FabFilter User Forum
Automation can turn Spectral Mode on/off, causing Delay Comp Issues
The Spectral mode switch is not a parameter you can automate, which is a good thing. Since enabling/disabling this feature changes the plugin's delay comp value, you would not want that changing while the transport is moving.
However, this is in fact happening. If a band has spectral mode enabled, turning the dynamics knob of that band from off to on or vice versa will cause the plugin to automatically switch the spectral mode engine on/off under the hood. This causes all tracks in pro tools to randomly glitch/skip as Pro Tools readjusts it's delay comp to adapt to Q4.
Michael Feldman — Mar 9, 2025
Hi Michael,
This is discussed in multiple other threads here on the forum. There are indeed parameters that can enable or disable spectral mode if you automate them, which will update the delay compensation. Unfortunately there's not a whole lot we can do about that. Parameters like dynamic range or band enable simply need to be automatable, and will disable spectral processing and thus adjust the latency.
One workaround would be to put the whole plug-in in linear phase mode. This way enabling or disabling spectral mode will not adjust the latency of the plug-in.