Plugins user manual

Welcome to Spy-da Audio#

Spy-da Audio is the in-house plugin range from Spy-da Productions, the West London recording, mixing and mastering studio. Every tool here was built for the studio's own records and runs in Logic Pro X 10.4.8 on macOS 10.13 High Sierra and later. Every plugin runs natively on both Intel and Apple Silicon Macs. Full details are on the Compatibility & known issues page.

This manual covers all 46 plugins: what each one is for, how to set it up, and what every control does. Each chapter opens with a quick start so you can get sound out of it in a minute, then goes deeper.

The line-up#

The Mix Suite plan bundles the six mixing plugins with Spy-da VU and Stereo Imager, the Vocal Suite bundles the vocal tools, and Spy-da Complete includes all 44 plugins. See Plans, licences and your account.

Getting started#

Installing takes about two minutes: download from My Plugins, run the installer, open Logic.

What you need#

1. Get Spy-da Installer#

1. Sign in at My Plugins. There's no password: enter your email and click the sign-in link we send you.
2. Click Download Spy-da Installer, open the zip and drag Spy-da Installer into Applications.
3. Open it. The first time, macOS may say it can't check it for malicious software:
   • macOS 15 Sequoia or later: click Done, open System Settings › Privacy & Security, scroll down to the message about Spy-da Installer and click Open Anyway.
   • macOS 14 Sonoma or earlier: right-click Spy-da Installer, choose Open, then click Open again.

2. Install#

1. Quit Logic.
2. In Spy-da Installer, type the email you bought with. We email you a 6-digit code; type it in. You stay signed in on that Mac.
3. You'll see every plugin you subscribe to or own. Tick the ones you want (or Select all) and click Install.
4. Each plugin is downloaded, checked, and copied to Library/Audio/Plug-Ins/Components (Audio Unit) and Library/Audio/Plug-Ins/VST3. Products with a standalone app also go in Applications.
5. Spy-da Installer activates each plugin on that Mac for you and clears Logic's plugin cache, so Logic finds them on its next start.
6. When we release an update, the plugin shows Update in Spy-da Installer. Click Update all to get every new version.

Have a second studio Mac? Install Spy-da Installer there too and sign in with the same email. Each licence works on 3 Macs.

3. Open in Logic#

1. Start Logic. It scans and validates the new plugins, which takes a few seconds per plugin the first time.
2. Click an Audio FX slot and choose Audio Units › Spy-da Audio › [plugin name].
3. Spy-da Mash Up and Spy-da Rack are instruments: create a Software Instrument track and pick them from AU Instruments › Spy-da Audio.

If a plugin doesn't appear, see Troubleshooting.

Apple Silicon Macs (M1 and later)#

Every Spy-da plugin is a Universal build: it runs natively on Intel Macs and on Apple Silicon Macs, so there's no need to open Logic using Rosetta. If you already run Logic using Rosetta for other plugins, Spy-da plugins load there too.

4. Activate your licence#

If you installed with Spy-da Installer, your plugins are already activated — skip this step. The steps below are for activating by hand.

Every Spy-da plugin has Spy-da Guard, our licence check, built in. Until a Mac is activated the plugin runs in demo mode: everything works, but the sound drops out for about 2.5 seconds every 45 seconds.

1. Copy your licence key from My Plugins. It looks like SPYDA-XXXX-XXXX-XXXX-XXXX.
2. Open any Spy-da plugin and click the licence badge in its corner (it reads DEMO - ACTIVATE). The Mix Suite plugins, Stereo Imager, De-Esser and Multiband open their own licence screen instead.
3. Paste the key and click ACTIVATE. The Mac needs to be online for this step.

One key unlocks every plugin in your plan on that Mac, so you only enter it once per Mac. The badge then reads LICENSED. Click it any time to see who the licence belongs to, how long the plugins can run offline, or to DEACTIVATE THIS MAC.

Keep your key private: it is tied to your account. The full licence terms are in section 6 of our Terms & Conditions.

Working with any Spy-da plugin#

The range shares one design language: black and charcoal panels, Spy-da red, the Spy-da logo and the same control gestures. Learn them once and every plugin feels familiar.

Knobs and sliders#

Every control can be automated in Logic: set the track's automation mode to Latch or Touch and move the control.

Presets and A/B#

• Factory presets load from the preset menu in the plugin. In the Spy-da Studio and Level plugins, click the preset name in the footer, or use < and > to step through. Most also appear in Logic's own preset menu at the top of the plugin window.
• A/B compare keeps two complete settings in memory. Click A or B to switch; Copy (A→B in the Studio and Level plugins) duplicates one side to the other.
• Save Preset… stores your own preset (see below).

My presets and genre presets#

Every plugin's preset menu also has the Spy-da preset tools:

Your presets are kept in Music › Spy-da › Presets › [plugin name] (Vocal Tuner's folder is still called Spy-da AutoTuner). To use them on another Mac, copy the Spy-da folder from Music across.

