Light one track. The rest of the mix makes room.
SPOTLIGHT is a mix plug-in for dense arrangements. Put it on every track in a group, draw one automation lane, and the featured track steps forward while everything else recedes. No sidechain routing, no latency, no six automation lanes per moment.
$29 launch price until Sunday, November 15, 2026 $39
One-time purchase · Free trial, no time limit · Zero latency
Why it exists
Making one thing matter shouldn't take a pile of automation.
Every time a vocal line lands, a bass fill punches through or a synth hook takes over, it's the same moves: lift the fader, dip the other tracks, boost presence, pull back the sends, tighten the bed. SPOTLIGHT replaces that stack with one declared intent: this track is featured now.
Put SPOTLIGHT on every track in a group: vocal, guitars, keys, bass, drums, pads.
Link them with Groups A to D, up to 32 instances in one DAW process. No inter-track routing.
Draw one automation lane on the track that should own the moment, or click the big SPOTLIGHT button.
The featured track steps forward in level, presence, air, punch, drive and density.
The rest of the group recedes: a dynamic EQ carve, a level dip, a darker top, narrower width and a short room tail.
Character
It should sound like a decision, not a fader move
At the default 100% Amount, on a dense test mix, the featured track comes up about +7 dB in perceived level and the rest of the group drops about −10 dB. At 200% it's a bold drop effect.
- Character profiles: Punch, Focus and Bloom
- Advanced knobs for every forward and recede move
- Factory presets: Init, Bass Fill, Lead Feature, Wide Bloom and Big Drop
- The Now panel shows the real numbers as they happen
Triggers
Three ways to light a track
Rise, Hold and Fall shape how fast the moment arrives and how gracefully it hands off, with a tempo-synced Fall from 1/16 to 1 bar.
- Automation: draw it like any plug-in parameter
- Grid: a tempo-synced 16-step pattern fires on the beat
- Audio: the track's own level crossing a threshold fires it
- Priority 1 to 9 decides who wins when two tracks want the light
Safe at every Amount
Big moves without breaking the mix.
Low end protected
The carve, width and drive work above 150 Hz only, so kick and sub are never carved, narrowed or driven. Turn RECEDES off on drums that should never move.
Zero latency
No delay compensation needed. Idle linked instances pass audio through bit-for-bit unchanged and cost almost no CPU.
No surprises
Mid/side width keeps the mono sum intact, a soft ceiling at −1 dBFS keeps big lifts from clipping, and the Spotlight lane resets to zero when a project opens.
Honest limits
What SPOTLIGHT is not.
Not a sidechain pump
For constant, rhythmic kick-against-bass pumping, a sidechain compressor is still the right tool. SPOTLIGHT is for momentary emphasis: features, fills, hooks and drops.
Linking needs one process
Instances link inside a single DAW process. Hosts that sandbox each plug-in separately (such as Bitwig's per-plug-in mode) keep them apart.
The trial lights one track
One active instance per session with the forward moves only. Linking, the recession of other tracks and the EQ carve need a license, and audio bypasses for 1.5 seconds every 45 seconds.
Windows
Windows 10 or 11, 64-bit, VST3 host
Mac
Intel or Apple Silicon, macOS 11 or later, VST3 or AU host
Tracks
Mono and stereo. Internet only for activation and update checks.
Free trial
One lane. One featured track.
Try the forward moves on one track with no time limit. A license unlocks linking and the whole group effect. One license covers up to 3 computers you own or control, with updates included.
Questions: [email protected] · License terms · VST is a trademark of Steinberg Media Technologies GmbH.