Wavesfactory Spectre vs. Selig Coloring EQ
- diminished
- Competition Winner
- Posts: 1880
- Joined: 15 Dec 2018
Which one would you pick and why?
Most recent track: resentment (synthwave) || Others: on my YouTube channel •ᴗ•
- diminished
- Competition Winner
- Posts: 1880
- Joined: 15 Dec 2018
Thanks! I remembered reading about it but couldn't find it. Because I searched for Spectre, not Coloring EQ.. by the way, none of you used the name of Spectre/Wavesfactory, nice move
However, a few things have changed in Spectre 1.5 since selig answered in this thread:
While it has more technical usability besides coloring the sound, I'm reluctant to pick up the Coloring EQ because it's part of the Mastering Rig. Chances are, it's included in v5. I couldn't stomach to buy v4 because I have v3 and upgrading would have given me only three new devices, two of which I don't care about.– New: saturation per band.
– New: processing mode per band.
– New: input / output linking.
– New: fine tuning on labels.
– New: mouse wheel control over labels.
– New: de-emphasis filters.
– New: VST3 format.
– Improved: made menu more visible.
– Improved: code optimisation.
– Fixed: user manual typos.
– Deleted: passepartout (white background surrounding the plug-in).
Man, decisions, decisions..
Most recent track: resentment (synthwave) || Others: on my YouTube channel •ᴗ•
Pardon my horn tooting…
I'll just add that (IMHO!) ColoringEQ is first a fantastic EQ, with more features than other RE EQs (that was my initial motivation for creating it in the first place). Even before you speak of the "coloring" features, you get features not found on other EQs in Reason including separate outputs for each band, tuning for every band across the entire audible spectrum, tuning in semitones for musical applications, unique fully variable slope from 0-48dB/Oct for the filters, boutique shapes from super deep notches to a versatile comb/resonating filter, asymmetrical EQ shapes, and Tilt/Shift (and smiley) EQ shapes. Plus you get mid/side EQ, peak hold meters, spectrum display with hold function, solo EQ bands, MIDI note tracking/gating with pitch bend/glide/attack/release (opens up a whole new way to "play" your EQ), and the extremely handy Master section for global control of tune, boost/cut, and Q.
Then you have the unique saturation features, with it's first to market approach to combining an EQ and saturation (without sacrificing the EQ part unlike Spectre) with boost AND CUT saturation (Spectre only has boost) which allow unique ability to cut EQ while simultaneously adding saturation, and a VERY wide range of Q from super wide to the most narrow Qs you'll find on any EQ which give the ability to saturate literally only one specific frequency (and the ability to control this from MIDI).
But I'm biased - it's currently (nov 2019) on sale 50% off with a 30 day free trial, so give it a spin if you've not already done so - happy to answer any questions you may have!
I'll just add that (IMHO!) ColoringEQ is first a fantastic EQ, with more features than other RE EQs (that was my initial motivation for creating it in the first place). Even before you speak of the "coloring" features, you get features not found on other EQs in Reason including separate outputs for each band, tuning for every band across the entire audible spectrum, tuning in semitones for musical applications, unique fully variable slope from 0-48dB/Oct for the filters, boutique shapes from super deep notches to a versatile comb/resonating filter, asymmetrical EQ shapes, and Tilt/Shift (and smiley) EQ shapes. Plus you get mid/side EQ, peak hold meters, spectrum display with hold function, solo EQ bands, MIDI note tracking/gating with pitch bend/glide/attack/release (opens up a whole new way to "play" your EQ), and the extremely handy Master section for global control of tune, boost/cut, and Q.
Then you have the unique saturation features, with it's first to market approach to combining an EQ and saturation (without sacrificing the EQ part unlike Spectre) with boost AND CUT saturation (Spectre only has boost) which allow unique ability to cut EQ while simultaneously adding saturation, and a VERY wide range of Q from super wide to the most narrow Qs you'll find on any EQ which give the ability to saturate literally only one specific frequency (and the ability to control this from MIDI).
But I'm biased - it's currently (nov 2019) on sale 50% off with a 30 day free trial, so give it a spin if you've not already done so - happy to answer any questions you may have!
Selig Audio, LLC
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Q. And I already own it, but wondering: when you cut, does the saturation increase the lower you cut? Or is the knob below the only control for amount of duration regardless of boost our cut settings?selig wrote: ↑26 Nov 2019Pardon my horn tooting…
I'll just add that (IMHO!) ColoringEQ is first a fantastic EQ, with more features than other RE EQs (that was my initial motivation for creating it in the first place). Even before you speak of the "coloring" features, you get features not found on other EQs in Reason including separate outputs for each band, tuning for every band across the entire audible spectrum, tuning in semitones for musical applications, unique fully variable slope from 0-48dB/Oct for the filters, boutique shapes from super deep notches to a versatile comb/resonating filter, asymmetrical EQ shapes, and Tilt/Shift (and smiley) EQ shapes. Plus you get mid/side EQ, peak hold meters, spectrum display with hold function, solo EQ bands, MIDI note tracking/gating with pitch bend/glide/attack/release (opens up a whole new way to "play" your EQ), and the extremely handy Master section for global control of tune, boost/cut, and Q.
