Bevel EQ: the manual
The v1.1.0 manual for Bevel EQ: installation and license activation, band shapes and slopes, dynamic bands, per-band stereo placement, the analyzer, the keyboard map, and the FAQ.
Bevel EQ is a parametric equalizer with 24 freeform band slots. Any slot can be a bell, a low shelf, a high shelf, a notch, a high pass or a low pass, and the high and low pass filters run at slopes from 12 to 96 dB/oct. The EQ opens empty: double-click the curve and the first band exists. A real-time spectrum analyzer draws pre and post at the same time directly under the summed response curve, so the thing you are changing and the thing you are hearing share one display.
This manual covers installation and activation, the interface, common session workflows, and the reference material for v1.1.0. It applies to the VST3, AU and AAX builds on Windows 10 and later and on macOS, Intel and Apple Silicon.
Three things are new in v1.1.0, and they are the three most likely reasons you opened this page: per-band dynamic mode on the gain shapes, per-band stereo placement, and an analyzer that shows pre and post together instead of one or the other. Each has its own section below, alongside the oversampling quality switch, proportional Q, auto-gain and the mono-maker.
Overview
The design premise is simple: the display is the whole interface. The EQ starts with nothing on it. Double-click the curve and a band exists. Nothing is pre-assigned, so a corrective vocal chain and a twelve-notch resonance hunt both fit in one instance. A floating bar reads the selected band, with frequency, gain, Q and shape all typeable. A and B hold two complete plugin states, so you can switch between two versions of a move. Neither slot adjusts level for you.
A band carries more than a shape. Any band can be placed on the stereo field, as Stereo, Left, Right, Mid or Side, and the gain shapes can be made dynamic, with their own threshold, range, attack and release. A boost in the sides only, or a cut that only lands when the material gets loud, is a band setting rather than a second plugin.
Everything is click-free while audio runs: bypass, band edits and preset recall are all seamless, and every parameter is smoothed for automation. The analyzer is computed and drawn on the interface thread at frame rate; the audio thread only runs the filters, so the spectrum display never costs you audio-path CPU. Plugin state saves and recalls exactly with your session, and the build passes pluginval at strictness level 5.
Install and activate
Bevel EQ installs as VST3 and AAX on Windows, and as AU, VST3 and AAX on macOS. Any DAW that loads those formats will see it after a plugin rescan. Licensing runs through the license panel inside the plugin, and it is built so that an offline studio machine never needs an internet connection.
The machine code
Open the plugin's license panel and it shows a machine code in the form VTM1-XXXX-XXXX-XXXX-XXXX. This code is a one way hash computed on your machine: raw hardware identifiers never leave it. Every activation, trial or full, is bound to this code.
Starting the 14 day trial
The trial is the full plugin for 14 days, every band and every feature, no locks. To start one, go to /license/trial on the Vitric site, pick Bevel EQ, paste the machine code from the license panel, and enter your email. A trial license file bound to that machine arrives by email; load it in the license panel and you are running. One trial per product per studio.
When the trial ends the plugin does not shut off. It drops to demo mode: it keeps loading in your sessions with your settings intact, and the output mutes briefly every minute. Nothing is held hostage, and a purchased license restores full operation on the same install.
Activating a full license
A purchased license key looks like VT-XXXXX-XXXXX-XXXXX-XXXXXand arrives by email. It includes 3 machine activations with self service moves, so a desktop, a laptop and a studio rig can all run on one key. On a machine with internet access, activate from inside the plugin's license panel.
Offline activation
For a studio machine that never touches the internet, use the license portal at /licensefrom any online device. Enter your license key, then type in the machine code the offline plugin shows, and download the license file the portal generates. Carry the file over on a drive and load it in the plugin's license panel. No connection is ever needed on the studio machine.
Moving machines
Deactivation is self service. Look up your key in the license portal to see every activated machine, deactivate the one you are retiring, and the slot frees immediately for the new machine. Lost keys can be resent to your registered email from the same portal.
Interface tour
The display is a full-bleed EQ view: the summed response curve drawn over the live spectrum. The window is freely resizable, from 760 by 420 up to 2400 by 1400, so one instance suits a laptop lid and a large studio display without a fixed set of size presets.
