Please, no flames--I've done searches, but I think the term EQ is too short for the KVR search engine and I get no matches.

I'm looking for a good-sounding VST parametric EQ plug-in for tracking. I've been using the Cubase SX EQ, and it is perfectly functional, but it's never sounded as natural and smooth to me as a good analog unit (again, please no flames--personal opinion!!). I'd prefer a good sound over tons of creative features. Just to give you an idea of my usage, last night I was working on a snare sound for a drum n bass track. I needed a low-shelf filter running to cut out the boominess of the snare, a very slight boost around 5-6k to add a little snap, and a very narrow cut in the 300-350 range to cut out some resonance that made the snare sound very "pitched" instead of snappy. The SX EQ worked OK, but the low-shelf was not steep enough and tough to set correctly, and it sounded very slightly "smeared" when I was done (tough to explain, but definitely audible).

Any suggestions? The Sonalksis EQ was recommended to me as having a great sound (SV-517), but it is a tad pricey for me--anything else? I'd be happy to try out demos, but I don't even know what to test out yet.

free:

http://www.it.usyd.edu.au/~mcraig/projects/paris/

http://www.digilogue.de/english/download.htm

http://www.lizzaudio.com/ (url not working atm)

Of course there's Quantum FX - I was very impressed with their whole package - the Eq seems very capable - possibly not a real character one, but clear and very flexible - I managed to almost isolate individual drum hits just using the graphic, and the parametric can have as many bands as you want (also they have frequency conscious comps which can be even more useful on things like drums than Eq!)

Eqium and Firium - very sweet indeed (I always get which one is which muddled up) Eqium is the main channel Eq I think - I must get off the demo and actually buy it. I particularly liked the way it does high-mids and highs - it has a definite character - not hissy like some, but not pristine clear either - almost a reflecting-off-glass-window type of sheen to it. (A strange description, I know, but as you say, it's difficult describing Eqs) I think it adds that perfect tinniness on things like hats, which alot of VST Eqs can't seem to give. And personally I think it'll do just what you want on snares.

I like TC Native Eq - not as good at the high-mids, but maybe a slightly warmer bass end (plus it has a saturation switch if you want to use it). I don't feel that TC Eq narrows in particularly well for really precise Eqing, but I like its flavour on general Eq duties.

Waves is vastly overpriced, but it is pretty clinical compared to many others - you either love it or you think it's a waste of money.

Many here seem to like the Voxengo stuff - I don't really have much experience with it myself ( I find the GUIs tend to make me feel a little nauseous - it just puts me off for some reason) - but apparently the quality of sound is pretty good.

I occasionally use DSPFX Eq - it doesn't really have great character, but it's not all that clinically clear either - sort of sits in the middle somewhere, but I like the GUI and it does the job mostly.... and it's not too pricey.

I heard that TLA do a plugin version...but it's a wide band affair that probably is not what you're after - but I've heard some good comments about its character from people that I'd trust ... probably more for mastering purposes.

I've tried quite a few free ones, and to be honest, most of them were complete poo.

Aren't PSP supposed to be working on an Eq plugin? I suspect that one would be a real character Eq worth having - dunno when it's due out though.

I'm a big fan of the Sonic Timeworks EQ that shipped with SONAR2XL (and the built-in spectrum analyzer can be a real god-send)....you can of course also get it separately:

http://www.sonictimeworks.com

Check out:

Voxengo Pulteque EQ

Paris EQ

WaveArts TrackPlug (add a dash of TubeLimit for some vintage sparkle)

Sonalksis EQ

...me, I'm still looking for the mother of all compressors...

wait a bit... something great is coming soon.


-R bert

Hmmm... that was a fairly cryptic response! Any hints?

Yes, I'm here! Truly great indeed.

PaintedBlue wrote:

Hmmm... that was a fairly cryptic response! Any hints?

