Regarding the FabFilter Pro-Q 2, anyone here uses it?

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I downloaded a demo of the FabFilter Pro-Q 2 EQ Plugin and tried it on one of my songs.

I am not too much of a fan of Graphics like EQ but I also love the simplicity. Q, Gain and Freq and that's it.

No tricky dance moves.

 

Anyone here uses this plugin?

 

Thanks

[144dB]

I own it and I absolutely love it. I use it more than any other EQ plugin I have, and I have quite a few (Cambridge, Waves Renaissance, Q10, UAD Pultec, PSP McQ and ConsoleQ, etc). The user interface is awesome, and it's one of those rare plugins that I learn something from.

 

 

Even if I choose a different EQ for a certain sound, chances are I will try it first with the Pro Q2 just to get a visual and an understanding of what's happening. For the price they ask, it's a steal.

[BlueGreene]

I use Live 9 and while the 'stock' EQ8 has most if not all the features, I've noticed that Pro Q (I don't have pro Q 2) sounds a LOT better when applying a ton of gain. I tend to only use it in those scenarios where I'm looking to heavily Q and crank one area to emphasize its natural peaks (usually a clap), for two reasons; I assume it takes more CPU, and it's in a separate window, just another thing to open up and keep track of, especially when you have multiple EQs in the signal chain. The less ways to get confused, the better.

[BlueGreene]

When you mention the graphics, are you talking about the built-in RTA? Or maybe the color codes?

 

When Live went from 8 to 9, one of the many upgrades was the RTA for the native parametric EQs (IIRC). Extremely powerful learning tool and also maybe a crutch for live sound, but overall an awesome tool. I've learned a LOT about synthesis by pulling up a full screen RTA when making patches, when analyzing sidechains, setting HPF/LPF, etc. Adding a visual element in learning while developing an ear is pretty cool.

 

Also, having the undo-redo options (in proQ) are nice. Just removing those from the DAWs edit history is fun to play with.

 

At the end of the day though, is it going to help us make better music? Have you found yourself bumping into a limitation with the EQs you're currently using? Lord knows I've fallen into the trap of thinking "If I only buy X, I'll be making better music in no time!"

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When you mention the graphics' date=' are you talking about the built-in RTA? Or maybe the color codes?[/quote']

 

Thank you!

 

I am referring to the UI, meaning the graph.

 

What I really love about Pro-Q2 is how you can dial the Frequency or Q.

It's easy to use and easy to find areas where the EQ is affecting simply by dragging the node or dialing a control.

 

 

 

At the end of the day though, is it going to help us make better music? Have you found yourself bumping into a limitation with the EQs you're currently using? Lord knows I've fallen into the trap of thinking "If I only buy X, I'll be making better music in no time!"

 

Very true statement.

I currently use Sonar Platinum default EQ, Sonitus. But I hate the way the UI is.

For example, you cannot dial in a Frequency or Q.

 

For surgical processes, it can take a bit of adjustments but most importantly, I am just looking for options. I need a single EQ I can use as go to for most things across multiple DAW so that my sound is consistent.

 

I have never used any other Plugin outside of what Sonar has, so this will be new for me.

 

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Also PRO-Q2 has the Auto Gain feature. This is the best feature I have seen on any sound manipulation Plugin.

Focus on the sound sculpting rather than the Gain.

[BlueGreene]

Focus on the sound sculpting rather than the Gain.

 

Auto gain just keeps the output at a consistent level? Certainly can be handy, but that's what the meters are for, no? I don't know cubase at all, but live has little tiny meters after every device.

 

I kinda see myself getting into trouble, depending on what's going on of course. If the output gain is changing as you're moving bands around, things are shifting outside your specific choice. For example, if you're high passing a bass line and moving the filter-point down as it comes in, the higher harmonics will be louder before you bring in the low frequency information [assuming I'm understanding this right in the first place]. I think that would throw off a bunch of stuff down the signal path and whole mix itself.

 

Even if I wasn't automating the EQ, I think it's just good practice to manually adjust the gain when you make EQ adjustments. That way, there's more awareness of what you're changing coming out of the unit. If your ear gets accustom to not paying attention to gain changes in EQ, what happens when your synth patches change output gain as your tweaking them (and you've already set compression thresholds)?

 

But... They have an on/off button for a reason I suppose... They put it there for a reason and undoubtedly know way more than I.

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Auto gain just keeps the output at a consistent level? Certainly can be handy, but that's what the meters are for.

 

When I am experimenting with EQ at different levels of a mix, the last thing I want to worry about is clipping. I am not using auto gain as a way to mix a sound but rather to prevent clipping when things are turn up during experimentation, I can simply grab an EQ and drag it around.

 

I went ahead and purchased the Plug-in after trying it on a mix. I think this is going to be my go to EQ outside from Mastering.

 

Thank you so much for you input.