Gullfoss Eq
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- KVRist
- 463 posts since 17 Mar, 2018
Has anyone compared this and/or MSpecDyn to the new sonible smart EQ? I havent tried it out yet...not quite sure what it does. Is it dynamic in any way?
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- KVRist
- 495 posts since 18 Aug, 2006 from Italy
I have Gullfoss and sonible Smart EQ 2 and I will buy also MSpectralDynamics for sure.
They are different and can work together and I like very much all the three of them. I will try to explain, as far as I understand how they work.
Gullfoss is absolutely dynamic: starting from a psychoacoustic model about which frequency tends to mask and which tends to be masked in various situations, it allows to recover the masked frequencies or to attenuate the masking frequencies (or both, if you want). Then, you have a Brightness control (to adapt to your expectations according to your favorite timbre, genre and style) and a Boost control (a sort of "loudness" control, to accomodate to your recording means or listening environment).
Smart EQ 2 is not dynamic at all. It is rather something like MAutodynamicEQ, in that it listens to your audio and equalizes it automatically to match some reference profiles, but the reference profiles are based (again) on a psychoacoustic analysis of each instrument (violin, clarinet, cello, etc…); also the "Standard" profile is not simply representing the frequency response of a pink noise, as far as I understand, but rather a sort of "psychoacoustically corrected" version of it. The difference with MAutodynamicEQ, as I said, is that Smart EQ 2 is not dynamic at all. I have also MAutodynamicEQ, actually, and I really love it.
MSpectralDynamics, well, is fully dynamic, and you can read on this forum (and on Melda's site) what sort of jewel it is… The best of all: it can flatten the spectrum, make transparent sidechain ducking, shape the white noise, dynamically "equalize", compress or expand with incredible precision, match or differentiate spectra and much more. The fact that I own Gullfoss and Smart EQ 2 is not preventing me at all from buying it soon, since it's different and extremely powerful.
They are different and can work together and I like very much all the three of them. I will try to explain, as far as I understand how they work.
Gullfoss is absolutely dynamic: starting from a psychoacoustic model about which frequency tends to mask and which tends to be masked in various situations, it allows to recover the masked frequencies or to attenuate the masking frequencies (or both, if you want). Then, you have a Brightness control (to adapt to your expectations according to your favorite timbre, genre and style) and a Boost control (a sort of "loudness" control, to accomodate to your recording means or listening environment).
Smart EQ 2 is not dynamic at all. It is rather something like MAutodynamicEQ, in that it listens to your audio and equalizes it automatically to match some reference profiles, but the reference profiles are based (again) on a psychoacoustic analysis of each instrument (violin, clarinet, cello, etc…); also the "Standard" profile is not simply representing the frequency response of a pink noise, as far as I understand, but rather a sort of "psychoacoustically corrected" version of it. The difference with MAutodynamicEQ, as I said, is that Smart EQ 2 is not dynamic at all. I have also MAutodynamicEQ, actually, and I really love it.
MSpectralDynamics, well, is fully dynamic, and you can read on this forum (and on Melda's site) what sort of jewel it is… The best of all: it can flatten the spectrum, make transparent sidechain ducking, shape the white noise, dynamically "equalize", compress or expand with incredible precision, match or differentiate spectra and much more. The fact that I own Gullfoss and Smart EQ 2 is not preventing me at all from buying it soon, since it's different and extremely powerful.
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- KVRist
- 463 posts since 17 Mar, 2018
Yes i concur on both melda products - own every audio plugin they make! Absolutely one of my faves. And spectral dynamics is easily one of the most interesting and brilliant dynamics plugins out there.
Thats why i included it as a reference...as i know it well.
Thats interesting, thanks for your analisys. I was under the impression that smart eq was in some way dynamic. Was smart eq 1? So essentially its a static matching eq? A bit more advanced in that it has profiles that it matches to....
for me i mostly make music with synths now, so this is very limited for me. I dont ever use the izotope 'suggestions' or 'suggestions' on any plugin really.
Just to be clear, are the suggested profiles purely based on the analysed audio? or are there preset profiles (e.g guitar, bass etc etc)
Ill probably get that bundle just for the freiraum bundle - seems interesting to me. As smart 2 is only an extra 10 dollars - what the hell.
Does gullfoss have a sidechain input?
Thats why i included it as a reference...as i know it well.
Thats interesting, thanks for your analisys. I was under the impression that smart eq was in some way dynamic. Was smart eq 1? So essentially its a static matching eq? A bit more advanced in that it has profiles that it matches to....
for me i mostly make music with synths now, so this is very limited for me. I dont ever use the izotope 'suggestions' or 'suggestions' on any plugin really.
Just to be clear, are the suggested profiles purely based on the analysed audio? or are there preset profiles (e.g guitar, bass etc etc)
Ill probably get that bundle just for the freiraum bundle - seems interesting to me. As smart 2 is only an extra 10 dollars - what the hell.
Does gullfoss have a sidechain input?
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- KVRist
- 495 posts since 18 Aug, 2006 from Italy
Both. The audio analysis and the preset profiles are compared to each other to obtain the result; in other words, in Smart EQ 2 your incoming audio is compared to the "ideal" profiles of the presets (guitar, etc…) and then a suggested correction curve is applied (which can also be altered afterwards, if you want).
So, it is a static matching EQ where the references (to be matched to) are presets, stored within the software, which are psychoacoustically-corrected ideal profiles made by the factory for each instrument (so they say). There is also a "generic" profile to be used if your instrument is not in the list of the presets.
At present, I imagine that they are probably discussing if they will release other additional profiles and what is the best method for the users to make and add their own profiles.
No, Gullfoss doesn't have any sidechain input, it doesn't need it, since its reference is its internal (undisclosed and probably secret) model, describing which frequencies are masked and which are masking and how, and when.
And now, please, let's return to Melda software, this is the Melda forum…
So, it is a static matching EQ where the references (to be matched to) are presets, stored within the software, which are psychoacoustically-corrected ideal profiles made by the factory for each instrument (so they say). There is also a "generic" profile to be used if your instrument is not in the list of the presets.
At present, I imagine that they are probably discussing if they will release other additional profiles and what is the best method for the users to make and add their own profiles.
No, Gullfoss doesn't have any sidechain input, it doesn't need it, since its reference is its internal (undisclosed and probably secret) model, describing which frequencies are masked and which are masking and how, and when.
And now, please, let's return to Melda software, this is the Melda forum…