Paragon WorkshopThe free ones

BEVEL

An equaliser you drag.

Double-click the display to add a band, then drag its node: frequency across, gain up and down, the wheel for Q. Up to 24 bands in ten shapes, each on the whole signal, on its middle or its sides, or on the left or the right channel, with the spectrum of the sound moving underneath. Any band can be dynamic: its gain follows the level in its own region, in a range of frequencies you choose, in a side chain or, with SPECTRAL, in each frequency on its own. The curve on the display is the curve the filters run.

Formats
Audio Unit, VST3
Channels
Mono or stereo, same in and out
Latency
MINIMUM and MATCHED: 0 samples. LINEAR: 1280, 2560, 5120 or 10240 samples at 44.1 and 48 kHz (27, 53, 107 or 213 ms at 48 kHz), twice as many at 88.2 and 96 kHz and four times as many at 176.4 and 192 kHz. A SPECTRAL band adds 2048 samples at 44.1 and 48 kHz, 4096 at 88.2 and 96 kHz and 8192 at 176.4 and 192 kHz
BEVEL at work
BEVEL

What it does

BEVEL in six parts.

  1. 01

    The display is the control

    Double-click an empty place to add a band there, drag its node for frequency and gain, turn the wheel over it for Q, double-click it to switch the band off (it keeps its settings). Alt gives fine control and Shift holds one axis. The curve is drawn from the same numbers the filters run, over the spectrum of the sound arriving, leaving or both, with its own range, speed, resolution and tilt.

  2. 02

    Twenty-four bands, ten shapes

    BELL, LOW SHELF, HIGH SHELF, HIGH-PASS, LOW-PASS, NOTCH, BAND PASS, TILT SHELF, FLAT TILT and ALL PASS, from 10 Hz to 30 kHz, plus or minus 30 dB, with a Q from 0.1 to 18. HIGH-PASS, LOW-PASS and BAND PASS come at 6, 12, 24, 36, 48, 72 and 96 dB per octave. GAIN SCALE scales every band's gain together, INVERT turns the polarity over, and AUTO GAIN adds the opposite of the average of the curve.

  3. 03

    Five places

    Each band acts on both channels, on the middle (half the sum of left and right), on the sides (half the difference), or on the left or the right channel alone. A band on the middle leaves the side signal alone, a band on the left leaves the right channel bit for bit in MINIMUM, and the display draws the curves apart. SOLO plays only what the selected band acts on.

  4. 04

    Dynamic bands

    Turn a band's RANGE away from 0 and its gain follows the level of its trigger: its own region of the sound, a range of frequencies you choose (TRIGGER RANGE, with LOW and HIGH), or the side chain (EXT KEY). Nothing happens up to the THRESHOLD, and the whole of RANGE 12 dB over it. AUTO sets the threshold and the times from the running level, and AUDITION plays what the trigger hears. SPECTRAL works the dynamics out for each frequency on its own, so a loud component in a band is turned down alone.

  5. 05

    Minimum, matched or linear phase

    MINIMUM adds no delay, and neither does MATCHED, which designs bells, shelves and tilts to follow the analogue prototype's curve close to the top of the band: a +12 dB bell at 20 kHz departs from the prototype by up to 8.2 dB at 44.1 kHz in MINIMUM and by up to 0.44 dB in MATCHED. LINEAR runs the same curve with no bend in the phase, at a delay you choose, 27, 53, 107 or 213 ms, which BEVEL reports to the host.

  6. 06

    Compare, undo, copy

    Undo and redo, A and B with A TO B, copy and paste of one band or all of them, and 80 presets in nine categories. Three bell VOICINGS change how a bell's width follows its gain, and DYN BYPASS puts every dynamic band back to its static curve at once.

BEVEL · The point of it

The curve you drag is the curve it runs.

The display draws each band's response from the same numbers the filters run, with the spectrum of the sound moving underneath it. The engine's own response, read back from an impulse, agrees with that curve within 0.05 dB, the limit the test sets, at every point from 20 Hz up to 0.45 of the sample rate where the curve is above -80 dB, at 44.1, 48, 96 and 192 kHz, for every shape. The worst difference was 0.014 dB.

