TBProAudio DSEQ3 Dynamic Spectral Equalizer User Manual

: June 13, 2024
: TBProAudio

TBProAudio DSEQ3 Dynamic Spectral Equalizer User Manual

Introduction

Welcome to DSEQ, a dynamic spectral equalizer.

Dynamic equalizers are widely used in the mixing and mastering arsenal. They usually work in the time domain and have limited frequency selectivity due to the nature of their filters. High frequency selectivity can be achieved in the frequency domain. This means that disturbing singular frequencies are dimmed without touching the frequencies on the left and right too much. Such characteristics are essential for de-essing, softening digital highs, taming annoying resonances or de-masking frequency regions.

DSEQ works fully in the frequency domain, providing very high frequency selectivity thanks to self-adjusting dynamic equalizers. DSEQ does its job with highest transparency even pushed hard. This avoids distortion, phasing and artefacts even with very critical sound material. And DSEQ offers several quality modes taming even singular frequencies.

On top DSEQ provides a very easy to use interface. With just a few parameters (threshold, selectivity and attack/release) a broad range of applications can be covered. Even the initial parameter set could make your mix more transparent. Just pick the threshold parameter and lower it step by step. From there you can start focusing on specific frequency regions by using the pre- filters.

DSEQ can be used in all mix and master situations:

de-essing vocals
taming resonances in e.g. drum, guitar, vocal recordings
removing digital harshness
balancing the mix
de-masking frequency regions
support of pink noise mixing/mastering

How does DSEQ work

DSEQ analyses the input or side chain signal in the frequency domain and triggers then the dynamic equalizers depending on the threshold. This is done for each singular frequency that is available during the Fast Fourier Transformation (FFT). The frequency selectivity determines whether and to what extent neighbouring frequencies are also affected. Attack and Release control how quickly the dynamic equalizers react.

The slope parameter lets you turn the spectrum of the input or side chain signal before going into the dynamic equalizers. With a positive slope value the dynamic equalizers with higher frequencies trigger earlier, with lower frequencies later. Just set the slope value to +3dB if you work witch pink noise mixing/mastering method.

DSEQ works normally in the entire frequency range. You can limit the effect to certain frequency regions (e.g. highs for de-essing). Therefore, the signal for the dynamic equalizers can be processed using pre-filters. DSEQ offers various filter types such as cut, peak and shelf filters. The filter sensitivity determines how strongly the signal is recognized by the dynamic equalizers.

DSEQ can either work with a fixed threshold values over the spectrum or with a custom threshold curve calculated from any audio file.

DSEQ needs some time to analyse the signal and trigger the dynamic equalizers. DSEQ therefore creates a notable latency that is normally compensated by any modern DAW when PDC (plugin delay compensation) is activated.

DSEQ V2.0 introduces the smart AI function and a corresponding GUI page to setup DSEQ automatically depending on the input material.

DSEQ V3.0 introduces gain reduction spectrograph and free GUI scaling and resizing.

DSEQ V3.5 introduces natural phase dynamic filter and adaptive slope/threshold.
The natural phase dynamic filter creates less pre-ringing.
The adaptive slope and threshold combined with the internal loudness matching (AB-LM Lite Slow) let DSEQ work in “auto pilot” mode with no or small user interaction. It gives an instant improvement of resonances or digital harshness. Just select one of the presets “Adaptive – xxx” and start right away.

DSEQ V3.6 introduces smart silence processing to save CPU with multiple instances.