Eh.. There's 3 developers I know of with big things in the works.... im sure you can guess 2 of the 3

-R bert

CaptainMark wrote:

WaveArts TrackPlug (add a dash of TubeLimit for some vintage sparkle)

I second that... TrackPlug is very nice! If you qualify for the 50% academic discount it's a bargain too... (regular price $130, academic price $65)

-Garret

kritikon wrote:

Of course there's Quantum FX - I was very impressed with their whole package - the Eq seems very capable - possibly not a real character one, but clear and very flexible - I managed to almost isolate individual drum hits just using the graphic, and the parametric can have as many bands as you want (also they have frequency conscious comps which can be even more useful on things like drums than Eq!).

Hi Kritikon,
What is the "graphic" eq that you speak of? I've only seen the parametric eqs and the shelf eq.

cheers
sluggo

Psp announced the preqursor in the beginning of the year, but it isn´t
still released. So, should I wait or go with the sonalksis.
I saw the gui of the PSP eq and it was very minimalistic without a graphical
curve. I am interested, what has changed between the first announcement. But when will it come... I need a good native eq and sonalksis is a very good warm sounding one....
I thought about oxford or camebridge eq, but the number of instances is
limited on the dsp... I read, that there are not much instances of the oxford eq possible....on a single powercore...

Greetings

SDevice

but what is great about powercore plugs is you can apply them using cubases offline rendering as many time as you like - i think you get 8 of them at 48 khz - how many do ya need - so id get the oxford if i had the money - its so annoying that the demo is for 15 days - but you get 4 eq models and they sound amazing

then are you in the powercore kinda market ?

if i work on a recording with lots of voices, i want to do everything in realtime. That´s important for the workflow, for me personally. And
if i need the quality of the oxford eq, dynamics and surly the inflator,
i contact a frind, who has these plugs on his tdm system. So I stay with
the native world, because there are great plugs existing like sonalksis
or sonic timeworks, psp and so on...
I never will buy one of these pseudo dsp cards. Of course the powercore
firewire is a very good idea to leave the slow pci bus. But i read very
bad comments about that thing...

SD

The writing is on the wall for a UAD Fairchild 670 for the UAD-1!

Crazy!

ANd then there is the Neve channel from PSP which still hasn't seen the light of day...

Hold on! THis was supposes to be EQs, sorry.

Another vote for Trackplug then, Blue Tubes has the Pultec sans UAD thing going on, and the Sonalksis Eq is good although expensive.

Cambridge is excellent too.

I'm really impressed by the superb sound of the Sonalksis EQ. Would be the only EQ to touch my basslines & kicks if there wasn't the nasty price...

Cheers,
Ronny

I think the price for the sonalksis eq is ok when you compare it to the price of the oxford eq... 544EUR powercore and 860EUR for tdm version

greetings

sd

CaptainMark quoth Voxengo Pulteque EQ

Huh? I know the Voxengo stuff, but whats this?

some others:

the ultrafunk one is surgical and really "warm" to my ears..it will be available again soon via cakewalk.

the ukeq at http://www.uk-music.de/frameeng.htm is actually quite decent for $29 (but alas it has no curve graph)

if you can go directx there is one i HIGHLY recommend:
http://www.jms-audioware.com/dx_plugs.htm ($75)

and another directx one at www.thelotron.com available as part of an incredible value $99 14fx pack..the eq is quite good!

whyterabbyt wrote:

CaptainMark quoth Voxengo Pulteque EQ Huh? I know the Voxengo stuff, but whats this?

It's one of Aleksey's experiments.

You can find it buried here somwhere:
http://www.kvr-vst.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=24372

folks

question
how can one eq be better over another one
you have a couple of frequency bands and a possibility to boost up certain freq areas in Db over a time spectrum

what makes one better as the other ...features ? i mean ...all you want is the ranges in a row .. perhaps a possibility to draw a curve ...possibility to control the program via midi and perhaps a 3d spectrum of what is happening to the sound ?

as for me - i am only beginning to learn what makes one susceptible to certain moods what freq stand for certain sound characteristics not to mention the type of sound and what makes a sound sound in a certain way

give me a 16 bands eq and I'm happy - use of it ? making sure there is not to much freq overlap and boosting certain areas which makes sounds more audible .... there are some things that could be automated but i guess i must first learn how to make a decent mix first anyway

Emerald Tablet wrote:

how can one eq be better over another one

Put the same settings into different eq plugs and they will sound very different.

