EQ plug ins.

[sinkysaurus]

I'm looking at fab filter pro Q.

Can anyone tell me if there is any point in buying this and using it
OVER abletons built in eq 8? Do they both just do the same job? Is it possible that
The fab filter can actually sound better?

[Tarekith]

Personally I think the revamped EQ8 in Live 9 is one of the best EQs to come with a DAW. The Fabfilter might have some different functions you find handy, but I wouldn't neccesarily say it sounds better in all cases. Personally, I use EQ8 9 times out of 10 in Live, pretty rare I reach for a 3rd party EQ these days.

[keydaking]

I own Fab Filter Q and its my go-to EQ. I enjoy the new functions of EQ8 in Live 9, but FF is the one i look for when trying to get surgical.

[mauronedj]

Live for subtractive EQing when mixing, LP10 for mastering (cause the filter are much more flexible and it's Minimum phase).
If I need to boost I probably end up with SKnote or some pultec style eq, they really distort the sound like I want when boosting

[Khazul]

Personally I think the revamped EQ8 in Live 9 is one of the best EQs to come with a DAW. The Fabfilter might have some different functions you find handy, but I wouldn't neccesarily say it sounds better in all cases. Personally, I use EQ8 9 times out of 10 in Live, pretty rare I reach for a 3rd party EQ these days.

Yes - agree - the one in Live 9 is quite decent now (especially with the new Q option) and I find myself using pro-Q much less these days as a track insert, though by default I tend to go for pro-q for any post mix processing; I think more out of habit and more down to being more used to using it for that kind of task I guess and that's its in the default rack I tend to drop in for post-mix.

That said, I really like the Pro-Q UI and find I can generally fix things better with it. Maybe it better at the high end as well, but TBH I havnt actually bothered to actively compare them since L9.

I think if someone is considering a plugin to vastly expand their EQ-like options, then something like Pro-MB is well worth looking at which is a multi-band dynamics processor (compressor/expander and upward/downward behaviour on each band) that is almost as easy to use as an EQ - can in fact be used just as an EQ but is really good for a lot of tasks that many might approach with EQ automation. Its particularly good for tasks like ducking an instrument submix behind a vocal only in the range of the vocal frequencies side-chained from the vocal. That just a common example, I often use it to make the transient of some background sound poke though some leads sounds a little more than they would in just a normal mix. It also near-instantly become my favourite compressor for clean mastering loudness duty for those who want that for whatever reason.

[heuristics]

abes 9 eq is good, I was using pro q with ableton 8 quite a bit but have now realized its no longer necessary. Dont forget you can always use the x4 option for more aggresive high/low passing.

[TheNobleNemesis]

If cpu is not an object, iZotope's Ozone 5 EQ is incredible!

[Tarekith]

Well if we're recommending other plug ins, DMG's Equilibrium is clearly the winner. It's the best EQ ever.

[mholloway]

If you have to ask, then you probably don't need it.

EQ8 is great.

Pro-Q is also great, but see first line above.