# Fabfilter Q3 presets to simulate speakers?



## AndreasHe (Aug 8, 2020)

Did anyone have profiles as ffp files for fabfilter Q3 to simulate other generic speakers like in a car, cheap headphones etc.

Mentioned software in this forum is often simply too expensive for some simple "all day device" simulations. I got new sonarworks, but they removed the simulation feature.


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## vitocorleone123 (Aug 8, 2020)

Possibly use this? https://shop.audified.com/products/mixchecker

(not ProQ3)


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## galactic orange (Aug 8, 2020)

Or this, on sale now:

https://www.audiodeluxe.com/products/audio-plugins/audiothing-speakers

(also not ProQ3)


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## karender (Aug 8, 2020)

Another one






SpeakerSim - NoiseAsh, Inc.







www.noiseash.com





(also not ProQ3)


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## jcrosby (Aug 8, 2020)

AndreasHe said:


> Did anyone have profiles as ffp files for fabfilter Q3 to simulate other generic speakers like in a car, cheap headphones etc.
> 
> Mentioned software in this forum is often simply too expensive for some simple "all day device" simulations. I got new sonarworks, but they removed the simulation feature.


You can do this in Pro-Q3!

If you have a backup of an old installer for sonarworks you could do this by installing it temporarily and capturing its NS10 curve using Pro-Q3's EQ Match feature. (Or any of its other simulations). If you have a secondary or backup machine you could install it on there without affecting your current machine...

*Step 1 - Creating the Pro-Q reference file:*
(You can also use the sidechain method shown in the video below)



Insert the Sonarworks plugin followed by Pro Q3.
Play pink noise and enable Pro Q3's EQ match feature. (Click the _Analyzer Pre/post_ button).
Hit the record button and wait for the analzyer to stop moving. (With pink noise this shouldn't take more than a second or so...)
Click the menu next to the record button that says_ Reference_, and click _Save input as reference spectrum_. Name it based on the speaker simulation you're capturing.

Step 2 - Matching to the reference file:


Bypass the SW Reference plugin.
Click the Reference menu and load your saved profile.
Play pink noise into Pro Q3 with SW bypassed. You'll should see a white graph start moving, wait for it to stop moving.
Once it's static hit _Match_.
Adjust the slider to use as many or as few EQ noes as you want, (More = more accurate. That said since this is only an averaged simulation so it doesn't need to be perfect... 12 should be fine.) Hit finish.
Save it as a preset. DONE!


There's a benefit to using Pro-Q3 for this over SW as well... Pro-Q3 has a zero latency mode, say none of the latency typically caused by _Reference/Systemwide_.

You could also add more speaker simulations by hunting for IRs of speakers, or if you have something like Speakerphone, Futzbox use Pro-Q3 to capture those speaker IRs as well. A link to a few below the video...




*Free Speaker Impulses (by Aaron Brown):*


Free Impulse Responses from the iPad, iPhone and Behritone speakers – Aaron Brown Sound



*Auratone Impulse:*








Simulate a mix through an Auratone speaker - Twelve Twelve - Audio production and mixing


It is good practice to check your mixes on a variety of playback systems to see how your mixes will translate. Using an impulse file and some creative use of...




www.1212music.com


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## jcrosby (Aug 8, 2020)

You could also try this... I've used it over the years and it really does give you the impression you listening through speakers inside your phones... It's actually so accuarate that a number of video game platforms have adapted it for surround virtualization in headphones.. There's a stereo and surround version, the stereo version being much less expensive..

DEMO of course. While I personally think it's incredible, some people don't like room virtualization...






Spatial Sound Card – Pro | New Audio Technology


Tools and technology for production and application of spatial audio.




newaudiotechnology.com


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## vitocorleone123 (Aug 8, 2020)

Great posts on Q3. 
FYI Sonarworks has a zero latency mode.


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## AndreasHe (Aug 8, 2020)

Wow impressive response. Thank you. 

I just bought sonarworks, so I don't have an old version. But great tutorial! Thanks! Hoped anyone did this already. 

My budget on this is not very high. Most of simulated speakers concentrate to strange things like walky talky or megaphone and other stuff not useful (who listens to music on a walky talky?) expected more realistic devices as some different cheap hifi boxes, cars, headphones. And of course for a small budget 😂


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## constaneum (Aug 10, 2020)

Anyone sharing or is there any place where by ppl share their own custom made presets for Q3 ?


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## JAYC (Jul 11, 2021)

Howdy... found this thread while i was looking for the same thing. 
OK... heres what Ive done. Measured my genelec 8040s and room with a certain software on trial and the relevant measurement mic, I bought the measurement mic  

Looked at the correction graph created by the software and copied it painstakingly into my FF q3, saved as preset. (pay attention to lines on the graph they indicate the frequencies and DB lines, strikingly similar to the lines in FF so easy enough to copy a curve manually pretty close) 

next i bought soundsource








SoundSource - A Superior Sound Control


Access your Mac's audio devices, control per-app audio, and much more, all from the menu bar.




rogueamoeba.com





this allows me to run fabfilter on my system output for everything outside my daw. 

ok so now im pretty flat! 

Next i copy the correction curves of anything I want to run on the system. 
So for me I manually made presets for ff of the ns10 and mixcubes. I got the curves from the same software.

so after my flattening my genelecs with the q3 instance on the system, i now put my ns10 instance on next in the chain. also turn down the volume of the output in spotify or your daw to allow headroom for the q3's.

So far works pretty well! Well enough for it to be massively useful for me mixing 
and i can bypass everything too without ever touching my daw. 

heres my presets for FF Q3 for mixcubes and NS10, not sure if these links will be removed etc.. if thats not allowed that fine just ask and i can send them. Hope that helps. Its not a pair of NS10s but definitely helps give you another perspective on the mids etc.. 

mixcubes


NS10


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## Henu (Jul 12, 2021)

Having both SW and ProQ3, I became interested on this so I tested this with not just in one EQ curve but measuring both channels (because SW applies different correction per channel) separately with pink noise.

The results were somewhat close to the original correction SW provides, but that's where the similarities end. Even though the curves in ProQ looked a lot like SW's own, this "poor man's tactic" still provided wrong information in the lower mids and even the stereo image wasn't clearly the same (despite correcting both channels separately). Tested all phase and latency modes in ProQ with the same results- Sonarworks pretty much annihilated this method both in EQ correction, phase and stereo image. Phase-cancelling also painfully showed that it's completely different on various aspects.

Basically, if you want a proper digital room correction, use a proper room correction software. Everything else is of course completely trivial, and just like Sonarworks only emulates the NS10's to give you a _hint what's gonna happen_, the same thing happens with Fabfilter vs. Sonarworks. 

For precise and surgical correction, get a tool designed for that, and for everything else it's not really that necessary.


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