That looks like something different indeed. With Equalize, it's possible to have mid, side, left, right or stereo per band, so you can have a band at 40Hz boosting only the mids, while at the same time (within the same plugin instance) have a band at 250Hz which only cuts the side and another band in "left" mode that cuts at 1400Hz for example. I have found that a very valuable feature during mastering (when it's not possible to fix it anymore in the mix). But the way you describe the feature in SlickEQ M, I don't think I have seen that before in an EQ plugin. I will check it out!

Intel (and other hw companies) should be thankful to you guys. Your plugins are the reason for me to build a new computer, because my vintage Q6600 is on it's knees too often since I started to use Nova, Kotelnikov (and DMG Limitless). Insane mode on this EQ is quite CPU hungry as well... and worth every CPU cycle .

Any reason why the Qs are stepped and quite wide even at the narrowest settings?

Also the scaling parameter doesn't seem to affect the meta filter, is that by design?

Very cool!!

Many thanks Vlad, Jan, and Fabien

This is a mastering EQ, more like a program equalizer, there isn't really a need for really narrow boosts and cuts.

Also, keep in mind that TDR already has NOVA, which does that type of surgical EQ very well.

Ha, maybe I should look for an affiliate deal with Intel.

For your info, with slickEQ M, INSANE is only truly relevant to the SAT. INSANE is a bit of an overkill for pure, "linear" (sat free) EQing.

We first tried to work without (SlickEQ M's Q is controled by a special mechanism, in dependence of GAIN and FREQ), but later added 2 narrower and 2 shallower variations. The wide bells are important for mastering (these are also the curves who produce the least phase distortion).

Yes, we could have made it continuous, that's true. For me personally, 5 steps are quite satisfying and ease the decision process a bit.

Yes, that's intentional. The EQ SCALE purely affects the EQ bands. Both would have made sense I realize, interested in hearing more opinions about it...

Hi,

Very delicate do-no-harm eq, with interesting brushes, love the sound of the HP + LP filters : sweet and without artefacts.
SlickEq GE with Equilibrium were already in my top versatile eq plugins for mixing and mastering, SlickEq M is a beautiful addition.
TDR's vision on embracing digital possibilities while keeping a deep-seated ear in analog, and adding unseen functions in hardware like the simultaneous M/S + LR per band, is clever and elegant.
While SlickEq M's use in mastering speaks for itself, I can see quite a few scenarios in mix context where it might enhance the workflow by offering possibilities that would normally require 2 or 3 plugins.
This combined with TDR's inclusion of an easy to use and precise gainmatching - a feature that imho sets a standard - enhances the workflow further by not having to constantly watch the faders or finetuning output levels.
Also the upgrade path for SlickEq GE is much appreciated!
Great work TDR.
Instabought.

Needless to say that it's also a stunning mixing EQ...

I think the choices they've made for bandwidth steps sound absolutely brilliant on my monitor system. To me Nova sounded better than Slick and this one sounds even better. The gain matching saves lots of time.

I have the exact same observations regarding the quality of Nova vs. Slick - seems it's time for me to join the party...

::
Mads

Quoting myself here to ask if this is a possibility...

Definitely agree with everyone else here that this is a wonderful sounding EQ (bought it instantly) that could be made more friendly from an interaction perspective.

Agree with the request for nodes to be added to the eq curve display.

In an ideal world I'd prefer a variable Q control rather than five choices. And it might be fun to have variable slope control (I don't know why more eq plugs don't have this feature).

That being said, it sounds great.

At the risk of sounding a bit foolish...I find myself wishing for a Solo option to hear the effect of an individual band.

Been playing with it, sounds amazing, and the workflow is great.

Loving the auto-eq option, but it did seem to change its choice of settings radically when re-analyzing the same section of audio in the one case i tested it with.

I had a vocal that had a room node problem, i knew exactly what frequency it was, and in the first pass SlickEQ mastering auto-eq was very close in guessing it. It chose almost the exact same settings i had chosen through analysis of the room and the audio! Unfortunately next time it made a totally different not so accurate choice... strange.

What would be awesome is a special room node detector mode for the auto-eq (a bit like acorn digital defilter)... or maybe it's not needed and should just work out the box for this job?

PS I know it's a mastering EQ and not made for this... but no harm in talking about it.

Certainly not, the idea is interesting!

As mentioned before, we plan adding this to SlickEQ GE and Nova GE and of course extend the LEARN feature further to non mastering workflows. The advantage is that changes made to this feature will not affect your recalls, so we're safe.

Please report your experiences with the LEARN feature, this is very valuable info for us. Not just sound wise, but also regarding workflow. We added this feature shortly before release, we only implemented what we could deliver fast. But we have some promising ideas for improvement in mind!


