FabFilter User Forum
Q4 Spectral mode enable - make it automatable
For those of us working in post production, having the enable/disable button per band of Q4 non-automatable is a complete show stopper.
It is simply too easy to change that setting by mistake (not least as bands appear 'in order' as you add them, so there's no way to 'reserve a few' for dynamic/spectral modes to keep both modes available).
A great feature, but completely unusable in long-form.
Richard Davey — Jan 24, 2025
Hi Richard,
We did this because you don't want to be able to change the latency of the plug-in when you automate a parameter. Spectral processing is a linear phase process and thus changes the latency. The best way to go about doing this if you want to use spectral processing is simply using a separate instance that is already in linear phase.
Yes - it can't be sensibly automated because it changes delay compensation. This puts clicks in the session - but also can't be done correctly whilst playing. The session would sound different if you played across the automation boundary from what would happen if you were already in the higher latency mode. Just the nature of delay comp.....
We have disabled the spectral button from automation. However, some parameters like Dynamic Range will disable the spectral band when it's set to 0dB. We've thought and are still thinking about ways to go around this, but it's not that simple. For now we can only suggest having the whole plug-in in linear phase mode if you want to use spectral bands in certain sections.