Dynamic spectral unmasking

See the collision.
Then carve it.

Every unmasking plugin carves blindly. Carver shows you exactly where two tracks are fighting for the same frequencies — a live conflict heatmap, not a hunch. Then it carves only that, in real time.

Get Carver — $34 Download free trial

macOS & Windows  ·  VST3 / AU / AAX  ·  14-day money-back guarantee

✕ XIBALBA DSP CARVER Stereo ▾ Live · 0 ms ▾ SC LISTEN PERCEPTUAL Kick vs Bass A B SC −17.5 dB LOW CUT 86 Hz ATTACK 5.0 ms AMOUNT 64 % RELEASE 150 ms REL TILT +35 % HIGH CUT 3.2 kHz MIX 100 % OUTPUT 0.0 dB

The red glow is the Conflict Heatmap — your mix showing you exactly where it's fighting itself.

Two tracks. One frequency. Somebody loses.

Kick and bass. Vocal and guitars. Voiceover and music. When two sources want the same part of the spectrum, both turn to mud — and no amount of static EQ fixes it, because the collision only happens some of the time.

How it works

Three steps. One knob.

Step 01

Insert

Put Carver on the track you want to clean up — the bass, the background music, the pad.

Step 02

Route

Send the track that should win to Carver's sidechain — the kick, the vocal, the lead. Carver tells you if the routing isn't right yet.

Step 03

Turn Amount

That's it. Carver builds the inverse EQ curve and rides it in real time, only while the sidechain is actually playing.

Proof

Hear it before you buy it.

Real mixes, one button. No processing tricks — just Carver on the second track, sidechained from the first.

Pendiente antes de publicar

Esta es la sección que más convierte de toda la página y ahora mismo está vacía. Necesitas grabar 3 ejemplos A/B reales (bypass vs. Carver) y exportarlos a Web/assets/audio/ con estos nombres:

kick-bass-off.mp3 / kick-bass-on.mp3
vocal-music-off.mp3 / vocal-music-on.mp3
podcast-off.mp3 / podcast-on.mp3

Crítico: los dos archivos de cada par deben estar nivelados en loudness (mismo LUFS integrado). Si el "on" suena más alto, la gente lo elegirá por volumen, no por calidad — y tu demo estará mintiendo a tu favor de una forma que se nota. El player de abajo ya funciona; solo faltan los archivos.

Kick vs Bass

Low end

Vocal vs Music

Presence

Voiceover

Ducking

What's different

Carver shows you the problem.

Unmasking plugins attenuate. Carver tells you where, why, and lets you shape the response by frequency.

100 1k 10k — sidechain spectrum — reduction curve ▲ conflict heatmap
Exclusive

Conflict Heatmap

Every other tool shows you two curves and lets you guess. Carver compares both signals band by band and lights up red exactly where they're both loud and at similar level — which is the literal definition of masking. The taller the flame, the worse the clash. You stop guessing where the mud is.

RELEASE / FREQ 600 ms 150 ms 45 ms 60 Hz 1 kHz 10 kHz
Exclusive

Release Tilt

One release time for the whole spectrum is always a compromise: fast enough for the highs distorts your low end, slow enough for the lows smothers your air. Tilt scales the release time per frequency from a single knob — lows recover slowly and cleanly, highs snap back instantly. The green curve shows you the real release time at every frequency as you dial it.

Exclusive

Perceptual Mode

Your ear isn't a spectrum analyzer. The same energy masks far more at 3 kHz than at 50 Hz. Perceptual weights the analysis with equal-loudness contours (ISO 226), so Carver stops cutting low-end conflicts you were never going to hear. Your track keeps its body.

Two engines

Zero latency or surgical

Live — 32-band dynamic EQ, 0 samples of latency, bit-perfect passthrough at rest. Track and monitor with it on.

Mix — STFT engine with ~513 bands for denser, more surgical carving when you're mixing down. One click apart.

And the rest

The things you'd expect. Done properly.

Delta monitoring

Hear exactly what's being removed. The most honest way to set Amount.

SC Listen

Audition the sidechain as the detector hears it — filters and all.

