If you’ve spent any time cleaning up audio, you already know RX. It’s been the safety net for everything from messy vocal takes to unusable field recordings. Now iZotope drops RX 12, and the focus is pretty clear: faster results, better separation, and less time fighting your tools.
This isn’t a ground-up reinvention. It’s more like a solid iteration on what already works, with some smart additions that actually change how you approach fixing audio.
Better separation, less guesswork
The biggest shift in RX 12 is how it handles stems and separation. The new Scene Rebalance feature breaks down full mixes—especially film and TV audio—into dialogue, music, and effects. It’s fast, and more importantly, usable. You can rebalance a scene in seconds instead of digging through automation or asking for new stems that don’t exist.
That ties directly into the new Stems View. Once audio is split using Scene Rebalance, Music Rebalance, or Dialogue Isolate, you can treat each element like its own track inside RX. That means full access to the entire toolkit per stem, then exporting everything back together cleanly. For remixing, fixing bad balances, or salvaging old projects, this is where things get interesting.
The repair tools get sharper
De-bleed has been rebuilt, and it’s a meaningful update. You can now isolate instruments or remove headphone bleed without needing a reference track. There’s also a real-time plugin version, which makes it much more practical inside a DAW instead of bouncing back and forth.
Music Rebalance also gets an upgrade. It’s now available as a real-time plugin, with improved neural nets for cleaner separation between vocals, bass, and drums. It’s not magic—but it’s getting closer to something you’d actually trust in a mix or remix workflow.
Dialogue Isolate follows the same path. Better de-noising and de-reverb, both offline and in real time. Whether you’re fixing podcast audio, cleaning vocals, or working in post, it’s quicker to get something usable without stacking multiple processes.
Small workflow changes that add up
RX 12 also smooths out the day-to-day experience. The interface has been updated with a larger spectrogram, which makes detailed edits easier on the eyes. There’s now a proper module search, so you’re not digging through menus, and a resizable history panel that actually helps when you’re experimenting.
One underrated addition is Trim Silence. If you’ve ever edited long podcast recordings or dialogue sessions, you know how tedious that can get. This tool automatically finds and removes silent sections, saving a surprising amount of time when deadlines are tight.
Three versions, depending on how deep you go
RX 12 comes in the usual three tiers. Elements is the lightweight option with six essential plugins and the Repair Assistant, aimed at quick fixes. Standard is the sweet spot for most producers, with a solid set of tools for cleaning, rebalancing, and prepping audio for release. Advanced is still the full post-production package with 50+ tools and all the heavy-duty processing.
Pricing stays in line with previous versions. RX 12 Elements is $99, Standard is $399, and Advanced comes in at $1399. There are bundle options too, like Music Production Suite 9 at $799 (including RX 12 Standard) and Post Production Suite 9 at $1799 (including Advanced).
If you’re upgrading, the jump from RX 11 Standard is $129, and from RX 11 Advanced it’s $269. iZotope is also pushing broader loyalty discounts depending on what you already own, so it’s worth checking your account before buying.
More details are up on their site at izotope.com/rx.