Following a public beta program, Nugen Audio have now released their Halo Upmix plug-in. Recently I previewed a late beta version and you can see how I got on with it and what it offers. Highlights have to be a built in down mix option to check compatibility and the Surround Scope display. 

More On The Nugen Audio Halo Upmix Plug-in

At IBC2015, Nugen Audio will showcase the newly released Halo Upmix, the first product based on the their proprietary new processes for upmixing stereo audio to 5.1/7.1 surround for television and film productions. Available in Avid AAX, VST, and AU formats, Halo Upmix can automate the creation of a stereo-to-5.1/7.1 downmix-compatible upmix with unique center channel management, and spatial density controls. 

Halo Upmix provides a new take on the need for upmixing stereo audio to surround 5.1 or 7.1 which is becoming an increasingly requirement throughout the film and television production world as well as the gaming industry. When there is no access to the original multitrack recording, performing a quality stereo-to-surround conversion can be a complex and difficult challenge. This is particularly true when downmix compatibility is critical; for instance, when consumer set-top boxes play out stereo downmixed from broadcast 5.1. Jon Schorah, creative director at Nugen Audio told us...

Halo Upmix fills an important role in TV and film production, it's a radical new approach to upmixing that not only provides the assurance of downmix compatibility needed for TV surround production, but also delivers enough creative malleability to satisfy film audio professionals.

What Makes Halo Different?

As you can see in my video preview, by combining several technologies including frequency and time-domain energy distribution and neural network artificial intelligence, Halo Upmix enables you to produce stable surrounds, exact downmix matching, as well as dialog isolation.

In addition to using Halo on stem and groups, the Halo Upmix's center channel control and management enable you to create believable upmixes when there is no access to the original stems using the  detailed center channel control includes Nugen Audio's proprietary neural network-based dialog extraction.

In addition, Halo Upmix uses powerful real-time analysis of the original stereo material to identify and extract locational cues. In my testing and preview video this was very impressive with elements of the mix appearing where I might have placed them myself when creating a surround mix from scratch. And it does it naturally without introducing artificial reverberation, chorusing, or delay into the down mix all of which goes a long way to making sure the down mix will not be compromised.

To make sure Halo Upmix has the feature to compare the original, upmixed, and down mixed versions all within the plug-in which is really useful especially in TV repurposing. However this doesn't have to compromise the need for a more immersive, "big cinematic sound" experience with full control available for upmixing all the way up to 7.1.

Nugen Audio Halo Upmix Pricing

The normal price for the Halo Upmix plug-in will be $499 but until October 31 2015 you can get it for $449. Also anyone who took part in the public beta should have received an email with an additional bonus discount as a thank you for helping to test this new upmixing plug-in.

With this new upmix plug-in Nugen Audio have blown open the upmixing sector. You have done it again guys....