Why use different EQ plug-ins?

[jewishtomato]

So what's the difference between say; the inbuilt ableton EQ 8 and the Renaissance Equalizer by Waves, for example? (Aside from the amount of bands)

[3za]

The Eq elfs in ableton got fat eatting too much christmas cake, and the Waves ones are jacked on roids and coke.

[smalltock]

Programmed differently and by different people. Some are more CPU-efficient than others. There's also more than one processing technique. For example: linear phase vs minimum phase.

[_Agu_]

Other one is a rip off.

[benjam]

Try and recreate the same eq curve in both Chances are they ll still sound different

[Tekvision]

Some EQs are more transparent than others, and some create really distinct sound. It's all about your taste, what you want in your sound. It might benefit from another EQs colorization, or you might wanna EQ out some frequencies, but don't want it to sound super obvious. Also like the other guys said, different CPU-usages, different GUIs too

[KosmonautOfficial]

Just like Tekvision said its mostly about trying different EQs and seeing which on fits your style

[outbound]

As well as quality and bringing a certain 'vibe' (on some of the analog emulations etc) it's worth thinking about the workflow some offer. Sure you may just want a simple parametric bell but what if you want M/S features? L/R also? different curve shapes, tilt EQ, solo, mute options etc some are great for being able to offer you a ridiculously flexible tool (Fabfilter and DMG I'm looking at you)

[fragments]

As well as quality and bringing a certain 'vibe' (on some of the analog emulations etc) it's worth thinking about the workflow some offer. Sure you may just want a simple parametric bell but what if you want M/S features? L/R also? different curve shapes, tilt EQ, solo, mute options etc some are great for being able to offer you a ridiculously flexible tool (Fabfilter and DMG I'm looking at you)

Gliss EQ is still my go-to because of the way it overlays the frequency response of a bunch of instances all at once. Really useful tool for beginners learning to EQ. (I still use it on kick/bass all the time to get things just right...)