In ProTools, two new plug-ins make this link with the standalone app possible: an Audiosuite Connect plug-in to send files between the DAW and the standalone app, and a real-time AAX Connect plug-in which provides Rewire-style monitoring of the standalone app inside your mixer, typically on an aux going straight to your speakers. It’s now only available inside the standalone app (although if you are upgrading from an earlier version you can choose to keep that installed alongside RX4 and still access the older Audiosuite plug-ins). The first big sign of this is the removal of the flagship Spectral Repair Audiosuite plug-in for ProTools from V4. I assume this means iZotope will, over time, minimise its host based plug-ins, making RX’s ongoing development simpler. RX4 changes all that with its new Connect system that encourages users to migrate to the standalone app, while still linking into their DAW of choice. Although a standalone app has been available for several versions now, many ProTools operators preferred to use Audiosuite inside their DAW for rendering fixes, storing presets with sessions and templates, and preventing yet another application from chewing up processing on an older ‘tired’ computer. Key to the version four release is a fairly dramatic change in workflow. The latest incarnation, RX4 is a suite of diverse plug-ins and a standalone app, but the relationship between the two has changed with this update. Far from it, RX produced solid results and soon gathered a massive following.

When RX came onto the scene with a price tag around $500, the first impression when comparing it to the big names was it didn’t seem to be 90% worse.

There were always a few cheaper options from Waves and the like, but none seemed to ‘cut through the noise’ until iZotope debuted its RX suite. But the price of admission was up there, often north of $5000 and stayed there for years. If you go back a few years, the major names in noise reduction were Sonic Solutions and Cedar. Now it’s trying to entice RX users further into its standalone app by laying out some new treats. IZotope is well and truly established as a noise reduction force.

Izotope insight review