KVR Audio

Loophole01 · Post by **Loophole01** » Sun Apr 23, 2023 7:19 pm

Hi everyone,

I'm very curious about the quality of sound that Cubase stock plugins can achieve vs third-party plugins that cost extra money. For example standard EQ vs Fabfilter Pro - Q3? Is it only the ease of use and visuals or are there big sound differences?

WasteLand · Post by **WasteLand** » Sun Apr 23, 2023 7:43 pm

Frequency 2 is the monster of Cubase. and will sound excellent, and has 8 sidechain inputs...
it is dynamic, 8 bands (Pro Q3 has more?).
as the normal EQ can sound great, you must not underestimate the stock plugins of cubase (or other DAWs).

found by accident;

https://www.soundonsound.com/techniques ... dynamic-eq

gives via a 'use case', the possibilities of this EQ.

Danno · Post by **Danno** » Sun Apr 23, 2023 7:55 pm

Ya, Frequency is great. I think almost all Cubase plugins are really good.. except I don't love most of their interfaces. Too small/ not scalable and too cluttered. IMHO anyway.

Danilo Villanova · Post by **Danilo Villanova** » Sun Apr 23, 2023 8:13 pm

I've only demoed Cubase 12 but I thought the stocks plugins were awesome. Frequency is great!

Funky40 · Post by **Funky40** » Mon Apr 24, 2023 4:10 am

sound is one aspect, the "access" to a given functionality another.

might play no role here, but i totally prefer external plugins.
This makes it all way more "platform independent".
Which is the next aspect of all this.

musicdoc · Post by **musicdoc** » Mon Apr 24, 2023 4:33 am

Fabfilter is great and has tricks and functions that the Cubase one does not, frequency 2 is a new one that I have but have not got into. BUT I end up using the Cubase one often because it has the trick where you can compare channels and see frequency overlaps which really handy during mixing. I’m sure someone here knows the name of what I’m describing,

rod_zero · Post by **rod_zero** » Mon Apr 24, 2023 4:44 am

The stock plugins of any DAW are more than good these days, definitely great sounding music can be achieved only with them.

Some third party plugins can offer functionality that is missing in stock, but sound quality wise the difference is 0 or very small.

Anlon · Post by **Anlon** » Mon Apr 24, 2023 4:24 pm

Dan Worrall: "Video in which I put the Cubase 10 channel EQ through its paces, and compare it to my standard go-to EQ, FabFilter Pro-Q3".

Alex_HS · Post by **Alex_HS** » Thu Apr 27, 2023 10:01 pm

Honestly, I never understood all this overhype about Q3 ... In terms of sound, this is a completely ordinary "digital" equalizer, the same as most regular ones in DAWs, just stuffed with a lot of features, which, however, most "ordinary" people may not need in 90% cases.

musicproducerdee · Post by **musicproducerdee** » Thu Apr 27, 2023 10:28 pm

Alex_HS wrote: Thu Apr 27, 2023 10:01 pm Honestly, I never understood all this overhype about Q3 ... In terms of sound, this is a completely ordinary "digital" equalizer, the same as most regular ones in DAWs, just stuffed with a lot of features, which, however, most "ordinary" people may not need in 90% cases.

versatility, dynamic, mid side, low cpu usage, clean UI, very responsive and standard design among their other products and that's not enough for me to drop $169 for a freaking EQ. No thank you. Stock EQ works perfectly fine.

Alex_HS · Post by **Alex_HS** » Thu Apr 27, 2023 11:18 pm

When I just want to drink tea, a simple teapot is enough for me. I don't need for this the "all in one" functions of a coffee machine, bread slicer, toaster, meat grinder and food processor.

musicdoc · Post by **musicdoc** » Fri Apr 28, 2023 12:11 am

Alex, I would agree with you today, but when most of us started using Q3, the standard Cubase eq was not nearly as nice while Fabfilter had the beautiful, comprehensive interface.

vitocorleone123 · Post by **vitocorleone123** » Fri Apr 28, 2023 12:19 am

Alex_HS wrote: Thu Apr 27, 2023 10:01 pm Honestly, I never understood all this overhype about Q3 ... In terms of sound, this is a completely ordinary "digital" equalizer, the same as most regular ones in DAWs, just stuffed with a lot of features, which, however, most "ordinary" people may not need in 90% cases.

Well, any digital surgical EQ is pretty much the same when you align them in Plugin Doctor and enable similar features (eg phase). At least to my ears.

What’s better about ProQ3? The UX. It’s the best there is. Everyone needs usable tools. ProQ3 is when you want the most usable tool. Sonically, I’m sure the stock DAW plugins are pretty much the same as ProQ3.

vitocorleone123 · Post by **vitocorleone123** » Fri Apr 28, 2023 12:20 am

Alex_HS wrote: Thu Apr 27, 2023 11:18 pm When I just want to drink tea, a simple teapot is enough for me. I don't need for this the "all in one" functions of a coffee machine, bread slicer, toaster, meat grinder and food processor.

You’ve got it backward. ProQ3 is the simple tea pot. Your DAW and most other plugins are overly complex.

Alex_HS · Post by **Alex_HS** » Fri Apr 28, 2023 9:55 am

vitocorleone123 wrote: Fri Apr 28, 2023 12:20 am You’ve got it backward. ProQ3 is the simple tea pot. Your DAW and most other plugins are overly complex.

Nevertheless, to solve simple everyday tasks, my hand does not reach for Pro-Q3, but for Pro EQ3 (the standard equalizer of Studio One, my main DAW), where all the adjustments I need are already on the panel and are available all at the same time, without endless creation new points and clicks on them to access each one individually. I have a Pro-Q3 license for some specific and highly specialized tasks, but in reality I forgot when I last used it.
"Functions of a coffee machine, bread slicer, toaster, meat grinder and food processor" - linear phase, M/S mode, matching, etc.

Cubase stock plugins vs Third party (quality)