AutoEQ with Jack

[buscon]

hi everyone,

I assume many of you know the project AutoEQ
You can load a file in a convolved and improve the frequency response of your headphones.
You can also load or manually add the suggested equalization in a software, though the convolved option is much simpler.

For pulseaudio there is PulseEffects (or EasyEffects with Pipewire), it works pretty straight forward.

For Jack I cannot find a simple solution.

Did someone use AutoEQ in Jack with a convolver? if yes, which one and how?

Thanks!

[bluebell]

You have to route your audio signal as appropriate, e.g. through a parametric EQ. Carla as a plugin host and a CALF or LSP or x42 EQ plugin should work.

Of course your audio applications or Pulseaudio's jack sink should not output to system:playback but to your EQ or to an intermediate node (jack_thru) that outputs to your EQ. The EQ has to output to system:playback.

Routing can be automated with Qjackctl or jack-plumbing.

[buscon]

Thanks for your answer.

In the meanwhile I found the LSP Impulse Response plugin, that seems to work pretty well with the IR of AutoEQ.

I prefer a convolver instead of an EQ, as I do not have to manually entry all the parameters.

The routing through Jack is no problem.

[tseaver]

You likely need to ensure that the IR / correction is being applied only to the "monitoring" signal path (the one which drives your headphones / monitor speakers) and not the "rendering" signal path (the one which converts the audio / MIDI in your project to sound).

In Ardour, for instance, the correction should be added as a plugin on the "Monitor" bus, which is separate from the "Master" bus used for rendering.

[sunrat]

LSP Plugins include standalone versions so you don't need to run them as plugins.
I currently use /usr/bin/lsp-plugins-para-equalizer-x16-lr as room correction patched via Qjackctl graph inserted immediately before system outputs so all audio runs through it. I'm planning to change that to IR soon.
The relevant application is /usr/bin/lsp-plugins-impulse-responses-stereo

[buscon]

LSP Plugins include standalone versions so you don't need to run them as plugins.
I currently use /usr/bin/lsp-plugins-para-equalizer-x16-lr as room correction patched via Qjackctl graph inserted immediately before system outputs so all audio runs through it. I'm planning to change that to IR soon.
The relevant application is /usr/bin/lsp-plugins-impulse-responses-stereo

thanks for the explanation, I did not know you could use them in a standalone version too!

[funkmuscle]

I am coming from the sonarworks side of things. My arch system updated and that plugin stopped working. I keep hearing about the autoEQ But I have not heard any definite way of using it.

I went to the website and as they mentioned for Linux to use easy effects so I grab the profile for my headphones and it takes me to another page where I get to pick the easy effects EQ.

From there I see this graph with a whole bunch of lines and one that says target but I remember on sonarworks, how's the same graph but when you see their target line it's basically a flat line.

So what I'm trying to figure out is that when I download the wave file I also get an equalization sheet. Now am I supposed to load that impulse response wave file into and impulse response loader and then set up a parametric equalizer with those EQ settings?

And on top of that there's so many other options like something to do with Harman in ear and so on.

[sunrat]

The IR file is for loading into an IR plugin, whereas the text file is for manually setting an equaliser. They are separate ways of applying EQ in a plugin.
I don't use EasyEffects so can't help you with that. I'm still using LSP Parametric EQ for room correction, never got round to setting up IR since my last post.
The Harman curve is a preferred response target which the AutoEQ/oratory1990 files are aimed at achieving. Your personal preference from that may differ but it's a good start. For me it's a little too hot in the lower high frequency range.

[sysrqer]

So what I'm trying to figure out is that when I download the wave file I also get an equalization sheet. Now am I supposed to load that impulse response wave file into and impulse response loader and then set up a parametric equalizer with those EQ settings?

And on top of that there's so many other options like something to do with Harman in ear and so on.

Just load the file in the convolver, that's it.

Screenshot_20230629_071131.png (89.89 KiB) Viewed 1881 times

[funkmuscle]

So what I'm trying to figure out is that when I download the wave file I also get an equalization sheet. Now am I supposed to load that impulse response wave file into and impulse response loader and then set up a parametric equalizer with those EQ settings?

And on top of that there's so many other options like something to do with Harman in ear and so on.

Just load the file in the convolver, that's it.

Screenshot_20230629_071131.png

That's what I did but the thing I forgot to mention is I mix mostly with headphones as I'm in a condo and walls are thin. So from my understanding, the IRs are for improving the headphone sound? I just want it like the Sonarworks where the target line was basically flat.

There is an option for flat with the easyeffects, is that the one I should use for mixing?

[sysrqer]

That's what I did but the thing I forgot to mention is I mix mostly with headphones as I'm in a condo and walls are thin. So from my understanding, the IRs are for improving the headphone sound? I just want it like the Sonarworks where the target line was basically flat.

There is an option for flat with the easyeffects, is that the one I should use for mixing?

Yeah, if the autoeq model is the same as your headphones then it will be flat or close to, it is basically the same as Sonarworks but you just have to add the headphone profiles yourself. The wav is the eq. There's a website where you can tailor them to whichever target you prefer but the default files work well for me.

Whether you think it's an improvement or not is another thing entirely but it will make them flatter for sure.

I'm not sure where you are seeing the flat option, I can't see that unless it's in one of the effects I don't have loaded. If you want to correct the headphones though to a flatter target, you just need the convolver with the impulse wav loaded.
Oh wait, you mean the flat response in the EQ effect? That just resets the eq so each band is 0db I think. You don't need to use the eq unless you want to add more bass or something because it's too flat from the convolver.

[sunrat]

AFAIK the target curve is not flat, but something like the Harman curve which is designed for standard listening rather than a flat mastering type response.
Looking at the image on AutoEQ Github page for my Austrian Audio Hi-X55 shows the target curve has boosts in the 3.5kHz region and in the bass. - https://github.com/jaakkopasanen/AutoEq ... o%20Hi-X55
"Flat" in terms of an equaliser setting probably means no EQ applied rather than flat response. An equaliser is not going to know what is flat for any particular transducer system unless you tell it.

[funkmuscle]

Yes thanks guys! You see I don't want it for listening I needed for mixing and sonarworks it was basically a flat line until you get up to around I think it was actually 3.5 k where there was just a little bump but the majority was flat. The way I get it right now, I think there's a bump at about 200 and then it flattens out and then there's a bump between three and six case and then a low pass I think at around 17 I'm not at my computer right now.

So I think I'm beginning to understand you guys. As the guy suggested I should be using easy effects for Linux And then I download the IR file and put it in a loader in the monitor section of my DAW and go with that. That's what I've always been doing but when I just take the profile that's there for my headphones it just sounds like it's giving me more bottom end and things like that so I think what I'm going to do is I'll get the default and then I'm going to use the parametric EQ to flatten it

[sunrat]

I just experimented a little with the AutoEQ IR file and with the text file parameters for my Hi-X55 cans. They both sounded positively awful to me compared to my EVE SC205 monitors which are EQed almost flat except for a couple of dips to counter room modes. So I ended up just playing a well-produced song I'm very familiar with (John Mayer's "Last Train Home") and adjusted the PEQ until the cans sounded as close to the SC205s as I could get. It's vastly different from the AutoEQ recommendations.
Bottom line - use a good reference song and ultimately trust your ears!

[funkmuscle]

Yeah I think autoEQ is more for listening pleasure than mixing/mastering. Not like sonarworks which also claims to do both. I noticed a major difference when the sonarworks was active to bring off. Don't really notice this on or off