LIST YOUR BEST SOUNDING EQ PLUGS

[pweaver]

Hey gang,

The thread on people selling their Waves plugs got me thinking,
personally there are some Waves plugs I love.

However . . . please list your best sounding EQ plugins and
maybe some comments on why you like them.

Thanks!

[Teacher]

UAD- PEQ- Just sounds great boost in the high end makes you do this instead of this dfegad

PSP MasterQ-has alot of cool algo's that change the sound slighty, high end is sweet to, not as sweet as the PEQ though

UAD Pultec/Pro- lot of character just by adding it to the track and the boosts sound great.

Sonalksis Dynamic EQ- sounds good i'll use it more on buses then individual tracks.

Samplitude stock eq- sounds decent and uses almost no CPU

[Revelation]

Waves Ren EQ smooths things out

UAD Cambridge is a good all around EQ

UAD Pultec Pro. Makes tracks sound better just by turning it on.

Waves Mastering EQ: Transparent EQ that adds no artifacts.

[Kubilay]

URS A series: sounds big and bold

URS N series: sounds SUPERsweet

(Both URS are "hyper-euphonic"; very much color the source beyond just EQing.)

Tritone Digital Hydratone: Great sounding, insanely versatile and tweakable, a bit less "euphonic" than the URS, which can be a very good thing.

To me, all three of these really take what I expect from plug-ins to an entirely different level. I was blown away when I demoed them. They all offer free demo, so try them out.

PS: Honorable mention to MOTU Masterworks EQ (built into DP) which is surprisingly versatile and useful. And I still use my RennEQ, albeit not nearly as much as I used to.

[spherop]

Voxengo
curve eq
Glisseq
Harmonieq
UAD
pultecpro
Kjaerus
GEQ

[Teddy Gee]

Originally posted by Kubilay
URS A series: sounds big and bold

URS N series: sounds SUPERsweet

(Both URS are "hyper-euphonic"; very much color the source beyond just EQing.)

Tritone Digital Hydratone: Great sounding, insanely versatile and tweakable, a bit less "euphonic" than the URS, which can be a very good thing.

To me, all three of these really take what I expect from plug-ins to an entirely different level. I was blown away when I demoed them. They all offer free demo, so try them out.

PS: Honorable mention to MOTU Masterworks EQ (built into DP) which is surprisingly versatile and useful. And I still use my RennEQ, albeit not nearly as much as I used to.

Wow!! Gotta second all of the above. I think those three plugs (URS and Hydra) really have taken native plugs to a new level!
Also was pretty surprised by how sweet the MWEQ built into DP4.5 was, light years beyond the othe MW stuff in DP.

Also agree on PEQ, and Pultec-Pro on my UAD-1........add my vote for Equim from Elemental Audio and you have all the software Eq's I use. (Used to use the Waves Ren EQ's before I uninstalled my bundle in personal protest of Waves utterly ridiculous pricing/upgrade path)

Stephen

[davemc]

MDW
Sony
Filterbank.
URS only used demos not the same as reall but nice I just drawn a line on buying more plugins at the moment.

On waves stuff. Its ok. Just not up there with the new plugins on the block..
The bundle starting out is great value for money.
Then comes the paid upgrades etc etc and the fact that a lot of plugs out there are better...

For TDM if starting out. demo them all and see what you like.

[bobby yarrow]

Demoing the URS A & N right now. The N is a must, for me. I might be able to hold off on the A.

Love the UAD pultec. Haven't felt the need to upgrade to the 'pro' -- the plugin pretty well gives me what I want from a pultec.

And, for fairly colorless eq, I'm loving the PSP MasterQ.

[DaveC]

1-Waves QClone (not just to piss off all the Waves-haters )
2-BF Pultec (only for cutting, not boosting)
3-Sonalksis SV-517
4-McDSP Filterbank
5-Voxengo Lampthruster (very overlooked)
6-Waves RVox (not an EQ but a compressor; it colors the
sound in a most pleasing way, especially on vocals!)

[Toad]

urs

[bobby yarrow]

Originally posted by Toad
urs

The N is definitely staying. If anybody wants to give a shot at talking me into the A, well, it's my birthday, and there is a slight discount on buying the pair . . .