Where a digital bell cannot match an analogue one, BEVEL says so rather than hide it. At 44.1 kHz the curve of a +12 dB bell at 20 kHz departs from the analogue prototype's by up to 8.2 dB at its worst point in MINIMUM, and by up to 0.44 dB in MATCHED; at 192 kHz the figures are 0.95 and 0.24 dB. The display draws the curve the engine runs in the mode you chose, and nothing is corrected behind it.

  • 0.014 dBThe farthest the engine's response lands from the design curve, over every shape at 44.1, 48, 96 and 192 kHz, from 20 Hz to 0.45 of the sample rate (limit 0.05 dB). The worst was a low-pass.
  • 0.435 dBHow far a +12 dB bell at 20 kHz with Q 1 departs from the analogue prototype's curve at its worst point at 44.1 kHz in MATCHED (limit 0.5 dB), against 8.159 dB in MINIMUM. At 48, 96 and 192 kHz: 0.445, 0.484 and 0.239 dB in MATCHED, 6.226, 3.295 and 0.951 dB in MINIMUM.
About BEVELOwner’s manual
BEVEL: The frequency response: the curve of every band, drawn from the numbers the filters run, and the spectrum of the sound leaving.
The frequency response: the curve of every band, drawn from the numbers the filters run, and the spectrum of the sound leaving.

In use

The real window, as it looks at work.

These are captures of the built plug-in, drawn by the plug-in itself at twice the size.

BEVEL: Lead Vocal, Clean Up: a 24 dB per octave high-pass at 90 Hz, a 3 dB cut at 300 Hz, a 2.5 dB lift at 3.5 kHz (band 3, selected) and a shelf at 10 kHz, over the spectrum of the sound leaving
Lead Vocal, Clean Up: a 24 dB per octave high-pass at 90 Hz, a 3 dB cut at 300 Hz, a 2.5 dB lift at 3.5 kHz (band 3, selected) and a shelf at 10 kHz, over the spectrum of the sound leaving
BEVEL: A dynamic band at work: band 2, a bell at 3.2 kHz with a RANGE of -9 dB, is turned down 5.5 dB because the level in its region is over its threshold; the readout above the display says so
A dynamic band at work: band 2, a bell at 3.2 kHz with a RANGE of -9 dB, is turned down 5.5 dB because the level in its region is over its threshold; the readout above the display says so
BEVEL: SPECTRAL: band 2, a bell at 2.6 kHz with a RANGE of -12 dB, works out its dynamics bin by bin, so only the bins a ringing at 2.3 kHz fills are turned down; the delay, 42.7 ms (2048 samples), is written under the preset name
SPECTRAL: band 2, a bell at 2.6 kHz with a RANGE of -12 dB, works out its dynamics bin by bin, so only the bins a ringing at 2.3 kHz fills are turned down; the delay, 42.7 ms (2048 samples), is written under the preset name
BEVEL: A trigger range: band 2, a bell at 200 Hz, is turned down only while the sound between 5 and 9 kHz is loud; the shaded stretch is the range, with a handle at each edge
A trigger range: band 2, a bell at 200 Hz, is turned down only while the sound between 5 and 9 kHz is loud; the shaded stretch is the range, with a handle at each edge
BEVEL: MATCHED: a +12 dB bell at 18 kHz. The orange curve, the one the plug-in runs, follows the dotted analogue prototype to the peak; MINIMUM's curve, dashed, falls away from it from 10 kHz up (the dashed and dotted curves are drawn on this picture only)
MATCHED: a +12 dB bell at 18 kHz. The orange curve, the one the plug-in runs, follows the dotted analogue prototype to the peak; MINIMUM's curve, dashed, falls away from it from 10 kHz up (the dashed and dotted curves are drawn on this picture only)
BEVEL: Twelve bands in use: a 96 dB per octave high-pass at 32 Hz, a low shelf, bells, a notch, a high shelf and a 36 dB per octave low-pass, with band 6 selected
Twelve bands in use: a 96 dB per octave high-pass at 32 Hz, a low shelf, bells, a notch, a high shelf and a 36 dB per octave low-pass, with band 6 selected

