This enables you to make broad-brush settings by answering a short series of simple questions such as whether you are expecting to run lots of instances in a busy mix, or whether you want ultimate sound quality for mastering. Rounding things off is the 'auto listen' option, which solos the band you're modifying, to assist with fine-tuning and locating problem frequencies. So that's what we've built. Then looking for upper mid frequency poke and settling around the 3kHz mark. There is also a great deal of flexibility about how all this power is accessed. Common to both tools is keen attention to detail, and a wealth of parameters covering every angle.
Each instance can contain up to 32 shelving, filtering, notch or peaking bands, operating in series or in parallel. I just got equilibrium a couple weeks ago and it has a lot more stuff to mess with in it. Digital+ now has a resizable +, in that you can configure the degree of compensation, and freely tune it. That being said, they are both amazing, and using either one would suit 99% of needs perfectly. There are also comprehensive metering options. Finally, Minimum Phase shifts the energy of the impulse response to the start, so there's no delay and minimal transient smearing. But that's not half the story, and I could have gone much further.
I wanted to make a bold statement about what the future should look like - about reclaiming all that was good about the past, and simply adding more. Snare drum: Soloing the snare drum and looking for depth around the 150Hz mark - settling on 133Hz. Or just interesting settings that bring some vibe. From what I've seen, he doesn't release anything until it's reached it's full potential as a plugin, which leads to me being very excited any time he does release something, because it's almost always going to be completely different to anything else on the market. Graphs, knobs, keyboards, textboxes, tooltips, the whole gamut is in there, and can be arranged to suit you.
Only to then make it even more flexible. The settings the Setup Wizard determines can then be fine-tuned later through the plug-in's preferences. There is also a great deal of flexibility about how all this power is accessed. I don't really understand the purpose of them. If you know the key of the song you're working on, you can use this for all sorts of advanced tonal work - notching up 'in-key' frequencies in drums, for example, or, conversely, notching out dissonant ones.
I could even have set up multiple bands targeting the fundamental and the harmonics, and grouped them to be moved up and down with one swoop of a mouse. And if one particular bass note had been boomy, I could have used Equilibrium's musical keyboard to track it down. I could even have set up multiple bands targeting the fundamental and the harmonics, and grouped them to be moved up and down with one swoop of a mouse. This is a plug-in that can be modified on an unprecedented scale and level of detail. Kick drum: Focusing just on the dry close-miked kick drum. Next up, you'll find that the shelving bands have their own Shift knob, with which you can move their points of resonance.
For others, it's the user interface that is of primary importance, enabling them to get the right results as fast as possible. It does a good job of leading you to obvious tonal issues. The Setup Wizard takes nearly all of the hard work out of setting up the plug-in to your taste, and in practice, there were only a couple of times when I found myself struggling to track down the correct preference to deal with some bit of user-interface behaviour I wanted to change. I prefer to see things as a tool which achieves a few things rather than a do all. Not only do these have the usual centre points that can be picked up and moved around using the mouse, but also floating tooltips that appear when selected, allowing you to change their shape, algorithm and so on. Well, the only real answer is that it sounds like you want it to sound. So how does it sound? Finally, using the shift feature to move all frequencies first up to 2x then down to half the original chosen frequencies.
Upon first glance, I still prefer Fabfilters interface. Starting with the low frequencies and using a bell shape and auto listen sweep to find a good frequency. The Linear Phase option gives zero phase distortion but with some processing latency. It'll also appear as a marker on a piano keyboard, if you've activated that option. Then using the gain range to cut then boost all frequencies. Finally, setting one of the low cut filters to remove the excess created by the 50Hz boost - around the 30Hz mark.
It's not photos of gear that bring vibe - it's the soul, the curves! You don't need more than a quick browse of the manual to realise that Equilibrium is unquestionably the most heavily featured and the most flexible equaliser ever made, and not by a small margin. Equilibrium is thus the first plug-in I've ever seen that has its own Setup Wizard. Finally, a couple of operations can be applied to all bands at once: gain scaling up and down, and frequency shifting left and right. Or select to follow the 1st, 2nd, or 3rd harmonic — perfect for keeping single notes from sticking out more than others. Oh, and each instance of Equilibrium supports not only A and B settings pages for comparison, but C, D, E, F, G and H too! For those who own both, what do you perceive are the pro's and cons of both plugins, and what role does each plugin play in your productions? The possibilities are truly endless, and the only real down side to Equilibrium's unparalleled flexibility is the endless temptation to persist in tweaking settings, in the hope of making it sound even better! Equilibrium has its own Setup Wizard. This last novel feature simply relates the frequency of each band to pitch, and dragging the marker along the keyboard snaps the frequency to each precise note.