MusEQ

Really! It's on sale this week. Gotta check it out. Why do you like it?

I imagine it's simply oversampling. At double rate, I found nothing remarkable about it. But, I used it on a 44.1 client track and it sounded cleaner than other options...but, mostly it sounds like the old Waves Linear Phase (which also upsamples)...in that it really just doesn't sound like EQ--it just changes the frequencies...which is less useful to me than it seems on paper.

If you want the smoothest most euphonic "air boost" in plug in land, you want the IK Pultec. Which also...oversamples (but you have to enable it-I don't remember what the default is).

Let me know when you see a pattern.

Well, he's comparing to a Ghost. I would venture even modded, my Specks are going to be at least in the ballpark...it's (MusEQ) certainly more transparent. Analog EQ has never been transparent. The EQ in your DAW (at least any I've used) is more transparent...but, also that's not as useful as it seems on paper. That said, I reach for the Specks when digital doesn't work. And those situations arise. I've even tried to reverse engineer it--after the fact trying to replicate it with plug ins...and can't. So, I think the moral is sometimes phase distortion just IS "the sound of EQ" I grew up using.

Make no mistake--I liked the sound of the MusEQ fine. But, other than the performance at single rate, I didn't see anything remarkable about it. Which isn't nothing--since most people are still shooting themselves in the foot with single sample rates for whatever justification they use to do so. for me, it brought nothing to the party compared to the Waves LP at single rate...and literally anything at double rate. I suppose if you're wanting to make 30khz boosts (which I just can't hear at any rate...or needing a 2 buss EQ to "bandaid" the 48khz nyquist filters...it would be useful. Little low mid cut...generous 18khz+ shelf bump.

I do have some functional and UI issues...you can't combine a shelf with a pass filter. And the whole boost/cut switch I find counter intuitive compared to simply having the gain knob swing both ways. Also, I'm seriously OCD about not increasing or decreasing volume with EQ--and it's "make up gain" is a tiny little "screw" in the UI that I've not found a way to even read where it's at without changing the value. I did find you could adjust it with Cubase's AI knob feature--so, it's not a deal breaker for me, but if I were mixing with a mouse, it would be out simply for that reason.

Mostly, it's an EQ that doesn't sound like an EQ--much, again, like the Waves Linear Phase (from the mastering bundle) I already owned without the ability to do as transparent a HPF.

No...I heard the original, and it was silly-digital sounding EQ with a Pultec GUI. About what I thought about the 2a (v1) too. I would imagine they're playing catch up and the new one sounds nicer to match the others who one up'd them since ten years ago when they made it. 

I can't use those SSL EQs with the "analog" switch on. They're fine with it off. In fact--compare the MusEQ to that. At DOUBLE sample rate, it shouldn't be that far off. Or you're in Logic--compare the linear phase in Logic. 

They're just cut/boost buttons. So the gain knob only goes in one direction--so if you dial it to 3db, it will boost 3db, unless you hit the button, then it will switch to cutting 3db.

Then the pass filters turn the "gain" knob above into a resonance knob. So, at 0 and 65hz, when you engage the HPF, it's high passes at 65...but, when you turn up the gain knob, it passes at 65 but started to put a 65hz boost, too.

Then the notch buttons just change the Q--which is the other "issue" I have...there's no selection of Q width...it's whatever it is normally and whatever it is notched.

The Waves Linear Phase can do all the resonance...and can have any Q you need...and you can combine shelves and filters (so say you HPF at 65hz, but low shelf up at 100hz, it creates a kind of bump between 100 and 65 then falls quickly. Plus there are more bands. Plus, the "low band" variant of it has the absolute most transparent HPF'ing I've ever experienced in "low ripple" mode--it literally has no effect above the frequency--and usually pass filters cause significant phase shift--so, you couldn't for example HPF the high hat in a multimic'd kit, else the snare starts sounding wonky (because it's bled heavily into the hat mic).

YMMV. I guess we're getting off subject since the OP is about a plug I've never used. ...but, I'm growing more and more leery of these "new" plug ins--seems like companies are either playing catchup and/or "me too" on emulations...or they're coming up with simply things no one will be able to compare--like who has a hardware MusEQ? All the UI stuff is because that's how the hardware was...I did a lot of pretty extensive testing when I switched platforms and picked "my faves" for every task--and some of them have fallen away as real world use expanded...but, I go on and try new stuff and have been mostly underwhelmed.

Some are cool for non engineers. I tried one called "Character" or something--it was a whole different paradigm of selecting a frequency from 1,2,3....and adjusting a big knob...kind of like selecting midrange and as you turn the knob if does multiple thing--cutting lows, saturating in the middle, and maybe a frequency dependent compression...I didn't buy it because WTF? I know frequencies and what I want something to do....but, for someone who just turns knobs until they think it sounds good--that would be a neat productive tool. I think that's where it's all going. Everything will be catered now to those who can't get what they need from current toolsets with a traditional studio paradigm. Nothing wrong with that...but, not something I'm interested in. I think I'm done. I do want to demo VBC, though--simply because right now, I only have one compressor I ever use on busses. I'd like to have another option that doesn't suck.