I’m actually looking for a decent, perhaps free, EQ. Currently only have the use of auto filter and EQ 3 in live. Haven’t looked at eq8, if available for cheap or independently from upgrading, though. Used it before and like it though.
Any thoughts? Anyone?
9 posts were merged into an existing topic: Free plugins!
TDR Nova
FWIW, if I were going to pay for an EQ, I’d go to Izotope Neutron (I’m still on Alloy 2 myself, but Neutron adds some nice quality of life features basically). It’s got lots of different response options, I love that you have a dedicated sweep button, and when you find somewhere you want to eq a double click will drop a band right there at the level you have your mouse on. Adjust the q and level a bit and you’re on to the next thing. Bonus that you get some of the other stuff like a saturator, a compressor, a de-esser, and more. I don’t have to use that stuff often, but when I want a quick generic version of that processing it is nice to just have it there. 95% of the time I just use the EQ, and it’s still totally worth it.
If we are talking spend cash?
Hell go with FabFilter Pro-Q -
24 bands of eight types of filter, sidechaining functionality, EQ Matching, Linear Phase, Natural Phase and Zero Latency modes, left/right and mid/side operation, a piano keyboard X axis, analyzer freeze and spectrum grab, full-screen mode
Or
UAD Pultec EQP-1A
EQP-1A Program EQ, MEQ-5 Mid-Range EQ, HLF-3C Filters
Models entire electronic path, including tube amplifiers and transformers, for musical distortion
Silky, vintage highs and tight, focused lows using combined boost/cut resonant shelf dip with EQP-1A
Broad, overlapping frequency selections for fine peak and dip midrange filter control with the MEQ-5
12 dB cut filter tonal sculpting or special effects with the HLF-3C
Or go full on pro with a SSL channel eq…feel like a hypocrite bringing a free plugin back into the conversation, but there’s a few ssl imitation eq plugs out there.
Neutron does kick butts though!
doesnt EQ8 come with Live standard?
its not got a lot of “flavor” for that reason i like it for cutting frequencies, I’ll follow EQ8 with something that has some overtones like SoundToys SIE eq to boost and add some color.
Yeah think it does.
A lot of people love EQ8! I think I played around with ableton lite just to check out the EQ8 haha
im still using my super awesome,mega mongo,izitope plugs.The very last eq ultra jizz word in frequency masturbation…yeah…man!
EQ8 isn’t included in lite or intro (same thing now). If Ableton is gonna be your primary DAW you should definitely upgrade to standard or Suite if you can afford it, packed with good stuff.
A really popular option is Fabfilter pro-Q for the previously mentioned features. It has a visual representation of peaks which makes it simple to zero in on the freqs you want, takes a lot of the guesswork out. But once you start getting a memory for what tones go where you won’t actually need that. My issue with proQ is how much you need to boost or cut to start really hearing what you’re changing, especially for surgical cuts. The plugin will show I’m cutting something by 10dB but the same cut with EQ8 has more effect, at least to my ears. Luckily, proQ can do wayyyy more than 10dB changes so you can eventually get the same thing out of it, but to me it’s just annoying that it’s not as “quick”.
Even protools’ stock eq does cuts better and it’s just not as easy to use as most other modern sweepable eqs because of the limits to freq selection of the bands. It’s just that proQ feels gentler, which is why a lot of people like it, and all that flashy linear phase junk is cool too.
also, here’s something about phase shift: http://ethanwiner.com/EQPhase.html Phase shift is how any eq works, try not to get too caught up in that kinda talk.
That hurts my CPU to think about. On every track? 
ummmmm…there is that.mostly just the master when using isotope.
depends on which daw, ableton eq 8, reason ,uhbik i think.
Also, up to 24 bands, brickwall and tilt settings, per-band MS/LR processing with one click, dynamic EQing and even the CPU hit isn’t that bad. Makes it my absolute go-to if I’m not looking for something very specific different.
Spline EQ has some nice curve-drawing functions, Equivocate has nice automatic frequency split selection features, Sie-Q and Millennia NSEQ-2 have interesting coloring, but for me it’s still Pro-Q most of the time. EQ-8 is a good less flexible alternative, though, still use it sometimes when I’m in the Ableton plugin folder already.
Ya know I didn’t even know about any of that, that is pretty slick huh. MS/LR per band is very cool, also what is brickwall in terms of EQ, like a 100 percent steep low or hi pass?
Yeah, not sure how it works exactly but it’s like an ultra steep LP/HP.
A brickwall is supposed to be an infinitely steep filter. So at 19 hz you’d have -inf db of signal, then at 20 you’d have -0. You can’t implement that in analog because filters have to have a finite response on analog voltages, but you can do it digitally. The problem I find with them is that unless you implement them with linear phase, the phase gets really messed up around the cutoff point. And if you do linear phase you have to leave a pretty significant delay on it to avoid any artifacting, plus the usual weirdness of using linear phase filters. I really only use them when I need that precision for encoding to mp3 or something along those lines, though I suppose you could use them as an effect (similar to an all pass filter). I’ve tried a few times to find a good spectral filter along the lines of what you’d find in Izotope Iris, because that seems to be the best of both worlds, but I have yet to have luck. Nor would I want to try and mix a track in Iris.
It’s kind of a moot point, because I think brickwalls are too clean to mix with all over the place. A few places you might need to avoid aliasing, but really for general mixing I can get by with 48db/oct without having issues 99% of the time.
I use very steep filters sometimes for modulation but mostly just for HPing stuff until I’m really SURE those frequencies are completely dead and gone…
EQ 8 is the bee’s knees.
Yea it’s nice. I ended up down loading a lot of free stuff, turned out to be 32-bit.
So got this and used on my remix project for Date Night:
Seems pretty sweet by my initial usage. And totally free.
Auto gain = can’t complain
You say it’s free? Sounds good to me
Hi pass / Low pass duty I’m perfectly happy using Ableton auto filter.
I’m a big fan of Reese basslines and love using the UAD Pultec EQ attenuating to smooth things out, just the UAD old version, theres now updated versions but never felt the need to upgrade as I’ve finally gave up on all the marketing bull$hit.
Love softube brilliance pack for making the top end of instruments stick out in the mix, was recording my friend playing the hang drum the other day and once i added the Brilliance EQ i could really focus bringing out the sound of his finger tips hitting the metal, quite beautiful indeed.