Equalizer APO Equivalent for Linux

Question

Is there a Linux app with the same features of Equalizer APO second link for Windows? Something that would accept such setup, like Equalizer APO does?

 | Band| Type      |Freq(Hz)|Gain(dB)| Quality |
 |----|------------|--------|-------|------|
 | 1  | LOW_SHELF  | 90     | -2.8  | 0.9  |
 | 2  | PEAK       | 185    | -3.8  | 0.9  |
 | 3  | PEAK       | 290    | 5.0   | 1.8  |
 | 4  | PEAK       | 2700   | -4.3  | 1.4  |
 | 5  | PEAK       | 3670   | 2.7   | 4.5  |
 | 6  | PEAK       | 4340   | -5.0  | 4.5  |
 | 7  | PEAK       | 5800   | 2.8   | 3.5  |
 | 8  | PEAK       | 7000   | -3.8  | 6.0  |
 | 9  | PEAK       | 8100   | -4.5  | 5.0  |
 | 10 | HIGH_SHELF | 11000  | -10.0 | 0.8  |

Equalizer APO is an equalizer that allows to define the filter type (low_shelf, high_shelf, etc.), specifying the central frequency, allowing to setup how many bands are needed, alongside with gain and quality.

I have tried pavucontrol and pulseaudio, but didn't find such features.

Standard equalizers have a fixed number of filters, allow changing only gain, whereas the application I am looking for allows a more fine-grained tuning.

Solution 1

As mentioned, you can load a basic LADSPA effect (eg swh-plugins ) in Pulseaudio with csv list of numbers for fixed settings, but no gui to adjust settings

can also load LADSPA plugins in ALSA instead of Pulseaudio, but with same limitations

For full control want to use JACK and have gui control of effects
Calf Plugins have equalisers for 3, 8 and 12 bands with frequency adjustment options for filters

There is an exception that can run as stand-alone effect without JACK and have gui control
LSP plugins has 16 and 32 band parametric equalisers

I have used some LSP effects, but only in JACK

Solution 2

LSP Plugins since 1.1.7 release provide filters which are fully compatible with EqualizerAPO:

https://github.com/sadko4u/lsp-plugins/releases/tag/lsp-plugins-1.1.7

Solution 3

https://github.com/bmc0/dsp is closer to EqualizerAPO than the other answers.

To apply it system-wide, you can use plain ALSA, or PulseAudio. There are examples for both in the readme, or see here: https://github.com/bmc0/dsp/wiki/System-Wide-DSP-Guide

To convert a basic EqualizerAPO config, Preamp: -2.5 dB becomes gain -2.5 and Filter 2: ON PK Fc 21 Hz Gain 2.5 dB Q 1 becomes eq 21 1q 2.5

Solution 4

There's a standard for audio plugins on Linux called LADSPA. It offers plugins for many effects, including equalizers.

Pulseaudio (and also pure ALSA) can use plugins in the sound paths, e.g. via module-ladspa-sink on Pulseaudio.

There are also projects which come with ready-made equalizes including UI like pulseaudio-equalizer-ladspa.

If existing projects don't have enough features for you, it's not so hard to cobble something together with other LADSPA plugins (but those won't have a nice UI, or you'll have to write one yourself). And if the existing LADSPA plugins are not powerful enough for you, it's also not that hard to extend them.

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Comments

[kemotep]

Hello and welcome to the U&L stack exchange site! Please review the Help Center to get information on how to best post to this site. To get to your question, please edit your post to include additional context What is Equalizer Apo? What have you found? What features do you need? This question as it stands is too broad and may be closed as being off-topic for this site. Add the additional context to help others create a strong answer for you. Thank you!

[kemotep]

You should also avoid posting pictures of text. Pictures can be hard to read. Text is easier to read in different screen formats, can be copied and pasted, as well as is search engine addressable, making it easier for people to reach this post who may have a similar issue. Could you please edit your post to be text instead? Thank you again!

[EagleOne]

@kemotep suggested changes applied

[kemotep]

Have you tried JACK, alsamixer, or pulseaudio and its plugins? What errors do you encounter? Are you using a DAC or any kind of special hardware that may require additional drivers? What is your operating system? Again read over the Help Center and work on narrowing the scope of your question because as it stands now your question is going to generate opinion-based answers and is also very broad and as such is off-topic for this site.

[K7AAY]

May I suggest, instead of saying you want something like Equalizer APO, that instead you revise your question with edit and specify the features you find important? Something like "I am seeking a Linux equalizer app which a) allows me to specify the number of bands of equalization b) specify the type of filter to use in each band c) specify the center frequency for each band and d) set the gain for each band. No special hardware is in use, just a {insert name here} sound adapter. JACK, alsamixer, pulseaudio, and plugins (e, f,, g, ...z) have been reviewed and none provide the features a-d."

[Nicolay Doytchev]

Where can I find documentation on how to load LSP Plugins and more importantly give them parameters via module-ladspa-sink?

[Vladimir Sadovnikov]

All documentation is available on the official site: lsp-plug.in/?page=manuals You may install them manually by downloading from github/sourceforge or installing from repositories. Currently known distributions that provide LSP Plugins are: openSUSE Tumbleweed, Ubuntu Studio, KXStudio, NixOS, Fedora, AVLinux and some others.