Genre presets give you a starting point for 25 genres: Hip-Hop, Rap, Trap, UK Drill, US Drill, Grime, UK Rap, Boom Bap, Lo-Fi Hip-Hop, R&B, Contemporary R&B, Neo Soul, Soul, Funk, UK Garage, Bassline, Drum & Bass, Jungle, Dancehall, Reggae, Afrobeats, Amapiano, Afro Swing, Reggaeton and Urban Pop. Each plugin turns the genre into its own settings:

• Mix bus and master: Channel Strip, EQ, Compressor, Limiter (club genres use the Club target), Stereo Imager, Multiband, every Spy-da Studio plugin and Level 1–4.
• Lead vocal: Reverb, Delay, De-Esser, Diode Comp, Vocal Tuner (tuning speed) and Spy-da FX (the Genres category).
• Spy-da VU: calibration and loudness target. Goniometer: bass-mono split and width target. Mash Up: a sound set per genre, from its Presets button. Mastering Chain: its own 58 genre presets.
• Spy-da Rack and Spy-da 432 have My Presets and Save as Default only. Spy-da Pitch is an editor and has no presets.

In the Mix Suite and Spy-da Studio plugins the genres also appear in Logic's own preset menu, named Genre - Trap and so on.

Window size and power#

• Most plugins resize from 75% to 150%. Spy-da VU, Spy-da Goniometer and the Spy-da Studio, Level and Spin plugins have a SIZE button for 100, 125 and 150%. The size is saved with the project.
• The power button in the header (BYPASS in the footer of the Studio and Level plugins) bypasses the plugin, the same as Logic's bypass.

Latency#

Some plugins need to look ahead: the Limiter, the Level maximisers (0.5–3 ms), De-Esser (1.5 ms, can be switched off), Vocal Tuner, Spy-da 432, and Spy-da Mastering Chain at higher oversampling. The Spy-da Studio plugins run at 2x oversampling, which adds a tiny delay. Each reports its delay to Logic, which compensates automatically on playback. When recording through one of them, switch on Logic's Low Latency Mode or use the plugin's own low-latency setting.

Saving#

All settings, presets in use and edits (such as Spy-da Pitch notes or Vocal Tuner Graph edits) are saved inside your Logic project. Nothing needs saving separately.

The Mix Suite#

Six plugins cover a full mix: Channel Strip for every track, EQ and Compressor for detail, Reverb and Delay for space, and the Limiter to finish. Each has its own accent colour so you can tell them apart at a glance. Spy-da Stereo Imager takes care of width.

Spy-da Channel Strip#

A complete console channel in one insert. Put it first on every recorded track for clean-up, tone and control.

Quick start: high-pass around 80 Hz on vocals, gate only if there's spill, 2–4 dB of compression, then drive to taste.

Spy-da EQ#

An 8-band parametric EQ for surgical cuts and broad tone shaping.

• Bands: bell, low and high shelf, high and low cut (6, 12, 18, 24, 36 or 48 dB/octave), notch and band-pass.
• Drag the nodes on the curve: left/right for frequency, up/down for gain, scroll for width (Q).
• Stereo / Mid / Side per band. Example: a Side-only boost at 10 kHz widens the top without touching a centred vocal.
• Clean / Analog character. Analog adds gentle curve interaction and colour.
• Analyser shows the signal before and after the EQ.

Quick start: sweep a narrow boost to find a harsh frequency, then flip it to a cut.

Spy-da Compressor#

Five compressor characters in one plugin.

Also: threshold, ratio, attack, release, soft knee, sidechain high-pass (stops bass pumping the compressor), Mix for parallel compression and Auto makeup. The transfer curve and scrolling gain-reduction history show exactly what it's doing.

Quick start: Opto at 3:1 on a lead vocal, aiming for 3–6 dB of gain reduction on the loudest words.

Spy-da Limiter#

A look-ahead brickwall limiter for the end of the master bus. Nothing passes the ceiling.

The meter shows momentary, short-term and integrated LUFS, plus the highest true peak. Factory presets include Spotify, Apple Music, YouTube and Club masters.

Quick start: set ceiling to −1 dB, pick your target, raise Gain until the integrated reading matches it.

Spy-da Reverb#

An algorithmic reverb with four spaces: Room, Chamber, Hall and Plate.

• Pre-delay in milliseconds, or synced to tempo.
• Size, Decay, Damping shape the space; Modulation adds movement to the tail.
• Early sets the level of the first reflections.
• Low cut and High cut EQ the tail so it sits behind the mix.
• Width from mono to wide stereo.
• Ducking pulls the tail down by up to about 11 dB while the vocal is singing, then lets it bloom in the gaps.
• Freeze holds the current tail indefinitely for pads and transitions.

Quick start: on an aux send, Plate, pre-delay at 1/16 note, low cut at 200 Hz, ducking on.

Spy-da Delay#

A stereo delay with three characters: Digital (clean), Tape (warm, with wow and flutter) and Analog (darker repeats).

• Time in ms or synced: straight, dotted or triplet.
• Ping-pong bounces repeats left and right; Offset pushes one side later for width.
• Feedback with low/high filters and saturation inside the loop, so each repeat gets darker and dirtier.
• Wow & flutter for tape-style pitch wobble.
• Ducking keeps repeats quiet while the vocal sings.
• Width and Mix.

Quick start: Tape, 1/4 dotted, feedback 30%, high cut at 4 kHz, ducking on.

