To be perfectly honest, I find it a bit baffling.
I sort of get the idea (clever eq'ing, harmonics etc) but would greatly appreciate if Cryosonics could deliver more presets for lots more instruments.
I could get dig in and learn SQ in a more constructive way, than simply pushing sliders around in what - for me - is a new zone of experience.
Anyone else got SpectraQ experiences to share?
Anyone using SpectraQ?
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- vvvvvvv
- 2595 posts since 24 Oct, 2000 from skelmersdale, west lancs, uk
Last edited by kevvvvv on Fri May 19, 2006 11:09 pm, edited 1 time in total.
Member 12, Studio One Pro 7, VPS Avenger, Kontakt 8, Spitfire, Sonible, Baby Audio, CableGuys. Recent best buy - EZ Drummer 3 with Bandmate
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- KVRian
- 1394 posts since 28 Mar, 2002 from Austria
I like it really much. It's the first Multiband-Harmonic-Exciter since iZotopeOzone.
Unfortunately currently no support for Wavelab (problem when render) - hope they could fix it someday.
Unfortunately currently no support for Wavelab (problem when render) - hope they could fix it someday.
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- KVRist
- 406 posts since 31 Jan, 2004 from Sweden
Me to, I did not buy it because of that.PeterL wrote:Unfortunately currently no support for Wavelab (problem when render) - hope they could fix it someday.
Cheers Bob
Back for plug development in Sonic Birth.
Back for plug development in Sonic Birth.
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- vvvvvvv
- Topic Starter
- 2595 posts since 24 Oct, 2000 from skelmersdale, west lancs, uk
PeterL
Explain please. I'd be delighted to know
I use Ozone on everything, but never saw how it could be called a Multiband-Harmonic-Exciter, or even resemble SQ in anything but the broadest way - ie Mastering softwareI like it really much. It's the first Multiband-Harmonic-Exciter since iZotopeOzone.
Explain please. I'd be delighted to know
Member 12, Studio One Pro 7, VPS Avenger, Kontakt 8, Spitfire, Sonible, Baby Audio, CableGuys. Recent best buy - EZ Drummer 3 with Bandmate
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- vvvvvvv
- Topic Starter
- 2595 posts since 24 Oct, 2000 from skelmersdale, west lancs, uk
Has nobody bought SpectraQ?
Member 12, Studio One Pro 7, VPS Avenger, Kontakt 8, Spitfire, Sonible, Baby Audio, CableGuys. Recent best buy - EZ Drummer 3 with Bandmate
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- KVRAF
- 8740 posts since 24 May, 2002 from Tutukaka, New Zealand
No.
I was sorely tempted...I very nearly bought it without demoing first, but the fact it was harmonic-based stayed my hand. But I at least did demo it (although not as exhaustively as I would have liked). I'll do that at some stage, but simply didn't have the time to do the demoing I would have liked before the good intro offer ended; so I've put it on the back-burner.
First off...I have never much liked harmonic enhancers. That was my main reason for going slow with SpectraQ. It's just one of my personal dislikes. I never liked the old h/w harmonic enhancers.
But...I could see uses for SpectraQ more as a group, or even channel exciter. On groups, I think I'd probably restrict it to drums - I just don't like instruments with added harmonics, but somehow drums can withstand quite aggressive treatment of almost any kind. So, I may still buy it later for that job. I haven't ruled it out yet, at all.
The trouble with harmonics is that they're so subtle initially. You barely hear any improvement until you reach a certain point where it's completely overdone and sounds grating and harsh. All or nothing. I don't like it overdone, and I can't hear any difference when done subtly. I never saw the point in even harmonics - they just don't add anything IMO. Odd harmonics are obvious when mixed high, but again don't do an awful lot unless you've got really good monitoring to amke sure you've not overdone it. So it's that fine line you have to work out, and I couldn't find it with SpectraQ. I just had this tendency to tweak it really really subtly, and not actually hear anything. So then I'd bump it up...and BAM! it's in-yer-face. Only big tweaks made a discernible difference, but it's one of those effects that if you take a break and come back later - you suddenly realise what destruction you've done to your mix.
But the temptation is to overdo it - much more so than other types of enhancement.