About SOLO and dragable band handles, we focussed on a knob based, almost "parametric EQ with fine-tuning" type of workflow and spent most time fine-tuning sound aspects, so we had to make creative cuts somewhere. But as above, we definitely take note of the feedback and ideas, this is only version 1.0.0 after all.

I have to agree on this (to bring in the nodes from Nova that is, including the solo option)
Just bought - so far very good feeling about the quality

::
Mads

Ok, I get it's sweetening EQ, there are other EQs for surgery (which can also take many bands at times). I found the narrowest Q quite effective for taking out coloration in the mids, so I guess it's well chosen (also with how it changes with the gain).

I like the 0.5dB detends on the gain (was it by holding shift of something?). That could also work on the Q... though to be fair, it's more than ok as it is now, just unusual.

Personally I'd prefer EQ SCALE to scale everything. When I use tilt as the part of the overal EQ and then decide to dial everything back a bit, I have to do it with two pots. Which is fine, though not as seemless as if it was with just one .

Band solos. Yes that's a time saver.


One thing about adjusting multiple bands in NOVA at once. Consider this:

1) I want to dial back 2 (or more) more bands at once
2) so I go ahead and select them
3) go to the treshold knob and change the value
4) ...and click undo because it made the both tresholds the same value, while I wanted just to scale them both

is there some shortcut I"ve overlooked? This could work for the bands in the SLICK M too once there are handles on the curve.

i don't find TDR plugins cpu hungry at all! on reaper with my old macmini core i5 , slickeq M in insane mode only use 3 or 4% cpu, and as it is a mastering plugin you don't need opening dozens! kotelnikov uses 1 or 2% in precise mode, and nova about 3 %.
My hole mastering chain eats 12% cpu average. (5 to 18% variations)

It got to 80% in the insane mode, together with Limitless. Nova takes around 15-20% depending on the load and the settings. Even in the mastering, when you divide tracks to several parts and once in a while there is need for more than one nova, then it gets uncomfortably close to dropout territory. The same machine can run tons of fabfilter EQs and MBs with no problems. Though esp. the MB isn't comparable at all. Equilibrium can be very CPU hungry too of course.

No complaints though, 9 year old computer is 9 year old computer.

I'm not sure if everybody realized that SlickEQ M can be operated in a stepped mode.

You can either use the right mouse button to drag sliders, or press SHIFT + drag, or use the settings dialogue to flip this behaviour around (left = stepped, right = continuous).

then, if you're not really happy with the steps, you can create your own "snapmaps" in the plugin's config file:

WIN C:\Users\[YOU USER NAME]\AppData\Roaming\Tokyo Dawn Labs\TDR SlickEQ M.conf
MAC ~Library/ Tokyo Dawn Labs (mac)/TDR SlickEQ M.conf

(if you messed up for some reason, just delete the snapmap block or delete the whole conf. If it's missing, it will be regenerated at next plugin startup.)


We also added slightly hidden and undocumented features/gimmicks. Curious if you guys found them already...

Wow you probably have a truly a healthy return of investment here!

Tip: Do not use INSANE if you're not using the nonlinearities, it would be almost pointless. Same could be the case if you're only using the LF nonlinearities.

INSANE truly is beyond reasonable and primarily meant to keep the HF non-linearities smooth and nice at extremes.

I did notice the snapping feature (I use this on SlickEQ GE). That is such a cool idea!

Pray tell, what other gems are hidden?

Well I rather invested money into mics and hw than into the computer and also moving from one computer to another takes time and energy. So unexpectedly it serves me well for such a long time.

Good to know the insane mode is relevant for nonlinear part of the EQ only. Thanks.

Wow! in what DAW do you load them? i also have a PC core2duo 2,4ghz with reaper and tdr plugins just work like a charm and are cpu light too. Or maybe you use insane buffer settings in your DAW?

i also use tdr plugins in logic pro and every thing is smooth. the only DAW that makes issues is Protools (no, really? ^^) but it's a common issue of protools with any brand.

Same goes for Slick GE and insane?

That is also my experience regarding the sound quality of the 3 plugins. I thought it was subjective.

Yes, exactly.



@ Mastering7 : Not subjective, you were right. We typically design for PRECISE. The name INSANE is truly an accurate description of the function and its cost.

@ matucha : Good points, especially about the EQ SCALE and the tilt example.

Purchased. Now looking for

Can someone post stepped values like in SlickEQ Standard ?

Great product
Sweetening Mastering EQ.
After some extensive trying I must say superb workflow, very nice sound.
I just wondering what will be the new SlickEQ GE? I found somewhere that will be new kind of SlickEQ...?

I gave it a brief listen, must try more later. But... Wow. This sounds good, very smooth. I really like the section with the tilt EQ. Nicely implemented.

However, the GUI and text, in particular, could be larger. An option would be nice for increasing the size by, say, 25 and 50 percent.