Bands and shapes
Double-click the curve to create a band, then drag its node. There are 24 slots and no fixed layout: each slot can be a bell, a low shelf, a high shelf, a notch, a high pass or a low pass, and the shape can be changed at any time.
- Gain. -30 dB to +30 dB on the shapes that have gain.
- Q. 0.1 to 40, from broad musical curves through to surgical notches.
- Slopes. The high pass and low pass filters offer 12, 24, 48, 72 and 96 dB/oct, built from cascaded Butterworth sections: musical rolloffs at the gentle end, near-brickwall surgery at the steep end.
- Proportional Q.Optional. With it on, a band's bandwidth narrows as the band is pushed harder, so small moves stay broad and large moves tighten up without a second hand on the Q.
Stereo placement, per band
New in v1.1.0. Every band has a placement setting: Stereo, Left, Right, Mid or Side. Stereo processes the whole signal, Left and Right work on one channel, and Mid and Side work on what the two channels share and on what differs between them. A boost in the sides only, or a cut in the mid only, is now one band in one instance rather than a mid/side split rigged up around two.
Dynamic mode, per band
New in v1.1.0, and available on the gain shapes: bell, low shelf and high shelf. Switch a band to dynamic and it stops being a fixed curve. It moves with the material, using four controls of its own.
- Threshold. -72 dB to 0 dB. The level at which the band starts to move.
- Range. -24 dB to +24 dB. How far it moves. The value is signed, so a band can duck or lift.
- Attack. 0.5 to 200 ms. How fast it gets there.
- Release. 5 to 2000 ms. How fast it lets go.
The detector is filtered to the band's own frequency region, so a dynamic band reacts to its own content rather than to overall programme level. A band sitting at 6 kHz moves on sibilance, not on the snare hitting somewhere else in the same mix.
The analyzer
Real-time spectrum, rendered under the summed curve. As of v1.1.0 it shows pre and post at the same time rather than one or the other, so cause and effect share one display: you see the resonance, cut it, and watch the post trace drop away from the pre trace on the same glass. Because it shows what the meter path actually sees, it does not smooth away the narrow resonance you are hunting.
- Range. 60, 90 or 120 dB of vertical span.
- Tilt. 0, 3, 4.5 or 6 dB per octave, for reading a mix against a sloped reference instead of a flat one.
- Speed. Three settings, from quick enough to show a transient to slow enough to read as an average.
- Resolution. Three FFT sizes: 4096, 8192 or 16384 points. The larger sizes resolve low-frequency detail more finely.
- Freeze and peak hold. Freeze holds the current spectrum on screen to work against. A peak-hold trace keeps the highest reading at each frequency.
Per-band solo
Each band can be soloed, and the solo is filtered to match that band's shape, so you hear exactly what the band is working on before you commit to the cut.
The floating bar
Reads the selected band: frequency, gain, Q and shape, all typeable when you want exact numbers instead of a drag.
Global controls
- Quality. Zero Latency, 2x or 4x. Zero Latency is the default and really is zero latency. The 2x and 4x settings run the processing at a higher internal rate; the resulting latency is reported to the host and the dry path is delay-compensated, so bypass stays phase-aligned with the processed signal.
- Auto-gain.Optional. Compensates the curve's overall boost or cut, so a decision about tone does not turn into a decision about level.
- Mono-maker. Sums to mono below a frequency you choose, anywhere from 20 to 500 Hz, at 24 dB/oct.
- Output trim and metering. A trim on the output, plus output metering: peak and RMS, with peak hold.
Presets, A/B and undo
- Factory presets. Nine of them, as starting points for common session jobs. Preset recall is click-free while audio runs.
- User presets. Save your own to disk and recall them in any session.
- A/B snapshots. Two slots, each holding a complete plugin state, with instant switching between them. The slots recall settings, not loudness, so match levels yourself or use auto-gain if the two versions differ in output. Both slots persist with the session, so the comparison is still there when the project reopens.
- Undo and redo. Inside the plugin, on your band edits.
