Soothe 2 costs $299. That's not a typo. Oeksound charges nearly three hundred dollars for a resonance suppressor — a plugin that finds harsh frequencies in your audio and turns them down automatically. It's brilliant software, and the audio world loves it. But $299 is a lot of money, especially when you're just trying to make your vocals not sound like a dying smoke alarm.
RysUpSmooth does the same job. It targets resonant, harsh frequencies in real time, smooths them out, and leaves your audio cleaner without you having to manually chase every offending frequency with a static EQ cut. The difference is the price and the philosophy behind it.
Let's actually compare these two so you can decide which one makes sense for your situation.
What Does a Vocal Smoother Actually Do?
Before the comparison — if you've never used a dynamic resonance suppressor before, here's what's happening under the hood.
Static EQ cuts a frequency all the time. If 3.2kHz is harsh in your vocal, you cut 3.2kHz. Problem: 3.2kHz isn't always harsh. Sometimes it's perfectly fine. A static cut makes your whole vocal sound thinner across the board.
A dynamic resonance suppressor listens to what's actually happening and only cuts when something gets harsh. The moment a resonant frequency spikes — typically caused by vowel sounds, mic coloration, or room acoustics — the plugin catches it and ducks it. When it's gone, the attenuation releases and the frequency comes back.
The result is a vocal that sounds smooth and polished without losing its character. It's the difference between hacking out a piece of the vocal spectrum and surgically addressing specific problems as they occur.
RysUpSmooth vs Soothe 2: Feature Comparison
| Feature | RysUpSmooth | Oeksound Soothe 2 |
|---|---|---|
| Price | Fraction of competitor pricing | $299 USD |
| Dynamic resonance suppression | ✅ Yes | ✅ Yes |
| Frequency visualization | ✅ Real-time display | ✅ Real-time display |
| Mid/Side processing | ✅ Built-in | ✅ Built-in |
| Sidechain support | ✅ Yes | ✅ Yes |
| Oversampling | ✅ Yes | ✅ Yes |
| iLok / cloud activation | ❌ None required | ❌ None required |
| Mac & Windows | ✅ Both (AU/VST3/AAX) | ✅ Both (AU/VST3/AAX) |
| Update frequency | Actively developed (2025–2026) | Occasional major updates |
| Original codebase year | 2025 | 2013 (Soothe 2 = 2019 rebuild) |
Sound Quality: Honest Assessment
Soothe 2
Soothe 2 is genuinely excellent — that has to be said plainly. Its resonance detection algorithm is precise, the frequency analyzer is clear, and the way it responds to transients is smooth. When you dial it in right, it can make even a problematic room recording sound polished. It's been the go-to for resonance suppression since 2019, and for good reason.
The interface can feel clinical, but everything is where you'd expect it to be. The depth control (how aggressively it attenuates) and the sensitivity control (how easily it triggers) are both intuitive. At extreme settings it can start to feel processed, but at reasonable amounts it's remarkably transparent.
RysUpSmooth
RysUpSmooth was built in 2025 with a clean-slate approach. Instead of inheriting design decisions from a 2013 plugin, RysUpSmooth was written from scratch for modern vocal workflows. The resonance detection engine is fast, the UI is cleaner and less intimidating than Soothe's technical interface, and the results on vocals are immediate.
Where RysUpSmooth particularly shines is in the high-mid range — that 2–6kHz zone that makes vocalists cringe when they hear themselves back. The way it handles sibilant resonances that weren't quite harsh enough for a de-esser but were still unpleasant is something that previously required constant manual EQ work. RysUpSmooth catches those moments automatically.
On instruments it's equally effective, though it's primarily optimized for vocals and mid-range content where resonance problems are most audible.
Workflow Comparison
Setup Speed
Both plugins are genuinely plug-and-play. Put either one on a vocal track, hit play, and they start working immediately. RysUpSmooth's default settings are tuned specifically for vocals — you get a good result without touching a single control. Soothe 2 defaults are also sensible but lean slightly more toward a clean starting state that requires some calibration for heavily resonant vocals.
CPU Usage
RysUpSmooth has a lighter CPU footprint, which matters when you're running 40+ tracks and every millisecond counts. Soothe 2 isn't heavy by modern standards, but it uses more resources than RysUpSmooth — particularly with oversampling enabled across multiple tracks simultaneously.