Features

DSEQ offers following features:

smart AI function,
smart AI GUI page
smooth linear and natural phase dynamic filter
full frequency range processing, 10Hz – 22kHz
7 different quality modes: eco eco, eco, normal, high and ultra, ultra 2/3
left/right and mid/side processing
global slope for detector signal (e.g. pink noise mixing/mastering)
custom threshold curve
limit of gain reduction
compression control
automatic optimal slope/ threshold parameter calculation
adaptive slope and threshold
12 independent pre-filter bands, analogue/digital style
side-chain support
parameter A/B
multiple signal monitoring modes (pre-filter, delta, side chain)
multiple spectrum analyzing modes (stereo, left, right, mid, side)
perceptual loudness matching (powered by AB-LM Lite) and gain “freezing”
extended input/output meter, Peak/RMS/EBU/VU
narrow-band sweeping mode
filter band listen mode
sample-exact bypass toggle for all processing modes
sample rates min. up to 192 kHz
“real” over sampling, up to 4x
offline render modes
EQ cheat sheets
continuous calculation of the spectrum slope
precise parameter input
gain reduction spectrograph
easy to use GUI
free GUI scaling and resizing up to 300%
many presets including smart AI setups
preset management including custom setups
full DAW automation support
touch control
64-bit internal processing
NEW: smart silence processing
very efficient CPU usage design

Overview

The upper section offers plug-in settings such as over-sampling, quality modes and processing mode.
In the middle is the main display for EQ / spectrum, with which you can monitor the delta spectrum (input – output) and adjust the filter response curve.
Below the spectrum display is the filter dashboard that controls the pre-filter parameter.
The controls of the dynamic equalizer are on the left.
Measuring devices and ABLM for the perception of the volume are on the right side.
Below are the controls for the custom threshold and the smart AI functions

Interactive spectrum/filter curve display

The filter button activates the filter and can be dragged with the mouse. Right mouse click opens the filter popup menu. See more under section pre-filter board.
The lines between the filter buttons represent the filter response curves of the different channels (stereo, left/right/mid/side).
The analyzer popup menu hosts settings of the spectrum analyzer.
The left scale shows the filter magnitude.
The controls in the bottom left corner zoom the spectrum view
The pre-filter dash board shows current filter settings. The filter number is set by the “Nr.” control.
The top left area shows the current maximum gain reduction and signal slope.

Minimum System Requirements

Windows 7, OpenGL 2 GFX card
Mac OS X 10.11, Metal GFX card
SSE2 CPU
Win: 32/64 Bit VST, 32/64 Bit VST3, 32/64 Bit AAX
OS X: 64 Bit VST, 64 Bit VST3, 64 Bit AU, 64 Bit AAX
Tested with: Cockos Reaper, Steinberg Cubase/Nuendo/Wavelab 6+, FL Studio 12+, PT2018+, Reason 9.5+, Studio One, Ableton Live
For latest information please visit www.tbproaudio.de

Plugin Controls

Mouse usage:

Click and drag horizontally changes parameter value.
Shift click and drag slows down parameter change.
Ctrl click rests to default value.
Double click opens value edit box, finish with enter.

Main plugin area

Plugin menu

About: shows plugin version and further information
Open manual: opens plugin manual
Change log: opens web site with latest version info
Check for updates now: new version check
Check for updates automatically: auto version check
Activate plugin: shows plugin activation screen
Open data folder: opens local data folder
Tooltips: enables display parameter tooltips
Reset GUI size: resets GUI size to default
Reset GUI scale: resets GUI scale to default
Set Min GUI scale: sets GUI scale to minimum size

Link quality mode to sample rate
If over-sampling is set to 2x, quality mode n+1 is used, e.g. if quality mode is set to “Normal” internally quality mode “High” is used.
If over-sampling is set to 4x, quality mode n+2 is used, e.g. if quality mode is set to “Normal” internally quality mode “Ultra” is used.
Please note that the quality mode is always finally limited to “Ultra 3”.

Set smart silence processing globally
Propagates smart silence processing setting to all DSEQ instances (including SSP custom threshold). This functions only if all DSEQ instances are in the same process space. Please consult the DAW manual for more information.

Parameter AB
This control lets you on the fly AB different parameter settings. Additionally the current set could be copied to B or A.
With version 1.5.2 DSEQ includes also custom threshold.
So select “A”, load a user preset with custom threshold, switch to “B”, load another user preset with custom threshold. Now you can toggle A/B on the fly. Please make sure that both settings have the same quality mode to avoid audio drops.