Mouse and keyboard
The display is built to be driven without leaving it. Hovering shows the frequency under the cursor along with its nearest note name, so a ringing room mode gets a note as well as a number.
| Input | What it does |
|---|---|
| Double-click the curve | Add a band |
| Delete | Remove the selected band |
| Arrow keys | Nudge frequency and gain |
| Tab | Cycle through the bands |
| Cmd-Z / Shift-Cmd-Z | Undo and redo |
| Shift-drag | Fine drag |
| Cmd-drag | Lock the drag to one axis |
| Alt-click a node | Bypass that band |
| Right-click a node | Open that band's context menu |
| Hover the display | Frequency readout with the nearest note name |
Workflows
The vocal chain
One instance covers the whole corrective and tonal chain. High-pass the rumble first, using a steeper slope if the fundamental sits close to the junk below it. Then hunt the honk: narrow bell, per-band solo to hear exactly what the band sees, notch it. Finish with a high shelf for air. Store the result in A, try a different balance in B, and switch between them to judge.
Where the problem is intermittent, make the band dynamic instead of cutting for the worst moment. A bell around 6 kHz with a negative range, a fast attack and a short release only moves when the sibilance arrives, and because the detector is filtered to the band's own region, the quiet lines are left alone. The same idea with a wider bell in the low mids handles a singer who only gets boxy when they push.
Resonance hunting
On a ringing snare or a boxy room, watch the analyzer under the curve for the peak that will not die. The hover readout names the frequency and its nearest note, which is often enough to tell a room mode from a drum tuning. Drop a narrow bell on it, solo the band to confirm you have the right frequency, then cut. Because the analyzer draws pre and post together, the confirmation is the gap that opens between the two traces. Freeze earns its place here: hold the offending spectrum on screen and work against it. With 24 slots you can stack as many notches as the source demands without opening a second instance.
Mix bus tone
Bus moves are half-dB decisions, and half-dB decisions need honest comparison. Use broad, gentle shelves, type exact gain values in the floating bar, and lean on the pre and post traces and the A/B snapshots so the judgement is a comparison rather than a guess. For loudness, use auto-gain: it compensates the curve's overall boost or cut, so the louder version does not win by default. Stereo placement is a bus tool too, since a side-only lift in the highs and a mid-only cut in the low mids are different jobs from the same move made across the whole image. If the bus also needs dynamics control, an EQ decision and a compression decision are easier to separate when each tool does one job; see Forge Compressor for the dynamics half.
Mastering moves
Mastering is where the slope range earns its place: a 96 dB/oct cut can fence off subsonic junk without touching the low end you are keeping, sitting next to wide musical lifts in the same instance. The mono-maker covers the other half of that job, summing everything below a frequency you choose, 20 to 500 Hz at 24 dB/oct, so the bottom stays centred. Move Quality to 2x or 4x when you want the higher internal rate and can spend the reported latency, and leave it on Zero Latency when you cannot. Every change is click-free, so you can audition edits against the running program, and A/B keeps the before and after one switch apart.
Reference
| Band type | What it does | Reach for it on |
|---|---|---|
| Bell | Boost or cut around a centre, Q from broad to surgical | Resonances, presence, body |
| Low shelf | Lift or lower everything below a corner | Warmth, weight, mud |
| High shelf | Lift or lower everything above a corner | Air, brightness, harshness |
| Notch | Remove a single frequency | Hum, whistles, ringing |
| High pass | 12 to 96 dB/oct floor control | Rumble, stage noise, low mud |
| Low pass | 12 to 96 dB/oct ceiling control | Hiss, harsh cymbals, lo-fi moves |
Gain runs -30 dB to +30 dB on the shapes that have gain, and Q runs 0.1 to 40. Dynamic mode is available on the three gain shapes: bell, low shelf and high shelf. Stereo placement is available on all of them.