Specifications

Formats
Audio Unit, VST3
Listed in your host as
Bevel Equaliser
Channels
Mono or stereo, same in and out
Sidechain
Optional: a dynamic band can read it instead of the sound (EXT KEY)
Latency
MINIMUM and MATCHED: 0 samples. LINEAR: 1280, 2560, 5120 or 10240 samples at 44.1 and 48 kHz (27, 53, 107 or 213 ms at 48 kHz), twice as many at 88.2 and 96 kHz and four times as many at 176.4 and 192 kHz. A SPECTRAL band adds 2048 samples at 44.1 and 48 kHz, 4096 at 88.2 and 96 kHz and 8192 at 176.4 and 192 kHz
Bands
24, each on or off
Shapes
Bell, low shelf, high shelf, high-pass, low-pass, notch, band pass, tilt shelf, flat tilt, all-pass
Frequency
10 Hz to 30 kHz
Gain
-30 to +30 dB (bells, shelves and tilts), with GAIN SCALE from 0 to 200 percent
Q
0.1 to 18
Slope
6, 12, 24, 36, 48, 72 or 96 dB per octave (high-pass, low-pass and band pass)
Place
Stereo, middle, sides, left or right, band by band
Dynamics
RANGE up to +-30 dB, ATTACK 0.1 to 250 ms, RELEASE 5 ms to 5 s, a trigger of the band's own region, a range LOW to HIGH, or the side chain, and SPECTRAL
Output
-24 to +24 dB, with AUTO GAIN
Editor
1360 x 1024 pixels at 100 percent, resizable from 70 to 170 percent
Parameters
418
Presets
80 in 9 categories
CPU
The whole plug-in at 48 kHz, stereo, 512-sample blocks, in percent of one core (thread CPU time, the least of several runs, Intel Core i9, a shared machine, at a quiet moment with the load at 3.4 to 4.2): with 0, 1, 4, 8 and 24 SPECTRAL bands, 0.15, 0.59, 1.07, 1.30 and 2.35 in MINIMUM and 0.38, 0.82, 1.23, 1.46 and 2.51 in LINEAR. Four SPECTRAL bands at 96 kHz cost 2.10 in MINIMUM and 2.58 in LINEAR, over the 2 percent the lower rates stay under. Without SPECTRAL, 24 bells and shelves cost 1.34 percent and 2.4 with four of them dynamic, and the worst case, all 24 dynamic, about 8 (a run on a busy machine). Every figure read 1.2 to 1.7 times higher when the machine was busy

Measured

  1. 0.014 dBThe farthest the engine's response lands from the design curve, over every shape at 44.1, 48, 96 and 192 kHz, from 20 Hz to 0.45 of the sample rate (limit 0.05 dB). The worst was a low-pass.
  2. 0.435 dBHow far a +12 dB bell at 20 kHz with Q 1 departs from the analogue prototype's curve at its worst point at 44.1 kHz in MATCHED (limit 0.5 dB), against 8.159 dB in MINIMUM. At 48, 96 and 192 kHz: 0.445, 0.484 and 0.239 dB in MATCHED, 6.226, 3.295 and 0.951 dB in MINIMUM.
  3. Bit for bitWith no band on, with every band flat, and in bypass, the output is the input: delayed by the reported latency in LINEAR and by a working SPECTRAL stage's, and not at all in MINIMUM or MATCHED. The 0.5.0 engine at its defaults gives the output of the frozen 0.4.0 engine bit for bit in MINIMUM, MATCHED and LINEAR.
  4. 0.012 dBHow far a quiet tone, 20 dB under the threshold in the same band as a loud one, moved while a SPECTRAL band turned the loud one down (limit 0.02 dB); the loud tone moved by the curve within 0.5 dB, the limit. A time-domain band would have moved both.
  5. 24.10 dBHow far down a trigger range reads a tone an octave under LOW at 48 kHz, with 3.01 dB down at the corner; an octave over HIGH it reads 38.17 dB down. The range is a 24 dB per octave high-pass at LOW and low-pass at HIGH in front of the detector.