[Bang]

I'm very much a fan of analog eq, I use Neve, Midas, and API at the moment. Having said that, I do use a few good plugin eqs:

The MUST HAVES are:
Sonalksis 517 -- very thick and rich, great on guitars and drums, and some vox, too colorful for mastering

Equium - this thing rocks on vocals when a tiny bit of sweetening is needed, the harmonic feature is amazing on drums and bass when you want to bring out the note of the tom or key of the song in the bass, also sounds great and transparent for mastering

URS Neve-- very colorful, very good track eq, nice on vox too.

Valvetone-- little two band job that has magic in its knobs, vox, overheads are super

Pultec UAD- can be a bit muddy and awkward sounding if overdone, but can give a nice character to vocals. Found it too muddy on bass

McDsP Filterbank: simply rocks on most everything, very versatile and musical

I STAY AWAY from:

Waves Ren EQ: cloudy, grainy, makes this smaller

Cambridge eq: everything from above but take away cloudy and add phasey

Sony Oxford: Holy shit he put Sony Oxford in his stay away column, he must have lupus or maybe even an infected pancreas... but no, the Oxford is an eq that tends to overly GLOSS THINGS up. Maybe I'd use .5 db of top and bottom on a whole mix, but any more then that and its just way too much. Use it on individual tracks in a mix and forget about it, the whole mix starts to get papery and 2D. my 2 cents...

Steve
www.bangrecording.com
www.blacklinerock.com

[thermos]

Valvetone, Hydratone, (and the forthcoming angeltone) hands down the best. The urs classic ones are also good, especially the A series. Sonalksis is 3rd best for me (I'm a mac guy so haven't heard voxengo).
Waves ren eq is not so high on the list anymore. Its probably the same or a little worse than the built in masterworks eq in DP.

[ihate100bees]

I'd say the UAD Cambridge is the nicest EQ plug I own, at this point. Although I know the UAD Precision is pretty nice.

[JulianBrightnes]

Waves RenEQ!

And for just shelving a bit of hi or lo frequencies I love the Meequalizer.
I always am tempted to look at the interface too much if I have a plug like Ren eq. I start thinking: "that's propably too much mid I cut there" and I feel tempted to adjust it. EQ with your ears.
But still it's Ren EQ for me!

Cheerio Julian

[JulianBrightnes]

BTW, small question:

Anyone tried Logic's 'matching eq'. I had to remake (e.g. ripp-off) some sixties track for a commercial and used it over the mix, worked kind of ok for me...Just curious what people think about it.

Cheers, Julian

[scott petito]

I like the UAD Pultec both flavors..i need to find some time to try the precision eq...

I agree with ,I think it was Steve on the Cambridge...It just sounds a bit phasey to me...especially compared to a MDW.. but I do use it on some sources

ditto for the oxford.. a bit glassy...interestingly I use a dmx r100 and the console eq is much nicer then the oxford to me...

the waves Renn eq...bleck...! plugged them in a couple of time and ripped them right out.. but I do like the renn compressor for some things.. I really do like the multiband stuff especially the limiter...

is the equim available for macs? that sounds interesting

cheers
SP

[six_wax]

Originally Posted by Bang

I STAY AWAY from:

Waves Ren EQ: cloudy, grainy, makes this smaller

Sony Oxford: Holy shit he put Sony Oxford in his stay away column, he must have lupus or maybe even an infected pancreas... but no, the Oxford is an eq that tends to overly GLOSS THINGS up. Maybe I'd use .5 db of top and bottom on a whole mix, but any more then that and its just way too much. Use it on individual tracks in a mix and forget about it, the whole mix starts to get papery and 2D. my 2 cents...

Interesting observations... I don't mind cutting with RenEQ, but hate to boost with it.

re: Oxford... I think my gut has been trying to tell me for a couple months what you just articulated. Interesting. I think it kind of 'hardens' a signal, flattening it a bit. Still one of the smoother more surgical soft EQs I've heard.

I spent yesterday afternoon "mastering" a few projects with a Weiss EQ-1. Now that is just a ridiculous EQ.