So I then thought - OK, I can use SpectraQ for subtle air on some channels, or even on the mixes - forget obvious enhancement, more a bit of top-end only stuff. But again, I couldn't find that fine line between nothing and overdone. The main band that had the impact was the higher mid one - can't remember the frequency band...but it was around 2KHz or thereabouts, not the true high band. But that specific area is the one that can really grate badly - which mostly, it did. I thought boosting a little bit of 3rd order harmonics in that are would add a nice bit of air higher up - but couldn't hear it. So I tried 1st order - obvious but grating...not really what you'd call "air". I tried 3rd order harmonics from the next lower band - again, I really couldn't hear anything improving going on.
So next off, I thought, OK...I could see what the Eq and the limiter does. I need a decent Eq - I've not bought a UAD card yet - especially as the next generation was due out. Now I've got to have a look at those PCIe cards (I don't even know if my PC can do PCIe!). The Eq is OK - nothing else, just OK. There are other Eqs that can do more and can do less, but ultimately it's fixed band graphic, which isn't what I need. Give me parametric Eq or nothing.
The limiter...again, it's OK - nothing better than Pocket Limiter though. Not as good even. You can't push it as much, and although I didn't try it out as much as I'd like...initial impressions were that it muddied up more than Pocket Limiter on 100% soft setting.
One thing I really did hear potential for though, was the harmonic section for things like bass or lower mids. It worked extremely well on synth bass patches that are trying to sound similar to a bass guitar. A bit of harmonics beefs up the body no end. I do predominantly dub for the past year or two, so this is an area I would use it for alot, I think. Not everyone's cup of tea - but that is definitely a niche area. Unfortunately, again....something like Mixsat from PSP does just as good a job, and to me has wider uses. The other thing that stayed my hand...even for this use, is that a valved-up bass guitar can be quite hard to mix with. Too many lowermids and mids to clutter up the mix. It solves a problem and causes one at the same time.
I really like the idea of SpectraQ. It is quite unique. It doesn't in any way make me think any less highly of Crysonic. But ultimately, I haven't yet found a use for it that I must buy it for. The things I like it for - I can do with other plugins. The things I can't do with other plugins - I don't like the sound anyway. I have better limiters, there are better Eqs (more flexible too). It's probably tops on harmonics, but unfortunately I can't work with harmonics on mixes without ruining the mixes. On instruments It could work well - I don't really know just yet - maybe soon I'll test it properly.
And...I didn't like the fact it's fixed. I do and don't at the same time. I can see why they put fixed Eq bands on it - the whole idea and process is one that is very easy for people to either get lost in, or simply destroy mixes with, if not used sensibly...so they need to put some kind of restraint on the plugin so that too many people don't use it wrongly and assume it's not actually any good - whereas it is quite good quality. But there were too many mixes and even channels, where I would have liked to be able to move the Eq bands just a little.
They promote it as a mix or master plugin. Personally I just never have and probably never will like harmonic enhancement - doesn't mean it's no good - for years the dance people used Vitalisers all over the place, and it still sold well. But not for me.
I can see it could be a great tool for picking out a channel that you want to give impact too. Could be good for guitars, even synth leads, definitely vocals and vocal FX, and as mentioned...I particularly liked it to make bass guitars out of bass synths. But it really means you have to render with it. There's no point in using it in low quality mode - if you have a quality setting, it's obviously the one you want. And I couldn't run more than two instance live without having to render straight away. And what puts me off is that after I'd used it...I almost always had to go back and remix, simply because it made my affected channel so much stronger, that I had to mix it further back. It just seemed too easy to overuse the whole effect. It even encouraged me to overuse it by its very nature.
I love the idea...I just don't much like the effect it has practically. I might buy it still. But not for what they market it for. One use I can see it for is bass guitar FX - add your harmonics on the bass guitar - isolate them (100% wet) and then add your standard FX - which means you can put something like delay or reverb on a bassline, but with all the muddy bass frequencies. You can't just Eq out the bass on bassline FX sometimes - not if there's too weak a higher element in there to start with - and the only other way of getting higher frequency effects from a bassline is from pitch-shifters...and we all know how horrible they usually sound So that's one thing SpectraQ can do that no other plugin in the same price bracket can do. Good for tubelike FX without the distortion too.
I'll pass for the moment. I'm undecided, not for or against yet.
