# Eventide SplitEQ vs Soothe 2



## jamwerks (Nov 9, 2021)

I see that Eventide just dropped this new eq, which looks very interesting. I was planning on getting Soothe2 during the BF sales (mainly for corrective eq, harshness, of violins and strings in general), but maybe this is even better?
All of you accomplished mixer types might have an opinion?


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## wunderflo (Nov 9, 2021)

many interesting and innovative EQs came out recently. Next to the Split EQ I'm also interested in the Kirchhoff EQ and Claro. However, the SplitEQ cannot really be compared to any of the other EQs. 

Soothe is more like an automatic dynamic EQ or multiband compressor. You can tell it to look at certain frequency ranges or to ignore other frequency ranges, and its many small automatic dynamic helper bands will try to attenuate resonant frequencies in the defined areas, resulting in a smoother sound. So that should suit your use case. iZotope's Neutron can do something similar afaik. 

The SplitEQ rather seems to be something like a unique mix of an EQ (not a dynamic one, though) and a transient shaper/designer, as you can individually boost or attenuate the tonal or transient parts of the signal. This might be great to remove the mud of kick drums while simultaneously boosting their attack. From what I understood, I wouldn't get it to reduce harshness, but I didn't try it, yet. Rather think of it as controlling the "punchiness"/"roundness", while Soothe can control the "harshness"/"dullness".


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## Bee_Abney (Nov 9, 2021)

From the demos I wasn’t overly impressed by the separation of the transients and tonal tails. But it could be my ignorance showing. I didn’t hear it being put to surgical use, though.

I should think it smoothing property come in two main forms. First, just softening transients. Second, where either the transient or the tonal element is the only part of the sound causing issues (as with sibilance), focusing corrective EQ on just that part with the issues.

I’m interested to see more of what this plugin can do; but I don’t think it is a good alternative to what Soothe does.


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## jamwerks (Nov 9, 2021)

wunderflo said:


> many interesting and innovative EQs came out recently. Next to the Split EQ I'm also interested in the Kirchhoff EQ and Claro. However, the SplitEQ cannot really be compared to any of the other EQs.
> 
> Soothe is more like an automatic dynamic EQ or multiband compressor. You can tell it to look at certain frequency ranges or to ignore other frequency ranges, and its many small automatic dynamic helper bands will try to attenuate resonant frequencies in the defined areas, resulting in a smoother sound. So that should suit your use case. iZotope's Neutron can do something similar afaik.
> 
> The SplitEQ rather seems to be something like a unique mix of an EQ (not a dynamic one, though) and a transient shaper/designer, as you can individually boost or attenuate the tonal or transient parts of the signal. This might be great to remove the mud of kick drums while simultaneously boosting their attack. From what I understood, I wouldn't get it to reduce harshness, but I didn't try it, yet. Rather think of it as controlling the "punchiness"/"roundness", while Soothe can control the "harshness"/"dullness".


Pleasure to read you analysis. In your opinion, does Izotope Neutron have the same effectiveness as Smoothe2 regarding harshness control?


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## cedricm (Nov 9, 2021)

I'm not sure it's that much better than Sonible Entropy EQ+, which I got for free last year.


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## jcrosby (Nov 9, 2021)

jamwerks said:


> Pleasure to read you analysis. In your opinion, does Izotope Neutron have the same effectiveness as Smoothe2 regarding harshness control?


The closest thing in Neutron is Sculptor, although Sculptor is a lot more along the lines of Gulfoss...

The issue with, (and difference between it & Soothe), have to do with Sculptor conforming to the tonal _shape_ of a specific instrument. These instrument _shapes_ are based on presets, and there aren't presets/shapes for many instruments the average composer uses.

It's essentially focused on pop/rock instrumentation. The few orchestral shapes (strings & brass are broken up into high/low - i.e. _High Strings, Low Strings, High Brass, Low Brass. _The default settings can also suck all of the life out of a sound or mix if not used carefully as its quite aggressive, and has no way to influence its attack.


Ultimately the closest thing Izotope makes to Soothe is Ozone's Spectral Shaper (Advanced only). Low end focus is similar-ish, but focuses on low end transients.


Spectral Shaper:






Low End Focus:


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## wunderflo (Nov 9, 2021)

@jcrosby already said it all 

@jamwerks you might also want to check out Reso by Mastering The Mix and Smooth Operator by Baby Audio. No idea how they perform, never tested them, but they are quite affordable.

However, if all you want to do is tame harshness, you might not need any of these fancy tools at all. Engineers successfully fought harshness long before this recent trend of auto-resonance-killers. Saturation usually does a great job at this, especially via tape (emulations). A standard (dynamic) EQ such as the Pro-Q 3 or Waves F6 can also get the job done. It's very helpful when you can scan the frequency spectrum for the annoyingly harsh frequencies by soloing a band instead of the old-school boost&search method (which might make you hear more problems than there really need to be tackled). The Waves Manny Marroquin Triple D is a specialist at that, but it's really just a 3band dynamic EQ.

Just saying, there are many options. Soothe might make it easier and faster, though.


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## jcrosby (Nov 9, 2021)

Thanks @wunderflo  Just wanted to add that de-essers are great for reducing harshness as well. They've been used to reduce everything from cymbal ringing to guitar harshness for years...

Logic for example has an absolutely killer built in de-esser, the recently updated _De-esser 2_. I actually like it more than FF Pro-DS in many instances...


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## Consona (Nov 9, 2021)

jamwerks said:


> Pleasure to read you analysis. In your opinion, does Izotope Neutron have the same effectiveness as Smoothe2 regarding harshness control?


I was searching forums for answers to the same question and it seems Soothe2 is the best tool for the specific thing it does.


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## muziksculp (Nov 13, 2021)

There is also *RESO EQ* from Mastering The Mix.

https://www.masteringthemix.com/products/reso


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## accesolar (Nov 20, 2021)

muziksculp said:


> There is also *RESO EQ* from Mastering The Mix.
> 
> https://www.masteringthemix.com/products/reso


Yeah it seems there are more and more of these spectral compression resonance EQs coming out. Also Smooth Operator by baby audio is an option.


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## fakemaxwell (Nov 20, 2021)

DSEQ3 is my preferred, tons of options.

That being said, I'm not sure it's really going to do well in taming resonances in something like a violin? It can't tell the difference between resonance and harmonics, so you'd have to listen/ see where the actual bad resonance is and then set everything manually...which is close enough to using a regular dynamic eq that you may as well just start there.


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