For the letter Q in our ongoing series of the A to Z of Waves we have chosen to talk about Q-Clone, a powerful plug-in by Waves that expands our studio outboard gear capabilities in our DAW.
Let's say you have one very nice outboard EQ in your studio - You want to use this EQ multiple times in your mix but you can't as you only have the one physical EQ unit in your rack. Q-Clone will enable you to model the characteristics of that outboard EQ meaning enabling you to use a digital clone of that EQ across many instances in your mix. Q-Capture takes a snapshot of the outboard EQ curve which is then used in the Q-Clone plug-in on any track within your mix.
Q-Clone comes in two parts:
Q-Capture Component
Q-Capture is the plug-in that needs to be connected to the outboard EQ. It sends out a test tone to EQ and receives it back again so that it can capture the curve of outboard EQ.
Setup - An output from the outboard EQ needs to patched to an input on your audio interface. An output from your interface needs to be patched to the input of the outboard EQ. Load the Q-Capture on an auxiliary track and set the I/O within the aux track to match your patching between audio interface and outboard EQ. Both Waiting and Transmitting meters will light up to show that the patching and routeing have been setup correctly
Q-Clone
Q-Clone can be inserted on any number of tracks in your mix. Turn on Capture as start dialing in EQ settings on the outboard EQ to see the EQ curve change in Q-Clone. Q-Capture needs to remain on and active on the auxiliary track for Capture to work. Select Hold to freeze the settings, useful is you want to turn off your outboard EQ or take your session somewhere else without the outboard EQ. Add enables Q-Clone to receive EQ changes over the top of the cloned outboard EQ, useful for making changes to the current settings. Q-Clone also features many bundled EQ presets.
Watch the video below to see how Tony Maserati uses Q-Capture for modelling his Neve EQ and Q-Clone for hosting the capture.