DQ by Uberwave, LLC - appreciation topic :)

This forum is for discussing Rack Extensions. Devs are all welcome to show off their goods.
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antic604

11 Oct 2018

I really can't get over how great this little device is!

https://shop.propellerheads.se/rack-extension/dq/

It looks very inconspicuous, but what it really is is a single-band version of iZotope Neutron's Dynamic EQ (which doesn't work in Reason...), with some extra added features!

1) So, you hook up a sidechain source to it, set the signal threshold and can focus on a specific frequency range from it, being able to also listen to that range for more fine-tuning:

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2) Then you set the strength of compression OR expansion(!), followed by makeup gain (which can also be negative):

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3) And then you apply that gain-adjustment curve to incoming audio, with additional control for the envelope (attack & release) but - more importantly! - you can apply it to specified frequency range, which can be full signal, a range corresponding to the detection range or something entirely different. So you can e.g. listen for a mid-range click of the kick drum, but "duck" the low frequencies of the bass only. On top of that, you can engage look-ahead to improve compressor's efficiency and - on the back - there are controls for the amount of look-ahead, gain limit and oversampling, as well as CVs for gain input and output.

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Despondo
Competition Winner
Posts: 1030
Joined: 15 Jan 2015
Location: Charlotte, NC
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11 Oct 2018

Thanks for reminding me of this plugin. Bought it a while ago, but it has slipped through the RE cracks, since I have been bulking up on VSTs lately. Very useful tool!

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Ottostrom
Posts: 845
Joined: 13 May 2016

13 Oct 2018

Recently I was mixing a song of mine which had some pretty bright stereo guitar strumming throughout most of the song. The attack on some of the strumming was sticking out quite a bit which irritated me but every time I tried to tame it with a compressor I got undesirable results. I was ready to give up and just start splicing the track up to adjust the clip-gain manually until I remembered this device. Now I've never used the DQ before and only trialed it, but it fixed my problem within a few minutes!
Hands down one of the easiest devices to understand and use, especially thanks to the great listening functions for both the range and threshold :)
Will definitely buy in the future cause it's just too useful not to own! I already have their D-filter which has always been my favorite filter in Reason

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Zac
Posts: 1784
Joined: 19 May 2016
Contact:

13 Oct 2018

It's great on overly bright hihats within a loop for one thing.

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fieldframe
RE Developer
Posts: 1037
Joined: 19 Apr 2016

14 Oct 2018

DQ is an example of an excellent Rack Extension UI. Everything is intuitively laid out: There's a clear signal flow with detection on the left and processing is on the right, the colors make it clear where that division is, amplitude-related adjustments get faders and VU lights instead of knobs to add visual clarity, and it comes together as something that's not just useful but even fun to use.

I've been using it just recently to cut space in a mix to let bass transients through without compressing the rest of the spectrum.

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TritoneAddiction
Competition Winner
Posts: 4219
Joined: 29 Aug 2015
Location: Sweden

14 Oct 2018

Yep it's pretty useful. Great RE.

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