In my eternal quest for interesting software to improve microphone quality of life I have uncovered an interesting gem named RNNoise, with a VST named Real-time Noise Suppression.
As the name indicates, it does roughly the same thing as programs like RTX Voice or Krisp, except it's free, works on any system (Including Mac and Linux), and so far appears to have few downsides on system performance.
I did a quick recording comparing no suppression vs. Real-time Noise Suppression vs. RTX Voice for both white noise and keyboard noise. The results are quite surprising. Give it a listen:
While obviously your voice gets butchered when a speaker is blasting white noise directly into the mic, at a still noisy 50% volume it's doing pretty well. I believe any relatively standard background noise will be repressed with minimal impact on audio quality.
Pros & Cons
| RTX Voice | RNNoise | |
| Ease of Setup | Easy | Moderate - Hard |
| OS Compatibility | Windows Only | Win / Mac / Linux |
| Hardware Compatibility | Specific Nvidia Cards | Everything?! |
| Noise Reduction Quality | Excellent | Good |
| Bugs & Issues | Some | None |
In short, I think RTX Voice performs slightly better on the quality front, and it is significantly easier to install, but it is less compatible and the bugs I found in my latest review hold it back from being suggested even if you have the hardware and OS to support it.
So how can you get this VST to work with your system? It's as easy as heading over to Github to download it and follow the directions below the download based on your OS.
https://github.com/werman/noise-suppression-for-voice
Then follow these directions
Windows:
Download EQ APO here: https://sourceforge.net/projects/equalizerapo/
Follow the directions here: https://medium.com/@bssankaran/free-and-open-source-software-noise-cancelling-for-working-from-home-edb1b4e9764e
Linux:
Follow our guide: https://antlionaudio.com/blogs/news/real-time-microphone-noise-reduction-linux-guide
Mac:
Follow the directions here: https://github.com/werman/noise-suppression-for-voice
If you run into this EQ APO error:
"The library is not readable by the audio service. Change the file permissions or copy the file to the VSTPlugins directory."
If you get this error don't panic, all is not lost. To fix this simply open up the folder and find the the vst.dll. Right click on it and go to properties, then to the Security tab and click Edit.
In the next window click Add... and in the box type "LOCAL SERVICE" (No quotes) and give it read & execute access.
Then, just because it always makes me feel better to do so, reboot your machine.
As always you can get help with this process and any technical problem you may be having with your ModMic on our Discord: https://discord.gg/AntlionAudio