Preset menu

Preset menu loads and saves user presets. Presets stored under %localappdata%/DSEQ3 (Windows) or /Users/xxx/Library/Application Support/ DSEQ3 (Mac OSX) are imported as user presets. Previous and next button step trough all presets.
“Reset to default” sets the current plugins settings to the default settings.
“Save as Default” sets the current settings as start-up/default settings.

DSEQ comes with several factory presets demonstrating the capabilities of the plugin.
With version 1.5.2 DSEQ stores the current custom threshold together with the user preset.

Previous and next preset
Set previous and next preset.

TBProAudio logo
Click to prevent audio mute every 90 seconds (demo mode only)

Key symbol
If gray colored, click to select license key and activate the plugin.

Top plugin area

Over-sampling (Online/offline render)
Over-sampling reduces the magnitude/phase distortions near Nyquist frequency. Both prefilters and dynamic equalizers are over-sampled. Please to note that over-sampling impacts mainly the smoothing of the gain reduction curve (gain reduction of all dynamic equalizers together). Depending on the sound material it could make the impact of DSEQ smoother.
Select quality mode for offline render (aka bounce, mix-down, audio export).
If item “1:1” is selected no change from online to offline render is made.

Quality mode (Online/offline render)
Quality mode determines the size of the FFT and therefore the number of frequencies to be analysed. This control also impacts the plugin latency.
Select quality mode for offline render (aka bounce, mix-down, audio export If item “1:1” is selected no change from online to offline render is made.

Channel mode
Channel mode selects either left/right or mid/side processing mode. Usually left/right is the choice. In special cases independent processing of the mid and side channel is useful (see M/S processing)

Analyzer mode
Analyzer mode selects the main analyzer view mode:

All: shows the summed left/right spectrum.
Left: left spectrum.
Right: right spectrum.
Mid: M/S mid spectrum.
Side: M/S side spectrum.

Linear/natural phase switch
Toggle linear (LP)/natural (NP) phase dynamic filter. Please to note that the natural phase filter introduces more phasing compared to the linear phase filter. The natural phase filter creates less pre-ringing.

Bypass
Bypass enables click-free plugin bypassing.

Pre-filer monitoring
Pre-filter monitoring enables the listening of the pre-filter signal (either main signal or side chain signal).

Delta monitoring
Delta monitoring enables the listening of the difference signal of input minus output. This makes the impact of pre-filter and dynamic equalizers much more audible.

Filter band listen

The filter band listen mode enables the listening of the output signal in a specific filter band with all DSEQ processing. Filter frequency and Q are determined by the selected pre-filter. Just click on one of the pre-filter buttons (no need to be active) and move button around.
In combination with the delta monitoring mode, you can precisely verify the effect of DSEQ on the signa

Side chain
Side chain toggles usage of side chain (for VST2 CH 3+4) off/on

Spectrum analyser freeze
Stop updating of spectrum analyzer.

ABLM
See chapter ABLM.

Note to offline render modes
Please note that not all DAWs either report offline render status properly or handle PDC messages in offline render mode properly. So either the offline render modes of DSEQ are not activated or the tracks with DSEQ are out of sync due to missing PDC

TBProAudio tested following DAWs and plugin formats successfully:

Reaper: VST2x32, VST2x64, VST3x32, VST3x64
Wavelab: VST3x64
Cubase: VST3x64
Studio One: VST3x64, AUx64
Ableton: VST2x64, AUx64
FL Studio: VST3x32, VST3x64
ProTools: AAXx64

So if your DAW/plugin format is not listed just leave the setting to “1:1”.

Left plugin area

Slope
Slope turns the spectrum of the input signal by the value in dB/Oct around 1kHz. Positive values bring the highs more in focus, negative values the lows. If you are doing pink noise mixing/mastering, just set slope to +3dB. This brings the highs more and the lows less in the focus of the dynamic equalizers.

Calculate slope parameter
This control sets automatically the optimal slope parameter based on main input signal and optionally custom threshold.

