Smart Filters is a Rona Audio bar-synchronised filter automation plugin. Instead of drawing automation lanes you place up to 32 filters on bars of your song. Each filter is a complete snapshot of a five-band equaliser (low shelf, three bells, high shelf), an output level and a pan position. While the host plays, the plugin reads the song position (tempo, time signature and bar) from the DAW, finds the filter you are currently in and the next one coming up, and morphs every setting smoothly from the current filter’s values to the next filter’s values across the bars in between – the sound arrives at the next filter exactly on its bar. After the last filter nothing changes any more: its settings are held to the end of the song. Before the first filter the plugin is flat.
Typical uses: build-ups that open a low-pass style filter over eight bars, telephone or underwater breakdowns that resolve on the drop, slow fades and pans that follow the arrangement, tonal changes between verse and chorus, and any level or EQ move that must land on a bar. The response display and the LIVE readouts in every band column show the EQ, level and pan values that are actually playing at every moment.
Figure 1 – the complete plugin interface
- POWER — Click-free power; OFF passes the programme untouched (20 ms crossfade)
- TIMELINE — Run follows the bar timeline while the host plays; Hold keeps the selected filter
- BAR — Bar of the song at which the selected filter is anchored (bars are unique; an occupied bar moves to the nearest free one)
- BAND 1 (LOW) FREQ — Low shelf frequency of the selected filter
- BAND 1 (LOW) GAIN — Low shelf gain of the selected filter
- BAND 1 (LOW) Q — Bandwidth (bell) or slope (shelf) of the selected filter
- BAND 2 (LOW MID) FREQ — Bell frequency of the selected filter
- BAND 2 (LOW MID) GAIN — Bell gain of the selected filter
- BAND 2 (LOW MID) Q — Bandwidth (bell) or slope (shelf) of the selected filter
- BAND 3 (MID) FREQ — Bell frequency of the selected filter
- BAND 3 (MID) GAIN — Bell gain of the selected filter
- BAND 3 (MID) Q — Bandwidth (bell) or slope (shelf) of the selected filter
- BAND 4 (HIGH MID) FREQ — Bell frequency of the selected filter
- BAND 4 (HIGH MID) GAIN — Bell gain of the selected filter
- BAND 4 (HIGH MID) Q — Bandwidth (bell) or slope (shelf) of the selected filter
- BAND 5 (HIGH) FREQ — High shelf frequency of the selected filter
- BAND 5 (HIGH) GAIN — High shelf gain of the selected filter
- BAND 5 (HIGH) Q — Bandwidth (bell) or slope (shelf) of the selected filter
- LEVEL — Output level of the selected filter
- PAN — Stereo position of the selected filter (balance law: centre = unity, hard L / R mutes the other channel)
59 factory presets in 9 categories. Installed, activated and updated with RONA License Manager.
