iZotope’s FXEQ is not really an FX EQ at all — but at $49, it’s a steal£49, izotope.com
It’s funny how producers can spend hours honing the EQ on a part – bringing out the breathiness of a vocal, the depth of a bassline, or the glassiness of a guitar – yet rarely devote the same level of attention to shaping the tone of the effects being added.

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With its new FXEQ, iZotope has delivered a plugin that not only makes spectral shaping of effects an unavoidable and easy component of your workflow, but that also reveals just how sonically creative this approach can be.

What is FXEQ.. and what isn’t it?
On the surface, FXEQ is a relatively simple concept. It’s a multi-effect processor with five processing modules, each dedicated to an effect type: Saturate, Reverb, Delay, Modulate and Lo-Fi. Each module is fronted by an ‘EQ’ (the inverted commas will be explained shortly) intended to focus a module’s effect on a specific frequency or frequency range. These modules are arranged in parallel, and so each is fed an unadulterated dry signal and mixes its processed results into the plugin’s main output signal.
But hang on a moment… if the modules are parallel and combine their output signals, does this not mean that many copies of the original signal (or processed versions thereof) are being layered together?
Well, no, not exactly. iZotope says each module features an EQ, and it’s right there in the plugin’s name, but in reality, these are multi-band filters, not EQs. So, rather than boosting or cutting frequencies in the signal, they only allow the frequencies you specify to pass through to the module’s effect processor. Put another way, a module’s filter allows its effect to be targeted at specific frequency ranges, and a module will only output a processed version of those frequency ranges.
Quibbling over whether something’s an EQ or a filter may seem pedantic, but I do find the plugin confusing because of this inaccuracy. It’s also made for some amusingly cryptic descriptions in the plugin’s manual, as it tries to tiptoe around this conceptual discrepancy. A name like, ‘FXFilter’ or ‘FilterF’ would have sounded too much like a filter plugin, but I’m sure the development team could have come up with something less conceptually hamstringing than ‘FXEQ’.
Thankfully, once you grasp the EQ versus filter distinction, everything makes perfect sense.
Reverb module in iZotope FXEQ. Image: Press
What is iZotope’s FXEQ like to use?
The main area of FXEQ’s interface is taken up by a real-time spectrogram overlaid by various coloured curves. These curves visualise each module’s filter, with the colour of the curve matching the colour used on the module control panels arrayed across the bottom of the plugin window.
Each module’s filter curve can consist of up to six bands, and the shape of each band can be either low shelf, high shelf, proportional Q or band shelf. The last two of these are easier to think of as narrow and wide band-pass filters, respectively. Frequency, gain and Q/bandwidth of a band can be adjusted, either by dragging nodes in the visualisation, or via a panel that displays settings for the currently-selected node.
The actual processing modules feature a basic range of controls, although this doesn’t reflect the quality of the high-standard processing algorithms.
Each module offers a choice of models/operating modes, yet typically features only two dials and another switch or two. For example, the Reverb module offers a choice of Hall, Chamber and Plate models, has dials for controlling pre-delay and decay time, and buttons next to each dial to switch them between tempo-synced or free timing modes.
The blend of dry and processed signal is controlled by a global Amount slider, which determines the level of the mixed output from the processing modules. There’s also a button that disables the dry signal so that the plugin outputs only the processed signal (a conventional wet/dry balance control may have been less convoluted). There’s also an optional global limiter to catch the sudden signal peaks that filters can create.
Rather than feeling restrictive, this simplicity of operation is actually beneficial because it helps in focusing one’s attention on the spectral aspects of each module, which is what FXEQ is all about. That said, there are a couple of glaring omissions from these simple controls.
The first of these is that modules can’t easily be soloed. A module’s individual frequency bands can be soloed, so that you hear just that band of that module, but, if you’re using more than one filter band in a module, the only way to solo an entire module is to disable all of the other modules.
The second omission is that modules don’t have an output gain control. The only way to adjust a module’s output level is to adjust the gain of its filter bands – simple enough if using only one band, but a real pain when multiple filter bands are in play.

What effects can FXEQ create?
When used as though it were a stack of conventional effect processors, the plugin’s frequency-based approach literally forces you to think about the effects in spectral terms.
Suddenly, you’re concentrating on different aspects of the effects you’re using. Rather than just applying a saturation plugin and moving on, with FXEQ, you automatically start to explore which frequencies of a part respond well to saturation (or a reverb or a delay or whatever), and which sound better when kept clean.
But where I find FXEQ really comes into its own is when it’s approached in a more holistic way – not so much a collection of individual processors, but a single effect whose components combine to achieve countless creative results. A plain drum loop can be turned into a floor-filler with a thundering bassline, snappy snares and dancing percussion. A vocal can be given weight in the lower-mids, edginess in the upper-mids, and a light wash of reverb in the breathier registers. Synth pads can glow with close-to warmth whilst simultaneously sparkling in the distance. None of this feels convoluted to think about or complex to configure; it’s all just down to how FXEQ works.
And so, despite some shortcomings, I’m hugely impressed by the range and depth of effects that FXEQ can produce, and by how much it encourages sonic experimentation and creativity.
One thing I can’t quite believe, though, is the near-giveaway price of £49. It’s worth every penny!

Key features

Spectral multi-effects plugin (AAX, AU, VST3)
For macOS Ventura (13) and newer / Windows 10 and newer
5 parallel processing modules: Saturate, Reverb, Delay, Modulate and Lo-Fi
6-band, per-module filters
Global limiter

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