On synthetic test signals, by this plug-in’s own tests. Not a listening test.

Presets

80 presets, named for the job.

Starting points chosen from measurements, not tuned by ear. Each one sets every control, so the result does not depend on what was dialled in before it.

Start

  • Flat Start

Vocal

  • Lead Vocal, Clean Up
  • Lead Vocal, Forward
  • Vocal, Remove Mud
  • Vocal, Tame Harshness
  • Vocal, Add Air
  • Backing Vocal, Sit Back
  • Podcast, Close and Clear
  • Vocal, Telephone
  • Vocal, Band Pass Telephone
  • Vocal, Hold Back Harshness
  • Vocal, De-ess When Loud
  • Vocal, Presence Rises With Level
  • Vocal, Hold Down a Resonance
  • Vocal, Hold Down Harsh Bins

Drums

  • Kick, Weight and Click
  • Snare, Crack
  • Snare, Fat
  • Toms, Clear Up
  • Overheads, Open Top
  • Hi-hat, Soften the Edge
  • Drum Bus, Fill Out
  • Room Mics, Pull Back
  • Kick, Hold Back the Boom
  • Snare, Hold Down the Ring
  • Drum Bus, Top Opens on Hits
  • Drum Bus, Mud Dips on Kick

Bass

  • Bass Guitar, Round
  • Bass, Clear the Low End
  • Synth Bass, Make Room
  • Bass, Linear Low Pass, 96 dB
  • Bass, Even Out the Low End
  • Bass, Make Room for the Kick
  • Bass, Hold Down Boomy Notes

Guitar

  • Electric Guitar, Rhythm
  • Electric Guitar, Lead
  • Acoustic Guitar, Bright
  • Acoustic Guitar, Thin Out
  • Guitar, Flat Tilt Darker
  • Guitar, Bite Only When Loud

Keys

  • Piano, Clear and Bright
  • Electric Piano, Make Room
  • Synth Pad, Tuck Back
  • Keys, Linear Open Up
  • Piano, Control the Mud
  • Piano, Clear Mud on Low Notes

Bus

  • Mix Bus, Gentle Smile
  • Group Bus, Clean Low End
  • Parallel Bus, Body
  • Drum Bus, Tilt and Low Cut
  • Mix Bus, Hold Back Build-Up
  • Bus, Tame Harsh Cymbals
  • Mix Bus, Low-Mid Opens With Kick

Master

  • Master, Low Cut Only
  • Master, Tilt Brighter
  • Master, Mid and Side Tidy
  • Master, Tilt Shelf Up
  • Master, Flat Tilt Down
  • Master, Linear Low Cut, 96 dB
  • Master, Linear Phase Tidy
  • Master, Side Tilt Wider Top
  • Master, Air Opens With Level
  • Master, Linear Low End Control
  • Master, Side Air When Loud
  • Master, Top Octave Lift, Matched
  • Master, Hold Down Harsh Highs

Fix

  • Remove Rumble
  • Remove 50 Hz Hum
  • Remove 60 Hz Hum
  • Cut Boxiness
  • Cut Sibilance
  • Reduce Room Boom
  • Roll Off the Top
  • Bass to the Centre
  • Fix, Bass Phase Shift
  • Fix, 6 dB Gentle Low Cut
  • Fix, Left and Right Apart
  • Fix, Resonance Held Down
  • Fix, Notch the Whistle, Matched
  • Fix, Hold Down Room Resonances

The first minutes

From empty to useful.

  1. 1

    Add a band

    Double-click an empty place on the display. Near either end a band is a filter or a shelf; elsewhere it is a bell.

  2. 2

    Shape it

    Drag the node for frequency and gain, turn the wheel over it for Q, hold Alt for fine control or Shift to move along one axis. The keys below choose its shape, slope and place; turn RANGE to make it dynamic.

  3. 3

    Compare

    BYPASS keeps the delay, so nothing moves in time, and A and B hold two settings. AUTO GAIN adds the opposite of the curve's average, which is not a loudness match.

Read the manualAll specifications

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