Adaptive slope
Enable to let DSEQ continuously calculate the optimal slope. Use the slope parameter to increase or decrease the calculated slope additively.

Selectivity
Selectivity determines how much the trigger of a singular dynamic equalizer affects the neighbours. Higher values limit the effect to more singular dynamic equalizer, but could also create more distortion.

Channel link
Channel link determines how strong left/mid and right/side channel are linked together. Lower values give more separate processing. For stereo master a value 75% is usefu

Attack
Attack controls how quickly the gain reduction of the dynamic equalizers starts. As DSEQ could use more than 1000 dynamic equalizers (depending on processing quality) the control of each dynamic equalizer parameter is not suitable. Therefore DSEQ controls all of them combined. Lower values give shorter attack times, higher values longer attack times.

Release
Release controls how quickly the gain reduction of the dynamic equalizers releases. As DSEQ could use more than 1000 dynamic equalizers (depending on processing quality) the control of each dynamic equalizer parameter is not suitable. Therefore DSEQ controls all of them combined. Lower values give shorter release times, higher values longer release times.

Threshold
Threshold sets the signal level when the dynamic equalizers are triggered. Use lower values for more gain reduction. The current gain reduction is displayed in the spectrum view. You can use the slope parameter to increase or decrease the threshold additionally by x dB/Oct.

Calculate threshold parameter
This control sets automatically the optimal threshold parameter based on main input signal.

Adaptive threshold
Enable to let DSEQ continuously calculate the optimal threshold. Use the threshold parameter to increase or decrease the calculated threshold additively.

GR strength
GR strength boosts or lowers the gain reduction additionally. Usually the factor x1 is sufficient for most cases. In surgical cases (e.g. eliminating outstanding frequencies) higher factors can be applied.
GR strength works similar to the ratio parameter of a compressor. The formula is:
Strength = 1 – 1 / Ratio or
Ratio = 1 / (1 – Strength).

Max GR
Max GR limits the maximum gain reduction to the set value.

Right plugin area

Mix
Mix selects the mix of processed and non-processed (wet and dry) signals

Channel Mode
Channel mode selects which channel combination displayed by the meters: In/out, In Left/Right, Out Left/Right, In Mid/Side, Out Mid/Side and off

Meter Mode
Meter mode selects various measurement modes of the meters: Peak (dBFS), RMS (AES 17, dBFS), EBU ML (LUFS), EBU SL (LUFS) and VU (dBVU).

Main Meter
A small LED on top lids up if level goes over 0.0 dBFS. Numbers below the meters display the maximum values.

AB-LM Lite gain freeze
Freezes AB-LM Lite gain and switches AB-LM Lite to off. Small white LED indicates if freeze gain is active. Please refer to chapter 7 for more information.

Main Gain
Main gain adjusts the output-gain of DSEQ, in dB.

Offline render
Lights if DAW offline render mode is active

GUI resizing and scaling
Click and drag to resize the GUI. Additional ctrl key scales the GUI

Pre-filter parameter

Pre-filter control the signal fed into the dynamic equalizer. You can take parts of the spectrum out (not processed by the dynamic equalizers) or boost (more processed by the dynamic equalizers).
The display of the pre-filter dash board can be toggle with the small icon just below.

Hide pre-filter board
Click to show/hide the pre-filter board.

Nr.
Controls display of current pre-filter parameter set. Click to open the number menu, use the mouse wheel or the small arrows left and right to change current set.

Active
Active enables/disables the current pre-filter.

Solo
Solo makes all other pre-filters inactive.