Then you have the unique saturation features, with it's first to market approach to combining an EQ and saturation (without sacrificing the EQ part unlike Spectre) with boost AND CUT saturation (Spectre only has boost) which allow unique ability to cut EQ while simultaneously adding saturation, and a VERY wide range of Q from super wide to the most narrow Qs you'll find on any EQ which give the ability to saturate literally only one specific frequency (and the ability to control this from MIDI).
But I'm biased - it's currently (nov 2019) on sale 50% off with a 30 day free trial, so give it a spin if you've not already done so - happy to answer any questions you may have!
- Periwinkle
- Posts: 190
- Joined: 09 Jul 2019
- Location: London England
I’m a big fan of seleg’s eq (I own it) but I think Spectre (I also own it) is a slightly different animal. I think of spectre more as an exciter. I have to say, I’m using spectre a awful lot nowadays, but normally in conjunction with an eq. If I were you, I’d demo them both.
.“Art should comfort the disturbed and disturb the comfortable.”
― Banksy
When you cut EQ, the saturation increases in proportion to the cut (with drive between 50-60%). This allows a very useful effect, which is basically performing a dry/wet for saturation in the selected band.PhillipOrdonez wrote: ↑26 Nov 2019Q. And I already own it, but wondering: when you cut, does the saturation increase the lower you cut? Or is the knob below the only control for amount of duration regardless of boost our cut settings?
For example, set drive to 55% and cut the high shelf by 3 dB and you get "instant exciter". Meaning the overall frequency response stays consistent but the high frequencies get more saturated (in parallel). This was the first thing I did with the initial prototype, which is what initially got me super "excited" that I was on to something about this process/effect.
Try the same thing on the low shelf with drive at 55%, and cut by a few dB. On drums this is my "go to" for "make it bigger/fatter" without changing the tone effect.
This one "trick" further sets ColoringEQ apart from any other device IMO.
Selig Audio, LLC
Personally, I've never liked exciters, but what ColoringEQ does is exactly what I always WISH an exciter would do to audio. Plus, it's also an EQ so you won't need to run an EQ with it to get all the benefits of both.Periwinkle wrote: ↑26 Nov 2019I’m a big fan of seleg’s eq (I own it) but I think Spectre (I also own it) is a slightly different animal. I think of spectre more as an exciter. I have to say, I’m using spectre a awful lot nowadays, but normally in conjunction with an eq. If I were you, I’d demo them both.
Selig Audio, LLC
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- Location: Norway
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Thank you for your answer.selig wrote: ↑27 Nov 2019When you cut EQ, the saturation increases in proportion to the cut (with drive between 50-60%). This allows a very useful effect, which is basically performing a dry/wet for saturation in the selected band.PhillipOrdonez wrote: ↑26 Nov 2019Q. And I already own it, but wondering: when you cut, does the saturation increase the lower you cut? Or is the knob below the only control for amount of duration regardless of boost our cut settings?
For example, set drive to 55% and cut the high shelf by 3 dB and you get "instant exciter". Meaning the overall frequency response stays consistent but the high frequencies get more saturated (in parallel). This was the first thing I did with the initial prototype, which is what initially got me super "excited" that I was on to something about this process/effect.
Try the same thing on the low shelf with drive at 55%, and cut by a few dB. On drums this is my "go to" for "make it bigger/fatter" without changing the tone effect.
This one "trick" further sets ColoringEQ apart from any other device IMO.
Love fattening the drum bus with it! Really gives it that dirt when needed.
Question: oversampling? Would that be good to have in a future update? Why/why not?
To address what problem? Oversampling eats CPU, and during initial testing we could never identify a problem that oversampling would solve. We also never heard anything about aliasing issues from beta testers. But if there are cases where anyone is having this problem we would happily address it - but before that there ARE folks asking for a bigger display for the frequency plot/analyzer (and general GUI updates) which I would want to address first.PhillipOrdonez wrote: ↑30 Dec 2019Question: oversampling? Would that be good to have in a future update? Why/why not?
Selig Audio, LLC
The saturation feature comes to mind. Of course, I don't know which nonlinear function is used, but theoretically, there might be aliasing problems there. Or might not be.selig wrote: ↑30 Dec 2019To address what problem?PhillipOrdonez wrote: ↑30 Dec 2019Question: oversampling? Would that be good to have in a future update? Why/why not?
I originally had assumed it would be essential to add oversampling. But David @ Pitchblende kept putting it off (because of CPU and complexity issues) until it was proven to be necessary. He preferred to put energy into solving proven problems first, and in retrospect it was a wise decision!
In the time since it's release, no aliasing issues have been heard, or measured. This could be because the saturation is in parallel in the ColoringEQ, and the high frequencies are always much lower in level than low, added to the fact that the saturation is often added in small amounts to begin with.
For example, aliasing in a synth/oscillator is mostly heard (and seen on a spectrum display) when you play really high notes. Playing low notes, even with the filter wide open and when using really bright waveforms, doesn't typically reveal any aliasing problems (even if they're present).
But as always, if someone is using ColoringEQ in a way where aliasing IS an issue, I'd love to hear about it so it can be addressed in a future update!
Selig Audio, LLC
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