Spy-da Stereo Imager#

Widen, narrow, rotate and re-centre the stereo image of a track, bus or master. At its default settings it passes audio through untouched.

Presets: Wide Master, Super Wide Pads, Mono Bass Master, Club Ready, Tight Vocal, Drum Overheads Wide, Mono Check, Centre Fix Left and Centre Fix Right, plus the genre presets.

Quick start: on the mix bus, switch Mono Bass on at 100–140 Hz, then raise Width to 110–125% while the correlation meter stays on the positive side.

Spy-da Studio: consoles, EQs and compressors#

Ten plugins with the character of classic studio hardware: three console channels, five equalisers and two compressors. They share one layout, so once you know one you know them all.

The Studio layout#

• Screen: the EQ plugins and channels show a live curve of what the EQ is doing; the compressors show a gain-reduction meter.
• INPUT and OUTPUT (±24 dB) sit either side, with level meters.
• ANALOG adds the colour of the console or transformer stage; switch it off for a clean signal. The two tube EQs have a TUBE DRIVE knob instead.
• EQ IN switches the EQ section in and out for comparison. PHASE flips the polarity.
• Controls marked with values (frequencies, ratios, times) are stepped, like the hardware: they click between fixed positions.
• Footer: A, B and A→B; < and > step through presets; the preset name opens factory presets, genre presets and My Presets; BYPASS; SIZE 100/125/150%.

The Studio plugins run at 2x oversampling inside, which adds a tiny delay that Logic compensates. Bypass is delay-matched, so switching it never shifts the track in time.

Spy-da Channel A#

A full console channel in one insert: filters, four-band EQ, compressor and gate/expander.

Presets: Vocal Polish, Kick Punch, Snare Crack, Acoustic Guitar, Bass DI Tight, Tom Gate and Vocal Air & Control, plus the genre presets.

Quick start: HPF around 80–100 Hz on a vocal, a small LMF cut around 300 Hz, RATIO about 4:1 with THRESH set for 3–5 dB of gain reduction.

Spy-da Channel A2#

Everything in Channel A, with a PRE / FILTERS section that adds two things:

• DRIVE 0–24 dB: a transformer stage before the EQ, from warmth to obvious grit. Turn OUTPUT down as you push it.
• BLACK: switches the EQ to a second voice with proportional-Q curves (bands narrow as you boost or cut harder) and shelves with a slight overshoot.

The presets match Channel A's, with drive added, plus Hot Pre Grit.

Spy-da Channel B#

The same layout and controls as Channel A, voiced for smooth, polished mixes: the EQ always uses proportional-Q curves and overshoot shelves, and the compressor has a softer knee and a slightly slower attack. Reach for it on full mixes, buses and anything that should sound expensive rather than aggressive.

Spy-da Console EQ#

Channel B's four-band EQ on its own, with two range switches.

Presets: Vocal Presence, Drum Bus Snap, Mix Bus Smile, Guitar Bite, Bass Weight, Low-Mid Clean Up and Air Shelf x3, plus the genre presets.

Spy-da Class-A EQ 3#

A three-band Class-A equaliser with inductor curves and stepped frequencies. Few controls, a lot of colour.

Presets: Vocal Warmth, Kick Thump, Snare Body & Crack, Electric Guitar Push, Bass Growl, Overheads Sheen and Pushed Pre Only (drive with the EQ out), plus the genre presets.

Spy-da Class-A EQ 4#

A four-band Class-A equaliser with stepped filters, switchable outer bands and Hi-Q mids.

Presets: Lead Vocal, Kick In/Out, Snare Fat, Piano Clarity, Bass Definition, Harsh Fix and Mix Bus Open, plus the genre presets.

Spy-da Tube EQ#

A passive tube program equaliser. Its famous trick: boost and attenuate the same low frequency at once for a tight, deep low end without mud.

Presets: Classic Low Trick, Kick Weight, Bass Bloom, Vocal Air, Mix Bus Silk, Overheads Shimmer and Dark & Warm, plus the genre presets.

Quick start: CPS 60 Hz, BOOST 6, ATTEN 4 on a kick or bass, then a little high BOOST at 10–12 kHz with a broad bandwidth on the mix bus.

Spy-da Tube Mid EQ#

A tube midrange equaliser for bringing vocals, guitars and snares forward or pushing them back.

Presets: Vocal Forward, Guitar Box Removal, Snare Body, Bass Growl Mids, Harshness Dip and Piano Presence, plus the genre presets.

Spy-da Bus Comp#

A stereo VCA bus compressor: the glue on a mix bus or drum bus.

Presets: Mix Bus Glue, Drum Bus Smash, Drum Bus Punch, Master Gentle, Vocal Bus Level, Parallel NY and Pumping Beat, plus the genre presets.

Quick start: on the mix bus, ratio 2:1, attack 10 ms, release AUTO, sidechain HPF 60 Hz, and threshold for 1–3 dB of gain reduction.

Spy-da Diode Comp#

A diode-bridge compressor with bite, plus a separate limiter and gate.

Presets: Vocal Smooth, Bass Even, Drum Bus Crush, Mix Bus Gentle, Room Mic Gated and Safety Limit, plus the genre presets.