Type
Type selects the filter type of the current pre-filter:

Peak: peak filter
Low Cut: high pass filter
High Cut: low pass filter
High Shelf: shelf filter boosting high frequencies
Low Shelf: shelf filter boosting low frequencies
Tilt Shelf: combination of low shelf/high shelf in one filter
Flat Tilt: flat tilt filter
Band Pass: passes certain frequencies of the spectrum
Notch: cuts certain frequencies out of the spectrum
Gain: simple “gain filter”. To be used to lower e.g. side signal while processing mid/side.
Digital Peak: peak filter
Digital Low Cut: high pass filter
Digital High Cut: low pass filter
Digital High Shelf: shelf filter boosting high frequencies
Digital Low Shelf: shelf filter boosting low frequencies
Digital Tilt Shelf: combination of low/high shelf in one filter
Digital Band Pass: passes certain frequencies of the spectrum

Channel
Channel controls which part of the signal (all/left/right/mid/side) is affected by the filter

Slope
Slope sets the steepness of the filter (if applicable), 6dB to 96dB/octave.

Frequency
Frequency sets the frequency of the filter band, 50Hz to 20kHz

Sensitivity
Sensitivity sets the filter sensitivity (if applicable), -48dB to 30dB.

Q-Factor
Q sets the bandwidth of the filter band (if applicable), widening or narrowing the filter response.

Copy parameter
Copy the current filter parameter set to target, given by number below.

Target pre-filter number
Target pre-filter number, used by parameter set copy

Filter button (spectrum view)
Click and drag the filter button to set frequency, gain or Q of the filter. Additional shift key slows down the mouse movement.

Double click on the button activates/de-actives the filter. Additional ctrl key resets filter settings. Right mouse click (or shift + ctrl key + left mouse click) opens the filter popup menu:

Title: activates/de-activates the filter
Type: selects current filter type
Channel: selects current stereo placement
Slope: selects filter steepness
Solo: solos filter
Reset: resets filter to default values

Mouse usage:

Mouse drag: changes filter frequency and sensitivity
Shift key + mouse drag: slows down mouse movement
Ctrl key + mouse click: resets filter to default values

Mouse wheel: changes filter Q (where applicable)
Shift key + mouse wheel: slows down change of Q (where applicable)
Control key + mouse wheel: changes filter channel
Alt key + mouse wheel: changes filter slope (where applicable)

Custom threshold

The dynamic EQs can either work with fixed threshold values or custom values.
DSEQ calculates the custom threshold values from any audio file or even the recorded input signal.

On/Off: toggles custom or fixed threshold. GR display reflects current setting: blue (fixed threshold) and red (custom threshold).
Record: analyses the current input signal (either main or side chain) and calculates the threshold curve. Toggle to start or stop. During recoding all DSEQ processing is bypassed. Record clear all current data.

**File menu

**

The menu lets you load and analyse audio files ( Mono/stereo WAV and AIFF) and use as custom threshold. Custom threshold data can be imported and exported (ext. cth). The export is done to the DSEQ data folder. The menu lists the first 20 data files from there as favourites for quick import.
You can also drag&drop wav/aiff/cth files from DAW internal browser or from Windows Explorer or Mac Finder on this control.

Clear: clears current custom threshold curve

Notes:

With version V1.5.2 you can A/B custom thresholds, either load with the custom threshold menu or with a user preset.
Each custom threshold curve has its own internal slope, so it is useful to set the parameter slope to 0.0 dB at the beginning.
After the recording or importing of audio files the custom threshold curve is normalized during the analysis. So it is useful to start with a high threshold parameter value like +30.0 and decreased it afterwards.
Usually the threshold values of the spectrum border regions (below 50 Hz and above 16 kHz) are very low. So it is useful to set a low- and high-cut pre-filter additionally. Please refer to the preset “General – custom threshold”.

Smart AI

DSEQ makes it even easier to tame digital harshness thanks to its smart AI function. Set up DSEQ as normal, selected desired AI learn mode, press play to start the DAW and then the learn button. DSEQ calculates the optimal slope and threshold parameter within seconds.

Open smart AI GUI: the icon opens the simplified smart AI GUI.

Learn: starts DSEQ smart AI analysing. Place the play cursor at the desired part of the track (most probably the loudest part), and then press play. It takes ca. 10 seconds to analyse the input signal.

Learn mode: sets the different smart AI parameters depending on the modes soft, normal and strong.

