Is it possible to have a graphic equalizer for sound output? I am using
the Mate desktop. I installed EasyEffects from a flatpak and it appears
on the menu but does nothing. I don't know the command line. Probably
there is an error.

Debian 12.

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On 2024-05-01, Richmond <[email protected]> wrote:

Is it possible to have a graphic equalizer for sound output? I am using
the Mate desktop. I installed EasyEffects from a flatpak and it appears
on the menu but does nothing. I don't know the command line. Probably
there is an error.

Why install from flatpak when there is a native Debian package?

At any rate, the wiki informs me that you need to install pipewire to
get the easyeffects app to work. You don't mention pipewire, so maybe
your problem lies in not having this essential dependency installed.

I'm unfamiliar with flatplak, so I don't whether it would've installed
this dependency, as would've occurred had you simply relied on our
venerable deb system, which generally works like the proverbial charm.

https://packages.debian.org/bookworm/pipewire

(an audio and video processing engine multimedia server).

Debian 12.

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Richmond wrote:

Is it possible to have a graphic equalizer for sound output? I am using
the Mate desktop. I installed EasyEffects from a flatpak and it appears
on the menu but does nothing. I don't know the command line. Probably
there is an error.

I don't know anything about why a flatpak would work or not.

You can apt install easyeffects ; it requires PipeWire. Running
it should produce a window full of available effects for both
input and output including a parametric equalizer.

Parametric EQs are not the same as graphic EQs, but they are
reasonably easy to understand and offer much more control.

Suppose you want to boost all the bass below 50Hz. The
parametric type you want is a "shelf", the frequency is 50Hz,
the Q doesn't matter (because it's a shelf) and the volume
change is whatever you want -- +3dB is a safe number to produce
an audible effect without being overwhelming.

If you have a room with one length being 4m, it might have a
resonance at 86Hz. To dial that down, you would select a bell
shaped parameter, centered at 86Hz, and play with the Q until
the range is 83-89Hz. Then reduce it by 3 or 6 dB and listen.

Does that help?

-dsr-

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Dan Ritter <[email protected]> writes:

Parametric EQs are not the same as graphic EQs, but they are
reasonably easy to understand and offer much more control.

Suppose you want to boost all the bass below 50Hz. The
parametric type you want is a "shelf", the frequency is 50Hz,
the Q doesn't matter (because it's a shelf) and the volume
change is whatever you want -- +3dB is a safe number to produce
an audible effect without being overwhelming.

What I want to do is make it easier to hear the lower voices in choral
music, or even better, hear only the lower voices, i.e. eliminate the
upper voices. Perhaps a 'shelf' would do that, but I cannot find
anything called 'shelf' in the user interface. I am bewildered.

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Curt <[email protected]> writes:

Why install from flatpak when there is a native Debian package?

To cut a long story short: user error. :(

So I have it working now...

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Franco Martelli <[email protected]> writes:

On 01/05/24 at 14:33, Richmond wrote:

Is it possible to have a graphic equalizer for sound output? I am using
the Mate desktop. I installed EasyEffects from a flatpak and it appears
on the menu but does nothing. I don't know the command line. Probably
there is an error.
Debian 12.

Usually graphical equalizer are built in into the audio player, which
audio player are you using? Clementine ¹ has a powerful equalizer
with sound effects but maybe you'll prefer Rhythmbox that has an
equalizer provided apart. ²

I am using a web browser to play Youtube and Spotify.

I got into a real mess with this, as my bluetooth speakers stopped
working, "Bluetooth connect failed: br-connection-profile-unavailable"
and then when I removed pipewire I lost all sound completely. I have it
working again now by trial and error.

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Richmond wrote:

Dan Ritter <[email protected]> writes:

Parametric EQs are not the same as graphic EQs, but they are
reasonably easy to understand and offer much more control.

Suppose you want to boost all the bass below 50Hz. The
parametric type you want is a "shelf", the frequency is 50Hz,
the Q doesn't matter (because it's a shelf) and the volume
change is whatever you want -- +3dB is a safe number to produce
an audible effect without being overwhelming.

What I want to do is make it easier to hear the lower voices in choral
music, or even better, hear only the lower voices, i.e. eliminate the
upper voices. Perhaps a 'shelf' would do that, but I cannot find
anything called 'shelf' in the user interface. I am bewildered.

Human voices tend to be 80-8000Hz

On the left hand side top, there's a Presets drop-down. Create a
new Output preset by typing in a name and tapping the + button.

