Subtractive EQing only - Differences with UAD & Most Natives

[moffdnb]

Hi all,


OK I know there is sonic differences between different hardware/software EQs and that its a matter of taste as to which of them you prefer. I have yet to purchase the UAD-1 but will be getting the CAMBRIDGE EQ when I do.

At the moment, I prefer Waves for notch boosting but as its so CPU light and accessible, I use SONAR's SONITUS as my bread and butter \"Subtractive\" EQing. Mainly for hi/low passing tracks and sometimes taking out particular frequencies but for sure its mostly used for subtracting and not boosting.

I have tried hi/low passing with Waves also and I don't notice any sonic differences between them when used in this way. Slight differences when boosting though. So my question is that once you are using \"Subtractively\" rather then \"Boosting\" is there any (noticeable) difference between the more Pro (expensive i.e. CAMBRIDGE) EQs and the lesser praised (using the same Q, freq, db levels of course)



Please share your thoughts...



Thanks for your time....

 

[TripACT]

Excellent question.
I'll show you the differences in a new post as i'll post also link to download couple waves for A/B demonstration about uad neve 1073 eq versus the urs n series (neve claimed emulation).

 

[tkingen]

I have Sonar 6.21 and 2 UAD-1 cards with most of the plugins. The UAD-1 plugs are my go-to's and I'll freeze tracks if DSP usage becomes an issue. But the Sonitus plugs sound great and they get used in a heartbeat if more transparency is desired.

As for subtractive eq, I haven't done extensive a/b tests between the Sonitus and Cambridge but the Cambridge wins out easily in the filter dept. The Sonitus just can't achieve the same slopes.

IMHO the Sonitus plugins and UAD compliment each other well. For a hobbiest home studio they will give you all you need to get fantastic results.

Btw, if you haven't already done so check out the project samples on the Sonar disc. They used nothing but the plugins included with Sonar - Sonitus and the old Cakewalk ones. It's eye opening how good they sound!