[Robert Randolph]

JMS Audioware Hi-res EQ
Sonalksis
Sawstudio Graphic Equalizer


And I like curveEQ a lot but rarely use it anymore since Ive found much better sound in the system native eq's I have handy

[Ruudman]

URS N12, Forte 110, MDW, Hydratone.

Is this the everlasting theme or what?

While I think it's kinda' boring, I react as a proper slut

and answer when spoken to..


ruudman

[007]

I really dig the Sonalksis, they're just a bit CPU hungry for my sad G4. I bought the 4-pack bundle a few months ago, now trying to sell them, as I can't use them the way I had intended to. I think the REN eq's from Waves are great swiss-army eq's, they sound just fine to my ears. I've demoed MCDSP, URS, Sony, and when they'd all expired, I reverted to my Ren eq and realized it sounded just as good, only it's not as new, lots of sonic placebo when trying new things. That said, I really enjoyed the URS Mix and S series, more so than the A and N.

[Bang]

Waves Renn is very nice at first, but its when you pile it on a bunch of tracks that things start sounding more "digital".

I just used a Weiss EQ to do a master and agree that it is a phenomenal piece, wish he ported it over to plugin land.

Steve
www.bangrecording.com
www.blacklinerock.com

[RoundBadge]

I'll use the Urs[they sure ain't Neves or API's!but less offensive than most] ,sony,hydra.mdw maybe FB or the Waves stuff ..But only when I really have to ie: run out of real eq's....[Eq & comp plugs are kinda frustrating to me - more of them sound like a simulations with a little layer of plastic coating on top ]
I'm hopeful someday they'll get em right stike

[aaronsternke]

URS... wow.

I had previously used Waves Ren EQ... wondered why my ITB mixes sucked so badly...

Bought an ilok today, to try out the URS stuff, and WOW... I didn't know what I was missing. Never, ever, will I ever go back! It's still a compromise compared to an analog EQ, but gosh it's so much better than what I was using.

Demo'd Hydratone too, loved it. Bummer that it has a BEEP in the demo (trying to get away with just using the demos for this mix)... it's only $149, that's a steal, I'm buying it for sure.

I'm not in EQ hell anymore!


Aaron

[BrianBrian]

UAD PultecPro, Precision EQ, Cambridge (only for its hi/lo filters!)

Tritone Valvetone, Hydratone...purty colors.

Voxengo GlissEQ, HarmoniEQ (excellent hi-freq boosts from 15Khz on up)

Sonalksis DQ1...even rocks in static mode...smoothness for days!

[Charlie-O]

For Drums (mpc4000): Bass/Kick-Urs S series, Snare-Urs N, Forte 110

Vocals: Urs N, S

Mix Bus: Urs N, and thier pultec emulation Mmm Mmm good!


On a side note, the compression and gating sound really really good, on sequenced drums! The closest to that ssl hiphop sound.

[ISedlacek]

URS may sound good but the iLok nuisance (including demo !!) is unacceptable for me. Having iLok from MachFive, I tried. It took me literally two hours with no result. Creating iLok account: I don´t use IE browser, I use Opera - "iLok error", supports only IE". OK. I had to re-register my account, since they made some upgrades on iLok site. Downloading and installing iLok software, registering at URS, downloading THEIR registering software, returning to iLok.com, synchronizing iLok - Opera is being automatically opened all the time (why ? when it supports only IE ??). FInally, after endless waiting, some fatal Windows error happens when registering the licenses - iLok has problems with Czech Windows version.
Sorry, enough. I made my best efforts - no, this is not the way how customers should be handled and highly bothered. Such an annoying nuisance ... Good bye, URS ! Not interested any more

I will be happy with Hydratone, Voxengo and Sonalksis. And, of course, with my Millennia NSEQ ...

[kieran kelly]

no one seems to be talking about how hydratone takes so much CPU power

[Ruudman]

It sure is a hog, ditto on that.
I look forward to their Phasetone plug


ruudman

[aaronsternke]

From everything I've read... seems like most ilok problems are on Windows machines. Macs = Happy!