Tracktion Software

RandyHancock · Post by **RandyHancock** » Thu Jun 10, 2004 7:47 pm

Just wondering what people thought of the quality of the eq built-in to tracktion. Do most of you use the built-in eq or do you go to something 3rd party?

What about for mastering? Is it good enough for that?

I did an A/B once between the built-in eq and the sonalksis demo and didn't hear too much of a difference (although there was a difference). To me it seems like the differences in character of eq's is quite subtle. The only one that ever stood out as sounding far different from the usual plugins was the 7-band one in the old fruity loops, but that seemed to be because it just plain sounded like crap not because it was going for a different character.

Right now I'm using the T eq for tracking and I'm trying to decide on a mastering eq. Would you spring for something external?

Also inportant to note is that I'm producting 100% elecronic music couldn't care less about maintaining the naturalness of the instruments blah blah. I just want to balance my mix. Do you think a good eq matters in this case?

Just looking for people's personal opinions here, not lectures on dling demos or how everything is subjective etc.

Thanks,
Randy

valley · Post by **valley** » Thu Jun 10, 2004 7:59 pm

RandyHancock wrote:Just wondering what people thought of the quality of the eq built-in to tracktion. Do most of you use the built-in eq or do you go to something 3rd party?

I never use T's inbuilt EQ. It isn't bad, but I'd rather use Eqium, or Paris, depending what I'm after.

What about for mastering? Is it good enough for that?

The built in EQ is fine for small adjustments, but anything heavy duty and it doesn't hold up well.

Also inportant to note is that I'm producting 100% elecronic music couldn't care less about maintaining the naturalness of the instruments blah blah. I just want to balance my mix. Do you think a good eq matters in this case?

Yes.

pHz · Post by **pHz** » Thu Jun 10, 2004 8:25 pm

id always describe the tracktion EQ as quick-n-dirty (and im NOT being insulting there) ...

... the GUI is great but it isnt fantastic sounding IMHO ...

... my EQs of choice -

elemental audio eqium
elemental audio firium
voxengo glissEQ
imageline parametric EQ

slainte

rob

AD80 · Post by **AD80** » Thu Jun 10, 2004 9:43 pm

Like pHz said, the EQ's interface is cool. But I mostly use it for "quick and dirty" stuff. Nothing critical. Usually background percussion ect. Elemental audio Eqium's interface is fantastic. Its my favorite EQ, I use it for pretty much everything.

christianmusicmaker · Thu Jun 10, 2004 10:19 pm

I am in the market for an Eq plug and I think it's down to a choice between Equim and Voxengo's gliss EQ

AD80 · Post by **AD80** » Thu Jun 10, 2004 11:00 pm

As a channel EQ theres nothing that can beat Eqium IHMO. The interface is so friendly and has so many features, and of course it sounds good.

valley · Post by **valley** » Thu Jun 10, 2004 11:40 pm

get the EQium Firium bundle

_oswald · Post by **_oswald** » Thu Jun 10, 2004 11:40 pm

The T-EQ ain't shabby but I love the Paris Projects EQ.

.jon · Post by **.jon** » Fri Jun 11, 2004 2:39 pm

The T-EQ gui is near perfection, but IMO sounds just like the EQ's in other hosts - a built-in tool for quick corrections during composition.

I try to get by without using much EQ, but when I must (usually with recorded material) the free Paris EQ does the job quite well.

ttauri · Post by **ttauri** » Fri Jun 11, 2004 2:50 pm

RandyHancock wrote:Also inportant to note is that I'm producting 100% elecronic music couldn't care less about maintaining the naturalness of the instruments blah blah. I just want to balance my mix. Do you think a good eq matters in this case?

I would say it matters MORE. With naturalness not a factor, you're capable of boosting, cutting, or otherwise pushing the EQ to extremes that you might not try if you were aiming to preserve the natural character of a sound.

Personally, I'll put in a good word for WaveArts' Trackplug. EQ stands about even with Eqium to me, plus a useable compressor (not something you want to try squashing drums with, but decent for taming some dynamic range in a vocal or whatever) and gate.

Peece,
T. Tauri

RandyHancock · Post by **RandyHancock** » Fri Jun 11, 2004 10:04 pm

ttauri wrote:
RandyHancock wrote:Also inportant to note is that I'm producting 100% elecronic music couldn't care less about maintaining the naturalness of the instruments blah blah. I just want to balance my mix. Do you think a good eq matters in this case?
I would say it matters MORE. With naturalness not a factor, you're capable of boosting, cutting, or otherwise pushing the EQ to extremes that you might not try if you were aiming to preserve the natural character of a sound.

Good point, I do use a lot of extreme boosts and cuts in my tracks.

Thanks to everyone for the great feedback. I guess I'll get some demo's and replace the T eq's in all the tracks in a few songs and see what kind of difference it makes.

Everyone here seems to gush over eqium, but I've also seen people gush over the Golden EQ. Anyone here compared that to eqium? Also, MasterQ from PSP can be had for $80 with a student discount. What about that one?

I've tried GlissEQ but couldn't get extreme enough sounds out of it. Seems like it's great for certain purposes, but not everything.

christianmusicmaker · Fri Jun 11, 2004 10:24 pm

RandyHancock wrote:
I've tried GlissEQ but couldn't get extreme enough sounds out of it. Seems like it's great for certain purposes, but not everything.

Really...? I have been considering it for some time. The Voxengo plugs all seem very well rated.

AD80 · Post by **AD80** » Fri Jun 11, 2004 10:32 pm

Gliss EQ is more of a mastering tool if I remember correctly.

Aleatoric · Post by **Aleatoric** » Sat Jun 12, 2004 1:16 am

Element Audio is where is it at. Nothing but Equim, Firium and Inspector (use this free guy all the time to see the whole spectrum) for me all the way.

RandyHancock · Post by **RandyHancock** » Sat Jun 12, 2004 4:30 am

Ok, so I did some comparisons, and I'm not sure what to think. What I found might lead me to not beleive anything any of you have said

but I thought I'd give you a chance to defend yourselves before I write you off

Now that I've got your attention...

I was able to achieve total phase cancellation between the tracktion eq and eqium. I'll be honest and admit that I didn't check to see if it was absolute digital zero, but it was total silence, which to me means "not enough difference to matter". I was running a 16.40 db boost at 150Hz with a Q of 0.69 on the T-eq and a BW of 0.720 on eqium. (this was on a parametric band not a shelving band)

To me this means

a) the parametric "bell" shapes on eqium and the T-eq are the same. sometimes the values aren't close enough to get total silence but you can make them almost totally cancel with wide and narrow bands (eqium does get more narrow though)

b) there is no "quality" difference between the eq's. the T-eq is not distorting the sound in some cheap-eq way like the fruity 7-band or Paris (even though this distortion sounds good to some).

c) therefore there is no difference (sound-wise) between the tracktion eq and eqium if we're talking about the parametric bands.

Now the shelving filters are a different story. Hi Shelf 1 I could almost make cancel, but Hi Shelf 2 had a totally different shape than the T-eq's. But considering my assertion that the quality is the same, this should just come down to a matter of taste. right?

Anyway, I probably have no idea what I'm talking about but that's why I'm here. Please don't take offense to my humor, I'm just having fun.

I truly respect and appreciate everyone's input.

Thanks,
Randy

Tracktion Software

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Quality of built-in EQ