Dante:  So with quite a few equalizers already included with the Scope platform (STM built in graphical, PEQ-4, SL9000, 4-Pole, Parametric etc), what were the primary design goals of the SC-EQ that would make it stand out from the rest ?

Ralf:  It was designed to be an EQ in a mixer  (e.g. as a channel strip EQ), easy to use and good in sound, but with no EQ graph, to save screen space.

Dante:  So what knowledge or tricks went into the design of the SC-EQ?

Ralf: Well, I can not say, but it includes ten years of experience with filter development.  The parametric filters can be used with or without resonance and also anything between, which gives you a wide range of sound possibilities.  Also it was built to save DSP cycles running as a single module.

Dante:  I notice that the frequency ranges of the two parametric (bell) bands are totally user selectable rather than giving users 'predefined' frequency ranges.  Was there a reason for this design?

Ralf:  Yes, we felt it would offer more flexibility for the SC-EQ to operate with two filters with the same wide overall frequency range, since the user could then use any frequency on each band rather than some arbitrary 'built in' crossover point.

Dante:  So you would recommend this as the channel EQ of choice out of all the stock Scope EQ's?

Ralf:  Yes, trust your ears and how it responds to the controls. The phase behavior is similar to that of an analog filter. The shelf EQ curves handle a wide range of different EQ types, with and without resonance and anything in between.  Every normal equalizer must have a phase behavior over the frequency (only linear phase equalizers don't have).

Dante and Ralf June 2011