Vocal tools#

Use Spy-da Vocal Tuner for real-time tuning and the hard-tune effect, and Spy-da Pitch for detailed, note-by-note editing of a finished take. Both work on one voice at a time: lead, backing vocal or bass, not chords. Finish with Spy-da De-Esser to smooth the esses.

Spy-da Vocal Tuner#

Pitch correction laid out the way Auto-Tune users expect, with three ways to work: Auto mode for real-time correction, Graph mode for hand-editing notes, and a four-voice Harmony section.

Quick start

1. Insert it as the first plugin on the vocal track.
2. Set Input Type closest to the singer (Soprano, Alto/Tenor, Low Male, Bass).
3. Set Key and Scale, or press Detect key and play the song.
4. Retune Speed around 20–40 ms sounds natural; 0 ms gives the classic hard-tuned effect.

The window

Auto mode controls

• Retune Speed: how fast notes are pulled to pitch. 0 ms is the hard effect.
• Humanize: relaxes correction on long, held notes so they don't sound frozen.
• Flex-Tune: only corrects notes that are already near the target, keeping the singer's expression.
• Natural Vibrato: 0–200% of the singer's own vibrato.
• Classic: a harder, stepped character. Flex-Tune and Humanize switch off while it's on.
• Ignore vibrato: picks the note from the overall pitch so a wide vibrato doesn't flip between notes.
• Scales: 31, including major and minor modes, pentatonics, blues, Hijaz, Maqam Rast and Bayati (quarter tones), Slendro, Pelog and historical tunings.

Graph mode

Graph mode uses ARA, the same link Melodyne uses in Logic (Logic Pro X 10.4.2 and later), so your regions appear without recording them in first.

1. Switch to Graph. The track's regions appear and are analysed in a second or two.
2. Make Notes turns the singing into notes snapped to your key; Make Curve turns it into an editable line.
3. Edit with the tools:

With notes selected, the inspector sets Retune, Vibrato and Formant for just those notes. Shortcuts: Delete, Cmd+Z / Shift+Cmd+Z, Cmd+A, Up/Down to nudge, Space to play. Edits save in the Logic project and are included when you bounce or freeze.

In the standalone app, use Open file in Graph mode to tune a WAV, AIFF, FLAC or MP3, then Export the tuned WAV.

Harmony

• Scale: intervals stay in key, so a 3rd above is major or minor as the key needs.
• Semitones: fixed intervals.
• MIDI: each note you hold becomes a harmony voice. Route a MIDI track to the plugin with the Side Chain menu in the plugin header.

Harmonies follow the corrected lead, including its scoops and vibrato. Humanize gives each voice its own slight drift so they sound like separate takes.

MIDI control

Create a software instrument track, play or draw the notes you want, choose that track in the plugin's Side Chain menu, then set MIDI mode to Target notes or Learn scale.

Latency

Switch on Low Latency when the singer is recording through the plugin.

Spy-da Pitch#

A note-by-note vocal editor in the style of Melodyne. Sung notes appear as blobs on a piano roll; you can move them, straighten them, reshape them and retime them.

Quick start

1. On the vocal track, add Audio Units › Spy-da Audio › Spy-da Pitch.
2. Click TRANSFER (it turns red), put the playhead before the vocal, press Play and let the part play through. Press Stop. TRANSFER switches itself off.
3. The notes appear a moment later. From then on, Logic plays the edited vocal.

The captured audio for each transfer is kept in Music › Spy-da Pitch › Transfers. Don't delete those files while a project still uses them.

Tools (keys 1–7)

Other controls

• Correct Pitch… tunes the selected notes (or all notes) in one go. Pitch centre pulls each note to the nearest semitone; Pitch drift straightens it. Start around 80% / 40% for natural, 100% / 100% for hard-tuned. Leave notes within skips notes that are already close.
• Key / Scale / Snap: with Snap: Key / scale, dragged notes only land in key. Out-of-key notes are shaded darker.
• Original: compare against the untouched vocal.
• Follow: scroll with Logic's playhead.
• Zoom: Fit, +, –. Shift+scroll moves left/right, Cmd+scroll zooms time, Alt+scroll zooms pitch.
• Clear… removes all transfers in this instance.

Keys: Cmd+A select all · Up/Down transpose a semitone (Alt: 10 cents) · Left/Right next note · Delete mutes · Esc deselects · Cmd+Z / Shift+Cmd+Z undo and redo. With Logic stopped, click a note with the Main tool to hear it.

Backing vocals: use one Spy-da Pitch per backing track and set Snap to Key / scale to tighten harmonies quickly. If you re-record, comp or move a region, transfer that part again; edits on unchanged audio are kept.

Spy-da De-Esser#

Tames harsh s, sh and t sounds without dulling the voice. Put it after EQ and compression on a vocal, or on a vocal bus. Below the threshold it doesn't touch the sound.

Display: spectrum, the sibilance band and a live cut curve (dashed line = maximum range). Drag the band to set the frequency, drag the DETECT meter to set the threshold; gain-reduction history runs underneath.

