Sony SpectraLayers Pro vs Izotope RX5

I have not used the Sony product, but from memory it is a stand alone app which can round trip with Sound Forge. iZotope on the other hand supports the major plugin formats of professional editing apps like Pro Tools, Nuendo, Media Composer, Premiere Pro, Final Cut, Audition, Logic, Cuebase, as well as Sony Sound Forge.
 
SpectraLayers Pro 4 can round-trip with Sound Forge, Vegas, Pro Tools, Media Composer, Ableton Live, Cakewalk SONAR, Final Cut Pro, Logic Pro and a couple others.
 
You can do everything with Spectralayers that you can with RX-4 plus reverb, which is only available for the pro version ($1100) of Izotope. With the layers paradigm, you can isolate and recombine individual sounds from a very noisy environment. However, Izotope's UI is so far superior that I really wanted to go for it. The problem was that the demo version was so crippled (can't copy and paste, for example), that I could not really determine what it might be capable of. After a couple of weeks of working with both demo versions, I decided that Spectralayers was the better choice. If you can handle the ugly UI, or if you are running on Windows (SL is cross-platform), go with Spectralayers.
 
Given the review it would seem they are not really the same thing so it's a bit of apples and Oranges. Rx is all about restoration SLP3 is about manipulation and part of that manipulation can do some noise reduction, but that isn't the focus.

Nothing on Sony's page talks about integration with anything but Sound Forge. So if by round tripping you mean out put a sound work on it and then bring it back into ProTools, yes but that is not a workflow anyone in their right mind would do in a film post workflow. But then you said "SLP4", so if you are leaking some beta info?

From looking at their videos and knowing Rx I would choose Rx for nose reduction generally.

First because SLP is not interactive, you proses and then see if it's what you want if not undo and try again. Rx lets you change parameters while previewing so you can easily tell what is happening before you take the time to render. Also Rx works as a stand alone but also as a plug in in ProTools so it will work on the clip IN protools, no round trip needed.

SLP is however a really interesting program that could be really cool to use for a number of things and in terms of manipulating sounds it is a much more versatile tool than Rx.

So better probably has more to do with your workflow and what you want to do. If you are working in ProTools, or really any DAW other than Sound Forge SLP3 is going to mostly be useful on working with whole sections, as in restoring a whole song. If you are doing post in ProTools and other DAWs and you need is for noise reduction on clips and such then I think Rx is a much better choice.

If there is a V4 that works as a plugin in PT then that would put them on a more even footing, IF SLP had previewing. Otherwise it's probably best for manipulating or going after some specific noise that Rx is having problems with. I also didn't see anything that would replace spectral repair, and that is a tool I wouldn't want to lose.
 
I confirm SLP4 brings a PT plugin (shown at NAMM).
Both SLP3 and SLP4 provides process previewing.
 
And since this is a current thread we should correct a few things.
First off depending on what you need to work on there are three current products at iZotope that would be of interest. None of them are "Rx4 plus reverb", which I have actually never heard of.

The current version is Rx5.
The options are the Rx5 plugin pack at $99, Rx5 editor @ $249 and Rx5 advanced @ $749.
Admittedly this is a sale through the end of the month but that is the current prices.

The plugin pack works only as a plugin so there are some things that it doesn't include but at under $100 that would be by far your best bang for buck noise removal tool.
If you are doing films with budgets, not big Hollywood epics but films you are managing to live off of doing sound, then Rx5 editor would be where I would start because some of the added features like spectral repair will save your butt.

I never felt the need to go to the advanced versions. There are good additions but a lot I kind of have covered in other areas and it's always been close to $1K and I just don't get paid enough for restoration to justify it.

SLP is $399.95.

But as I said SLP will do some manipulation things that Rx doesn't do so if you are deconstruction music or need to do vocoder like things then SLP might be your tool of choice.

Now if you really want to do some fun things the GRM plugins ProTools and?? are, well a LOT of fun. But they have nothing to do with restoration.
 
Thanks all, I went for the Izotrope RX5 audio editor at its special price.

I live in the land of corporate and sometimes we don't have time for perfect takes we have a interviewee for 30 min and a police car screams by etc, so this could be a lifesaver.
 
IMO, SCS Spectralayers Pro has a steep leaning curve. I was a beta tester on SF-10, 11 and SL Pro2, so I didn't need to purchase Spectralayers.
 
I've been using Izotope RX5 for the past six months on a variety of projects, it's a lifesaver. Works very well, is super easy to use, interface is excellent. I highly recommend anyone needing pro level NR/Audio Repair hop on it quickly because that sale ends at the end of the month and it's a killer deal. I use the Editor version, I paid $349.00 , it's now $249.00, an excellent value.
 
You guys keep talking up the Izotope so much I too had to grab the RX5 Editor at the special price. Haven't installed it yet. Probably this week-end. The instructional videos on their web site looked good. I will need to watch more of those.
 
It's a tool. With the exception of removing stable room or tape hiss you will probably have to work at it. Spectral repair for instance is, or can be, about as close to a miracle as you are likely to see. BUT it can take a lot of work to make that miracle happen.

The deClipper is what sold me many years ago. I had some F14 flybys that just blew out every time. They were supersonic and traveling pretty close to the ground, they were out of sight before you heard them and then BAM. Anyway I kept some of those around to see if anything could salvage them and Rx did an amazing job. It basically converted horrible digital overs to soft analog clipping. Turned trash into something usable, the "analog" distortion actually helps sell the speed.
 
I agree Scott. The project I bought it for had some terrible audio and RX5 didn't "make it all better", but it did take it from useless crap to usable crap, which in this case, was more than enough. Saved the project, well worth $350.00
 
One "miracle moment" for a director I was working with was an interview with Willie Nelson. Nelson kept tapping his foot under the table so while the dialog was good it had this tapping going on, and you couldn't see his leg or foot so it was very distracting. Some time with spectral repair and all the taps were gone with no noticeable artifacts.

But "some time" was probably over an hour and maybe two. It was well worth it and the director was besides himself since they had apparently gone to great lengths to find takes with as few taps as possible and then given up.
 
Not to mention thr RFI I had with a mixer on an event, was very evident declick and 10 minutes made the miracle, clean audio!!
 
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