Fabfilter Pro-Q 4!

[t.o.t.s.]

But it has attack and release controls now…..

[Jac459]

But it has attack and release controls now…..

Yes. And considering the quality of the filters, the variable slopes and the precision of the UI, Q4 is instantly becoming my best sidechaining tool.

2 tools remain in my bag beyond it:
Izotope neutron unmask --> useful on certain cases.
Bitwig modulators and EQ, CPU friendly for sidechaining.

[Ploki]

Can you just enable it once from the analyzer settings and it stays on in subsequent instances?

Unless I'm missing something obvious, it's just an on/off toggle. The only way to enable it is to click the 'freeze' icon in the menu. It's the same process to turn it off. I'll get over it but it seems like a step backward in terms of workflow.

You're looking for Spectrum Grab

[Ploki]

No one HAS to upgrade right now. Or at all. I'll either wait for a sale or not at all. ProQ3 and my other plugins all still work great. I'm not expecting Apple to break plugin compatibility again any time soon (then again, it's Apple so you never know).

I think even ProQ2 is updated for apple silicon, so i wouldn’t worry about that

[JanuszPelc]

While Bitwig Studio and CLAP plugins aren't specifically mentioned in the documentation, I'm happy to confirm that track names and colors in the Instance List work flawlessly in the CLAP version of Pro-Q 4 in Bitwig Studio 5.3 beta 2.

Quoting the "Instance List" documentation:

When using the VST3 plug-in in DAWs like Studio One, Cubase or Ableton Live, Pro-Q 4 instances know the track order and color of the track they are placed on.

[LoveEnigma18]

Since you posted the above, I wonder if "Instance List" works in Logic Pro 11.1? I am unable to try myself right now, so would be appreciated if someone can confirm. Thanks in advance!

[MrJubbly]

from the snake oil guy showing some of the features ...

I am surprised this guy still exists on youtube, never liked his sloppy reviews.

Agreed. He is invariably underprepared and ill-informed for his audio software review videos. He clearly does very little (if any) research or preparation on the subject matter at hand, for his "content".

And to be honest, what he does spam out are not really "reviews" as such, more of a "first look / bumbling about" trying to figure out what the plugin demo even is or does, without reading up on any easily and freely available information thereof. 90% of his videos runtime is often taken up with stuff he should already have done off-camera, before hitting the record button.

If Dan Worrall is firmly established as the pinnacle of the quality barometer for audio software demo/tutorial video reviewers ... then this serial "Snake Oil" click-baiter is firmly located way down on the opposite end of that spectrum.

[MrJubbly]

While Bitwig Studio and CLAP plugins aren't specifically mentioned in the documentation, I'm happy to confirm that track names and colors in the Instance List work flawlessly in the CLAP version of Pro-Q 4 in Bitwig Studio 5.3 beta 2.

Quoting the "Instance List" documentation:

When using the VST3 plug-in in DAWs like Studio One, Cubase or Ableton Live, Pro-Q 4 instances know the track order and color of the track they are placed on.

In FL Studio, the CLAP version of Pro-Q 4 shows neither the instance list names nor colours.

Meanwhile, the VST3 version of Pro-Q 4 shows only the instance list names, but not any channel or mixer/playlist track colours.

[Ploki]

Since you posted the above, I wonder if "Instance List" works in Logic Pro 11.1? I am unable to try myself right now, so would be appreciated if someone can confirm. Thanks in advance!

Yes.
No colors tho

[Synthman2000]

A plug in has evolved, no surprises. I will keep working with my ears. A/R might be useful, cannot say I have missed it that much.

The only question to ask is : Did my mixes improve to my ears ? If they did not all this is a waste of time and money.

All this frequency based dynamic processing is going to end up with unnatural sounding instruments with peculiar frequency dependent dynamic range reduction, stifled and choked with dynamic phase changes. No one says a word whilst trying to sell themselves and products to you.

Producers and sound engineers early in their learning, of 2-3 years, be especially aware.

Detailed, open, dynamic, high fidelity, well balanced sound is what we are aiming for.