Hi Remco
I guess the answer is that different EQ's use different algorythms for processing. Guess folks who do programming may correct me if I'm wrong with that.

and what would be the reason this happens
i mean lets say i boost a baseline up in the 60 Hz to 200 Hz section to make it freaky low ... just to make some walls shake and some belly's rumble would another eq suddenly boost up different freq ?
so what determents if the sound is different in another eq in your opinion
i am just trying to get an understanding on why someone should invest in a "good" EQ

I mean .... the shoes i wear are better for my feet and yet Nike's cost much more money ... so better quality is highly subjective i think in almost every corner ..but ok bad comparison i admit

Try some different eq's and listen to the difference in character.

"Expensive" isn't always "better" than freeware, but they're all different, and if one has the sound that you're looking for, you might be prepared to pay for it.

Compare the donationware ParisEQ and the Sonalksis demo with the eq in your host and you will hear the difference.

Emerald Tablet wrote:

and what would be the reason this happens i mean lets say i boost a baseline up in the 60 Hz to 200 Hz section to make it freaky low ... just to make some walls shake and some belly's rumble would another eq suddenly boost up different freq ?

Erm
No, I guess another EQ would boost it in a slightly (or not so slightly) different way . Adding some saturation maybe or whatever it's called...

yeah but i still don't understand how you mean "sound"

i mean 60 to 200 Hz 5 Db up should always be 60 to 200 Hz 5 Db up
and the sound must always stay the source sound with the aria you have chosen boosted up .... is it that not all eq`s do this precisely enough ? or perhaps filter some information out ?

perhaps there's some strange processing and extraness going on i don't know about .. but erm ... if so then what extranesses are going on

just trying to express my ignorance on this all

ooops kvaksha gave an answer already
mmm not that i don`t believe you but i would like to see a graphic representation of this ... after all i`m such a a doubting Thomas

Try the comparison and listen to the difference.

There are other factors other than the eq-curve that are responsible for the difference in sound. For example: phase. Every eq results in a different phase adjustment, so that even if the eq-curve is identical, the "sound" will be different.

That's why hardware eq's also all have their own character.

hey cool chap
i am learning
so what is phase ?
is it like flange when you have to audio sources doubled with a tiny interval change in time ..or like density / bit depth or whatever (excuse me for the stupidity ) i do know the term in phase and out phase like in corresponding and non corresponding but i am Dutch and i don't know much about technical English but I'm learning day by day But erm question sir .... let`s say i would be def ... when theres something going on in sound there should be a possibilty to visualise it ...or are there processes that could never be visualised ? it`s just that i trust my eyes more as my ears oh btw ...i apreciate the knowledge share !!!!!!

Consider 'phase' to be a delay shorter than the length of a single cycle of the 'current' waveform...

Adding a waveform to an out-of-phase copy of itself results in a new waveform with the same frequency, but different harmonic structure.

Hence the phase behaviour of an EQ stage can affect the tone of sound passing through it, for better or worse...

oh ok !

so there's really more going on

hey thanks for explaining man

is there any rule to the Better or Worse occurrences ?

Phase. We are talking about very very small delays. Not recognisable as a delay. It can change the sound radically.

The BBE SonicMaximizer uses this phenomena to freshen up the sound. Different delays (very very very small) are applied to bass, mids and treble to make a big adjustment to the colour of the sound.

A cheap hardware eq alters the phase but doesn't bother about phase adjustments. So, you boost the treble, the sound becomes harsh, and you still can't understand a word of the vocals.

An expensive eq will have a strategy to deal with the phase business. You boost the treble, the sound remains completely sweet and natural, and the vocalist sounds like a young god.

I don't know any way this can be visualised, but I think it's possible. I'm not really an expert on this stuff and don't care that much about the theory, I'm only really interested in "sound". Aleksey of Voxengo seems to know all about this stuff and I'm sure he can explain it all more accurately and with more details.

Remco quoth is there any rule to the Better or Worse occurrences ?

The more expensive it is, the better its likely to be, unless the programmer is an idealist or a genius, preferably both...

