iZotope Nectar 3 Plus

Verdict
For EQ Match works brilliantly
Loads of useful shapes and slopes
External Spectrum Visualization sorts
overlapping frequencies with ease
Against Dynamic EQ implementation
could be a touch more clear
Possibly the best EQ plugin on the market.
Pro-Q is amazing and unstoppable
10/10
vocal plugins roundup / reviews <
August 2022 / COMPUTER MUSIC / 79
If you have tuning
issues or want that
‘Auto-tune’ efect then
there are a couple of
obvious contenders, the
most obvious being the
daddy of them all, Auto-
Tune Pro. It’s managed
to stay ahead of the rest
by heaping in some
wonderful and easy to
implement features,
over and above that
classic vocal efect and
has almost become the
‘Hoover’ of plugins
along the way. That said,
if you want the quick,
down and dirty version
then Soundtoys’ Little
AlterBoy impresses us
with its simplistic but
beautiful approach to
not only Auto-Tune style
efects, but brilliant
male to female and
female to male formant
editing and more.
For more reined
pitch editing,
Celemony’s Melodyne
will always be the black
magic plugin that will
impress with its
abilities, particularly
the Editor version
upwards that contains
the DNA algorithm and
polyphonic audio
editing. But it does cost,
so if you are after its
basic functionality and
a whole lot more, we
have to throw iZotope’s
Nectar 3 Plus into the
ring as a great option,
which gives you module
upon module of vocal
editing options, the
miraculous Vocal
Assistant feature and
even a version of
Melodyne thrown in – all
for $249!
While not a dedicated vocal processor,
Fabilter’s Pro-Q is one of the best EQs
on the market, and every producer
dealing with vocal recordings needs a
great EQ to tame all those frequencies
around a vocal. There are many reasons
why Pro-Q has become the number one
choice, but the main attractions are its
sound, features and beautiful display.
Double-clicking the spectral display
creates a new EQ band, with its
adjustable parameters appearing so
you can easily tweak frequency, gain, Q,
plus the band’s ilter shape and slope.
And there’s a good variety of shapes to
quickly adjust a signal’s tonal balance.
But as good as its UI is, it’s features
like Spectrum Grab that have made the
headlines, allowing you to control errant
peaks and troughs with ease; or the
Piano Roll display which was introduced
in v2 to make it easy to target your cuts
and boosts at speciic pitches. EQ Match
makes it easy to imbue the
characteristics of one source signal on
another – something since attempted
by many other EQ designers. External
Spectrum Visualization introduced in v3
allows you to see where frequencies
conlict enough to cause problems –
bass and kick drum for example. And
inally Dynamic EQ mode allows you to
create frequency nodes which respond
dynamically to the input level of a signal,
so that more attenuation is applied as
the input signal gets louder.
Many EQs give characterful results –
and we heartily recommend Waves’
Puigtec Bundle for warmth or Plugin
Alliance’s MAAG EQ4 for ‘air’ in this
regard – but Fabilter’s Pro-Q has carved
its own, brilliant path. Not just for vocals,
yes, but you won’t ind a better EQ to
shape your singing.
fabilter.com
TYPE: EQ plugin with up to 24 bands | KEY FEATURES: Filter shapes include Bell, Notch, High/Low Shelf, High/
Low Cut, Band Pass, Tilt Shelf, Flat Tilt; Dynamic EQ mode, EQ Match, spectrum analyser, external spectrum
visualization, per-band mid/side or left/right processing and many more features | SYSTEM REQUIREMENTS: VST,
VST3, Audio Units, AAX Native and AudioSuite formats (all both 64-bit and 32-bit)
FabFilter
Pro-Q 3 £134
Computer
Music
choice
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