KVR Audio

Conork1999 · Post by **Conork1999** » Wed Aug 23, 2023 3:11 pm

I was considering wether or not to purchase the maag eq4 form plugin alliance, wondering if anyone on here has had experience using that plugin and how good/bad they found it. Thanks

tehlord · Post by **tehlord** » Wed Aug 23, 2023 3:24 pm

luftikus

free

Maag EQ4 is great though, and the 'real' rrp will be $29 now anyway, given that it'll be that price a number of times per year

vitocorleone123 · Post by **vitocorleone123** » Wed Aug 23, 2023 7:29 pm

The answer is generally: no, it is not. There's other tools.

Mr Arkadin · Post by **Mr Arkadin** » Wed Aug 23, 2023 8:06 pm

Have it. Never use it. The tiny GUI doesn't help, no updates for a while on that one.

Ploki · Post by **Ploki** » Wed Aug 23, 2023 8:08 pm

Nah. Also it has a nasty feature, inherent +2dB gain boost to make you think something pops out more. Because it does. Because it's louder. But you can do that for free as well

worldfever · Post by **worldfever** » Thu Aug 24, 2023 10:24 am

love it, if you can get it for 30$ surely worth it. I have it in plugin form+as a 500 series
Luftikus also great free alternative.

Im not going to pretend I notice it sounds better than using my fabfilter etc, but its just the way you use this thing. its just fun, quick and intuitive to use and it can change the character/color of sounds really easily and without you having to think much, just going by feeling. the air band is also cool. I mostly use it if I need to make some broad, non surgical adjustments to a sound.
each band also adjusts the overall gain of your signal though, apparently its part of the design and not a bug, but I don't mind it. I have it saved as a device rack in ableton bundled with an utility so i can quickly lower gain if needed

overall not a must have, I personally enjoy it a lot, but I think its mostly cause I just gel with the "workflow"

heyheycnv · Post by **heyheycnv** » Thu Aug 24, 2023 12:49 pm

A purchase I'd happily not make if I had to do again.

funky lime · Post by **funky lime** » Thu Aug 24, 2023 1:36 pm

as with many eq plugins in a similar vein, you're paying for the convenience factor. i seem to recall there's no "analog mojo" (i.e. no saturation) or anything like that with the plugin alliance maag eqs. in particular, the maags are regarded for their "air" band, for high frequency boosts, but they don't have any special capabilities or unique curves that your daw's stock EQ can't already do, with a little bit of effort. so really it's just a matter of, does it get you results faster than your typical eq would? is it worth $30 to you for what is essentially a few EQ presets with their own GUI?

luftikus is very similar, if not identical, in functionality. it's also free, and doesn't have that annoying extra load time caused by plugin alliance's copy protection system, and the screws on the GUI are more thoughtfully placed

ralfrobert · Post by **ralfrobert** » Thu Aug 24, 2023 1:41 pm

You can build your arsenal of EQs for little or no money and get excellent results. TDR stuff, Luftikus, Toneboosters, just to name a few.

With Maag, it's like with some car brands. Many take you from A to B, but if you want what you think fits your status and personality, it's getting more expensive.

MogwaiBoy · Post by **MogwaiBoy** » Fri Aug 25, 2023 10:21 pm

It's famous mostly for the "Air Band", which honestly any good parametric EQ can do and sound much cleaner.

airboost.png

Conork1999 · Post by **Conork1999** » Sat Aug 26, 2023 7:21 pm

Thanks for the replies, probably won't pull the trigger on it, fab filter pro-Q3 could probably emulate it as a few of you have mentioned above.

roman.i · Post by **roman.i** » Sat Aug 26, 2023 7:34 pm

The advantage of having these one trick pony plugins is the ease of use. You just know what it is capable of and when to use it. Also, it's not only does equalization, but also adds a distortion flavor of that device. Having many different flavors of distortions and non-linear curve makes the record more interesting to listen to.

Havok · Post by **Havok** » Sat Aug 26, 2023 7:51 pm

roman.i wrote: Sat Aug 26, 2023 7:34 pm The advantage of having these one trick pony plugins is the ease of use. You just know what it is capable of and when to use it. Also, it's not only does equalization, but also adds a distortion flavor of that device. Having many different flavors of distortions and non-linear curve makes the record more interesting to listen to.

AFAIK there nothing non-linear going on in the Maag EQ plugins, it's just the curves

BazJacuzzi · Post by **BazJacuzzi** » Sun Aug 27, 2023 6:40 am

There's a free EQ that models the same curves.

https://www.kvraudio.com/product/luftikus-by-lkjb/

Also has automatic gain control.

Stopani · Post by **Stopani** » Sat Sep 09, 2023 8:24 pm

I'm really happy I bought it.

mAAG eq4? Is it worth the money