Waves Q10 Paragraphic EQ with Audirvana?

[AndreaColombo]

Hello,

Does anybody know whether the Waves Q10 Paragraphic EQ plugin works with Audirvana on Windows 10?

Thanks,
Andrea

[AndreaColombo]

To answer my own question: Yes, it does. (In case anybody else were wondering and ran into this thread.)

[Aldebaran]

I just got this plug-in, myself, and I was wondering whether you found any presets or settings particularly useful, just to sweeten the sound in general. I am trying to take the edge off and get AV to sound a little more like Amarra, honestly. But I am not especially good with EQ.

[AndreaColombo]

Hi Aledbaran,

I’m using oratory1990’s preset to EQ my Focal Elegia to the Harman Target Curve.

Unfortunately I’m unacquainted with Amarra, and I’m not particularly well-versed in EQ myself, so I couldn’t advise you on how to achieve your stated end goal. I’ve stopped worrying about EQ the moment I read about the Harman Target Curve and found oratory1990’s subreddit with the presets for various headphones. You may find it here: https://www.reddit.com/r/oratory1990/

Alternatively, the AutoEQ project has even more presets, some of which are based on oratory1990’s work: https://github.com/jaakkopasanen/AutoEq

Hope this helps.

Kind regards,
Andrea

[Aldebaran]

Thanks very much for your reply and suggestions, Andrea. I’ll look into what you mention. Actually, one other thing about Amarra that I like is that it comes with a great preset for my Etymotic earphones. But the interface is just a disaster.

[Aldebaran]

Actually, everything there that you linked to looks way over my head. I can’t even figure out how to edit the parameters of the Wave Q10 plug-in in Audirvana. In the “configure” option, it allows me to choose factory presets, but there is no way that I can find that allows me to customize the plug-in’s parameters directly.

I know, I probably have no business getting into the realm of audiophila with such limited technical knowledge, but what can I say? [laughs]. Anyway, thank you again.

[AndreaColombo]

That’s strange, as when I open the plugin in Audirvana I’m right where it lets me customize it…! Dialing the settings in is pretty simple. Could you locate your earphones in oratory1990’s list? If you have the values handy, we can create the preset in Q10.

[Aldebaran]

Thanks for your reply. It is strange. When I click “configure”, the plug-in appears at the bottom left-hand corner of the screen, about quarter-size, in a red box. When I click around in the plug-in window, some parameters light up, but I can’t move the knobs with my mouse. So, I am not sure I will even be Abe to edit it.

But anyway, my earphones are the Etymotic ER-4X Pro. Oratory1990 has the ER-4XR, which is the closest thing. I am uploading a screen cap of the values.

[AndreaColombo]

So, the settings you need are at the bottom of the PDF you took a screenshot from.

The Q10 plugin has several items to choose from in Audirvana’s “Effect plug-in #1” drop-down menu. The one you want is called “Fx|EQ - Waves Q10 Stereo” and it looks like this:

You can use the “INPUT” slider to set the “preamp” value from oratory1990’s file. You then need to activate the first 8 bands by clicking on the “power” button next to each, and either use the knobs to dial in the values, or double-click and type the value in (which I found to be the quicker, more precise way to do it.)

The resulting curve should look approximately like the “EQ curve total” graph in oratory1990’s PDF.

[Aldebaran]

Thank you very, very much! I shall give it a try in a little while and will let you know how it goes.

[Aldebaran]

I simply can’t create the presets in Audirvana. It won’t let me edit the parameters reliably. Some buttons and knobs respond randomly where I click, and others don’t respond, at all.

So, I created the Q10 preset in GarageBand and saved it. Now, the problem is that Audirvana will not show user presets in my “configure” options. It shows only the same old factory presets.

So, I am about to give up. It appears that I will have to choose between Audirvana’s inferior (to me, subjectively) sound, but better interface, or Amarra’s better (to me, subjectively) sound, but worthless interface (Catalina broke the iTunes/Music compatibility mode, and God only knows when Sonic Studios will get around to reinstating it). But I do want to say, sincerely, many thanks again for your help.

[AndreaColombo]

The Q10 knobs can be finicky, especially the Q one, but you should be able to click the field that shows the number and just enter the number you want manually.

As for using your custom configuration in Audirvana, when you click Load and the drop-down menu opens, you should see “Open Preset File” as the first item, above the factory presets. That should let you pick the file you created in GarageBand, provided that the file format is compatible with the plugin (not sure what file format it uses; I created my preset from within Audirvana.)

[Aldebaran]

Unfortunately, my Audirvana has no such option to open presets files. My only under options under Audio Units are “configure”, then the box opens, “presets”, then, after clicking presets, the factor presets for the Q10. And when I click the values fields to try to type something into them, they are completely unresponsive. It’s very odd.

[AndreaColombo]

Your UI looks a bit different—guess that’s to be expected between Windows and MacOS, but I don’t have that huge red background at all. Anyhow, let’s focus exclusively on the bottom-left corner, where the EQ interface is, and pretend everything else (the red stuff and the “presets” stuff) doesn’t exist. The top-right corner of the EQ interface has a “Load” button that should enable you to pick the preset you created in GarageBand. In my interface, that’s also where I need to click if I want one of the existing presets, so it’s possible they’ll be there too.

The fields with the numbers should become editable on a double-click. If they aren’t, I would consider touching base with Waves’ support (they answered me pretty quickly when I needed them.)

[Aldebaran]

Thank you again. The “load” button does not work. I click all day and nothing happens. The same with everything at the top of the screen.I think that you are right; it’s time to request technical support!

[AndreaColombo]

Most definitely!

Let me know how it goes