Free analog simulation equalizer for win/mac: "Enceladus EQ"

[Cooker]

I also tested in on a master and must say you're really on to something.

[Obsolete236871]

The concept sounds similar to TDR VOS Slick EQ, but different implementation.

[JoaCHIP]

I've seen several EQs (both hardware and software) that offer some sort of soft saturation on either the input side, output side, or both. What I wanted to achieve was some sort of soft saturation which only affects what each band does to the sound, and suddenly, one late night where I should have been sleeping, an algorithm formed in my head. So in this EQ it's really the bands that saturate instead of the whole thing. That's why the amount of saturation/distortion that happens will be a result of three things: How much you boost that band + how much drive you use + how much signal is affected by the band.

Now, I haven't decided whether to go open-source or sell this yet, so I won't disclose too many in-depth specifics about the entire algorithm just yet. (I need to think about this a bit.)

But to at least elaborate a bit on its behavior: Let's say you have a muffled sub bass (with no treble) and you use both boost and drive on the treble, it probably still won't cause any saturation to happen because there's nothing going on in the treble.

So the amount of boost vs. drive has to be carefully selected depending on the signal in question, and if you change the level of what's coming into the EQ, you will probably also have to change the drive accordingly.

And regarding drive: If you use too much, it becomes real distortion which is not the intention. If you use too little, it'll just sound like a normal equalizer plugin, and the different modes won't make much of a difference. You have to find that sweet spot of not too much and not too little drive. That's where the magic happens.

But for now I hope this will give us all a bit of the same phatness that I think some of the more expensive analog EQs have, that I've always been missing in digital ones.

[Obsolete236871]

Yes, TDR VOS Slick EQ also has the saturation effect per band with the EQ SAT button, so it's not just saturation on the whole input or output signal, but dependent on the boost of the inidividual bands.

To quote frome the manual of Slick EQ: "The EQ SAT button activates a smooth non-linearity inside the filter network. This generates “musical” amounts of harmonic distortion, which purely affect EQ boosts. In other words, no EQ boost = no saturation."

It shows that you are doing something right if you came to the same conclusions like the TDR / VOS guys based on your own deliberations. You are definitely onto something there and I'm looking forward to see the further development (eventually a more classical GUI?) of your plugin.

May I ask (because I recently got very curious about audio plugin development): what framework for audio plugin development you are using?

[Cooker]

I recently re-discovered JB's smash pro (freeware) and tried a similar approach but cross-overs are simply not useful for some tasks. Seem's you're getting better responses from those who try mastering, which means expectation will be high (but rewarding) if you release a payware. Good luck!

[jbarish]

Really interesting plug. Looking forward to further development. It needs some sort of output compensation, per band solo and mute, and it's own bypass button for the whole plug. If you can add these features you'll have something that can compete in the marketplace.

[JoaCHIP]

Good point about the output compensation. In fact, the latest update (v53) is more sensitive, because I noticed that everyone were working with less hot signals than I originally anticipated.

@Izak: It's built using the Juce framework. I'm not using any of Juce's filter functions though. Those are my own - ported from a prototype that I made for Jeskola Buzz (a tracker).

[Eauson]

I know this may come across as a bit cheeky, is there any chance of a plain non GUI version?
I don't seem to be able to run in reaper and their plain old ui version would do the trick ?

[JoaCHIP]

Okay new version 55 available (see first post). I still haven't added a signal-level compensation knob yet, but I probably will at some point, because it's a good idea. Listening solo on a band isn't really possible. It's not splitting the frequency bands from each other, because that would be far too destructive. A mute button is definately possible to do. I'll keep that in mind as well.

Eauson: Wow, that's weird. I've gone away from non-UI plugins because I bumped into more than one DAW that wasn't capable of showing a UI-less plugin, so I thought it was a very non-standard thing to do. What OS are you using?

[Eauson]

Okay new version 55 available (see first post). I still haven't added a signal-level compensation knob yet, but I probably will at some point, because it's a good idea. Listening solo on a band isn't really possible. It's not splitting the frequency bands from each other, because that would be far too destructive. A mute button is definately possible to do. I'll keep that in mind as well.

Eauson: Wow, that's weird. I've gone away from non-UI plugins because I bumped into more than one DAW that wasn't capable of showing a UI-less plugin, so I thought it was a very non-standard thing to do. What OS are you using?

Thanks for response JaoCHIP,
I'm on win 7, I've had issues forever, as my computer isn't connected to tinternet, so updates are sometimes faulty. Mainly this is my fault as I'm no technical computer person, athough I was a wiz at spectrum 48k print name \ GOTO 10
Also, I've really got into Airwindows stuff and it helps to concentrate the mind

[Boone777]

Something funky happened when engaging Dark 3 only left side was coming out. I reproduced a few times but now it seems to work ok.

I know this may come across as a bit cheeky, is there any chance of a plain non GUI version?
I don't seem to be able to run in reaper and their plain old ui version would do the trick ?

It works here. Latest Reaper.

[Eauson]

Something funky happened when engaging Dark 3 only left side was coming out. I reproduced a few times but now it seems to work ok.

I know this may come across as a bit cheeky, is there any chance of a plain non GUI version?
I don't seem to be able to run in reaper and their plain old ui version would do the trick ?

It works here. Latest Reaper.

The version of of reaper I have is fine for me, I tend to stick to the software I am using as I am untechnicle and dont feel the need for updates if its working
I used nuendo 2 until a few years back and that was released in 2003 ::D
Anyways, I tried the newer version and it showed up when scanning so I may be okay, so dont worries yerself JoaCHIP, I'll make do

[mahbubr]

Thanks, will try it.

[independentfactory]

JoaCHIP, this EQ sounds freaking fantastic. I commend you Sir and give thanks for the oppurtunity to try it out. So powerful, good sounding, and addicitive. I'd happily purchase this. +1 for an input gain.