Smart AI GUI

The smart AI GUI simplifies the working with DSEQ. It presents the most important controls in an easy to use GUI. The smart AI GUI works optimal with the provided AI presets from the preset menu

Controls from top left to right:

close smart AI GUI and return to expert GUI
show/hide smart AI instructions
AB-LM
plugin bypass
delta monitoring

On middle left side there is the smart AI learn button. Just press to start the learning process.
On the right side the smart AI gain reduction meter. It shows the current gain reduction applied to the signal. The meter should be between 25% and 75%. Otherwise select another part for the analysis.
You can switch seamlessly between smart AI and expert GUI. All settings made in expert mode stay when switching to smart AI GUI.

How to use smart AI GUI:

Select any of the AI presets from preset menu drop down.
Set the DAW play cursor at the desired part of the track (usually the loudest part) and then press play.
Press the learn button and wait for a few seconds until DSEQ finished the detection process.
DSEQ will automatically adjust the best setting for taming digital harshness.

Show Input Spectrum: toggles display of input spectrum
Show Gain Reduction: toggles display of GR view
Show Pre-Filter Response: toggles display of filter response
Spectrum Curve Type: customizes display of spectrum/GR curve
Enable HiRes Analyzer: toggles high resolution analyzer
Spectrogram: customizes spectrogram view
Show Custom Threshold: toggles display of custom threshold curve
EQ Cheat Sheet: toggles display of various overlaid cheat sheets.
Show Spectrum Slope: toggles display of the estimated spectrum slope

Narrow-band Sweeping Mode (detector signal)

The narrow-band sweeping mode is enabled by left mouse click + ctrl key in the free area of the spectrum view. The frequency is changed by moving the mouse left/right, the Q of the filter is changed by moving the mouse up/down.

AB-LM Lite

AB-LM Lite is a perceptual A/B loudness matching algorithm to help you avoid the pitfall of ‘louder is better’, so you can evaluate the impact of the plugin on your incoming and outgoing audio signal at equal loudness.

When you engage AB-LM Lite, the algorithm analyzes the incoming signal and compares it to the outgoing signal via its RMS values and applies an automatic gain adjustment so you can focus on the plugin settings and what they are actually doing to your audio, without being distracted by loudness differences.
Please to note that AB-LM Lite limits the gain adjustment to +/- 12dB to avoid gain overshoots.
AB-LM Lite lets you automatically minimize the loudness either quickly (mode fast) or gently (mode slow).
The “target” symbol top right of the fader sections freezes the last AB-LM Lite gain and switches AB-LM Lite off. This function prints the last AB-LM Lite gain settings to the gain structure of DSEQ.
The small white LED indicates if AB-LM Lite freeze gain is active. Click on the “target” symbol sets freeze gain to 0.0 dB.
AB-LM Lite is an automatic, simplified algorithm to help your workflow, based on our more advanced dedicated AB-LM plugin, which allows perceptual loudness matching of third party plugins and even complete plugin chains. AB-LM also offers more advanced options, including advanced measurement modes and snapshots.
For the more advanced features of AB-LM, please see www.tbproaudio.de.

Smart silence processing (SSP)

Smart silence processing reduces CPU if silence is processed.

Click to set SSP threshold to either -186/-138/-90dBFS. This corresponds to SNR of 32/24/16Bit. Select custom threshold for user defined SSP threshold. The SSP icon indicates the processing state.
Click to set SSP threshold based on current loudness.

Demo mode versus Registered Mode

In demo mode (without activation) the plug-in mutes audio every 90 seconds for a short period. This could be circumvented by clicking on the “TBProAudio” logo within 90 seconds.

Plugin activation

The plugins needs to be registered/activated to remove demo restrictions. Please go to www.tb-proaudio.de to purchase the activation key. After purchase you will receive an email from TBProAudio with either the (zipped) activation key file or the activation key in text form. Go to the plugin menu->Activate plugin. Please follow the steps described here: https://www.tbproaudio.de/support/productactivation. After successful activation the key symbol shown in the GUI appears in golden colour