ZL Audio launched the ZL Equalizer, a freeware 16-band dynamic equalizer plugin for Linux, macOS, and Windows.
You can install the open-source plugin by downloading the correct installer for your OS from the ZL Audio GitHub page.
Until recently, it was easy to recommend TDR Nova as the best freeware dynamic EQ. Competition is always a good thing, though, so it’s nice to see another excellent dynamic equalizer that is available for free.
ZL Equalizer is an AU and VST 3 release the developer describes as a 16-band minimum-phase dynamic digital equalizer.
In addition to the 16 frequency bands, the ZL Equalizer has 8 filter types, 5 stereo modes, and 7 variable slopes.
ZL Audio states that the plugin delivers high-quality audio with a “64-bit floating-point processing and decramping technique, and outstanding performance is ensured in both low-end and high-end.”
The dynamics can be altered via the adjustable threshold, attack, release, and side-chain frequency, among other parameters.
Furthermore, the interface provides an “interactive spectrum graph, smart collision detection, and smooth animations.”
The developer has also included the option to switch between light and dark mode, which is always handy.
Overall the ZL Equalizer is quite a full-featured release and gives a lot of options for a free plugin.
Note that none of the installers for the ZL Equalizer have been notarized. This may result in warnings from your AV software.
ZL Audio also states, “You should decide whether to trust the installers using the provided link. Alternatively, you can build the plugin from the project source code.”
The .exe extension download is for the Windows version, the .dmg file for macOS, and the .zip file for Linux.
There are already several demos on YouTube showcasing the ZL Equalizer, so you can get a feel for the plugin without committing to a download. We have shared some here, as well.
The ZL Equalizer is currently in a pre-release version. The developer dropped the 0.0.1 release on January 26, the 0.1.0 release on February 17 and the current version, released last week, is 0.1.12.
ZL Audio has released numerous free and open-source plugins via GitHub.
Other releases from ZL Audio include the ZL Warm distortion/saturation plugin, ZLL Makeup loudness make-up plugin, ZLL Match loudness matching plugin and ZL Inflator distortion/saturation plugin.
The developer has also released the free MIDI pitch tool, which compares MIDI with vocal pitches.
Download: ZL Equalizer (FREE)
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