Programme equalisers have expanded, beyond their original use as distance correction devices for film and vision, into highly creative tools that represent a leading part of the sound engineer's artistic palette. A great many EQ designs have been developed over the years that have been attributed with qualities that lend themselves to particular uses and sounds. The Sonnox Oxford EQ plug-in is designed to be flexible enough to address as many of these generic types as possible from a single application by presenting a variety of types to the user. The following text is presented as a general explanation of many of the factors that affect EQ performance and to illustrate how we have addressed these issues with the Sonnox Oxford EQ plug-in.

Control Ranges & Interaction (types of EQ)

There are many different types of EQ, which differ in many areas. One of the most important areas is the issue of control ranges and interaction. Whilst it is true that with a parametric unit with continuous controls (i.e. not quantised) any response could be obtained by matching their curves, many of the popular EQs have control dependencies that lean towards a specific application. One of the main areas where EQs differ is Gain / Q dependency. Most analogue EQ has Gain / Q dependency as a result of the circuits used. This factor can greatly affect the artistic style that an EQ presents by facilitating certain parameter settings and encouraging particular uses when the unit is operated. In the Sonnox Oxford EQ plug-in we have covered this situation by providing 3 different styles of EQ that take account of Gain / Q dependency as well as overall control ranges