smart:comp 4

smart:EQ 4 uses inter-plugin communication using your network, independently from your DAW. When working with presets within EQ 4, these inter-communication settings are properly stored in the presets, so when they are recalled, everything works as expected.

It is possible to create presets and plug-in templates within a DAW, bypassing the plugin-internal preset functionality. When these presets (created within the DAW) are recalled, the communication settings are often not recalled correctly, resulting in different settings between all instances.

This results in "Group Section flickering" where instances of smart:EQ 4 do not talk to each other correctly and interfere with each other.

To solve this problem, please delete the presets/templates created by your DAW and always start smart:EQ 4 from a clean state. If you have not intentionally created such templates, the DAW will most likely have created a default state/preset itself, which can be found in the Presets folder of the DAW.

Every DAW saves presets differently, please check out their respective manual. You will find guides on where default presets are stored on different DAWs below.

If this does not solve your problem, please contact support.

Logic Pro

In Logic Pro, you can delete user presets by choosing "delete" in the user presets dropdown menu. This is located right next to Logics own blue bypass button. In order to work, the Preset has to be greyed out and called "Manual" instead of "User default".

Cubase

In Cubase, the user presets folder has to appear empty in the top bar of the plugin. Presets are saved within the "Presets" folder of the smart:EQ4 Plugin itself and are called xxx.vstpreset. Delete them in order to fix the issue.

FL Studio

In FL Studio, please avoid loading the plugin from the preset you may have added to the plugin database. Instead, load the plugin from the plugin manager! You can do this by clicking the mixer slot that you wish to load Smart:EQ 4, click "More Plugins" and select the Plugin. This will prevent Flickering in that session.

The communication among instances is based on shared processes. As sandboxing avoids this communication, smart:EQ 4 will not work in fully sandboxed DAWs (for now). 

Depending on the DAW and plug-in format, smart:EQ 4 is able to read the name of its track and set this name as the default name for a new plug-in instance.

Typically, this feature is supported in most hosts when using the VST3 or AU version (e.g. Logic) of the plug-in. VST2 versions do not support this feature.

No, it is not possible to have different plug-in types in a group.

During the learning time, smart:EQ 4 listens to your audio signal to compute a smart:filter. The minimum learning time is 6 seconds (of active audio). Per default, the smart:filter is automatically computed when this minimum learning time is over.

If you want smart:EQ 4 to optionally listen for a longer period of time to your signal, you can choose a longer maximum learning time on the settings page. If a maximum learning time larger than 6 seconds is set, you can either retrieve your result at any time after the minimum learning time has expired (by clicking the ”Get result” button) - or you can wait until the maximum learning time has expired.

Hint: Longer learning times can help to give smart:EQ 4 a „bigger picture” of the overall signal. You can also pause learning and jump to another section to continue learning from there.

When an instance is part of a group and a smart:filter is either in group or track & group mode, the filter is adapted to reduce masking effects among group members. The special filter computed to perform this adaption is the “group filter” that can be seen when switching a smart:filter to group mode.

As potential level changes caused by the group filter are done on purpose to create a mixing hierarchy, the Auto Gain ignores its impact on the overall level. Otherwise, the group filter would reduce the overall level of a signal - and the Auto Gain would work against it by boosting the gain again.

Depending on its mode, the smart:filter either only tries to fix imbalances of the current track or it also takes potential masking problems with other tracks into account (when part of a group).

In track & group (tr+gr) mode, the smart:filter looks at spectral imbalances of the current track as well as potential masking problems with other group members. This is the default mode for smart:EQ 4.

In track mode, the smart:filter only looks at spectral imbalances and problems of the current track. Potential masking problems with other group members are ignored. Even when the plug-in is a part of a group, you may want to use this mode if you do not want other tracks to have an impact on the sound of a certain track.

In group mode, the smart:filter only checks potential masking issues with other group members, but does not try to fix potential spectral imbalances of the track itself. Therefore, this mode only shows a filter curve if the plug-in is part of a group. You may want to use this mode if you want to stick to the overall sound of track and only want to embed it a bit smoother into a group of multiple tracks.

smart:EQ 4 extracts a lot of information during learning from your audio files. When storing a session, this information needs to be stored too - otherwise, smart:EQ 4 wouldn't be able to compute a new result when e.g. switching profiles in a restored session.

Depending on the number of smart:EQ 4 instances and the learning time used to compute the smart:filter (the longer the learning time, the more information needs to be stored), the size of your session file will increase.