Mid / Side

Carve only the center, only the sides, or one channel. The rest passes untouched.

Draggable filters

Low-cut and high-cut handles right on the display. Bound where Carver acts.

Parallel Mix

Dry/wet that's phase- and latency-aligned. No comb filtering, ever.

A/B slots

Two full snapshots of every setting. Compare by ear, not by memory.

8 factory presets

Real starting points: Kick vs Bass, Vocal Clarity, Master Glue, Side Carve…

Resizable UI

Drag the corner. Size is remembered per instance.

Specifications

The details.

ItemSpec
FormatsVST3, AU (macOS), AAX
macOS12 (Monterey) or later · Apple Silicon & Intel · signed and notarized
Windows10 or later · 64-bit · signed
Live engine32-band dynamic EQ · 0 samples latency · bit-perfect at rest
Mix engineSTFT, 1024-pt Hann, 75% overlap · ~513 bands · 1792 samples (DAW-compensated)
Max attenuationUp to ~24 dB per band
Attack / Release0.1–200 ms / 5–2000 ms · Release Tilt ±100%
Sidechain filtersLow-cut & high-cut, 20 Hz – 20 kHz
Channel modesStereo · Left · Right · Mid · Side
Real-time safeNo memory allocation in the audio thread
Sidechain required. Carver needs a sidechain signal to do its thing — that's the whole idea. It ships with routing instructions built into the UI for Ableton Live, Logic Pro, Pro Tools and Reaper, and it tells you when the routing isn't connected yet.
Pricing

Founder pricing.

Carver is Xibalba DSP's first release. Early buyers get it at the founder price — and every 1.x update free.

$34 $49
Founder price · first 60 days
  • macOS and Windows — one license, both
  • VST3, AU and AAX included
  • Activate on up to 3 machines
  • All 1.x updates free
  • 14-day money-back guarantee, no questions
Buy Carver — $34 Try it free

Instant download · License key by email

Pendiente antes de publicar

Conecta #buy-btn a tu checkout real (Gumroad / Lemon Squeezy) y #trial a la descarga del demo. Si decides no ofrecer trial o cambias la política de máquinas/garantía, edita también el texto de arriba — ahora mismo promete: 3 máquinas, updates 1.x gratis y 14 días de devolución. Son promesas contractuales, no relleno.

FAQ

Fair questions.

How is this different from other unmasking plugins?

The category standard analyzes the sidechain and applies an inverse curve — Carver does that too, and does it well. What Carver adds: a heatmap that shows you where the masking actually is instead of making you guess; a release that can be tilted across the spectrum from one knob; a perceptual mode that ignores conflicts your ear can't hear; and two engines so the same plugin works at zero latency while tracking and surgically while mixing. If you already own something in this category and it's working for you, the honest answer is that you may not need Carver. Try the demo and let your ears decide.

Do I have to set up sidechain routing?

Yes — Carver has to be told which track should win. That's one send or one menu, depending on your DAW, and Carver shows you the exact steps inside the plugin until the signal arrives. There's no way around it: a plugin that doesn't know what to protect can't protect anything.

Will it add latency to my session?

Not in Live mode — it's 0 samples, and at rest the audio passes through bit-perfect. Mix mode uses an FFT engine that reports 1792 samples to your DAW, which compensates automatically. Switch freely; you'll hear one brief click as the DAW renegotiates.

Which DAWs does it work in?

Anything that hosts VST3, AU or AAX: Ableton Live, Logic Pro, Pro Tools, Reaper, Cubase, Studio One, FL Studio, Bitwig, and others. Use VST3 in Live (AU sidechain is unreliable there), AU in Logic, AAX in Pro Tools.

Is this a subscription?

No. You buy it once, you own it, and every 1.x update is free. No account required to run it — the license activates once and then works offline.

What if I don't like it?

Email within 14 days and you get your money back. No forms, no justification. Try the free demo first, though — that's what it's for.

Xibalba DSP — who are you?

A small independent shop. Carver is our first plugin, which means you're early: you get the founder price, and you get a developer who actually answers support email. More about us →