Pro Tip: FabFilter Pro-Q has had the ability to drag bands vertically or horizontally exclusively since version 1 almost a decade ago. Simply press and hold ALT before dragging either horizontally or vertically and it locks to the respective movement direction. Alternatively, hold CTRL to exclusively move horizontally while still having full control over Q width (up or down movement with the mouse).
I think one aspect people are missing is that this plugin is great for those who have or are looking at the Slate Digital Everything Bundle. Having this included in there with no change to the monthly cost is a huge win.
I have the Slate monthly subscription and this is in it. It's quite possibly the only EQ you will ever need lol. I am simply amazed at the amount of manipulation you can get with this thing. I ran it through some of my guitar tones on TH-U Slate and damn you can really get some amazing tones for your guitar or whatever instrument you run. I haven't messed with it using Synths and making electronic tunes yet. Gonna play around with doing that here in a bit.
Raven owner here! It’s an incredible product that has excellent synergy and satisfies my need for touch. It has excellent synergy with most all the major plugin providers, and even plays nicely (multitouch) with the Apollo console!
@@jsaulkane5893 That would be easy to show. REAPER puts that all in one easy place, but it combines the core usage, so it can be a bit deceiving if you don't know how it works.
Thanks for cruising through it a little and letting us watch. I just used it a couple nights ago and didnt have much time but was super impressed. Slate is looking very good
Honestly very happy about that. I didn't want to spend the money on the FabFilter ProQ but I already have the all-access pass monthly subscription from Slate, soo, that's pretty cool!
The dual Q factors have always been something I've desired in EQ plugins, this is definitely a game changer and may very well replace Pro-Q for me, not sure if they have dynamic EQing in this plugin to replace some of the newer features in Pro-Q 3, and something I personally admire in A.O.M's tranQuilizr G2 is the ability to go beneath the 10-30hz limit most EQ plugins have (including fabfilter) and something I've also desired quite a bit in other EQ plugins are the different combs filters found in Surfer EQ 2, if it had all of these aspects I think it'd definitely be the most complete 'all-in-one' EQ possible. Of course most of these are novelty features that only come into play a portion of the time, but I still think they're under-thought for the additional amount of creative control they can add to a track. ps: this is probably the best darude sandstorm ive heard so far, never knew darude was such an avid user of the club penguin daw
great demo! been using this one on my latest production and I love it. I still prefer ProQ (specifically the v3) for specific things (quick mastering EQ that also involves some dynamic compression, also simply the fact that I'm more familiar with FF's interface and workflow, for now), but since this is included in the All Access Pass from Slate it's a tough competitor nonetheless!
Easy on the eyes and easy to use. My two most important factors. If it delivers what it promises, then it's a must-own VST. Infinity EQ hits all the marks. I really like it, and just wanted to see what you thought of it too. Great stuff.
It's getting to a point that just paying for Slate Complete is almost all you need at all for any plugins. If I was starting from scratch, I'd just get Slate complete and call it a day, but I have too much tied up in other products to justify it now.
That's the trap. You're lucky you didn't fall for it. It's all pretty substandard stuff. I won't do subs, or iLok. Period. Even if it's free iLok software like LUNA. You're much better off with PluginAlliance. They've got some of the best (next to UAD) in-the-box solutions available. elysia and brainworx both make extraordinary emulations that Slate just can't touch. I've found the Plugin Alliance versions to be of nearly the same quality as the UAD versions-you just don't get the real-time processing and Unison technology. Plus, they offer a monthly sub or a rent-to-own option. If I was starting from scratch, I'd definitely go for the FF Total Bundle, an Apollo with the Analog Classics bundle, the Plugin Alliance RTO option, and, if I could have only one mic, a Sphere L22. That combo gets you near perfect (or better in the case of the L22) emulations of millions of dollars/euros/pounds/rubles worth of mics and gear. I think FF is really losing a lot of money to Slate, PluginAlliance, and others by not offering a rent-to-own option for the TB. That seems to be the favored way to buy. Make your opinion known here: www.fabfilter.com/forum/3253/splice-rent-to-own?replies=95#comment13527 The Townsend Labs Sphere L22 mic modeling system is another example of Slate hype vs. real quality. The Slate VMS is a complete rip-off. You don't even get one decent sounding mic, let alone the collection they claim to emulate. The L22 usually sounds better than most of the original mics in use today, is a truly revolutionary system, and they keep adding value. The L22 has all the depth, openness, warmth, shimmer, and quality of the originals, plus lets you blend two mics or record in stereo. The VMS sounds choked, has no clarity, and sticks out like a sore thumb in blind tests, but good ol' Steve has the kiddies lining up with their lunch money anyway. Go figure.