Presets: Male Vocal, Female Vocal, Rap Vocal (Upfront), Gentle Polish, Hard Sibilance, Relative (Any Level), Narrow Band 'S', Wideband Classic, Backing Vocal Bus, Mix Bus (Mid Only), Hi-Hat Tamer and Podcast Voice, plus the genre presets.

Quick start: load Male Vocal or Female Vocal, switch Listen to BAND and move the frequency until the esses are loudest, then Listen OFF and set the threshold for 3–6 dB of cut on the worst ones.

Spy-da De-Breath#

Finds the breaths between vocal phrases and turns them down, so you don't have to cut them out by hand. The singing, the esses and the room tone are left alone. Put it early on a vocal, before compression: a compressor lifts breaths up, so it's easiest to take them down first.

How it finds a breath: about every 5 ms it checks that the sound has no pitch, is quieter than the singer's phrases, is louder than the room tone, isn't an s or sh, and lasts at least the Min Length. The audio is held back by the look-ahead so the cut can fade in before the breath starts.

Display: the last few seconds of vocal scroll past. Breaths are shaded red, and the red part of each one is what was taken out. The dashed red line is the Breath Level (drag it up or down); the dotted grey line is the room tone it has measured. The BREATH lamp lights on every breath and counts them; click it to reset the count.

Presets: Lead Vocal (Natural), Lead Vocal (Clean), Rap (Tight), Backing Vocals (Mute), Podcast / Voice-Over, Soften Only, Heavily Compressed Vocal, Live Tracking (Fast) and Gentle Touch, plus the genre presets.

Quick start: load Lead Vocal (Natural), play the vocal and watch the breaths go red. If a breath is missed, raise Sensitivity or drag the Breath Level line up; if part of a word gets caught, lower Sensitivity or raise Ess Guard. Switch Listen to REMOVED to check you're only hearing breaths.

Mastering tools#

A typical Spy-da master bus runs Spy-da Mastering Chain → Spy-da Multiband (if a band needs control) → a Spy-da Level maximiser or the Spy-da Limiter → Spy-da 432 (if you want 432 Hz), with Spy-da VU and Spy-da Goniometer last to watch levels, loudness, phase and stereo width. Add Spy-da Phone Check at the very end to hear the master on your phone.

Spy-da Mastering Chain#

The Spy-da Productions mastering rack in one plugin: seven units in the studio's own order, each with its own IN switch.

Across the whole plugin: input and output trim, Analogue Colour (0% is fully clean), oversampling 1x/2x/4x, A/B compare, presets and a loudness meter.

Presets: 9 starter presets and 58 genre presets in groups: Hip-Hop & Rap, R&B, Soul & Gospel, Pop, Electronic & Dance, Afro, Caribbean & Latin, Rock & Metal, Acoustic, Jazz & Orchestral, and More (including Spoken Word & Podcast). They are level-matched to within about 3 LU and peak near −1 dBFS, so switching presets compares tone, not loudness. My Presets and Save as Default are in the same menu.

Quick start: load the genre preset closest to the track, switch units in and out with their IN buttons to hear what each adds, then trim to taste. With every unit out, the output is identical to the input.

Spy-da Multiband#

A four-band compressor for controlling the low end, mids and top separately. The phase-aligned crossovers sum perfectly flat, so nothing changes until a band starts compressing. Zero latency.

Presets: Mastering Gentle, Mastering Loud, Hip-Hop Master, Vocal Control, De-Mud, Tame Harsh Highs, Bass Tightener, Drum Bus Punch, Parallel Multiband, Broadcast and Warm Vari-Mu Glue, plus the genre presets.

Quick start: solo each band to hear what's in it, then compress only the band that's misbehaving: 2–3 dB of gain reduction on the LOW band tightens a boomy mix.

Spy-da Level 1–4#

Eight look-ahead brickwall maximisers that make a master louder while guaranteeing no sample goes over the ceiling. Put one last on the Stereo Out, or on a bus to shave peaks. They run at Logic's own sample rate so the ceiling is exact.

Controls on every Level plugin

STYLE (Level 3 Ultra, Ultra LL and 3-16)

• BASIC: every band treated the same.
• WARM: the lows are protected and the highs take more of the limiting.
• CLEAR: the highs are protected and the lows take more, for a brighter, cleaner master.
• PUNCH: protects the low end and upper mids, where kick and snare punch lives.
• LOUD: pushes every band harder for maximum density.

Level 3-16 adds four zone gains, LOW, LOW-MID, HIGH-MID and HIGH (±6 dB), to tilt the tone going into its sixteen bands.

Bands (Level 3 Multi and Multi LL)

• GAIN 1–5 (±12 dB) shapes the tone of each band.
• PRIORITY (±12 dB) decides who takes the limiting: a positive value protects that band, a negative value makes it take more. Example: +6 on band 3 keeps a vocal upfront while the master gets louder.
• XOVER 1–4: 30–200 Hz, 150–800 Hz, 600 Hz–3 kHz and 2.5–12 kHz.

Level 4

• TRUE PEAK (on by default) also catches peaks between samples, so the ceiling still holds after MP3 or AAC conversion on streaming services.
• TRANSIENT CLIP (0–100%) clips the sharpest transients before the limiter for extra level with less pumping.
• STEREO LINK (0–100%): 100% applies the same gain to both sides; lower values let each side limit on its own for a wider sound.

