Carve EQ - Trackspacer (and/or TDR Nova)

[willy_dinglefinger]

Morning troops,

The clock is ticking and I still have the GAS Gods to appease. Final piece of the Black Friday Jigsaw -> a dynamic EQ like Trackspacer..

Anyone use Carve EQ instead of Trackspacer? I prefer REs to VSTs and by the looks of it they are essentially the same...?

TDR Nova also looks really interesting but from what I can tell it's a pain in the arse to sidechain. Still worth slapping on the master channel though I reckon.

[antic604]

Trackspacer.

Carve EQ is abandonware and I read it has bugs, i.e. it can crash.

TDR Nova is awesome - like all their stuff - but it's not gonna be an automatic process to replicate Trackspacer/CarveEQ and much less precise, because you have few nodes vs. 36 (I think) in Trackspacer. Nova's dynamic EQ is either for surgical stuff or broad-strokes stuff, not in-between.

[Boombastix]

TDR is easy to use for this IMO. Trackspacer can have some benefit as it seems faster to set up, but TDR does let you save your presets, soooo. The Carve RE may have som bugs, so check in on some older threads, I'm unsure if they were resolved or not. The sound you want to carve out for can usually be covered with 3-4 dynamic bands properly set up, and the TDR mix knob makes it easy to dial in the desired effect I think.

The benefit with TDR is you can set up to duck more for higher (weaker) frequencies that needs more ducking and the lower frequencies can duck less as they often have more volume. I do not think Trackspacer does that, it just ducks more if the incoming SC volume is higher, and that is kind of the opposite of what i want for vocals. I want more ducking so the delicate high frequencies come through better, so TDR and any 4 band dyn EQ can do that.

[TritoneAddiction]

I've only used Carve, never tried any of the VSTs. I use Carve all the time and love it. Personally I've never had any problems with bugs or crashes at all and I've used it for years in pretty much every song. But other people apparently have had some problems so I'm not sure what to make of it.

[antic604]

So there you have it. A +1 vote for each

[willy_dinglefinger]

Brilliant haha

All three it is then, I guess. Thanks for your insight, much appreciated.

[Loque]

I have Carve and used it in the past and had a few crashes. It lacks features IMO.

I dont have experience with Trackspacer.

Personally, i would sit back and think about what such tools are doing. The idea is good, but keep in mind, that it's a multiband EQ, which may introduce a lot of phasing, which can sound good or make your sound week and due it's a multiband EQ all the time, it has phasing all over the place.

I personally today try to tame the conflicting sounds separately, sometimes with a dynamic EQ or compressor, and have eye on the EQ spot (where the phasing starts to be audible). Some EQs also show you the phasing of the EQ settings, which can help here.

Again, i like the idea of such tools, but i would be very carefully with throwing those tools all over the place and hoping for the best. If such a tool has more control, like reducing bands, phase control, attack and release times, or inversion to boost existing sounds or "copy" a response, it becomes more interesting.

[willy_dinglefinger]

I have Carve and used it in the past and had a few crashes. It lacks features IMO.

I dont have experience with Trackspacer.

Personally, i would sit back and think about what such tools are doing. The idea is good, but keep in mind, that it's a multiband EQ, which may introduce a lot of phasing, which can sound good or make your sound week and due it's a multiband EQ all the time, it has phasing all over the place.

I personally today try to tame the conflicting sounds separately, sometimes with a dynamic EQ or compressor, and have eye on the EQ spot (where the phasing starts to be audible). Some EQs also show you the phasing of the EQ settings, which can help here.

Again, i like the idea of such tools, but i would be very carefully with throwing those tools all over the place and hoping for the best. If such a tool has more control, like reducing bands, phase control, attack and release times, or inversion to boost existing sounds or "copy" a response, it becomes more interesting.

Interesting reply Loque, thanks for the insight.

Currently I tend to do too much sculpting EQ and using automation (with some sidechain compression) to clear room in the mix. Usually though my music includes noisy guitars and distorted noise etc so making room for things like vox and percussion just becomes really dull and takes the fun out of experimenting with new ideas and instrumentation.

Thus my thinking was - Carve EQ for 'making room' on channels that need it, and something like TDR Nova on the master out if a song needs more 'space' or 'air' or [insert buzz word here].

In your opinion, am I on the right lines here or am I barking up the wrong tree? Thanks again for the advice by the way.

[Sterioevo]

Tried this one?
Omega Dynamic EQ
Forgotten Clank Studios
https://www.reasonstudios.com/shop/rack ... omega-deq/

[antic604]

Again, i like the idea of such tools, but i would be very carefully with throwing those tools all over the place and hoping for the best.