@@xaosnox I haven't seen anything from Slate that actually impressed me or wasn't done better by another company. The FF Total Bundle is waaaaay better value than anything Slate can offer. Also, why would someone pay $20 a month in perpetuity? That's eventually going to be thousands and thousands over a lifetime when you can just get FF Total Bundle for like 999.
I tried to compare soundwise Q3 and inf EQ - i was impressed especially when it comes to mid side processing - i liked inf eq better .. but still i love q3 .. lets see what the next test bring out ;)
haven't dl'd it yet but it looks promising. especially the sliding m-s mode but it is missing dynamic eq - I use at least 50% if not more dynamic eq ...
It's a pretty good EQ, the next logical feature would be to make it a DynamicEQ. At this point, I feel like any new EQ that's not an analogue emulation of something might as well be a DynamicEQ, because why not?
Have you ever looked at Surfer EQ? Oak Felder raved about the side-chain dynamic EQ, but that was back in 2018, and I'm curious if there are other EQs that do side-chain dynamic EQ just as well or better.
Try doing things like holding CTRL or ALT or SHIFT (or CTRL+ALT) at the same time when using FabFilter ProQ3. You can do all of these things you liked about the Slate sliders.
Imo I think what’s next is to have the presets to be influenced on the fly by the type of track it’s working on. Maybe it’ll work by labeling the track first ,the plugin will recognize the name and the preset will adjust or the plugin will have listening features like what izotope does. Idk
@@kiillabytez i mean first of all yeah the developer has to add sidechaining in order to sidechain with their plugin but also you should probably google what dynamic eq is since you seem to have missed the point completely (three years after I made the suggestion)
1:04, 4:18 ... how to milk a boring cow (how enthousiastic the cow got 5:43). Thank you for this great video showing up in my recommendations. It’s quality content. Thank you RU-vid algorithm.
Wytse, have you ever checked out Acon Digitals Equalize 2. It is an EQ plugin strangely nobody talks about. In the mass of EQ plugins out there, I didn't find any EQ like this. You can set M/S/L/R/STEREO bands individually for each channel. It has an efficient and intuitive design. You can shape the curves in every possible way and it has a freely settable latency time. You can even select a number of bands and move them simultaneously or connect the bandwidth to the gain parameter. I think this thing could be really interesting for you.
Does it have the dynamic EQ ability like ProQ 3 though? You know, the thing where you kind of have an compressor on every single band that you can use to make it do stuff in relation to the level of the incoming signal? Is that what you call "dynamic" or is it another name? :D
I'm quite impressed with what I'm seeing here. My one thought is that, while I can see how embedded mid/side filtering would be great for mastering, I can say it's not the way to go with REmastering. Too many old recordings are an ungodly mess and you need to handle EQ duties between mid and side very differently. But, remastring is it's own beast to deal with.
I've never thought about that before as I've never been in the position to remaster anything old. I may try it for fun and to practice my audio engineering ear with. I absolutely love playing with sound and getting in depth with design. I could imagine getting and old messy recording to sound crisp and clear could be a fun challenge!
