KVR Audio

Frippertronix · Post by **Frippertronix** » Mon Jun 27, 2005 12:20 am

I finally got this thing to install when I changed E: drives (it kept telling me I didn't have enough drive space before, even though there was plenty).

My impressions: one of the best bass boosts I've heard in a plug, if not the best. Almost worth the $200,000 price for that alone (almost).

Con: didn't care for the mid boost. Too "telephoney" and artifical. It's a shame, but I'm not sure I can afford so much for just one excellent band on an EQ.

JeffSanders · Post by **JeffSanders** » Mon Jun 27, 2005 12:43 am

"Telephoney"? Depends what frequency you boost and by how much.

Frippertronix · Post by **Frippertronix** » Mon Jun 27, 2005 1:26 am

JeffSanders wrote:"Telephoney"? Depends what frequency you boost and by how much.

Yea, that's an extreme way of putting it but I can't come up with another way of describing it. The mids, starting at about 1 and going up to 3 or so, sound artifical and sort of honky to my ears, even with fairly subtle peaks. I think Hydratone outdoes Sonalksis in this area, though for a clean and warm "smile" boost, I'm liking the Sonalksis a lot, I just am put off by the price for a plug that is not going to be a "do all" EQ.

greendoor · Post by **greendoor** » Mon Jun 27, 2005 3:14 am

Have you tried GEQ-7 from www.kjaerhusaudio.com ?

martian · Post by **martian** » Mon Jun 27, 2005 11:58 am

sounds the same as waves ren eq to me, except a bit stronger response in the low end, big deal jus give waves ren a little more gain, also both have pretty much the exact same harsh highs.

mad considering the times they were made, and the hype!

Frippertronix · Post by **Frippertronix** » Tue Jun 28, 2005 1:01 am

greendoor wrote:Have you tried GEQ-7 from www.kjaerhusaudio.com ?

Haven't installed it but it sits on my desktop waiting. If it's just as good I'd be pleased since it costs less than half as much. Here's hoping.

Frippertronix · Post by **Frippertronix** » Tue Jun 28, 2005 1:04 am

wm wrote:sounds the same as waves ren eq to me, except a bit stronger response in the low end, big deal jus give waves ren a little more gain, also both have pretty much the exact same harsh highs.

mad considering the times they were made, and the hype!

It's growing on me. I've never heard the Waves EQ. I really like the huge low end I'm getting in "smile" config with the highs achieving good definition. The lows are so warm on this plug, but I agree about the harsh highs and I would throw in nasally mids.

Still I'm considering it since I'm not sigularly amazed by any EQ I've tried, though I obviously haven't been able to get into the UA stuff since I don't have the card.

greendoor · Post by **greendoor** » Tue Jun 28, 2005 4:08 am

Frippertronix wrote:
greendoor wrote:Have you tried GEQ-7 from www.kjaerhusaudio.com ?
Haven't installed it but it sits on my desktop waiting. If it's just as good I'd be pleased since it costs less than half as much. Here's hoping.

It takes about 10 seconds to install ... i'd love to hear what you think. I think it's magical, but I don't have a UAD-1 for comparison.

martian · Post by **martian** » Tue Jun 28, 2005 12:35 pm

Frippertronix wrote:
wm wrote:sounds the same as waves ren eq to me, except a bit stronger response in the low end, big deal jus give waves ren a little more gain, also both have pretty much the exact same harsh highs.

mad considering the times they were made, and the hype!
It's growing on me. I've never heard the Waves EQ. I really like the huge low end I'm getting in "smile" config with the highs achieving good definition. The lows are so warm on this plug, but I agree about the harsh highs and I would throw in nasally mids.

Still I'm considering it since I'm not sigularly amazed by any EQ I've tried, though I obviously haven't been able to get into the UA stuff since I don't have the card.

as im sure you know, first thing with trying eqs is to make sure your not being influenced by jus the fact it has a different strength. I bet someone could make an eq and label a gain of 2db as 1, 3db as 1.5, etc and everyone would be going mad over it saying how strong and warm it is. but yeh with the sonalksis first thing i noticed over waves ren (which i've always used up till month ago or so) is the stronger bass response, and indeed stronger than most plugs, but personally i dont feel its better and can equal it easily.

but i was amazed at the identically harsh highs, i think its jus something that alogorithms cant replicate yet maybe? until we get into 50x oversampling as standard? i dont know the reason.

try the URS stuff too, heard some good things, although i havent been able to try myself because of the pace buisiness. anyway with the hydratone optimisations i'll hopefully be using that as a main eq soon!

although its not very good for surgical stuff, i actually use cubase Q for things like low cuts, cause hydra cant seem to do it with much precision and transparency.

bmanic · Post by **bmanic** » Tue Jun 28, 2005 1:10 pm

Frippertronix wrote:
greendoor wrote:Have you tried GEQ-7 from www.kjaerhusaudio.com ?
Haven't installed it but it sits on my desktop waiting. If it's just as good I'd be pleased since it costs less than half as much. Here's hoping.

Also, have you tried Voxengo HarmoniEQ and Tritonedigital Hydratone? These two are, IMHO, the best native plugin EQs out there. Unfortunately, both require big chunks of CPU so if you need an eq for each track then these will not give you that much joy.

Cheers!
bManic

bmanic · Post by **bmanic** » Tue Jun 28, 2005 1:11 pm

Flippertronix,

one more thing I forgot to ask. Do you hear the slight change in sound when running audio trough the sonalksis EQ, even with all settings at flat? It's a good ear/monitor exercise.

- bManic

jmh · Post by **jmh** » Tue Jun 28, 2005 4:14 pm

bManic Only the animals that navigate using soundwaves and you can hear the difference

JMH

defjamm · Post by **defjamm** » Tue Jun 28, 2005 4:31 pm

jmh wrote:bManic Only the animals that navigate using soundwaves and you can hear the difference

JMH

it's pretty obvious for me, try it with harsh percussion or some digital synths, and compare. i actually like it(the 'warming-algo'), but wouldn't use the sonalksis as a generall clean track-eq for that reason. but it's nice on tracks, that benefit from this effect.

when you compare eqs always match the loudness, and compare solo and in the mix.

@wm: i love the focusrite-impulses in hydratone for cutting. won't get cleaner and more transparent.
waves-reneq sounds like a distortion-device when you boost, awful.

Kraku · Post by **Kraku** » Tue Jun 28, 2005 5:30 pm

When I was choosing an EQ for myself, I was comparing Sonalksis and GEQ-7 with each other. They both gave quite a nice and punchy sounding boosted bass... I bought GEQ-7.

Try the GEQ-7. You might actually like it

tee boy · Post by **tee boy** » Tue Jun 28, 2005 5:36 pm

To be honest, I prefer the Sonalksis compressor (but not for EQing

). The GUI is too fiddly with the EQ, and I really dont think its good enough to make large broadband boosts. And if you can do this, then you might just as well use a cheaper EQ.

Q-clone, this is one hell of an EQ. Boost 6db at 10kHz, n'f**king'p. Its a pricy bit of kit, but if Voxengo or Kjaerhus make a similar plug then this really will be the way forward.

Tried the Sonalksis EQ