Emerald Tablet wrote:

and what would be the reason this happens i mean lets say i boost a baseline up in the 60 Hz to 200 Hz section to make it freaky low ... just to make some walls shake and some belly's rumble would another eq suddenly boost up different freq ? so what determents if the sound is different in another eq in your opinion i am just trying to get an understanding on why someone should invest in a "good" EQ I mean .... the shoes i wear are better for my feet and yet Nike's cost much more money ... so better quality is highly subjective i think in almost every corner ..but ok bad comparison i admit

O.K. try this. What is the difference between 200 horsepowers in a BMW and 200 horsepowers in a Toyota?

the other thing i always wondered is how does the eq not what signals are at a given frequency - ie it must analyse the input in order to know what bits to boost - this means of course that if the analysis is poor the results will be poor - ie boosting the wrong frequencies or harming higher frequencies which lie on top of the lower frequency being boosted

I have a feeling that eq may well be one of the hardest things to do because of the frequency dependance

O horsepowers?

O.K. try this. What is the difference between 200 horsepowers in a BMW and 200 horsepowers in a Toyota?

Colour?

whyterabbyt says

Quote:

The more expensive it is, the better its likely to be, unless the programmer is an idealist or a genius, preferably both

Funny how there are fairly good genius comps and reverbs out there that are freeware, but not so with eqs.

What is it about eqs that always makes devs spring you for $100 or more?

The other topic on my mind is what the new SX 2 eqs will be like?

Quote:

O.K. try this. What is the difference between 200 horsepowers in a BMW and 200 horsepowers in a Toyota?

the difference between a kilo salt and a kilo feathers
you don't necessarily have to confirm my stupidity when i admitted it already

oh .... and btw ..... bmw is german and therefore quality but overpricy
and toyota is korean or japanese or whatever and therefore quality and relatively inexpensive

on that young God comment ...
I already sound like a young God without a EQ
jk folks .... i do use some eq in the mid section of my voice
but not to much ...just some extra to make it bright and audible in the mix (i didn`t use any eq on my voice in the only entry i once won the kvr contest with .... but that voice recording indeed could be very much improved)

If anyone interested in trying that 'Pulteque' EQ (it won't be called like that to avoid possible registered trademark violations), you can download this: http://www.voxengo.com/temp/VoxengoPultequeA.dll

It's beta, and simply with knobs, there should be a classic graph plot with control points. The main concern now is its sound.

If you have any comments, please write to info@voxengo.com

kevvvvv wrote:

The other topic on my mind is what the new SX 2 eqs will be like?

Hi kevvvvv--I believe the Cubase forum moderator (Christian Dettner) confirmed that the SX2 eqs are identical to SX1? There's a big, angry, pointless thread about it over at the Cubase forum--I wonder if the EQ is going to be any better in SX2.

Quote:

There's a big, angry, pointless thread about it over at the Cubase forum

Well it is tuesday

I appreciate the recommendations! I have a lot of listening ahead of me . . . I'm finding that comparison tests of EQs are a bit difficult for me, as the differences can be subtle, and my ears are not always up to it (this morning, everything sounds the same to me, but last night, the differences were as plain as day!). Plus, of course, differences depend somewhat on the material--I'm trying to concentrate on vocals, snare, BD, hi-hats and bass, as this is where I typically need EQ to help things "fit". I was going to make some mp3s and even post some comparisons, but some of the subtlety seems to be lost in the mp3 conversion.

I did get a chance to try the first couple of recommendations:

http://www.it.usyd.edu.au/~mcraig/projects/paris/

Although this is not exactly what I'm looking for, I'm holding on to this one--it's an emulation of the Paris EQ (there was a thread on this recently). I would not call it clean or uncolored, but the sound can be sometimes appealing in a creative way. Not a tracking EQ, but a very small boost at about 12k did wonders to one beat I was working on that was lacking a bit of spark--gave it energy and a unique twist.

http://www.digilogue.de/english/download.htm

The "Blue Line" plug-ins are cool, but I find that I get horrible clicks and everything else when I change parameters, so unfortunately they've been wiped from my system.

