KVR Audio

cryophonik · Post by **cryophonik** » Sat Jul 26, 2025 2:52 am

Yeah, after using this for a couple of evenings, $29 is indeed a steal. Personally, I’m not going to replace Pro-Q with it, since that’s been my go-to EQ since it was released, but it will got a lot of use as a creative filter. Love the intuitive workflow and great sound!

billinder33 · Post by **billinder33** » Sun Jul 27, 2025 12:02 am

As much as I hate iLok and don't want to proliferate it, I made the exception here because I already have a couple of other useful UVI plugins.

Love this thing. As much as I dig Filterverse and Hybrid Filter, I've always wanted a creative resonate filter with a Pro-Q style frequency meter, and Shade scratches that itch bigtime. It's gonna get a lot of use.

concealed identity · Post by **concealed identity** » Sun Jul 27, 2025 2:31 am

I'm really tempted by this, but how are people liking this not only as a creative filter, but also as a general purpose channel EQ? e.g. ease of use/interface, CPU hit, features. I know it doesn't compare to Pro-Q for the latter, but if it's worth making this my main channel EQ on top of its creative uses, I might spring for it.

It seems like there's no longer a demo, which is a bit of a bummer. I've watched a few videos on it, but you never really know how an EQ is going to match your workflow until you're using it.

aMUSEd · Post by **aMUSEd** » Sun Jul 27, 2025 8:17 am

I think it's usable as a general purpose EQ and even has dynamic EQ capabilities. May not have all the bells and whistles of Pro-Q but then Pro-Q doesn't have modulation.

concealed identity · Post by **concealed identity** » Sun Jul 27, 2025 10:36 am

Yeah I saw in at least one video that you can do dynamic EQing pretty easily. It seems fully functional, but I'm curious how the user experience is and how people are getting along with it. Also about the CPU, since that seemed to have been an issue at first, but I'm wondering how much better optimized it is after a number of updates.

I recently got Kirchhoff EQ and like it but don't love it (it's just a little more complex than I need), and am considering replacing it with this.

Also, I don't know about whistles, but I believe both Shade and Pro-Q have bells (I'll get my coat)

aMUSEd · Post by **aMUSEd** » Sun Jul 27, 2025 11:28 am

Well it's not going to do the emulation stuff Kirchhoff does, and the number of filter types for EQing is limited but on the other hand the overall range of filters types is higher as it includes more creative types as well as the usual EQ ones. tbh I have not noticed any CPU issues but I'm on a M1 Max, it is extremely easy to use

billinder33 · Post by **billinder33** » Sun Jul 27, 2025 1:19 pm

I'll second aMUSEd. It's totally usable as a general EQ, but it's no Pro-Q4 in terms of ease-of-use for blocking-and-tackling EQ work. But it's perfectly usable for general EQ'ing. No issue with CPU on M1 Mac.

If you don't need the creative filtering and it's not a financial strain, then I'd just pay up for Pro-Q. If you want a resonant filtering or you see Pro-Q4 as too expensive, go with Shade. Otherwise get both!!!

cryophonik · Post by **cryophonik** » Sun Jul 27, 2025 2:42 pm

Yeah, I agree. It’s definitely more akin to Volcano than Pro-Q IMO.

concealed identity wrote: Sun Jul 27, 2025 10:36 am Also, I don't know about whistles, but I believe both Shade and Pro-Q have bells (I'll get my coat)

concealed identity · Post by **concealed identity** » Sun Jul 27, 2025 3:01 pm

I should maybe mention that I'm not considering buying Pro-Q at all. I've never used (or even really looked into) Volcano, but I'll continue checking out videos on Shade to try and get an idea of whether or not I'd like it.

jens · Post by **jens** » Sun Jul 27, 2025 7:42 pm

cryophonik wrote: Sun Jul 27, 2025 2:42 pm Yeah, I agree. It’s definitely more akin to Volcano than Pro-Q IMO.

Yes, agreed. However Volcano - which otherwise can serve as an EQ as well - is limited to four bands, while Shade has no limit at all (or at the least no practical one). So you could say that Shade is like a cross between Pro-W and Volcano. (Or in other words: the best of both worlds.)

pekbro · Post by **pekbro** » Sun Jul 27, 2025 7:59 pm

I don't really like it as an eq myself, workflow or UI or whatever I guess, tho it's perfectly capable.

JO512 · Post by **JO512** » Sun Jul 27, 2025 8:15 pm

I pulled the trigger on Shade. Pretty cool! My only gripe so far is that the MSEG editor is maddening to try to work with. So hard to drag a box and select all the points when they are at the top or bottom. You have such a thin area in which you must start the box selection to get all the points in a region without instead scrolling or zooming. Maybe I just don't know yet how to do it properly. Why can't I add to an existing selection with 'shift' or 'ctrl' or something?

billinder33 · Post by **billinder33** » Mon Jul 28, 2025 12:18 am

I never jelled with Volcano, probably because FabFilter's modulation config scheme just doesn't resonate (no pun intended) with me.

Shade: filtery thing from UVI. :)