better EQ?

dobro

dobro

Well-known member
To get better EQ than CEP provides, I'm gonna have to get my hands on an expensive plugin, right? Waves, for example. Anything else anyone knows of?
 
Better is a pretty subjective term and the merits of various plug ins is a hotly debated topic. Several of the plug ins I like are not the "hot" ones others swear by. That being said, a lot of direct X plugs are listed at: http://www.thedirectxfiles.com/ some of these are free. The number of plugs in available increases if you get a vst wrapper, then you can use them in cool edit as well and many of them are free.
 
Hmm... that would suggest that the plugins you mention are all about the same level of quality, since it's just a matter of taste. That would also suggest that paying something substantial would get you higher quality, would get you to the point where everybody would agree that it sounds better than CEP. That's what I'm looking for.

Alternately, since I have no experience here, I could just be talking out me arse...
 
I used cool edit for 3 months before buying my waves pack. I haven't used any CEP fx since. (with the exception for some of the filters to get those odd sounds)

The Waves plugs are popular and expensive for a reason...(well partially) They sound great...so transparent.

The CEP plugs sound good.....but the waves win hands down...especially the renaissance line.( compressor, eq and the new renaissance bass...these are the only plugs I use in CEP..

Now only if all my equipment sounded as good as these plugs....


hey Dobro.....Do you have an mp3.com page? I don't think I've heard any of your stuff....
 
Ah, now - someone with experience of both - that's what I was looking for. Thanks for confirming my suspicion. Another direction clear to me, and involving money. :)

I put an mp3 up at garageband.com last December, but the sound quality was low. It's called Arithmetic.
 
A lot of people like (love) the waves plug ins.... certainly not everybody. I read an internet article about a year ago where various reverb plug ins were tested... when people just listened, and did not know what reverb they were listenening to, the "expensive" reverb was not liked the best. Look around on the Direct X files..... waves is listed there as well as many others.
 
this is gonna sound like a fruit post.....but, I bought Waves, CEP, and a bunch of other stuff. I wouldn't say the CEP effects/EQ's are way out of line with the other *top end* stuff. My 30 years of recording experience has led me to believe that the equipment is not the limiting factor now a days....infact quite the opposite...a most inspiring angle. CEP and it's 'accesories' are way beyond what was available to the sub $100,000(equip. only) not to long ago. On these message boards, there is such an intent search for the *best* gear....and there should be. Shit, that's all part of the fun. But, buying the gear is the easy part.....we all know that. CEP is great stuff, no matter what anyone wants to tell you. Consider 99% of your audience, should you be lucky enough to have it exposed to more than 10,000 people. The old saying use to be...."no one looks at the VU meters when they stick an album on."

lemme repeat.....CEP is great stuff!!
 
This is turning into an interesting thread. If CEP sounds about as good as most other softwares, then the only difference would be in ease of operation of the program and various things it can do. I find CEP EQ pretty straightforward - it's just the time it takes to process effects that makes it cumbersome, but I would be willing to bet you the price of the program that Version 2.0 (which Syntrillium say they're working on furiously, BTW) will have real-time processing. :D
 
I do want to clarify, if given the choice of having the Waves or CEP, there is NO choice...naturally the Waves. There are other things in the package that just shine, such as the L1, and the compressors, the Maxx Bass, the .....well, they are all top notch...nothing to really complain about. But it is like CEP is a Ford Mustang...a great car, and the Waves are like the finest foreign cars. If you spent 20grand on a Mustang...or whatever they cost now, you aren't gonna say you have a lousy car, and no one else will either. It can do the same things as the foreign sportsters, except 180 on the Audebon....but you don't always need that. You can still pick up chicks in a nice, red, new Ford.
 
I'm pretty sure you can get demo's of almost all of the waves plaugs....I think their fully functional for 7 days or something..

Go ahead and try em out...To some people, they don't sound any better than others. I bought mine almost entirely on what I've heard about them..I did monkey around with some at a friends house before i bought em'.

