The EQ+ Problem in Bitwig

Tutorial | Feb 25, 2025

In this video, I discuss the issues surrounding Bitwig's EQ Plus, specifically the phase shift problem that occurs when it's used in parallel processing, which can create a frequency notch at the top end. While EQ Plus works fine when used on its own or in parallel with another EQ Plus, the EQ5 is preferable for parallel processing with different devices due to its lack of phase shift. I hope Bitwig addresses this issue in future updates, as it's a long-standing problem, but in the meantime, knowing these differences can help users decide which EQ to use in specific scenarios.

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Summary #

Maybe you don't watch the video, here are some important takeaways:

In this video, I delve into the issues surrounding the EQ Plus in Bitwig Studio, although I personally don't find it a huge problem. Usually, if I dislike the behavior or sound of a device, I simply avoid using it and move on. However, for some users, it’s crucial that Bitwig and its EQs function flawlessly, and these concerns often surface in forums and on Discord, with many advising against using the EQ Plus. My aim here is to explain what the fuss is about and how you can work around any issues.

We start by looking at the EQ Plus’s interface, which is depicted in the background alongside the older EQ Five, which is still in use today. I prefer using the EQ Five for many applications. To highlight the problem with EQ Plus, I utilize an EQ curve analyzer. When you look at the frequency response of EQ Plus, it’s mostly flat by default, but enabling the phase shift reveals changes at the top end. The phase shift starts slightly positive and moves to a negative 90 or 180 degree shift, mainly around the 20 kHz range.

This phase shift isn’t typically an issue in standard usage because the frequency response remains flat. However, inserting bands causes a slight phase offset, a normal EQ behavior. By contrast, EQ Five doesn’t display any phase shifts in this basic setup, and its normal behavior lacks the phase anomalies present in EQ Plus, which some might find favorable.

The primary issues with EQ Plus arise during parallel processing. If you insert EQ Plus into an FX layer and mix in the dry signal, a frequency cut or notch appears, especially notable when mixing at 50%. This notch is around 80 kHz, which theoretically should be cut during a mastering stage, and few sounds reach this high frequency. Nonetheless, it’s important to be aware of it. Using multiple EQ Plus instances in parallel with each other isn’t problematic since they share the same latency. However, mixing them with another device or EQ that doesn’t align in latency will cause issues, such as this notch.

Interestingly, you can mitigate this by time-shifting a second layer by a single sample, easing out the issue, but the challenge becomes clear. If you’re using EQ Plus in serial processing, the phase shift compounds, creating all-pass filter-like behavior. This effect can be fun for sound experiments but is likely unintended and not necessary since we have all-pass filters available in Bitwig.

Switching to EQ Five demonstrates no phase shift and a consistent frequency response, unlike EQ Plus. You can use EQ Five in both serial and parallel setups without introducing changes or phase issues. This leads me to discuss what I call the duality of Bitwig Studio's devices: multiple tools that perform similar functions but with distinct feature sets. EQ Plus offers features like tilt settings and a global amount knob, neither of which EQ Five possesses. However, if you need both sets of features for a particular application, you could find yourself stuck, forcing you to resort to VSTs.

The presence of the phase shift issue in EQ Plus seems uncurated, and I’m uncertain whether it’s an intentional design element or an oversight. Since the EQ Plus has been around for years, it’s puzzling why this hasn’t been addressed.

In my work, I tend to use EQ Five predominantly unless I know I won't run into these parallel processing issues with EQ Plus. It's crucial to be aware of and hear the potential problems with EQ Plus. Hopefully, this video brings attention to the issue, prompting either a fix or an explanation for its presence. I'd appreciate feedback and insights from others, particularly DSP professionals, who might provide clarity on whether this is by design or an error. Let me know your thoughts, give a thumbs up if you enjoyed the video, and feel free to subscribe for more content. I have exciting plans for the next video, so stay tuned.

Transcription #

This is what im talking about in this video. The text is transcribed by AI, so it might not be perfect. If you find any mistakes, please let me know.
You can also click on the timestamps to jump to the right part of the video, which should be helpful.

