Curves AQ / Equator / IDX dynamics

Music Production
1

Hello

I would like to know if these plugins are meant to be placed on single synth tracks, synth buses or the master track?

Curves AQ / Equator / IDX dynamics

Thanks in advance for your help

2

Hi @andrzejc,

Welcome to the forum.

All three of those plugins are flexible enough to use anywhere in the chain, so the right spot really comes down to what you’re trying to achieve in that particular mix. Placing one on an individual synth track lets you shape or unmask that specific sound, while running it on a bus or the master helps address masking and buildup once several synth layers are combined. It’s worth trying both a track and a bus version to hear which gives you the result you want, and if you’d like input on your specific session setup you’re welcome to contact our support team for personalized help.

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3

Curves Equator will help you get rid of any resonances or mud or any frequencies clashing with another track. You just need to set up the sidechain to listen to a clashing track to be able to automatically do the latter. It’s good for “cleaning up” a track before enhancing it. As such, it’s often good to put before Curves AQ.

AQ, itself, is designed to help you enhance a sound a dial in a good “tone” that compliments the track. It will listen to your instrument or voice and provide you with a few “ideal” eq curves to start with, but then you can go deeper and continue to shape the sound further yourself. So you’re not stuck with some kind of preset sound.

IDX will help with levelling the dynamics so the soft and louder parts are more consistent. It can help sounds to be heard more consistently or it can help control them so they can sit in the background under other sounds.

It works pretty simply and intelligently, but isn’t the kind of compressor you would use to help “shape” the sound, such as enhancing the attack. But you could always use Smack Attack or another transient enhancer to help with that.

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