User manual SERATO GRAPHIC EQ

[. . . ] It combines the pristine sound quality and excellent features of Rane's top-of-the-line hardware, the DEQ 60/60L, with the ease of a functional graphical user interface. The Graphic EQ features 31 bands of equalization using Rane's patent-pending Perfect-QTM technology. It also has 3 simple overall tone controls and a low- and high-cut filter pair to help shape your sound. The overall gain and phase change are graphically displayed on a color coded curve so you can see at a glance the overall effect your settings are having on the audio. [. . . ] For situations where a more traditional approach is required, switch to Proportional-Q mode (using the band filter options) for a standard EQ response. Taking the previous example, if you boost 80 Hz by 8 dB it will also boost the 63 Hz and 100 Hz bands. This is useful for less accurate sound shaping, for example you may want to add some low end or a bit of sparkle up high without being specific. The screenshot below shows the response curve for ProportionalQ mode using the same slider settings as the screenshot above. Note how the response curve wanders from the positions of the EQ sliders. 6 The Graphic EQ Interface The screenshots above further illustrate the difference between the two EQ modes. Setting two adjacent bands, 630 Hz and 800 Hz, to 8 dB, we see that Perfect-Q mode (on the left) produces no interplay between the bands. Setting the bands to 8 dB has resulted in a boost of 8 dB at those frequencies and the frequencies in between. However, with Proportional-Q mode, the boost of one band spills over into adjacent bands. With two bands together, those spills end up boosting the gain beyond where it was set. In this example (on the right), the actual gain produced when setting the two adjacent sliders to 8 dB is closer to 11 dB. The gain range of the band filter silders is determined by the range and cut only switches in the band filter options panel. If the range is changed to say, ±6 dB (by clicking the range switch), then any sliders that are set to values beyond this range will be semi-transparent and displayed at the nearest on screen value. With the example shown to the right, two sliders that were set to about +8 dB are shown as semi-transparent at +6 dB. The gain for each of these sliders remains at the original value when viewing with the limited range. If you move one of these silders it will then be limited to values within the current range. Finally, clicking on the `page fold' in the top right corner of the band filters' panel reveals the Response Curve Panel, a view that removes the EQ sliders to get a better look at the response curve. The color of the response curve, representing the phase, now fades to black instead of white when there is no phase shift. This panel is also always displayed with a range of ±12 dB; the band filter range options (explained in the following section) do not alter this view. To revert to the band filters' panel showing the EQ sliders, simply click on the page fold in the top right corner again. 7 The Graphic EQ Interface Band Filter Options The band filter options allow you to control the behavior of the band filters. Switching to ±6 dB is useful when more accurate band filter adjustments are necessary. Cut Only switches the band filters between Boost / Cut mode, where the maximum filter gain is set by the range switch, and Cut Only mode, where the maximum filter gain is 0 dB. In both modes the minimum filter gain is dictated by the range switch. [. . . ] You can type in the new value for the control and hit enter or return to send this new value through to the plug-in. Pressing tab selects the next control value editor in the current page, and pressing shift-tab selects the previous editor. When none of the control value editors are selected you can cycle through the pages by using the tab key, or shift-tab to cycle through the pages in reverse. The editors also change to display the page containing the last control you have touched. 11 Appendix A - Shortcuts Mac Shortcut Shift-dragging anywhere in the band filters' panel Shift-dragging the input or output gain Option-clicking a slider or knob Command-dragging a slider or knob Pressing tab or shift-tab Alt-clicking a slider or knob Control-dragging a slider or knob Windows Shortcut (if different) Action `Paints' an EQ curve by setting the EQ sliders as the mouse is dragged across them. [. . . ]