@@foxeguitar8020 That's actually how I figured it out. I took a favorite old album I knew had issues (minimal budget + deadline = subpar studio choices, etc.) and started sorting out ways to fix it. I quickly started noticing other issues with other albums. I then started hating how some albums were mastered or even "remastered" in the '90s (why emphasize harsh highs in that 3 kHz to 6 kHz range???). But, seriously. Set up a mid/side split for anything you can and play with it. But, it's very handy for mastering and especially remastering. Also, it was noted in an AES webinar I attended last month that all vinyl ends up mastered in mid/side. (It also fixes earbud binaural mix issues)
Ist halt echt super, dass man den Zugriff sofort und relativ günstig bekommt und Slate so auch Kundschaft a greift, auf die Fabfilter halt aktuell noch scheißt :)
Great vid. The straight-line dragging of horizontal frequency vs vertical gain is a super welcome feature. However, what guarantees I will not buy this plugin is the lack of a Dynamic mode (I know dynamic eq has already been declared snake oil). I feel dynamics is a modern must-have feature, and consequently, I would even prefer the F6 over infinity, despite it's limited # of bands.
Yep! Pro Q3 has its phase modes, and dynamic eq features. the two things i feel the slate EQ should really have. and no sidechain between each instance of the eq to see where sounds collide. no EQ matching either. And this infinity EQ doesn't have anything really unique, But its workflow feels quick and easy to use. But i use linear phase mode on pretty much everything i want to bring to the front except for drums. So to bad the "Infinity" EQ doesn't have Infinite versatility.
@@DJayFreeDoo >> *this infinity EQ doesn't have anything really unique* Well, actually it does. But strangely enough, for some reason Slate does not advertise these features in any way. This is the only (known to me) equalizer that has the ability to change the slope of any filter to absolutely any value between 0.01 dB/Oct and 120 db/Oct. It's also the only equalizer with zero latency that's completely free of any bell cramping at the frequency border. Any Q for any slope of the cut, shelves with double Q, the ability to simultaneously equalize the Mid and Side (or Left and Right) in the same band. Even such a small thing as the band width in semitones - they were the first who thought of this seemingly obvious idea. That is, indeed, there are enough unique features that no one else has implemented. But somehow marketing almost completely ignores it all. The only thing I really miss is a variable phase, for complete flexibility. Not the way FabFilter does it, but the way iZotope does it, with the ability to set any arbitrary phase. But considering what Slate wrote on the GS forum, we can hope that over time this equalizer will acquire new functionality.
@@EG_John Pro q 3 can: do the double Q thing by default, if you don't want that you just do a shelf and a bell if you only want one Q so to speak, It can, boost sides and cut mid at the same time and vice versa. just takes two bands to do it and move one down and the other up, select both and adjust the gain knob. more tedious but it can be done. same with L/R ofc. Sure you can't see semitones on the Q value in pro Q 3. but you can select the pianoroll button and it will display notes and semitones when moving the bands around. However, that 120db/oct slopes it doesn't have, unless the brickwall setting reaches that far. but that's not every band. But when making such steep slopes you might want to enable linear phase mode which is where pro q comes in again. Sure the slopes are in steps on pro q and its nice to be able to have more in-betweens, but the steps have been any enough so i haven't really thought about needing more of that. But maybe i will miss it once i get used to it. About bellcramping, it doesn't appear to happen with pro q 3. Maybe i've said this before but i do like the interface on the infinity EQ. But there is one button that's greyed out all the time. haven't figured that one out yet. will have to look in the manual. edit: ok so its grouping bands to stay grouped after deselected. thats neat. i guess it will work for automations to kinda ride the eq along note changes. Edit 2: Aparently you can't do automate them as a group with one automation track even when grouped or grouped and locked. Missed opportunity there.
