Why "add 3-EQ" by default on Groups?

[Alcibiade]

Maybe a dumb question, but why is “add 3-EQ” a default option when right-clicking on bus groups? I thought Multiband EQ was a more recent and optimized effect, so I don’t get why this older effect is suggested by default in this specific menu.

[joseph]

There’s two parts to this question, so I’ll address each of them separately.

@Alcibiade

I thought Multiband EQ was a more recent and optimized effect

It’s true that the Multiband EQ effect was added to FMOD Studio more recently, but that doesn’t make it better or more optimized than the 3-EQ effect.

The two equalizers are both equalizers, but they’re different types of equalizer that do different things, and so are useful in different circumstances. It’s like how the object spatializer effect doesn’t supersede the spatializer effect, even though the object spatializer was added later and is also a spatializer: Both effects are useful in different situations, and you’ll pick which one to use based on which best meets the requirements of the content you’re working on.

It’s also not true that that the Multiband EQ is more optimized or efficient than the 3-EQ. They’re both as highly optimized as we can make them (as are all FMOD effects). However, because a multiband EQ does something that’s inherently more complex than what a 3-EQ effect does, it’s a more expensive effect to run than the 3-EQ effect is.

If the Multiband EQ effect was an objectively-superior replacement for the 3-EQ effect, rest assured that we would have moved the 3-EQ effect into the “FMOD Deprecated” submenu.

For more information about the differences between these two effects, I recommend reading their entries in the Effects Reference chapter of the FMOD Studio User Manual.

@Alcibiade

why is “add 3-EQ” a default option when right-clicking on bus groups

It’s for compatibility reasons.

FMOD Studio supports plugging hardware mixing desks into your local network and using their physical controls to manipulate FMOD Studio’s UI. Because some hardware mixing desks feature dedicated 3-EQ controls on their buses, we added a convenience feature that adds a 3-EQ effect to a bus in order to simplify the process of making FMOD Studio projects fully compatible with those hardware control surfaces.

[Alcibiade]

Thanks, I got it!

However…

@joseph

because a multiband EQ does something that’s inherently more complex than what a 3-EQ effect does, it’s a more expensive effect to run than the 3-EQ effect is.

… that’s not what I found in this little test, a few years ago:

3-EQ vs. Multiband EQ CPU usage

From what I know, Multiband EQ is a more recent (so maybe better optimized?) addition to FMOD than 3-EQ. And HighPass and LowPass are legacy (for retro-compatibility), so maybe better to avoid them… I just did a little test with 20 effects of each on a single event, and Multiband EQ seems cheaper on the CPU. Here’s the result: [image] But maybe with different settings, the result would change, I don’t know… Nobody can answer but you. Just try! (but I would tend to say it’s often possible)

Which is why I thought multiband EQ generally was the best choice.

[joseph]

As your past self correctly guessed, changing the settings makes a big difference. By default, the multiband EQ has one band set to a 12 dB lowpass filter and the other four bands disabled; enabling the other bands or setting enabled bands to more expensive filter types can significantly increase the effect’s CPU cost.

This is why our documentation describes the Multiband Equalizer effect as “low overhead to medium overhead” instead of just “low overhead” or “medium overhead”: Depending on its settings, it can be in the same cheap ballpark as the 3-EQ, channel mix, and gain effects; or in a similar league as the more expensive compressor, multiband dynamics, and reverb effects.