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engineer971 29 January 2011

I have 4 basic EQ plugins; Bomb Factory EQ, Waves Renaisance EQ, Nomad Factory BT-PEQ322-3, and a Nomad Factory Studio Channel SC-226. I still like the Bomb Factory best. What do you like?

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IIRs Tue, 02/15/2011 - 01:18

audiokid, post: 364503 wrote: You always have an interesting reason, why do you like these so much?

Ergonomics mostly. EQ is probably the most used tool in a typical studio, so its important to be able to get results quickly and easily... after using Pro-Q everything else seems clunky and slow by comparison.

Eg: want a peaking band? Click the graph and drag one in. Want a low or high shelf? Drag it in from the left or right respectively. Want a high-pass filter? Double click to the left. Want to grab all 24 bands and drag them around together? No problem, just marquee them all and drag one band. Want to tweak left and right independently? Click the cut symbol to split a stereo band into separate left and right bands, or mid and side if in MS mode. Wondering if linear phase would sound better? Simply switch mode.

And it looks gorgeous as well...

Obviously none of that would matter if the quality wasn't good. Fortunately its excellent; the FabFilter devs really know what they are doing when it comes to digital filter design: bands can be set as high as 30KHz even when running a samplerate of 44.1 or 48KHz, and there is no "cramping" out of shape above 10K as in many digital EQs.

I should probably declare my connection with the company: I make video tutorials for them. But you don't have to take my word for it: try the 30 day demo and see what I mean. (And if you want a 10% new customer discount, PM me your email!)

IIRs Tue, 02/15/2011 - 03:27

Boswell, post: 364535 wrote: I'm puzzled by this statement. Can you explain what it achieves?

Well, being able to go above nyquist obviously doesn't achieve much, as by definition there will be nothing there! It allows a bit more flexibility when setting up Baxandall style boosts, but thats about it.

However, it does highlight the fact that Pro-Q can get close to nyquist without being distorted out of shape, and this is important in my opinion.

Here are some plots from the only one of the plugs listed in the poll that I own (which shall remain anonymous) running at 44.1KHz

20dB boost at 2KHz:

20dB boost at 10KHz:

and at 18KHz (the highest it will go)

By contrast, here are the Pro-Q versions:

2KHz:

10KHz:

18KHz:

And finally, right up at 30KHz:

IIRs Tue, 02/15/2011 - 04:43

I have some of their plugs from before the Roger Nichols buyout, when they were called Elemental Audio Systems. The plugs were identical apart the gui colour and the stupid new names, ie: Uniquelizer used to be called Equium. I never bought that one, but I have Firium (the linear phase EQ). It uses a serial number copy protection system so I can still use it... but I hardly ever do since I got Pro-Q. ;)

BobRogers Tue, 02/15/2011 - 05:35

Since you are using ProTools, how much do you really like those compared to the Digi EQIII? I think that's one of the best PT standard plugins and to me it sets a pretty high bar for buying other EQ plugins. I admit, it doesn't really add any character. But it has a very nice, intuitive GUI and it does a great job for fixing specific EQ problems on a track. For color and character I have the UAD Neve 1073, the Pultec Pro, and the Manley Massive.

BobRogers Tue, 02/15/2011 - 11:56

lambchop, post: 364565 wrote: It's interesting that no one has mentioned the Sonnox EQ. I find that I use this one more than my other ITB EQ plugins. It's great for when you quickly want to make a bell curve, which I usually do when EQ'ing sax.

I did a serious demo of the Sonnox when I was checking out their Reverb (which I bought). It was very nice, but I liked the interface of the EQ III better and I never got to the point where I was able to make effective use of the pattern variations. As I said, the EQ III makes me pretty picky about spending a couple hundred buck for a small upgrade (usually with a few minor drawbacks).

mdb Fri, 02/18/2011 - 14:15

Big K, post: 364819 wrote: LOL, then it is time for ya to demo some of the heavies...

Do you have any suggestions for EQ plug-in demos? When I get my Trident S40 I'm going to try passing the audio through it and using it's analog EQ to see what it does. Its got to be better than what I'm currently using.

BobRogers Wed, 06/22/2011 - 15:28

audios, post: 373175 wrote: UAD-2 Quad card. None better. Too bad you didn't show it in your list. WAVES is terrible. You have to pay for every new release.. No way

But which of the UAD EQ plugins do you like. I have the Manley Massive, Pultec Pro, and the Neve 1173. I use them all in different situations, but the Manley is just great. Too bad it uses so much DSP. I don't use a lot of tracks, so I can get it on a lot of important tracks and stems. But it would be nice to be able to just throw one anywhere I wanted without thinking about it. Maybe another quad card some day.

audios Thu, 06/23/2011 - 04:41

Pretty much every plug they have accept the newest... lexicon 224 (which I have in the rack anyway)

SSL-4000 channel strip, EMT reverb, Precision mastering bundle, EMT Classic 250 verb, EMT plate, The Studer A800 tape recorder (unbelievable), Manley EQ, Trident "A" range EQ, NEVE 31102 EQ, Harrison 32C Channel EQ, SSL G series compressor, DBX 160 compressor, Teletronix LA-3A leveler, Cooper time Cube, SSL E series channel strip and the NEVE 88RS channel strip.

I have a networked G5 (dual core PPC) to my 6-core INTEL MAC that houses the UAD and 6TB of samples for Kontakt, EWSOL Play, Omnishpere and Reason, Stormdrum, Superior Drummer-2, etc., etc..

When running the DP DAW, with the UAD card and plugs on 20+ tracks, 6-8 instances of Kontakt and other VSTi's, my main MAC is running at about 5% capacity. the secret here is the "Quad" card. Supper fast processor and it doesn't rely on its host for DSP. Its all in the card.

e-mixmaster Sat, 11/03/2012 - 16:31

Hi there...

I really like the McDsp plugins, the equalizers are great. I have this approach: I grab the analog channel 2, and do some sort of equing with it, it has this curve you model the magnetic flux response sort of thing.

but antway... I really think that any decent analog equalizer sounds better than most plugins, they have this presence and grit, they make instruments stick out better.

[[url=http://[/URL]="http://e-mixmaster…"]Home - e-mixmaster.com[/]="http://e-mixmaster…"]Home - e-mixmaster.com[/]

hueseph Sat, 11/03/2012 - 21:48

BobRogers, post: 373188 wrote: But which of the UAD EQ plugins do you like. I have the Manley Massive, Pultec Pro, and the Neve 1173. I use them all in different situations, but the Manley is just great. Too bad it uses so much DSP. I don't use a lot of tracks, so I can get it on a lot of important tracks and stems. But it would be nice to be able to just throw one anywhere I wanted without thinking about it. Maybe another quad card some day.

You know they have an Octo card now? Talk about maxing your DSP. Expensive though. $1500 for just the card, $1900 for the custom with 3 plugins of your choice and $5500 for the ultimate with all of the plugs. Crazy good. Crazy expensive but cheaper than buying an HDX card.

Sorry for going off topic. I'm happy with the EQ in Sonar X2's pro channel but if I had to buy another one the Neve 1173 for UAD is nice. I have the Pultec Pro as well but it's kind of niche. Doesn't work on everything.

e-mixmaster Sun, 11/04/2012 - 09:15

lambchop, post: 364565 wrote: It's interesting that no one has mentioned the Sonnox EQ. I find that I use this one more than my other ITB EQ plugins. It's great for when you quickly want to make a bell curve, which I usually do when EQ'ing sax.

Ooops, I forgot those sonnox, they are very good indeed !

But any way, I really think real gear sounds best

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