Logic Pro X vs Waves: Vintage EQ Emulations

[@espedale]

Nicely done. This information is very valuable as I am trying to move away from Waves plugins wherever and whenever possible. As most who own Waves plugins know, the company continues to extract money on plugins you naively thought you only had to pay for once. Videos like these are extremely helpful because they allow Logic users to identify where the differences are (stock vs 3rd party) and make the necessary adjustments to mimic expensive Waves plugins. Your shared knowledge is very much appreciated!

[@SamLoose]

Glad it was helpful!

[@MrDisrupta]

A very interesting video comparison thank you. A thought on why the waves API EQ behaved that way is emulating the way the Q works on the old units. I'm sure that they had a sort of automatic Q that got steeper the further down they go.

[@FlyingBystander]

I've never used the hardware API but I do use the Logic emulation a lot. For what it's worth, I use the "tune" feature ( + 5 - 6) in the Logic emulation and set the highs to 22.6k. To my ears it's pretty smooth at reasonable boosts and even giving it a bit of drive on the output. Also I haven't tried the waves version.

[@JohnLynagh]

Really interesting comparisons Sam. Thanks for that. Can you remind me if you covered typical use cases (or instruments/master bus processing) for the different stock EQ types in a previous video? So what is suited to a tube or graphic or tube? You touched on it briefly in this video which was great.

[@SamLoose]

Hi John, thanks for watching. I didn’t specifically go into too much detail on what each EQ would be good on; that could be good for a future video 😀

[@jorgecalvillo1137]

The smooth tool causes that high freqs to not be higher?

[@greghillmusic]

"This shelf is a bit shelfier."

[@TheStevep52]

The original API design had a Q that got narrower as the frequency gain is turned up. The Waves correctly emulates this whereas the Logic doesn’t.

[@Wizardofvoz2]

Enjoy d the video. I would have preferred not to be distracted by the modulation effect, though.

[@bryantlroeback3287]

On my speakers (yamaha hs8s) the logic one is brighter and had more definition than waves api 560 type plugin. Waves sounded more muffled.

[@greghillmusic]

Ah man.. I'm a bit disappointed. I wish you would've played with the output mode of the Logic Graphic EQ. It was on punchy mode. You may have to revisit this video.

[@cjgoeson]

Could the logic condole eq shelf be less of a shelf due to “cramping?”

[@CannedFunkMusic]

Do you actually have the high shelf turned on in the logic plugin??? It doesn’t lol like it.

[@SamLoose]

In which example?

[@matt_nyc_audioengineer]

It looks like Waves Q isn't proportional on the API. I believe it has been proven that the Waves API is nothing but a standard digital EQ but I could be wrong about that.

[@SamLoose]

That’s interesting. I guess in theory you can recreate any EQ curve with a digital EQ with enough bands. It just comes down to the harmonic characteristics; that’s where the differences would lie.

[@matt_nyc_audioengineer]

@@SamLoose Right! My words there weren't very clear. What I specifically meant was that Waves didn't model the saturation. There is no saturation in the plugin. I do believe the curves are correct tho. Sorry not sure what I was smoking when I said that hahahaha!!!!

[@vycsh]

different sauces

[@BobCorey]

So probably better to use a normal EQ with wide curves and don't care what is doing under the hood...

[@sdecario5736]

You look like Shek with hair!