I was sorely tempted...I very nearly bought it without demoing first, but the fact it was harmonic-based stayed my hand. But I at least did demo it (although not as exhaustively as I would have liked). I'll do that at some stage, but simply didn't have the time to do the demoing I would have liked before the good intro offer ended; so I've put it on the back-burner.
First off...I have never much liked harmonic enhancers. That was my main reason for going slow with SpectraQ. It's just one of my personal dislikes. I never liked the old h/w harmonic enhancers.
But...I could see uses for SpectraQ more as a group, or even channel exciter. On groups, I think I'd probably restrict it to drums - I just don't like instruments with added harmonics, but somehow drums can withstand quite aggressive treatment of almost any kind. So, I may still buy it later for that job. I haven't ruled it out yet, at all.
The trouble with harmonics is that they're so subtle initially. You barely hear any improvement until you reach a certain point where it's completely overdone and sounds grating and harsh. All or nothing. I don't like it overdone, and I can't hear any difference when done subtly. I never saw the point in even harmonics - they just don't add anything IMO. Odd harmonics are obvious when mixed high, but again don't do an awful lot unless you've got really good monitoring to amke sure you've not overdone it. So it's that fine line you have to work out, and I couldn't find it with SpectraQ. I just had this tendency to tweak it really really subtly, and not actually hear anything. So then I'd bump it up...and BAM! it's in-yer-face. Only big tweaks made a discernible difference, but it's one of those effects that if you take a break and come back later - you suddenly realise what destruction you've done to your mix.
But the temptation is to overdo it - much more so than other types of enhancement.
So I then thought - OK, I can use SpectraQ for subtle air on some channels, or even on the mixes - forget obvious enhancement, more a bit of top-end only stuff. But again, I couldn't find that fine line between nothing and overdone. The main band that had the impact was the higher mid one - can't remember the frequency band...but it was around 2KHz or thereabouts, not the true high band. But that specific area is the one that can really grate badly - which mostly, it did. I thought boosting a little bit of 3rd order harmonics in that are would add a nice bit of air higher up - but couldn't hear it. So I tried 1st order - obvious but grating...not really what you'd call "air". I tried 3rd order harmonics from the next lower band - again, I really couldn't hear anything improving going on.
So next off, I thought, OK...I could see what the Eq and the limiter does. I need a decent Eq - I've not bought a UAD card yet - especially as the next generation was due out. Now I've got to have a look at those PCIe cards (I don't even know if my PC can do PCIe!). The Eq is OK - nothing else, just OK. There are other Eqs that can do more and can do less, but ultimately it's fixed band graphic, which isn't what I need. Give me parametric Eq or nothing.
The limiter...again, it's OK - nothing better than Pocket Limiter though. Not as good even. You can't push it as much, and although I didn't try it out as much as I'd like...initial impressions were that it muddied up more than Pocket Limiter on 100% soft setting.
One thing I really did hear potential for though, was the harmonic section for things like bass or lower mids. It worked extremely well on synth bass patches that are trying to sound similar to a bass guitar. A bit of harmonics beefs up the body no end. I do predominantly dub for the past year or two, so this is an area I would use it for alot, I think. Not everyone's cup of tea - but that is definitely a niche area. Unfortunately, again....something like Mixsat from PSP does just as good a job, and to me has wider uses. The other thing that stayed my hand...even for this use, is that a valved-up bass guitar can be quite hard to mix with. Too many lowermids and mids to clutter up the mix. It solves a problem and causes one at the same time.
I really like the idea of SpectraQ. It is quite unique. It doesn't in any way make me think any less highly of Crysonic. But ultimately, I haven't yet found a use for it that I must buy it for. The things I like it for - I can do with other plugins. The things I can't do with other plugins - I don't like the sound anyway. I have better limiters, there are better Eqs (more flexible too). It's probably tops on harmonics, but unfortunately I can't work with harmonics on mixes without ruining the mixes. On instruments It could work well - I don't really know just yet - maybe soon I'll test it properly.
And...I didn't like the fact it's fixed. I do and don't at the same time. I can see why they put fixed Eq bands on it - the whole idea and process is one that is very easy for people to either get lost in, or simply destroy mixes with, if not used sensibly...so they need to put some kind of restraint on the plugin so that too many people don't use it wrongly and assume it's not actually any good - whereas it is quite good quality. But there were too many mixes and even channels, where I would have liked to be able to move the Eq bands just a little.
