[AstralStorm]

Personally, I'm using Virtual Audio Cable with VSTHost for complete system-wide eq.
However, VSTHost is pretty buggy software - it doesn't work properly with DirectSound IO adding lots of delay; can crash, hanging MME; causes bugs in Electri-Q's UI.
MME (antique WaveIn/WaveOut) and ASIO work fine, however it can't route from anything to ASIO and my ASIO driver doesn't have any routing features.
ASIO4ALL on the other hand does, but it induces a crash in my soundcard's drivers.
 
My suspicion is its ASIO support is meant for synthesizers and not audio processing. I should try Xlutop's Chainer instead, seems less buggy.
 
Oh, and about that "brilliance" boost - it's actually better to just use Electri-Q for that, but reduce the gain in it so it doesn't distort, instead increasing it afterwards, preferably in the amplifier/soundcard. Say, here's a *full* equalization (20-19kHz) for RE272 w/ Comply S Medium tips (which are oversize for me, I need small ones):

 
It's easy to see that Comply tips remove resonances, thus giving a smoother response.
 
About the "loudness-like" compensation. It actually sounds closer to real life recordings of performances I've actually witnessed...
I don't suspect the mastering gear has anything like the curve built in and I know the friend didn't do any compensation of his own.
That leaves the Neumann microphones an unlikely suspect. (Off-axis response can be discounted, I've seen that AB miking setup.)

 

[markanini]

Everyone try this preset for foo_dsp_xgeq and let me know what you think. It converts the diffuse-field curve that most headphones target to the Idependent-of-Direction curve. I find it lessens the sucked out mids on some recordings.

http://www.box.com/s/76n1uzaaxh5nsmhs89of

Source:http://www.head-acoustics.de/downloads/eng/application_notes/Equalization_brochure.pdf

 

[Jirachi]

I have a set of Beyerdynamic DT-990s and tried the original technique but couldn't identify the particularly high volume areas in the spectrum. It sounded like they were close to 3KHz but definitely not 7KHz. I couldn't find the peak whatsoever. Anyone done an eq for these yet? (250ohm pro or 600ohm premium)

 

[Joe Bloggs]

Did you use Sinegen?

 

[OmerNess]

for some reason I can't install electri-q properly, are there any "tweaks" or something needed to be done so it will work on win  7?
because now it's only finishing the installation, and nothing happens, everything in the Eectri-q's folder is the manual and the removal option

 

[AstralStorm]

Electri-Q is a VST plugin, not a separate piece of software. You need a VST host to work with it.
There are hosts for Winamp and Foobar2000, as well as a few standalone.
I know of two that can be used for general audio routing: buggy VSTHost and far less buggy Xlutop Chainer.

 

[jerg]

It'd be great if there is a host for VSTs that would affect all sounds played on the PC system. That way I won't have to have radically different sound signatures switching from foobar to say media player classic / youtube.

 

[RPGWiZaRD]

Quote:

It'd be great if there is a host for VSTs that would affect all sounds played on the PC system. That way I won't have to have radically different sound signatures switching from foobar to say media player classic / youtube.

 
This, does it really even exist!? I'm using my soundcard's EQ myself but yea I wouldn't always want to be limited to soundcards as source just for the sake of system-wide EQ possibility. Xlutop Chainer works? I suppose there's nothing that would work with Windows 7 and not bypassing kmixer?
 

 

[Joe Bloggs]

Virtual Audio Cable+VSTHost works for me in Windows 7 x64.  Better than in XP, actually.  If Xlutop is indeed less buggy than VSTHost it should work too.

 

[AstralStorm]

Hey, you just need Virtual Audio Cable and route its output into the VST host, then set the output in the VST host to your soundcard.
That's how my setup works right now, but it's using the quite rickety VSTHost yet, which I should replace with something better.
 
The main issue with VSTHost is that its DirectSound IO introduces major latency, while MME tends to sometimes not initialize properly and hang the app.
ASIO is unusable without ASIO4ALL as it doesn't support ASIO input. (not to mention that VAC has no ASIO driver)

 

[Maxvla]

It'd be great if there is a host for VSTs that would affect all sounds played on the PC system. That way I won't have to have radically different sound signatures switching from foobar to say media player classic / youtube.

Take your results from the software EQ and buy a hardware EQ to put in the chain and copy it over. I would guess this would work, right?

 

[Joe Bloggs]

Not if you look at the amount of tweaking some of the EQ settings posted involve... not really implementable in hardware

 

[AstralStorm]

I've tried once to implement a simple enough circuit for equalization, 7 biquad parametric plus 2 tunable shelf equalizers. However, the size of the design alone makes it non-portable.
Remember that a single parametric equalizer has 3 tunable parameters. (and possibly an extra one for slope skew)
So, the better way is to just copy the eq using a digital DSP, perhaps a convolver.

 

[juman231]

will try this when I get home...

 

[Maxvla]

Anyone know where an updated guide is for the Electri-Q is in this thread? There are many differences in the current version and the one in the OP and I'm not sure how to proceed.

edit: Ok, I've managed to figure out a few things.. the tip of being able to double click the point would have been nice to have from the start...

edit: I've managed to eq the resonances I hear in the sine sweep to where it sounds perfectly flat. With music I feel I've lost significant detail despite my corrections being rather small compared to what I see earlier in the thread.



latest edit: So the EQ'd settings help tame some harsher recordings, but I really feel like I lose a lot on good recordings. I'll give it a bit longer til I decide if I want to use EQ or not.