Sassix
Vocal Dynamics & Tone Maximizer
"A single-box vocal front-end that makes rap, spoken-word, and pop vocals sit on top of a heavy bassline — without ever getting harsh. The vocal mixes itself."
Sassix is one box that pushes a vocal up front, bright, and finished — replacing a de-esser, a compressor, and an exciter chain in a single pass. An auto-leveler and upward compressor pull quiet syllables, breaths, and tails forward, a phase-preserving de-harsher surgically tames the 2–8 kHz ice-pick zone, and clean transient and air stages help the vocal cut through. Built for female-rap, spoken-word, pop, and electronic vocals that need to sit on top of a heavy bassline without ever getting harsh.
AU
VST3
Standalone
macOS
FEATURES
Dynamics
◆Squeeze — OTT-inspired upward compression that pulls quiet breaths and tails forward; the main density control, mapping threshold and ratio behind a single knob
◆Smart Breath-Duck — a pre-compressor detector that gently attenuates breath, lip-smack, and room noise before the rider, so the auto-leveler never violently amplifies it
◆AGC Rider — an invisible Vocal-Rider-style auto-leveler that flattens erratic source toward a target level before compression, with an auto-moving UI fader
◆Rider Target — adjustable -30 dB to -6 dB with an on/off toggle
React — The Self-Mixing Engine
◆React envelope follower — the input amplitude envelope dynamically modulates Spit and Silk depth so the vocal mixes itself
◆Louder input pulls saturation down and clamps the harsh band more; quieter input eases back to restore air and openness in the gaps
◆Control-rate, slew-limited modulation sampled once per block — no zipper noise, no added latency
◆React Attack (1-200 ms) and React Release (20-1000 ms) tune the modulator's responsiveness
Tone & Character
◆Spit — a transient designer focused on the 3-5 kHz presence band that adds consonant attack so vocals cut through, from neutral to aggressive presence punch
◆Silk — a phase-preserving FFT spectral de-harsher that scans only the 2-8 kHz ice-pick zone, with Depth and Detail controls and instant release so clean passages stay open
◆Air — an analog-modeled 10 kHz high shelf with a gentle resonant bump for clean exciter-replacement sheen up to +9 dB
◆Silk visualizer carves a darker notch out of the spectrum where harshness is suppressed — you see the de-harshing happen
Space — Auto-Ducking Wash
◆A lush parallel stadium space — a reverb fed with a short stereo feedback delay, blended at the Wash amount
◆Ducks itself out of the way under the vocal and blooms into the gaps — fully automatic with no host sidechain. Choose Ghost-Kick (tempo-locked 4/4 pump) or Vocal-envelope ducking, with adjustable pump shape and release
◆Wash Size drives room size, width, and delay time (90-270 ms) plus feedback — larger Size, bigger space
◆Fed from the latency-aligned dry so it stays phase-honest and never combs, and folded through the 0 dBFS ceiling so it can never clip
Performance FX
◆Suck — an inverse-envelope "gritty radio" effect that fills the gaps between phrases through a telephone bandpass and bitcrusher
◆Rise / Build-Up — a latching performance toggle that ramps into a tempo-synced wall of sound over an adjustable number of bars, then slams back to the dry vocal on release
Output & Workflow
◆Mix dry/wet blend (equal-power against the latency-aligned dry), Output trim (-12 dB to +12 dB), and Auto-Gain that matches output RMS to input so you hear shape, not just louder
◆2 ms look-ahead engine so the dynamics stages react before transients arrive, with constant statically-reported latency for hiccup-free playback
◆Randomize, A/B comparison, and preset save/load to XML; Bypass keeps every stage warm so toggling glitches nothing
◆0 dBFS true-peak ceiling and NaN/Inf protection — a maximizer that can never pass overs
FACTORY PRESETS
Init
Female Rap Front
Spoken Word Intimate
Ripped Vinyl Rescue
Bassline Cutter
Smooth De-Harsh
Bright & Airy
Aggressive Spit
Tape Vocal
Podcast Leveler
Remi Blaze Vocal
SYSTEM REQUIREMENTS
- OS macOS 15.0+
- Architecture Apple Silicon + Intel (Universal Binary)
- Formats AU, VST3, Standalone
- DAW Any AU or VST3 compatible host
- Access Paid plugin — one-time purchase