kick_kick_snare wrote:
Hi AdamJay,
I'm quite interested in a new EQ, I've got iZotope Ozone for my mastering at the moment, but I'm not always happy with the EQ... How does Hydratone compare to the PSP MaterQ? I'm thinking of investing in one or the other...
Hydratone is quite versatile, and it really does not sound like much else on the market. Simply because there are so many possibilities with how you can approach using it as an EQ.
you have 5 bands, and the ability to use a different convolution sample on each band. that means you can make your lows mimmick the color of an API, your highs mimmick an Avalon, and your mids mimmick a Focusrite. and so on. plus you can use the color over the entire EQ, and fine tune it with the "fire" knob.
So for me i like it because it really isn't like any other EQ. I will say its not great for surgical work. However, alot of times when i thought surgical EQ work was needed, Hydratone came through and made a particular sound more full and warm which in the end brought it out in the mix more than surgical EQ ever could have.
I think alot of EQ plugs actually sound alot alike.
The Sonalksis stuff reminds me of PSP MasterQ, and the WaveArts and Elemental Audio System parametric eq's remind me of Ableton's EQ4.
but Hydratone is best of you want character rather than precision.
I'll use it on sounds that are the most critical to the mix. Usually a kick drum, clap or snare, main synth line, and bassline. And i'll use one on the Mains channel just to add more edge from the "Fire" knob.
Finally, Hydratone is the only EQ that reminds me of hardware. And thats not because it uses hardware sampled impulse responses. But if you have ever practiced "gain-staging" on a hardware mixer and tempering different input levels with different output levels to get unique frequency responses from hardware preamps and EQs, Hydratone (and the forthcoming "ColorTone" free plug-in) is capable of this.
Just using 1 Hydratone in your song on the master channel can do wonders for "taking the computer out of the mix"
check out the demo at
www.tritonedigital.com
also, the next version (which is in beta now, and will be a free update) will feature EQ4 style "frequency display grabbing", so you'll be able to make EQ changes more with the frequency display than with the knobs. Since that beta started, i use Hydratone more than ever.
and there is an SSE optimized version for Windows coming soon, which uses nearly half the CPU as the current version.