@@DJayFreeDoo I'll tell you right away that I use and will use all the equalizers that I have depending on the task. Somewhere it will be Pro Q, somewhere it will be Nova, and somewhere Inf EQ. So, I'm just answering to your points, without a goal to somehow challenge your experience. >> *Pro q 3 can: do the double Q thing by default* It has two resonance peaks, but only one Q. If you want to change the Q separately, as you noticed yourself, you'll need a workaround. >> *The whole list of workarounds you've listed I won't address, I'll group them all under one line.* You see, any digital equalizer can achieve any result. Just use more bands for complex shapes and a steeper slope. Just use a mid-side decoder in the effect chain to get MS functionality. Or several different equalizers in series. But it's not about fundamental ability to achieve the same result, it's about how you interact with the equalizer. It's about your workflow. You can do one quick action or ten small ones just to get the same result. It's up to you to decide for yourself, whether it's convenient for you to do a few different things or just one thing to achieve the same result. >> *But when making such steep slopes you might want to enable linear phase mode* The phase I want will depend on the frequency I am working with. And it's likely to be a mixed phase. So I don't need a linear equaliser here, I need an equaliser with an arbitrary phase. And right now I miss it. Only iZotope and Acon are doing something quite close to what I need. >> *Sure the slopes are in steps on pro q and its nice to be able to have more in-betweens, but the steps have been any enough so i haven't really thought about needing more of that* And not just in-between. But also smaller values, less than 6dB/Oct. And no steps makes automation much more appropriate. >> *About bellcramping, it doesn't appear to happen with pro q 3* The Pro Q has a special natural phase mode, it is particularly developed to get rid of bellcramping. In minimum phase mode the shape of the bell is distorted, but not as much as most simpler equalisers. However, it is still distorted, which clearly shows the difference in algorithms between Pro Q and Inf EQ. >> *Aparently you can't do automate them as a group with one automation track even when grouped or grouped and locked. Missed opportunity there.* You can automate it, but only in automation recording mode. So I generally agree that this is a missed opportunity.
@@EG_John I think i've mentioned workflow somewhere. some things are faster to do in pro q, some things are faster in infinity EQ. The bell cramping thing is something i guess i'll have to learn more about. the only solution for that i can think of is upsampling, but that would introduce higher latency and the latency between pro q 3 in zero latency mode and infinity eq in is the same.
I told Steven Slate I was going to replace all of my Fabfilter EQs with Infinity and see what happens. Ok, you gave me the push. I have the all access pass, so I might as well get off my mental butt
It’s got some nice graphics. Looks modern but similar to fabfilter. Skeuomorphic user interfaces will go the way of the dodo’s😁, you’ve got to have vector graphics these days!
Looking good but Q3 is still ahead due to the dynamic EQing and using the spectrum analysis to quickly find a trouble frequency. I liked the way Slate implemented the mid/side processing though. But that's about the only thing it does better than Q3 imo.
Hi, can you talk about the phase changes caused by EQing, I'm interested in the principle behind it and is that really able to hear that difference if not in an extreme situation?
I would still stay with Fabfilter, to me it's the best ITB surgical EQ. Although I wish it gives more control on the dynamics and allow sidechain input for it.
Great demonstration and discussion on the obvious comparisons between the Slate and Fab Filter products. I hope that Fab Filter will be forced to do something about their pricing now, I realise their plug ins are more focused on the professional market but their flag ship product has very serious competition now.
Probably the only EQ that can beat Pro-Q³. All DMG products are exceptional, made with love, and are way ahead of their time. My version of EQuilibrium came out in 2013, and it has all the analogue character you could want with a pretty decent digital interface. It feels a little clunky compared to Pro-Q³, but the curves! Oh, my, the curves! Sounds incredible, and I rarely remember to grab it.
What about SliceEQ by KiloHearts ... i think that is the closest you can get to fabfilter but for 90€ in bundle with their CarveEQ so maybe you are interested in that one too.
My goto duo: Waves R656 (awesome mid side) with Lindell TE100 (by Plugin Alliance, great musical sound). The TE100 looks big and slow, but it will amaze you. Do a review some time
The thing about this plugin is I can get that air high frequency sheen like with kush audio clariphonic, but nobody is noticing that, see how sweet the music sounded, when he boosted the highs, fab filter doesn't have that, just high not silky sheen high. Too bad people like only what is popular. But I dont see dynamic ability with this Slate inf
