Ladies and Germs,
Couple of quick questions on Waves GEQ. Do any of you use it? What kind of processor overhead are we looking at? I have used Blue Cat Audio’s parametric to eq some of my patches, but this is available for about $30.
Thanks!
Rick
Honestly, I rarely see a graphical EQ being useful. With powerful parametric EQs like FabFilter Pro-Q3, you can tailor your EQ curve a lot more intuitively and precisely.
To me, a GEQ is mainly a classic live sound tool where you want to quickly adapt the overall sound of a P.A. to resonances and eliminate feedbacks. Focus is on having a ton of EQ bands available quickly with no fuss. I own a couple of cheapo GEQs, but haven’t pulled them out since I invested in my Mackie mixers with full parametric and GEQ on every output.
In mixing or live VST playing, I haven’t yet seen a scenario where I’d reach out for a GEQ vst effect.
Cheers,
Torsten
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Waves has been off my radar now for years. At one time they were top of the heap but I can’t think of a single plugin the make now that I would consider essential. And at the very bottom of the heap is eq- there are thousands of eqs out there, some expensive, some free. Just pick one 
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Here- Voxengo quality, graphic and flippin’ free to boot:
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There is one that has become essential to me: The Ocean View Nashville plugin, combined with my NxTracker - both currently on sale individually and together, BTW.
This plugin has been a game changer for me - since my room isn’t acoustically treated, mixing especially the low end has been pretty hit-and-miss for me. Headphone mixing didn’t really cut it.
But with the Ocean View plugin I get a great studio acoustics experience through headphones - and with the head tracker, it actually feels like the speakers are on when I move my head. I’ve often caught myself checking if my speakers are really muted when I have head-tracking on.
The other Waves plugins I use regularly are VocalRider and BassRider - these save a ton of work when mixing.
Haven’t bothered with their EQs, comps and limiters recently - there’s better stuff available currently.
Just my 0.02 EUR
Cheers,
Torsten
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I second what @Torsten suggested. As long as we are talking about clean linear EQing there‘s nothing a GEQ can do that could not be done better by a good PEQ.
I used GEQs in the 80ies (Heavy Klark Stuff) at FOH and they were helpful but nothing of a precise tool. The idea of directly showing the frequency response when looking at the faders was tempting but at least totally misleading and there were quite some people who adjusted EQs optically instead of trusting their ears.
Modern human interfaces like the one from Fabfilter Q3 Torsten mentioned make adjustmemt super easy and fast and in most cases one or two precisely adjusted bands will do the trick.
For me: I don‘t miss GEQs.
My 2 cent,
Regards, Volker
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Gentlemen,
Thank you all for your thoughts. At $180, Fabfilter is out of my price range until the live music jobs market opens up more. But… I already own the Blue Cat parametric. So I think I’ll spend some free time playing with that.
Good Day!
Rick
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