Emerald Tablet wrote:

bmw is german and therefore quality but overpricy

Completely OT, but I have to add:

One year ago yesterday I was in a severe car accident--I was hit by a drunk driver (.18 blood alchohol--uninsured of course) who ran a red light at full speed. I was driving a BMW (had saved up for three years to justify the cost). The responding officer was absolutely amazed that a) I was alive with no life-threatening injuries, and b) the car had survived remarkably well. He had responded to a similar accident at the same intersection less than a month before, and there were multiple fatalities. He even mentioned he was going to take a look at BMWs for his next car.

Overpriced? Maybe--but I'd buy one again!

One tiny extra note--since the BMW was pretty new, the insurance company decided to see if it could be repaired. They put the thing on a flat-bed truck and brought it to a state-of-the-art repair shop that works on Bentleys, Rolls-Royce, Ferrari, etc. Cost the insurance company $20,000 and took over four months, but they built the thing back good as new--I've been driving it for 8 months with no problems and no detectable difference in handling. I was skeptical at first, but they somehow pulled it off!

That realy is amazing
I have to admit

If i had the money i would buy a BMW or a good VW !

but i am happy with my KIA
and happyness that`s what counts afterall
same counts for music ..i am easily satisfied

one of my many bad habbits

Emerald Tablet wrote:

one of my many bad habbits

vaguely back on topic, anyone got any comments on the dsound PEQ ?

http://www.dsound1.com/products/sappi_en.htm

Hengy wrote:

vaguely back on topic, anyone got any comments on the dsound PEQ ? http://www.dsound1.com/products/sappi_en.htm

I haven't used it, but this review talks about clicking when parameters are adjusted--wonder if that's been fixed? That's a deal-killer for me--drove me absolutely nuts on the Blue Line plug-ins.

skyfirered wrote:

Hengy wrote: vaguely back on topic, anyone got any comments on the dsound PEQ ? http://www.dsound1.com/products/sappi_en.htm I haven't used it, but this review talks about clicking when parameters are adjusted--wonder if that's been fixed? That's a deal-killer for me--drove me absolutely nuts on the Blue Line plug-ins.

man is that review outdated..the plugins were like $200 back then and were the older versions...the pack is now only $39 for the three plugins, has been recently updated with 64 bit internal precision and been renamed "simple audio plug in pack XP"

i think you should probably try the demo download and see what you think of the CURRENT version

ttoz wrote:

skyfirered wrote: Hengy wrote: vaguely back on topic, anyone got any comments on the dsound PEQ ? http://www.dsound1.com/products/sappi_en.htm I haven't used it, but this review talks about clicking when parameters are adjusted--wonder if that's been fixed? That's a deal-killer for me--drove me absolutely nuts on the Blue Line plug-ins. man is that review outdated..the plugins were like $200 back then and were the older versions...the pack is now only $39 for the three plugins, has been recently updated with 64 bit internal precision and been renamed "simple audio plug in pack XP" i think you should probably try the demo download and see what you think of the CURRENT version

Fair enough, but I did get the review off their site. Added to my list . . .

BMW...pah! My old Triumph weighs around a ton - all metal, no plastic, and when we get earthquakes around here, the bit of ground under the Triumph stays still while all around it is wobbling! Accidents.....cars just bounce off it. Of course it takes around 3 minutes to do 0-100kph.

And on topic

Quote:

Hi Kritikon, What is the "graphic" eq that you speak of? I've only seen the parametric eqs and the shelf eq.

Sluggo...there's one in the QuantumFX workbench to try out - I think it might be called paragraphic actually... which it is really. It has 8 bands (if I remember correctly) but as with all QuantumFX, it's very tweakable.... you can add in extra bands if you want, and you can adjust the bandwidth of each.... and you can add in controls for the bandwidth so it's visible rather than hidden, and I think you can adjust the max boost/cut also. So really it's a potentially huge multiband parametric, but it's laid out as a graphic as the default patch. So you can have a fully fledged 28 narrow band graphic and leave all the other controls hidden ...or tweak it to have a 28 parametric but laid out as a graphic to make it easy to use - or if you've got the patience and screen space and CPU speed you could have a 50band Eq.....the world is your Quantum oyster.