While this is a very true & valid comment, I always tend to just focus on how it sounds. Sometimes problems with phase or other imperfections add a caracter to the sound, that otherwise would be hard to come up and implement. Obviously it depends on type of music, so probably using Trackspacer to duck a chello when string quarter plays certain notes can be problematic, whereas it might work brilliantly for a reese bass and 303 acid line

I guess what I'm trying to say is if it sounds good, then it's good.

So my rule of thumb to OP's question is:
1) If I can't be bothered to perform a thorough analysis but just know sound X is more important than Y, then I'll just use Trackspacer to duck the latter when former plays in its key frequency range
2) If I can be bothered or just easily know that it's just a certain frequency or small range that's the problem - like kick vs. reese bass - then I'd use dynamic EQ (like TDR, Pro-Q3, Neutron or DQ: https://www.reasonstudios.com/shop/rack-extension/dq/) to do the job
3) If CarveEQ was still maintained and received a GUI that doesn't look like a chocolate wrapper, then I'd get it in a heartbeat

[Loque]

I have Carve and used it in the past and had a few crashes. It lacks features IMO.

I dont have experience with Trackspacer.

Personally, i would sit back and think about what such tools are doing. The idea is good, but keep in mind, that it's a multiband EQ, which may introduce a lot of phasing, which can sound good or make your sound week and due it's a multiband EQ all the time, it has phasing all over the place.

I personally today try to tame the conflicting sounds separately, sometimes with a dynamic EQ or compressor, and have eye on the EQ spot (where the phasing starts to be audible). Some EQs also show you the phasing of the EQ settings, which can help here.

Again, i like the idea of such tools, but i would be very carefully with throwing those tools all over the place and hoping for the best. If such a tool has more control, like reducing bands, phase control, attack and release times, or inversion to boost existing sounds or "copy" a response, it becomes more interesting.

Interesting reply Loque, thanks for the insight.

Currently I tend to do too much sculpting EQ and using automation (with some sidechain compression) to clear room in the mix. Usually though my music includes noisy guitars and distorted noise etc so making room for things like vox and percussion just becomes really dull and takes the fun out of experimenting with new ideas and instrumentation.

Thus my thinking was - Carve EQ for 'making room' on channels that need it, and something like TDR Nova on the master out if a song needs more 'space' or 'air' or [insert buzz word here].
You can try if it solves your problems. I would go with a wider EQ band to tame a frequency range instead of spikes inside a range, because taming the spikes only again changes the overall sound. Note, this CAN sound good and may be exact what you are looking for.

A tip for general working with tools like Carve (or any multiband stuff like compression too), you can manipulate the "sidechain" signal before you put it into the sidechain, like boosting the main problematic frequency to create a higher gain reduction or smooth it out, for a more balanced taming.

In your opinion, am I on the right lines here or am I barking up the wrong tree? Thanks again for the advice by the way.

[Loque]

Again, i like the idea of such tools, but i would be very carefully with throwing those tools all over the place and hoping for the best.

While this is a very true & valid comment, I always tend to just focus on how it sounds. Sometimes problems with phase or other imperfections add a caracter to the sound, that otherwise would be hard to come up and implement. Obviously it depends on type of music, so probably using Trackspacer to duck a chello when string quarter plays certain notes can be problematic, whereas it might work brilliantly for a reese bass and 303 acid line

I guess what I'm trying to say is if it sounds good, then it's good.

Thats true, and i also use the phasing to add some thumb here and there, but it its quite hard to control on a tool like Carve or Trackspacer.

[TritoneAddiction]

Tried this one?
Omega Dynamic EQ
Forgotten Clank Studios
https://www.reasonstudios.com/shop/rack ... omega-deq/

That looks pretty interesting. I might check that one out.
But it won't replace my Carve use though. They do completely different things.

[Sterioevo]

Tried this one?
Omega Dynamic EQ
Forgotten Clank Studios
https://www.reasonstudios.com/shop/rack ... omega-deq/

That looks pretty interesting. I might check that one out.
But it won't replace my Carve use though. They do completely different things.

I have and use both. Carve sometimes crashes but you can do the delete/undo trick to reinstate.

[TritoneAddiction]

That looks pretty interesting. I might check that one out.
But it won't replace my Carve use though. They do completely different things.

I have and use both. Carve sometimes crashes but you can do the delete/undo trick to reinstate.

Interesting. I've used Carve regularly since 2015 and not a single crash. I'm glad since it's become one of my go-to REs, a real must-have in my rack. Now with Chip64 (from the same developer) on the other hand I've experienced PLENTY of bugs.