[00:00:00] Hey, folks, welcome back.
[00:00:02] Today, I want to talk about the EQ plus and the problems surrounding the EQ.
[00:00:07] So for me, personally, it's not a big problem.
[00:00:10] Usually when I don't like the behavior or the sound of a device,
[00:00:15] I just don't use it or use something else.
[00:00:17] And I just move on with my life, basically.
[00:00:20] For some people, it's more important that Bitwig and the EQs work correctly in
[00:00:26] every case, and they tell you in the forums or on Discord, right?
[00:00:32] They talk about it and they say, oh, don't use the EQ plus.
[00:00:36] It doesn't work correctly.
[00:00:37] So I want to put out a video and show you what the problem is and how you can
[00:00:43] circumvent it and what, what actually the fuzz is about, right?
[00:00:48] So the EQ plus here, you can see in the background, this is how it looks like.
[00:00:52] We also have here the EQ five.
[00:00:55] Um, can I, yeah.
[00:00:57] So the EQ five, this is the old one we had and you can still use that.
[00:01:01] And I still use it.
[00:01:03] Um, so I want to show you what the problem is with the EQ plus.
[00:01:09] So I use the EQ curve analyzer and you just duplicate this here.
[00:01:16] It's a bit smaller.
[00:01:21] And you can see here the frequency response of the EQ plus by default is pretty flat.
[00:01:27] We can also enable here the phase shift.
[00:01:29] And you can see there's here something happening at the top end.
[00:01:34] Um, there's a phase shift.
[00:01:36] So here's a slight positive phase shift.
[00:01:38] And then there goes down here to a negative 90 degree phase shift or 180 degree phase shift.
[00:01:46] Um, but it's very top end.
[00:01:49] It's basically here at what do we look at here, 90, 20 K, 20 kilohertz, right?
[00:01:56] So it's pretty top end.
[00:01:57] Okay.
[00:01:58] So this is actually not a problem because the frequency response is pretty flat.
[00:02:02] We can insert here some bands.
[00:02:04] You can see frequency response changes.
[00:02:07] And also we have here then a slight, uh, phase offset, which is a normal behavior for an EQ.
[00:02:15] We can disable here EQ plus and just use EQ five.
[00:02:18] You can see the frequency response is also pretty flat.
[00:02:22] And also there's no phase shift here.
[00:02:24] We bring in here some bands.
[00:02:27] Also see the normal behavior.
[00:02:29] It's also a nice amount, not pure, which I really like on this EQ, EQ five.
[00:02:35] So, um, no phase shift here, but in EQ plus we have a phase shift.
[00:02:41] Lightly.
[00:02:44] So I would say this is not a problem.
[00:02:46] If you just use the EQ plus normally in a chain with no parallel processing,
[00:02:52] you're pretty good.
[00:02:53] Okay.
[00:02:53] Nothing, no problem.
[00:02:56] The problems arise when you use the EQ plus in parallel, which means you put this here
[00:03:03] into, let's say an FX layer.
[00:03:06] We have one layer of EQ plus and then you use the mix knob.
[00:03:11] We bring in the dry signal, right?
[00:03:13] The dry signal that not goes through the EQ plus.
[00:03:17] So we bring this down.
[00:03:18] You can see we have then here a frequency cut or notch.
[00:03:22] If we go to 50%, yeah, we have basically a complete notch.
[00:03:30] Maybe you can increase here.
[00:03:32] This goes down to minus 30, 70 dB at 80 kilohertz.
[00:03:41] So there you get the cut there.
[00:03:43] And you can argue, I don't want to justify this behavior in any way.
[00:03:47] I just say, you can argue you want to cut this top end anyway at the master, right?
[00:03:53] At the mastering stage.
[00:03:54] So, and also most sounds don't go up this high, this level.
[00:04:00] But you need to be aware that there is something up there, right?
[00:04:04] So if you use the EQ plus in parallel, get kind of, or if you use it in parallel
[00:04:11] with something else that doesn't introduce the latency here, then you run into
[00:04:18] a notch or you create a notch at the top.
[00:04:20] If we use two EQ plus in parallel, you basically have the same kind of latency here, right?
[00:04:29] So we don't have a problem.
[00:04:33] So parallel processing two EQ plus in parallel, it's not a problem
[00:04:38] because you have the same latency.
[00:04:40] But as soon as you introduce here something else in the second layer, let's say a tool
[00:04:46] device or maybe another different EQ with different latency, you have the same problem.
[00:04:52] Tool device, we can probably, let's say, I haven't tried this before.
[00:05:01] I can change the behavior by time shifting the second layer by certain, by just one sample.
[00:05:14] And, you know, ease this out, but you can see the problem there, right?
[00:05:19] So EQ plus, just using it once on a track in full, not in parallel, no problem.
[00:05:28] If you use it in parallel with the same EQ plus, also not a problem.
[00:05:31] If you use it in parallel with something else, problem, you get a cut here.
[00:05:36] But it's also not a problem if you don't have here at the top some kind of audio content.
[00:05:41] Then it's also okay, I would say.
[00:05:44] Another problem is that when you use the EQ plus in serial, so we have just one
[00:05:54] EQ plus here, right?