[Ploki]

A plug in has evolved, no surprises. I will keep working with my ears. A/R might be useful, cannot say I have missed it that much.

The only question to ask is : Did my mixes improve to my ears ? If they did not all this is a waste of time and money.

All this frequency based dynamic processing is going to end up with unnatural sounding instruments with peculiar frequency dependent dynamic range reduction, stifled and choked with dynamic phase changes. No one says a word whilst trying to sell themselves and products to you.

Producers and sound engineers early in their learning, of 2-3 years, be especially aware.

Detailed, open, dynamic, high fidelity, well balanced sound is what we are aiming for.

There's no dynamic phase changes because it's linear phase.

Frequency based dynamic processing is a tool to fix problems. It can shave 10 minutes of manual work and sound just as good (or in some cases better). When you do it 60 times, that's 10 hours you could be doing drugs or being with your kid or sleeping

[aMUSEd]

even though this doesn't have a reverb feature yet, I am pretty blown away from the snake oil guy showing some of the features:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tejnPHku378
from a producing "mix as you write" perspective i think Schepps Omni Channel remains preferable. but for mixing a full project after writing, i would easily think this is a must buy. i will probably upgrade. i really want to see how the Dyamics features have changed and if it can somehow stand in for buying Pro-MB. Pro-MB has been on my want list for a long time but the price always makes me end up buying other stuff. ProQ is the only Fabfilter I own, I mainly produce and I just mix as I go usually, only occasionally I reach for it when Schepps Omni Channel EQ can't shape things sufficiently. I actually think this can replace Soothe for most people as well, and I think Soothe is overrated. it seems like this upgrade is actually very substantial but I don't personally think I would use it that much and would just prefer to keep using Schepps Omni Channel for my channel strip. but if I ever started to do stem mastering my own stuff, I would want this. looks like an incredible option for that.

also will curious to see the Soothe feature's CPU usage. Soothe is a CPU hog, I hope they didn't just copy that or it might be a real problem

Sorry but this guy is too hyped for me to watch more than a few seconds. What exactly does he think 'changes everything'?

[aMUSEd]

Upgrade price for me is reasonable but I need to be convinced not to wait for a sale.

[Synthman2000]

A plug in has evolved, no surprises. I will keep working with my ears. A/R might be useful, cannot say I have missed it that much.

The only question to ask is : Did my mixes improve to my ears ? If they did not all this is a waste of time and money.

All this frequency based dynamic processing is going to end up with unnatural sounding instruments with peculiar frequency dependent dynamic range reduction, stifled and choked with dynamic phase changes. No one says a word whilst trying to sell themselves and products to you.

Producers and sound engineers early in their learning, of 2-3 years, be especially aware.

Detailed, open, dynamic, high fidelity, well balanced sound is what we are aiming for.

There's no dynamic phase changes because it's linear phase.

Frequency based dynamic processing is a tool to fix problems. It can shave 10 minutes of manual work and sound just as good (or in some cases better). When you do it 60 times, that's 10 hours you could be doing drugs or being with your kid or sleeping

Then pre ringing and post ringing instead.

Not to mention the side chaining, more unnatural unexpected dynamic processes for the ears to be fatigued by.

More ways to get lost and wonder why a mix sounds bad.

[Ploki]

Then pre ringing and post ringing instead.

Not to mention the side chaining, more unnatural unexpected dynamic processes for the ears to be fatigued by.

More ways to get lost and wonder why a mix sounds bad.

It's not the tool's fault.
You can argue that for any tool accessibility historically.
Fully fledged parametric with 10+ bands on every channel versus a console with 3 semi parametric bands? More ways to get lost.
Compressor that has more than threshold and "compress"? More ways to wonder why mixes sound bad.
Saturation that's not simply driving channel's transformers? More unnatural unexpected processes for ears to be fatigued by.

As always, if you don't know how to use tools, you'll make a bad mix with something as rudimentary as a 4-track tape and 4 channel mixer.

If you take your time to learn them, they're just gonna be another tool at your disposal to use when necessary and everything else fails or takes much more time and intervention to work.

People made bad mixes before spectral dynamics and they're gonna make bad mixes after spectral dynamics