At the bottom center, click on Effects.

On the left, you will have a list of effects. Select Equalizer.

Let's put in a broad bell that will cover bass and low treble
voices: tap the first gear icon on top of a slider. By default,
all these bands are configurable and set to no change, so we're
going to co-opt the first one.

The controls you now see should be Type, Mode and Slope. Set
Type to Bell, ignore Mode and Slope for now.

Underneath are Frequency and Quality, with a display in between
telling you the width of that combination. Let's select a center
frequency of 200Hz, with a Q of 1.25. The width should say about
160Hz, which will affect 40 to 360Hz (200 +/- 160). Click the
gear icon again, and then adjust the slider up about 6 dB.

Play some choral music. Better? Worse? Play with the settings
until you get what you want. Then go back to Presets and use +
to save the current settings under the name you chose.

-dsr-

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Dan Ritter <[email protected]> writes:

Richmond wrote:

Dan Ritter <[email protected]> writes:

Parametric EQs are not the same as graphic EQs, but they are
reasonably easy to understand and offer much more control.

Suppose you want to boost all the bass below 50Hz. The
parametric type you want is a "shelf", the frequency is 50Hz,
the Q doesn't matter (because it's a shelf) and the volume
change is whatever you want -- +3dB is a safe number to produce
an audible effect without being overwhelming.

What I want to do is make it easier to hear the lower voices in choral
music, or even better, hear only the lower voices, i.e. eliminate the
upper voices. Perhaps a 'shelf' would do that, but I cannot find
anything called 'shelf' in the user interface. I am bewildered.

Human voices tend to be 80-8000Hz

On the left hand side top, there's a Presets drop-down. Create a
new Output preset by typing in a name and tapping the + button.

At the bottom center, click on Effects.

On the left, you will have a list of effects. Select Equalizer.

OK I got the equalizer. Unfortunately installing the software again has
broken bluetooth speakers again, but I can still hear through the PC speakers...

Let's put in a broad bell that will cover bass and low treble
voices: tap the first gear icon on top of a slider. By default,
all these bands are configurable and set to no change, so we're
going to co-opt the first one.

The controls you now see should be Type, Mode and Slope. Set
Type to Bell, ignore Mode and Slope for now.

Underneath are Frequency and Quality, with a display in between
telling you the width of that combination. Let's select a center
frequency of 200Hz, with a Q of 1.25. The width should say about
160Hz, which will affect 40 to 360Hz (200 +/- 160). Click the
gear icon again, and then adjust the slider up about 6 dB.

OK I did this. But over on the right there is still 194hz and 241hz
which cover the same range.

Also the user interface appears to get stuck so the dialog won't go
away.

I can't hear lower voices still, maybe PC speakers won't play them anyway.

Play some choral music. Better? Worse? Play with the settings
until you get what you want. Then go back to Presets and use +
to save the current settings under the name you chose.

-dsr-

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Richmond wrote:

Dan Ritter <[email protected]> writes:

Richmond wrote:
Let's put in a broad bell that will cover bass and low treble
voices: tap the first gear icon on top of a slider. By default,
all these bands are configurable and set to no change, so we're
going to co-opt the first one.

The controls you now see should be Type, Mode and Slope. Set
Type to Bell, ignore Mode and Slope for now.

Underneath are Frequency and Quality, with a display in between
telling you the width of that combination. Let's select a center
frequency of 200Hz, with a Q of 1.25. The width should say about
160Hz, which will affect 40 to 360Hz (200 +/- 160). Click the
gear icon again, and then adjust the slider up about 6 dB.

OK I did this. But over on the right there is still 194hz and 241hz
which cover the same range.

That's a leftover thought from graphic equalizers, where each
slider has a fixed center frequency, a fixed shape, and a fixed
width. This is a parametric equalizer.

It starts out displaying 20 or so sliders all of which are set
to zero. Setting them to zero means they don't affect anything.

We then changed the frequency center of the first slider, setting it
to 200Hz. On a graphic EQ, that's like grabbing the nearest fixed slider
and forcing it to adjust the frequency you actually want.

Also the user interface appears to get stuck so the dialog won't go
away.

Try clicking outside it.

I can't hear lower voices still, maybe PC speakers won't play them anyway.

The spectral display above will show you what frequencies are being
produced -- that's post-effects, so any changes you introduce with the equalizer will be shown.

Try plugging in headphones?

-dsr-

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