| Dynamic control | Range | What it sets |
|---|---|---|
| Threshold | -72 dB to 0 dB | The level at which the band starts to move |
| Range | -24 dB to +24 dB | How far it moves. Signed, so the band can duck or lift |
| Attack | 0.5 to 200 ms | How fast it gets there |
| Release | 5 to 2000 ms | How fast it lets go |
| Spec | Value |
|---|---|
| Bands | 24 freeform slots, empty at load |
| Shapes | Bell, low shelf, high shelf, notch, high pass or low pass, on any slot |
| Gain and Q | -30 dB to +30 dB, Q 0.1 to 40 |
| Filter slopes | 12, 24, 48, 72, 96 dB/oct, cascaded Butterworth sections |
| Stereo placement | Stereo, Left, Right, Mid or Side, per band |
| Dynamic mode | Per band on the gain shapes, with a detector filtered to the band's own frequency region |
| Quality | Zero Latency (default), 2x or 4x, latency reported to the host, dry path delay-compensated |
| Analyzer | Pre and post at once; 60/90/120 dB range; 0/3/4.5/6 dB per octave tilt; three speeds; 4096/8192/16384-point FFT; freeze; peak hold |
| Curve options | Proportional Q, auto-gain |
| Mono-maker | 20 to 500 Hz, 24 dB/oct |
| Output | Trim, plus peak and RMS metering with peak hold |
| Presets | 9 factory presets, plus user presets saved to disk |
| Sessions | A/B snapshots that persist, in-plugin undo and redo |
| Window | Freely resizable, 760x420 to 2400x1400 |
| Validation | Passes pluginval at strictness level 5 |
| Formats | VST3, AU, AAX |
| Platforms | Windows 10+, macOS (Intel and Apple Silicon) |
| Activations | 3 machines per license, self service deactivation |
What it does not do
A manual is more useful when it says where the tool stops. As of v1.1.0:
- One phase mode. There is no linear phase option and no natural-phase style mode.
- Stereo only. No surround and no Dolby Atmos.
- No EQ match. There is no curve matching, and no spectrum-grab or draw-a-curve feature.
- No collision or masking view. Instances do not talk to each other or show where two tracks fight.
- One band at a time. There is no multi-band selection and no group editing.
FAQ
Does it add latency? Not on the default Quality setting. Zero Latency really is zero latency. Choose 2x or 4x and the oversampling latency is reported to the host, with the dry path delay-compensated so bypass stays phase-aligned.
Is there a linear phase mode? No. Bevel EQ has one phase mode. There is no linear phase and no natural-phase style option.
Can a band work on the sides only? Yes, as of v1.1.0. Every band has a placement setting: Stereo, Left, Right, Mid or Side. A boost in the sides only and a cut in the mid only are both single-band moves.
Does a dynamic band react to the whole mix?No. The detector is filtered to the band's own frequency region, so the band moves on its own content rather than on overall programme level.
Can I use it on surround or Atmos? No. Bevel EQ is stereo only.
Does it do EQ match? No. There is no curve matching, no spectrum-grab or draw-a-curve feature, and no masking view between instances.
Can I move several bands at once? No. There is no multi-band selection or group editing; bands are edited one at a time.
Where do my own presets live? User presets save to disk alongside the nine factory presets, and recall in any session. A/B snapshots are separate: they hold two complete plugin states and persist with the session rather than with the preset folder.
Does the analyzer cost CPU in the audio path? No. The spectrum is computed and drawn on the interface thread at frame rate. The audio thread only runs the filters.
Can I automate bands without zipper noise? Yes. Every parameter is smoothed, and bypass, band changes and preset recall are click-free while audio runs.
What DAWs does it support? VST3, AU and AAX on Windows 10+ and macOS covers Pro Tools, Logic Pro, Ableton Live, Cubase, Studio One, FL Studio, REAPER and every other major host.
Can I try it before buying? Yes. Every Vitric plugin has a free 14 day full-function trial, requested at /license/trial with the machine code from the license panel. One trial per product per studio.
What happens if I run out of activations? Deactivate a machine you no longer use in the license portal and the slot frees immediately. If a machine died and you cannot free it up yourself, write to support and we will sort it out.
Support
Questions, activation trouble, or anything this manual does not cover: support@vitricaudio.com. Every purchase also carries a 30 day money back guarantee, no questions asked, so the real test is always your own sessions.
