Pro-knob tools or other 3rd party plug-ins at the moment.

 

Reorder a Tool

You may adjust the signal flow by left-clicking and dragging a tool via the left corner of the slot. Click the respective icon and drag the tool left or right within the slots area to change its order in the signal flow.

ERA Audio Clean-Up Assistant - Reorder Handle

Note: You may not reorder an empty slot.

 

Main ON/OFF Switch

Use the ON/OFF switch to turn the overall processing on or off. When the switch is OFF, the entire plug-in chain is bypassed and the original signal comes through unprocessed.

ERA Audio Clean-Up Assistant - Master On/Off Switch

 

Tip: Using this switch is a great and quick way to compare between the original and the repaired audio.

Tip: We suggest using the ON/OFF switch (instead of the editor’s bypass control for the plug-in). This will keep your audio in sync with the rest of your tracks in your project.

 

Main A/B Switch

There might come times when you are not certain of which plug-in chain works better for you. Note that you can adjust all plug-in controls independently for the A and the B setting. You can use the A/B switch to quickly compare two plug-in chains and help you in your decision.

ERA Audio Clean-Up Assistant - Master A/B Switch

 

Tip: You can adjust all plug-in controls independently for the A and the B setting.

 

Resizing the plug-in window

Audio Clean-Up Assistant offers the option to resize the plug-in window. This can be especially helpful if you have large or high-resolution screens or you just want to focus on a specific task. Click the zoom icon at the top right corner and choose between three settings.

ERA Audio Clean-Up Assistant - Zoom Menu

 

Quick Info Button

On the left side of the A/B switch, you will find the Quick Info button. Enable it and hover the mouse over any control of Audio Clean-Up Assistant. A pop-up window will appear right below the Info button, containing helpful information and tips for each control.

ERA Audio Clean-Up Assistant - Info Button

 

Info: To hide the pop-up window, just click on the Quick Info button once again.

 

Support

Get in touch

If this manual didn’t cover your queries or if you haven’t found an answer to your question in our Help Center, you can also use this form to contact our technical support team or reach us at support@accusonus.com.