Installation
RysUpSmooth installs through RysUpHub — download the app once and every RysUp plugin installs from a single interface. No separate installers for AU, VST3, and AAX formats. Soothe 2 has a standard standalone installer that works fine, but you manage it yourself and need to reinstall separately when switching formats.
The Pricing Reality
$299 for a single plugin is a meaningful commitment. If you're mixing records full-time and every session benefits from dynamic resonance suppression, the per-use cost over a year makes it defensible. If you're an independent producer making music at home, $299 for one tool is a very hard sell when that money could cover three or four plugins that address different problems.
RysUpSmooth is priced for producers who want professional-grade results without the professional-studio budget. The processing quality is there. The features are there. The only thing that's not there is the established brand name — and for most people mixing music in 2026, that genuinely doesn't affect the sound coming out of their speakers.
Who Should Use Soothe 2
If you're mixing for major-label clients who expect specific industry-standard tools in the session, Soothe 2 is worth it. Many engineers include it on their template vocal chains by default, and the plugin has a well-established workflow reputation. If you already own it, there's no reason to switch — it's excellent at what it does.
You should also stick with Soothe 2 if you need the absolute maximum granular control. Its interface, while complex, gives you very precise control over the attenuation shape, frequency targeting, and release behavior.
Who Should Use RysUpSmooth
If you're a producer or independent mixer who wants dynamic resonance suppression without paying $299, RysUpSmooth delivers that. If you're building a plugin collection from scratch and want to spread your budget across multiple tools — an EQ, a compressor, a delay, a reverb — RysUpSmooth frees up real money for those other essentials.
RysUpSmooth is also the better choice if you value frequent updates. Soothe 2 ships occasional major versions on a slow release cycle. RysUpSmooth is actively built and improved — features, fixes, and optimizations ship regularly because the team is still actively working on the codebase. You're not stuck waiting for a 3-year major release to get something fixed.
The Bottom Line
Soothe 2 earned its reputation. In 2026, though, paying $299 for resonance suppression is a choice, not a requirement. RysUpSmooth does the core job — dynamic resonance detection, smooth frequency attenuation, real-time visualization — on a modern codebase at a fraction of the price.
If you already own Soothe 2, keep it. If you're deciding whether to buy Soothe 2 for the first time, try RysUpSmooth first. The results on vocals will likely surprise you.
Download RysUpSmooth via RysUpHub →
Pair Your Vocals With RysUp Plugins
If you want to upgrade your vocal chain, every plugin in the RysUp collection is built specifically for vocal production — modern codebase, weekly updates, no iLok, and a fraction of the cost of legacy software.
Frequently Asked Questions
Is RysUpSmooth a Soothe 2 alternative?
Yes. RysUpSmooth performs dynamic resonance suppression — the same core function as Soothe 2. It identifies resonant, harsh frequencies in real time and reduces them dynamically without applying a static EQ cut. The result is smoother-sounding audio without losing the character of the source.
What's the difference between a de-esser and a vocal smoother?
A de-esser specifically targets sibilant frequencies (typically 5–10kHz) and attenuates only those. A vocal smoother like RysUpSmooth works across a much wider frequency range and identifies any resonant frequency that spikes harshly — not just sibilance. It's a more general-purpose tool for fixing problematic resonances throughout the entire vocal spectrum.
Can RysUpSmooth be used on instruments, not just vocals?
Yes — RysUpSmooth works on any audio source with resonance problems. It's particularly effective on acoustic guitar, piano, and any recorded instrument that picks up room resonances or mic coloration. The algorithm is primarily tuned for vocals but processes all content types equally well.
Does RysUpSmooth work on Mac and Windows?
Yes. RysUpSmooth ships as AU, VST3, and AAX on both Mac and Windows. Install it through RysUpHub — download the installer app once and every RysUp plugin installs from one place. No separate format installers needed.
How does dynamic resonance suppression compare to static EQ for vocals?
A static EQ cut removes a frequency permanently — the attenuation applies all the time, even when that frequency isn't causing problems. Dynamic resonance suppression (like RysUpSmooth or Soothe 2) only attenuates a frequency when it actually becomes harsh. This preserves more of the vocal's natural character while still taming problem moments when they occur.