Presets on every model: Transparent -3, Streaming Master, Hip-Hop Loud, Club Loud, Gentle Peak Catch, CD Master 16-bit and Drum Bus Peak Shaver. Models with STYLE add Warm & Wide Master and Punchy Pop; Level 3 Multi adds Protect The Vocal, Tame Harsh Top and Heavy Bass Control; Level 3-16 adds Bright & Loud and Big Low End; Level 4 adds True Peak -1 (Streaming), Loud With Clip and Wide Independent. The genre presets set a −0.3 dB ceiling for club genres and −1 dB for the rest.

Quick start: load Streaming Master, keep the ceiling at −1 dB, and lower THRESHOLD until Spy-da VU's integrated reading reaches your target.

Spy-da 432#

Retunes finished masters from A = 440 Hz to A = 432 Hz (−31.77 cents), or to any pitch you choose.

Live tab

Put it last on the Stereo Out. It retunes the whole mix in real time without changing tempo.

• Target: 432 Hz by default, or anything from 400 to 480 Hz.
• Semitones (±12) and cents (±100) for further pitch up or down.
• Source reference: if the master wasn't tuned to 440, set what it was.
• Loudness match keeps the level the same so you compare fairly.
• At zero shift it passes audio untouched. Latency is about 150 ms, which Logic compensates.

Batch tab

Drop in finished masters or whole folders and press Render. You get Song (432Hz).wav copies in a Spy-da 432 folder next to the originals, with the same sample rate, bit depth and format. Originals are never changed.

Peaks: re-pitching a loud, limited master can push a few peaks over the original ceiling. Batch catches this automatically. If a very hot master needs more than 3 dB of protection, it's flagged in red; Tape mode avoids the issue.

Spy-da VU#

Twin analogue VU meters on the Spy-da web face, with a loudness strip underneath. Use it on any track, bus or the master.

Accuracy: VU ballistics follow IEC 60268-17; loudness follows ITU-R BS.1770 / EBU R128; true peak is 4x oversampled.

Spy-da Goniometer#

Shows your stereo field and checks it for mono: a glowing scope of the mix, phase correlation for the whole mix and for low, mid and high separately, balance, width and how much level the mix loses when it's played in mono. Put it last on the Stereo Out. It never changes the sound: with LISTEN on STEREO the output is exactly the input.

Quick start: insert it after your maximiser, play the loudest part of the song and watch three things: the PHASE CORRELATION stays above 0, the LOW band stays close to +1 (bass in mono), and MONO SUM stays above about −4 dB. All three lamps green means the mix will hold up on phones, clubs and mono speakers.

Presets: My Presets and Save as Default, plus the 25 genre presets. Each genre sets the LOW band split to where that genre keeps its bass mono and puts the width target where its masters usually sit. The display settings are left as you have them.

Tip: if BASS MONO goes amber or red, the low end has stereo or phase problems. Spy-da Stereo Imager's Mono Bass, set at the LOW split frequency, fixes most of them.

Spy-da Phone Check#

Plays your mix on your phone, live from Logic. Put it last on the Stereo Out and it shows a QR code: scan it with the phone's camera, tap TAP TO LISTEN, and the phone plays whatever Logic is playing. There's no app to install and nothing to bounce or upload: the plugin has its own small web server, and the phone just needs to be on the same Wi-Fi as the Mac. Up to 8 phones can listen at once, so the artist, the producer and the A&R can all check the mix on their own phones in the room. The audio in Logic is never changed and the plugin adds no latency.

Quick start: insert it as the last plugin on the Stereo Out and open it. Make sure your phone is on the same Wi-Fi as the Mac (not mobile data), point the phone's camera at the code and tap the link. Tap TAP TO LISTEN on the phone, then press play in Logic. The lamp turns red and says ON AIR.

Good to know: the stream is 24-bit audio straight from the session, not an MP3 (16-bit with Data Saver). Sessions at 88.2 or 96 kHz are sent at that rate; 176.4 and 192 kHz are halved. The port (8432) is saved with the project, so a phone that still has the page open reconnects by itself when you open the project again. A second Phone Check (on a bus, say) takes the next port. On an iPhone, flick the ring/silent switch to ring if you hear nothing; locking the phone stops the sound, so keep the page open. Until the plugin is activated, the demo dropout is applied to what the phones hear only: Logic's own output is never touched.

Tip: check the mix on the phone's own speaker in MONO. If the vocal, kick or bass drop away, the goniometer on the phone shows why: the lamp goes to CHECK MONO or PHASE PROBLEM and MONO SUM falls. The Spy-da Goniometer in Logic then shows which band it's in.

Creative tools and instruments#

Spy-da FX#

A multi-effect with 262 factory patches: delays, reverbs, vocal effects, stutters, gates, filters, modulation and lo-fi. New patch packs arrive straight from the Spy-da server.

The signal chain

Seven modules run in this order. Each has its own on/off switch, and every control can be automated.

Master: Input, Width, Mix and Output, plus a safety stage so feedback-heavy patches can't clip.

Patches

The browser on the left has search, categories, favourites (★) and < > to step through patches. Right-click a patch for more options.