I cannot wait any longer for version 2.0 of CEP. I have been using CEP for years and had absolutely no desire to try anything else, no matter how great something else was supposed to be. But lately, I am seriously considering something else just for realtime fx.

Either Syntrillium is just taking their sweet time with it, or they have some really big changes in store for version 2.0

By the way Dobro. I took a listen to your song at garageband. Nice song, I love the vocal thing you do in the middle of it...Nice guitar playin'...you should really post more songs at the mp3 clinic. I wanna hear more..
 
Yeah, I'm on the case - there are just some things I want to get right before putting more stuff up... EQ's one of 'em. Thanks for the thumbs up. :)

Syntrillium made a recent announcement about 2.0 that indicated they've hired more staff to get it out sooner (another cleaning lady?). I expect it's going to be pretty powerful when it comes out. There's no sense coming up with something that's just an upgrade from 1.2 - nobody would buy it. And it won't be an upgrade, BTW, it'll be a full program you have to pay for.

I'll try the Waves demos, although I've never tried any plugins before. What's the drill? Download into any folder, and then access it through CEP later?
 
Cool...Can't wait to hear more from ya...

Either the demo's will download as an executable file (.exe) or a zip file..which also has an exe file among other files...

Just run the executable and it will install everything for you. Or if it's in a zip, extract everything into a folder and run the exe. Then go into cool edit and go to the Direct x column and go to "refresh this list" and it'll be there...


I'n sure Synt. didn't happen to mention when they were planning to release it, did they?
 
No such luck, no - they did their typical 'we don't want to make promises that we might not be able to keep' thing. But they've had *loads* of time since 1.2 came out, and people have been clamoring for the new version for a couple of years now, so I think it's relatively immiment. I don't think they would have made an announcement at this point unless they had something in the can they knew was releasable relatively soon.

But that's me talking, not Syntrillium, bless their tight little lips. :D

Thanks for the plugin download instructions. :)
 
Hopefully it'll be real soon....

They are probably losing users due to the fact they are taking their sweet time. I for one can't wait much longer. I recorded and mixed a few sessions on Samplitude 24/96 and I was surprised at how much better you can get stuff to sound with realtime fx. I pretty much knew that, but really didn't realize it untill I mixed with realtime fx.

I'm not one of those patient people that can eq something in cep and then go to multitrack, then listen to it and go back to wav editor and tweak the eq a tiny bit, then go back to multitrack, then back to wav editor, then back and forth a number of times. I usually just dial up what I think it needs, then flip to multi, then maybe tweak one more time...

But it's a different story with realtime..you can tweak until you hit that perfect spot..And for me..It makes a world of difference.

If I weren't so broke right now, I would of bought Samplitude already.

Hurry up Syntrillium...
 
mixmkr said:
I do want to clarify, if given the choice of having the Waves or CEP, there is NO choice...naturally the Waves. There are other things in the package that just shine, such as the L1, and the compressors, the Maxx Bass, the .....well, they are all top notch...nothing to really complain about. But it is like CEP is a Ford Mustang...a great car, and the Waves are like the finest foreign cars. If you spent 20grand on a Mustang...or whatever they cost now, you aren't gonna say you have a lousy car, and no one else will either. It can do the same things as the foreign sportsters, except 180 on the Audebon....but you don't always need that. You can still pick up chicks in a nice, red, new Ford.
Click to expand...

Amen, amen. Very well put, Mixmkr. I just posted along the exact same lines in The Rack regarding plugins.
Dobro, if waves is a 10, CEP is a 9. If you know how to use CEP you wont need much else 90% of the time (depending on what genre your doing). Ive been using CEP for several years and like brokenwindow, am married to CEP and am not interested in anything else as my main multitrack. The only reason I can think that CEP isnt doing the trick for some is that its more surgical and less musical sometimes. The presets are ok as baselines but they are not going to do the job without you tweaking things yourself and making additional presets. Waves requires less understanding of a given plugin to make it sound good, CEP requires more understanding.
 
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