[00:05:56] But then we say, let's duplicate this here.
[00:05:58] We have two in a, in a row.
[00:06:01] So in serial, one after the other, you can see the phase shift adds up.
[00:06:07] So we can kind of create here, like an all-pass filter, right?
[00:06:14] So we have multiple EQ pluses here in a row.
[00:06:17] Let's put them actually into also an FX layer here.
[00:06:24] Just duplicate this here.
[00:06:25] So we introduce more and more phase offset here.
[00:06:29] And then you mix it with a dry signal.
[00:06:34] And you can see, create nice notch filters here.
[00:06:41] So you can misuse this for some sound experiments if you want to.
[00:06:47] But we also have an all-pass filter in the grid, so you can just use that.
[00:06:51] But here you can see how this behaves in, in serial and parallel.
[00:06:57] Okay, so let's kill here the EQ plus for a moment and just use EQ five.
[00:07:02] Suggest.
[00:07:05] Um, so here we have no phase shift.
[00:07:08] We also have a flat frequency response.
[00:07:10] We can use multiple EQ fives in parallel.
[00:07:13] You can see nothing adds up.
[00:07:15] You can also use the EQ five in parallel here.
[00:07:21] I'd mix in the dry signal, 50%, nothing changes.
[00:07:24] The EQ five behaves better in these regards.
[00:07:28] And this brings me to another point I made in an earlier video, the duality of Bitwig studio.
[00:07:35] We have basically multiple devices that kind of do the same thing, but they one
[00:07:42] have a certain type of feature set and the other has also a certain type of feature set.
[00:07:47] And they never overlap in at a certain point.
[00:07:51] So let's say you want to use an EQ plus, right?
[00:07:57] And you want to use it in parallel and you run into a problem.
[00:08:02] Then you say, maybe, OK, let's use the EQ five instead.
[00:08:08] But then you use EQ five, but you don't have the features of EQ plus, which is here.
[00:08:16] I think we have also your tilt setting that there's no tilt setting.
[00:08:20] So we lose tilt setting and also the reference thing here and also the behavior of this, right?
[00:08:26] And there's also here a global amount knob, which kind of mixes the dry and the wet signal.
[00:08:33] I think it's just applying here the gain or it changes the gain of each of these bands differently.
[00:08:42] So a global gain knob here, gain amount.
[00:08:45] So this is also not in here, right?
[00:08:48] So you have a feature set here and the feature set here.
[00:08:52] And then you need to decide between the two devices.
[00:08:54] But if you have a certain situation where you need actually both, then you have a problem
[00:09:00] because you can't either use this one or this one and then you grab a VST.
[00:09:05] So I have no problem or no idea why this is in the EQ plus.
[00:09:12] Maybe it's by design.
[00:09:15] Maybe this is intentional, but I don't think so.
[00:09:18] So why is it not fixed?
[00:09:21] And so I don't get why we have this problem at all.
[00:09:25] So this is this is my this is my stance.
[00:09:29] And so in terms of how I behave or how I use it, I just use EQ five most of the times.
[00:09:37] And sometimes I use EQ plus when I know exactly, I just don't use it in parallel.
[00:09:44] Then I just use EQ plus, but you need to know it.
[00:09:47] You need to know the behavior and you also can hear it.
[00:09:51] And if you use it parallel and you have frequencies here at the top, you can hear the notch, right?
[00:09:56] So maybe they can fix this, hopefully in some of the upcoming versions.
[00:10:03] I don't see why this is a problem at all.
[00:10:06] I have no idea, but maybe it's intentional and I have no idea about the design.
[00:10:13] But it's in there and I want to make a video about it, highlight this problem.
[00:10:16] Maybe it gets fixed.
[00:10:17] Maybe I get an explanation why it's in there.
[00:10:20] Maybe it's intentional, like I said.
[00:10:22] It's also maybe nice for certain people to know what actually the problem is and how to circumvent it and that they can use also EQ five instead of the EQ plus.
[00:10:35] But like I said, if you just normally use EQ plus in normal, not in parallel, it's it's not a big problem actually.
[00:10:44] But there's also no reason why this is in there.
[00:10:46] So I don't know.
[00:10:48] So I want to highlight this problem and show you this and also maybe give you some ideas how you can use this in a creative ways.
[00:10:57] But I guess they fix this at some point, but it's also in there for multiple years now.
[00:11:03] I don't know when the EQ plus was introduced three years ago.
[00:11:07] I have no idea.
[00:11:09] But yeah, I just want to highlight this.
[00:11:10] Maybe leave me some comments.
[00:11:13] Tell me maybe I'm completely wrong or what you think about it.
[00:11:17] Maybe some DSP pros can explain to me why this is intentional.
[00:11:25] I have no idea.
[00:11:26] I just want to make a video about it.
[00:11:28] Let me know.
[00:11:29] Also, let me leave me a thumbs up if you want to subscribe to the channel.
[00:11:34] And I'll see you in the next video.
[00:11:35] I have something planned for this week, something cool.
[00:11:40] And yeah, see you next time.
[00:11:43] Bye.
[00:11:43] [BLANK_AUDIO]