Your own patches and packs

• SAVE stores the current settings under My Patches.
• EXPORT writes My Patches to a .splfx pack file to share.
• IMPORT, or drag a .splfx onto the window, adds a pack under its own name. Packs contain settings only, never code; anything invalid is rejected with a message.

Updates

The UPDATES button checks the Spy-da server once a day (you can switch this off) or on demand with CHECK NOW. It lists new patch packs with INSTALL / UPDATE buttons, offers new versions of Spy-da FX, and shows news from Spy-da. A red dot on the button means something new is waiting. Packs and your patches are stored in ~/Library/Application Support/Spy-da Audio/Spy-da FX/.

Spy-da Mash Up#

Coming soon. Spy-da Mash Up isn't on sale yet. It will be included in Spy-da Complete when it launches.

Drop in any audio and hear it back as any sound. Mash Up finds the melody, chords, bassline and beats, turns them into editable MIDI and plays them on 555 instruments.

Quick start

1. Create a Software Instrument track and choose AU Instruments › Spy-da Audio › Spy-da Mash Up.
2. Choose Single part or Full song.
3. Click Load audio, or drag a WAV, AIFF, MP3, M4A or FLAC onto the window.
4. Press play in Logic. Mash Up plays in time with your session.

STARTS AT BAR: if the original audio starts later than bar 1, set that bar so the notes line up.

Changing the sound

• Instruments panel: 555 sounds in 22 categories, with search, category filter, favourites and Surprise me. 484 are sampled (pianos, keys, guitars, basses, strings, choirs, brass, woodwind, world, percussion, drum kits) and 71 are built-in Spy-da Synths (leads, basses, pads, plucks, keys, bells, brass, FX).
• Layer A / Layer B stacks two sounds on a track; A / B blend mixes them.
• Track sound: octave shift, pan, volume, mute and solo per track.
• Original blends the source audio back in so you can check the line-up.
• Reverb and Output for the overall sound.

Editing the notes

• Piano roll: Select mode moves and resizes notes (double-click empty space to add one); Draw mode draws notes. Press D to switch. The bottom lane edits velocity.
• Quantize to the Grid at a strength you set (100% is tight).
• Snap to key moves out-of-key notes into the detected key and scale.
• −12, −1, +1, +12 transpose the selection. More has humanize, legato, melody only, remove short notes, velocity tools and duplicate.
• Tempo is detected for you; use /2 or x2 if it read half or double time, or Tap.
• Note detection (left panel) re-runs on the selected track: Sensitivity, Note split, Shortest note and Melody only. Re-detecting replaces your edits on that track; Undo brings them back.
• Undo / Redo: Cmd+Z and Shift+Cmd+Z.

Getting MIDI and audio out

Drag Drag MIDI (all tracks) or Drag track (selected track) onto Logic's arrange window. The Export menu also writes a MIDI file of all tracks, the selected track, or a WAV of the new sounds.

Tips: a single vocal or instrument converts most accurately. For vocals, turn on Melody only and lower Sensitivity if you get stray notes. Drums become kick, snare and hi-hat MIDI on a drum kit.

Spy-da Rack#

One instrument that holds up to 8 of your others: Kontakt, Omnisphere, Keyscape, Serum, Logic's own and the rest. Layer them, split them across the keyboard and save the whole rack as a set.

Quick start

1. Create a Software Instrument track and choose AU Instruments › Spy-da Audio › Spy-da Rack.
2. Double-click an instrument in the list on the left. It loads into the first empty slot.
3. Load a second one and play: by default both slots cover every key, so they layer.

• Everything is saved with the Logic project, as well as in any sets you save.
• Each Mac uses its own installed instruments. If a project uses one that isn't on this Mac, its slot name shows in amber and keeps all its settings, so the sound comes back on the Mac that has it.
• Replacing an instrument asks first, because the old sound is lost unless it's saved in a set.
• Outputs: each slot uses its instrument's main stereo output and the rack mixes everything to one stereo out. For separate Kontakt outputs, use Kontakt's own multi inside one slot.
• Licences: Rack only opens instruments you've installed and licensed, and each instrument checks its own licence as usual. On an Apple Silicon Mac, Rack can only load instruments that match how Logic is running (natively or using Rosetta).

Spy-da Spin#

Eight quick plugins for the jobs you do on every session: drive, low end, filter sweeps, brightness, loudness, compression, pumping and reverb. Each has a big knob from 0 to 10 and a small CHARACTER switch. At 0 every Spin plugin leaves the sound exactly as it was, so a new one never changes your mix until you turn it.

The Spin layout#

Spy-da Spin Drive#

Saturation from a warm glow to a blown speaker. It level-matches itself as you turn (two slow level followers compare what goes in with what comes out), so turning it up adds character, not volume, and you can judge it fairly against bypass.

Quick start: Put it on a bass, a drum bus or a vocal, set TYPE to WARM and turn up until it just starts to thicken (2 to 4). For an obvious effect, try CRUNCH or FUZZ at 6 and above.

Spy-da Spin Fat#

Adds low-end weight, a little body and transformer warmth together, with a gentle top roll-off so the result sounds fuller rather than just louder in the bass. The screen shows the exact curve you hear.

