GEQ Curves

[wesg]

Are all 1/3 octave GEQs (of the non-crap variety) created equal?

 

The numbers above sliders indicate the center point of the EQ curve, but I can't seem to find specs anywhere about the "Q" (bandwidth). It seems to me that a wider bandwidth would be better for some applications (tonal shaping) and a narrower bandwidth would be more useful for others (feedback).

 

Is this information published anywhere?

 

The dbx stuff has a switch that affects gain (6dB or 15dB), does that switch affect bandwidth as well?

 

Thanks,

Wes

 

[Axisplayer]

You have probably read this before, but it covers some of the question.

 

http://www.rane.com/note101.html

[wesg]

Thanks: that was a VERY informative read. It turns out that all my EQs are of the Constant-Q variety, so they are more-or-less "all created equal".

 

Wes

[Axisplayer]

Glad it helped you. Rane notes are usually very good information.

[dboomer]

Back in about 2005 we did a pretty extensive study of the then available GEQs and measured about 2 dozen for Q. I don't have the info any more but it was widely posted as "Bink's Eq shootout". Maybe it's still hanging around somewhere. As I recall the Yamaha units had the widest filters.

[Dogoth]

I believe White Audio made a graphic that had an interesting feature. When you brought two adjacent sliders down, it actually moved the center frequency between the two (by varying which slider had more cut, you could in effect sweep the center freq up and down). I'd guess it also made for a wider bandwidth filter. Great idea really. I just remember White Audio gear was really expensive (long gone now).

[dboomer]

Most GEQs act like that.