The similarity to image-editing software doesn’t end there, as the tools that you use to select, adjust and modify audio will be instantly recognisable to anybody who’s used software like Affinity Photo or Adobe Photoshop. SpectraLayers’ layers serve much the same purpose, but work with sound rather than pictures. SpectraLayers is built around the concept of layers (the clue’s in the name!) and this is borrowed directly from the world of photo- and image- editing software, where the user copies portions of an image, or imports new image content, to a new layer in order to make modifications that don’t destroy the original underlying material. SpectraLayers also comes with a standalone app that works independently of your DAW, and so doesn’t require the ARA2 support. This new version will run within any DAW that supports the ARA2 plug-in format, and has been designed to integrate particularly closely with Cubase and Nuendo, where it can replace the standard audio editor for audio parts assigned to the plug-in. The DAW pioneer has now released version 6 for Windows and macOS. Magix went on to release versions 4 and 5 of the software before the tech found yet another new home earlier this year with Steinberg. The SpectraLayers technology started life with Sony, which published version 1 in 2012, but it passed to Magix when it acquired the bulk of Sony’s media software a couple of years ago. This is precisely what Steinberg’s new SpectraLayers Pro 6 audio editor has been designed to do.

The Holy Grail of audio editing, then, would be to work in all three domains simultaneously.

Spectralayers pro 6