Quick start: On an 808, bass or kick, pick the FOCUS that matches where the weight should sit and turn up to 4 to 6. On a full mix, LOW at 2 to 3 is plenty.

Spy-da Spin Filter#

A resonant 24 dB/octave filter for sweeps, intros and breakdowns. At 0 it is completely out of the signal; turning up closes it. It is a state-variable design, so it stays smooth and stable however fast you automate it.

Quick start: For a muffled intro, choose LOW-PASS, set the knob around 6.5 and automate it back to 0 where the drop lands. For a riser, use HIGH-PASS and automate it up over the last bars.

Spy-da Spin Bright#

Lifts the top end and adds harmonic sparkle. The tone change is exactly the curve on the screen; on top of it an exciter adds only the harmonics a gentle saturator creates above 2 kHz, so loud, bright parts sparkle more than quiet ones.

Quick start: On a vocal or a full mix, choose AIR and turn up to 3 to 5. Use PRESENCE when a vocal needs to come forward rather than get airier.

Spy-da Spin Loud#

Makes a mix or bus louder in one move: it pushes the signal (up to 9, 12 or 16 dB depending on STYLE) into a glue compressor, a soft clipper and a true-peak limiter. The output never goes above −1 dBFS, including between samples, so it stays safe for streaming. The needle shows the total gain reduction.

Quick start: Put it last on the Stereo Out of a demo or beat, choose PUNCH and turn up until it is as loud as you want without the drums losing their snap (usually 4 to 6).

Spy-da Spin Press#

A compressor where threshold, ratio and make-up gain all move together on the big knob. A high-pass on the detector (80 Hz) stops the bass from pumping everything else, and automatic make-up keeps the level about the same as you turn up.

Quick start: On a vocal, choose SMOOTH and turn up until the needle moves 3 to 6 dB on the loud words. On drums, use PUNCH.

Spy-da Spin Pump#

The ducking, breathing feel of a kick-triggered sidechain, without routing a sidechain. It locks to Logic's tempo and to the beat position, so the dips land on the grid whenever you start playback. When Logic is stopped it keeps going at the last tempo.

Quick start: On pads, chords or a bass, set RATE to 1/4 and turn up to 5 or 6 for the classic sidechain feel. The needle shows each duck.

Spy-da Spin Wet#

A reverb where more means bigger, longer and wetter at the same time: the knob sets the mix, the decay and the pre-delay together. An eight-line modulated reverb gives a smooth, wide tail; the low end going into it is cleaned up at 140 Hz so the mix stays tight.

Quick start: On a lead vocal, choose PLATE and turn up to 3 to 4. For drums use ROOM; for pads and ambient parts, HALL at 6 and above.

Plans, licences and your account#

Every plugin can be rented monthly or bought outright; bundles are subscription only. Launch prices run until 31 Dec 2026 (up to 50% off plugins and bundles), and anyone who subscribes before then keeps their price.

Single plugins#

These are launch prices. From the day after 31 Dec 2026 most plugins are £9.99/month; the table then shows each plugin's full price.

Bundles#

Bundle prices are launch prices and double from the day after 31 Dec 2026.

Paying yearly works out at about two months free.

How licences work#

• One key per account. Your key unlocks everything in your plan, and new plugins appear automatically when your plan includes them.
• Up to 3 Macs can use your licence at once. To move to a new Mac, click the licence badge in any Spy-da plugin on the old Mac and choose DEACTIVATE THIS MAC, or ask us to sign it out.
• Subscriptions stay active while payments go through. If a payment fails, the plugins show PAYMENT DUE and keep working while you update your card.
• Owned licences never expire, and include updates for that plugin.
• See Activate your licence for offline limits and demo mode.

Managing your account#

At My Plugins you can see your keys, download installers and click Manage billing to update your card or cancel. Cancelling stops the next payment; you keep access until the end of the period you've paid for.

Questions about orders or licences: shop@spy-daproductions.com.

Troubleshooting#

Most problems are fixed by making Logic rescan its plugins. Start there.

Current known issues are listed on the Compatibility & known issues page.

Still stuck? Email shop@spy-daproductions.com with your Mac model, macOS version, Logic version and a description or screenshot of the problem.

Credits and legal notices#

Spy-da Audio plugins are designed and built in-house by Spy-da Productions. The Spy-da logo, product names and artwork belong to Spy-da Productions.

Open-source and licensed components#

Full licence texts ship inside each plugin bundle.

Trademarks#

Logic Pro and macOS are trademarks of Apple Inc. Auto-Tune is a trademark of Antares Audio Technologies, and Melodyne is a trademark of Celemony Software GmbH. Spy-da Vocal Tuner and Spy-da Pitch are independent products: they work in a familiar way but contain no code, names or artwork from those companies. The Spy-da Studio, Level and Mastering Chain plugins are original Spy-da designs; where this manual describes the character of a unit or stage, that doesn't imply any link with a hardware or software maker, and Spy-da Productions is not affiliated with any of them. Kontakt is a trademark of Native Instruments, Omnisphere and Keyscape are trademarks of Spectrasonics, and Serum is a trademark of Xfer Records; Spy-da Rack hosts these instruments but doesn't include them.