Ableton Forum

krank · Post by **krank** » Thu May 25, 2006 7:41 am

In about a month I'll have my first anniversary on this forum. Which pretty much corresponds to the time I've used Live - which in turn is pretty much the time I've been making electronic music on my little lappy. So I'm still kind of new to this, okay. Please be gentle.

Now, so far I've used EQ4 for almost anything track related. I'd like to use Nyquist, but the interface is a bit of a hassle. And EQ4 does what is says on the package, is super CPU friendly, a breeze to tweak and I would imagine a no-brainer for using Live, well, live.

But I don't - I want Live to work for me as a sequencer that delivers a sound production environment sounding every bit as good as Logic, ProTools etc. Yeah, vanity and all.

So irt. track EQing, can any experienced 'producer' types here tell me if they think EQ4 is good enough for that? Or what else to use - I'm on a Mac.

Cheers.

donnydonny · Post by **donnydonny** » Thu May 25, 2006 8:44 am

If you think EQ4 does it for you, then I'd say just stick to it. No point in changing what you use just because something works for someone else, unless you just wanna try other plugins just to have the experience of using them. Then by all means, try all the Pultec and Waves EQ's.

stealth1 · Post by **stealth1** » Thu May 25, 2006 8:54 am

EQ 4 is an awesome equalizer. Trust me, there are many producers out there just using the included plug-ins and all are very positive about them.
I myself am a mac user, and for me, abletons plugs are wicked. cpu friendly and very tweakable. Like anything, to get the most out of something, you just need to spend time getting to know it.
It's like doing a mixdown; try several different mixes on various different systems, from car radios to crappy hi-fi's to installation systems in clubs, and see what is the best overall sound. Don't forget that if a mix sounds good on a quality pair of monitors, it doesn't necessarily mean its gonna sound good on a system of lesser quality, and lets face it, not every one is gonna be listening to your music on a decent set-up.
Experiment for yourself, but in my opinion, EQ4, along with the rest of abletons plug-ins/fx are good quality.

peace

Shift · Post by **Shift** » Thu May 25, 2006 9:26 am

EQ3 is pretty great. Check it out too!

krank · Post by **krank** » Thu May 25, 2006 12:34 pm

stealth1 wrote:EQ 4 is an awesome equalizer. Trust me, there are many producers out there just using the included plug-ins and all are very positive about them.
I myself am a mac user, and for me, abletons plugs are wicked. cpu friendly and very tweakable. Like anything, to get the most out of something, you just need to spend time getting to know it.
It's like doing a mixdown; try several different mixes on various different systems, from car radios to crappy hi-fi's to installation systems in clubs, and see what is the best overall sound. Don't forget that if a mix sounds good on a quality pair of monitors, it doesn't necessarily mean its gonna sound good on a system of lesser quality, and lets face it, not every one is gonna be listening to your music on a decent set-up.
Experiment for yourself, but in my opinion, EQ4, along with the rest of abletons plug-ins/fx are good quality.
peace

That's cool. By the way, I've yet to hear anyone praise Live's reverb. I really want to like it, but to my ears even the AUMatrixReverb sounds much better and at a fraction of the CPU.

djsynchro · Post by **djsynchro** » Thu May 25, 2006 2:26 pm

For drastic EQ jobs inserting an autofilter in the chain of effects can be good.
I will be getting the UAD-1 DSP card soon.

They have stuff like Pultec emulations I haven't heard them yet so I can't tell you if it makes a difference or not. I imagine it should though...

b0unce · Post by **b0unce** » Thu May 25, 2006 3:16 pm

i just changed to a mac, and left behind reaktor & spektral delay which I typically used for reverbs. Of course there is no comparison , lives reverb comes no where close to sounding as nice.....HOWEVER, lives reverb does have a quality to it so I use it frequently in my effects chain, especially nice for turning mallet sounds into mechanical type sounds.

I've completely minimalised my software setup since moving to a mactel, will take me some time to attain the updates etc etc...

i'd liike to get altiverb, anyone using it ?

Jackal and Hyde · Post by **Jackal and Hyde** » Thu May 25, 2006 3:26 pm

krank wrote: I'm still kind of new to this, okay. Please be gentle.

Now, so far I've used EQ4 for almost anything track related. I'd like to use Nyquist, but the interface is a bit of a hassle. And EQ4 does what is says on the package, is super CPU friendly, a breeze to tweak and I would imagine a no-brainer for using Live, well, live.

I want Live to work for me as a sequencer that delivers a sound production environment sounding every bit as good as Logic, ProTools etc. Yeah, vanity and all.

So irt. track EQing, can any experienced 'producer' types here tell me if they think EQ4 is good enough for that? Or what else to use - I'm on a Mac.

Cheers.

< Producer type...

Yes, the EQ4 is fine for what it is, but no, not good enough for "that". . . But talking about freeware Nyquist, and then asking how to get a huge "pro tools" like sound leaves a caszm like the grand canyon in the ground/subject. If you really like the way Ableton works for you as a DAW, and your flying around on it and want a big sound without going "Pro Tools"... (for $30,000) And are really trying to get tight mixes out of Ableton while freeing up your processor completely, look into SSL's Duende. Its about $1,500.. $500 more than Logic Pro but $20,000 less than PT HD. And its not an EQ/comp "emulator" or "convolution", its 32 channels of the real thing (SSL C200) including stereo bus. I realize thats alot of money to anyone starting out, but if I already owned Ableton and (as you've asked) was looking to get a super mix out of it (at the level your talking about) without switching platforms, thats the route I'd go. (Then build a room around it)

Duendes out for mac now, comes out for PC end of summer.

http://www.solid-state-logic.com/music/duende_home.html

.

krank · Post by **krank** » Thu May 25, 2006 3:39 pm

Jackal and Hyde,

Thanks. I think you kind of put me in place there for thinking anything like a pro sound could be acheived with lowly plug-ins costing less than a thousand dollars. Guess I'll settle with EQ4 and stay this side of the Grand Canyon.

Jackal and Hyde · Post by **Jackal and Hyde** » Thu May 25, 2006 3:47 pm

krank wrote:Jackal and Hyde,

Thanks. I think you kind of put me in place there for thinking anything like a pro sound could be acheived with lowly plug-ins costing less than a thousand dollars. Guess I'll settle with EQ4 and stay this side of the Grand Canyon.

I wasnt trying to put you in place bro. There is a middle ground for Mac users like yourself thats been around for a while and its solid as f#%k. (Pro) (But Mac only) Its $250 at this site below (normally $350 - $400) and will give "EQ4" and 80% of the VST's out there a black eye.

Look into Metric Halo >

http://www.macmidimusic.com/prod.itml/icOid/1837

dj superflat · Post by **dj superflat** » Thu May 25, 2006 4:39 pm

bounce pointed you to one possible solution -- get reaktor. you get some great delays/verbs, very good compressors for mastering, amps sims, along with ridiculous synths, etc. i use all sorts of reaktor plugs for such, mainly in mastering. should be around $400 even w/o educ. discount, though fairly harsh on CPU (which seemed to be one of your concerns).

b0unce · Post by **b0unce** » Thu May 25, 2006 7:29 pm

the duendo looks dope
and the metric halo channelstrip recommendation is an excellent one.

10/10 jackal!

djsynchro · Post by **djsynchro** » Fri Jun 23, 2006 9:33 pm

So I got the UAD-1 going and the difference is enormous. Really better than the Ableton plugins or Waves or anything native that I've ever heard.

EQ4

EQ4

Re: EQ4

Re: EQ4

Re: EQ4