They promote it as a mix or master plugin. Personally I just never have and probably never will like harmonic enhancement - doesn't mean it's no good - for years the dance people used Vitalisers all over the place, and it still sold well. But not for me.
I can see it could be a great tool for picking out a channel that you want to give impact too. Could be good for guitars, even synth leads, definitely vocals and vocal FX, and as mentioned...I particularly liked it to make bass guitars out of bass synths. But it really means you have to render with it. There's no point in using it in low quality mode - if you have a quality setting, it's obviously the one you want. And I couldn't run more than two instance live without having to render straight away. And what puts me off is that after I'd used it...I almost always had to go back and remix, simply because it made my affected channel so much stronger, that I had to mix it further back. It just seemed too easy to overuse the whole effect. It even encouraged me to overuse it by its very nature.
I love the idea...I just don't much like the effect it has practically. I might buy it still. But not for what they market it for. One use I can see it for is bass guitar FX - add your harmonics on the bass guitar - isolate them (100% wet) and then add your standard FX - which means you can put something like delay or reverb on a bassline, but with all the muddy bass frequencies. You can't just Eq out the bass on bassline FX sometimes - not if there's too weak a higher element in there to start with - and the only other way of getting higher frequency effects from a bassline is from pitch-shifters...and we all know how horrible they usually sound
So that's one thing SpectraQ can do that no other plugin in the same price bracket can do. Good for tubelike FX without the distortion too.I'll pass for the moment. I'm undecided, not for or against yet.
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- KVRian
- 1394 posts since 28 Mar, 2002 from Austria
Of course, I mean Ozone includes a Multiband-Harmonic-Exciter.kevvvvv wrote:PeterLI use Ozone on everything, but never saw how it could be called a Multiband-Harmonic-Exciter, or even resemble SQ in anything but the broadest way - ie Mastering softwareI like it really much. It's the first Multiband-Harmonic-Exciter since iZotopeOzone.
Explain please. I'd be delighted to know
I am also an Ozone user since DX-version 1.01.
I have also dreamed of a MB version of DSPFX Aural Activator for many years (BTW, it's still my favourite exciter). Now my dreams come true.
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- KVRAF
- 14740 posts since 19 Oct, 2003 from Berlin, Germany
WHUT?! Again?PeterL wrote:I like it really much. It's the first Multiband-Harmonic-Exciter since iZotopeOzone.
Unfortunately currently no support for Wavelab (problem when render) - hope they could fix it someday.
That's the second plugin from them having problems with Wavelab. (I had and still have probs with Spectralive2, the crysonic team is informed already, too).
Did you write them about bugfixing and did you get any upgrade news so far? Cause I didn't. I really want to check out SpectraQ now that Elemental Audio was... er... messed up. But if it doesn't work in Wavelab, I can't really enjoy it.
Crysonic, I guess it's finally time to present us C++ versions - not that SE is bad, but it seems to produce more problems than expected.
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- KVRian
- 1394 posts since 28 Mar, 2002 from Austria
I wrote cryconic about it. No upgrade so far.Compyfox wrote:WHUT?! Again?PeterL wrote:I like it really much. It's the first Multiband-Harmonic-Exciter since iZotopeOzone.
Unfortunately currently no support for Wavelab (problem when render) - hope they could fix it someday.
That's the second plugin from them having problems with Wavelab. (I had and still have probs with Spectralive2, the crysonic team is informed already, too).
Did you write them about bugfixing and did you get any upgrade news so far? Cause I didn't. I really want to check out SpectraQ now that Elemental Audio was... er... messed up. But if it doesn't work in Wavelab, I can't really enjoy it.
Crysonic, I guess it's finally time to present us C++ versions - not that SE is bad, but it seems to produce more problems than expected.
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- KVRian
- 1359 posts since 5 Mar, 2005
kylen wrote:Hmmm...I was away when SpectraQ came out, been moving forever it seems! The demo sounds Sweet (
spectraq really has a sweat sound. for those who don't like the multiband harmonics it still can be used for a eq or its limiter. the plugin has such a sweat sound one may just want to run audio threw it. But if spectraq is'nt attractive with all its features one can buy its eq section separately 'cryq'.cryq has added goodies as well.The price can fool people with this one for people may think its not a great eq cause it's cheap, i think it has magic to its sound that makes it comparable to eq's that cost alot more.I actually like spectraq and cryq more then spectralive.