Why are 4band EQ’s not more popular/available?
Did a search and could not really find what I am looking for..
My question is why are 4band EQ’s the red headed step child of DJ mixers?
There seems to be very few of them out there and even the best of the best such as the DJM2000 does not have a dedicated knob for sub low (they apparently require you to reach into the bling bling LCD for the 7band).
So why are 4band EQs not more popular and available to us?
Sub low? They divide the mid into two knobs don’t they?
I dunno really. I’ve never used them so I dunno if/how much I would find it beneficial.
most companys dont make these since if you are playing in a club there is usually a multiband graphic eq, it gives the dj too much to worry about then, 3 band is perfect,
in theory it would be better to edit songs before hand to suit eq setup and “normalize” them, if its for an eq style trick im pretty sure for a big enough effect 3 would be better then 4 because 4 would be more subtle
4 band EQs increase the cost of manufacturing mixer, which is already a tough and competitive market.
And you have to figure that the majority of clubs/venues don’t have an A&H mixer installed so it’s hard to incorporate 4 band EQs into your set if you can’t guarantee that you will have access to a 4 band EQ mixer come performance time.
They are a luxury, but a nice and great sounding luxury for most DJs.
More knobs to turn that don’t make much of a difference..
the main elements you hear in the mids usually cover the full mids..
Not much of a demand to divide it.
I’ve never used a 4 band mixer.. but I honestly wouldn’t want to.
also the human ear reacts differently to highs/lows and mids..
so that could be a main reason why 3 bands have been standard.
Because Pioneer said so.
+1. Pioneer runs shit.
I definitely see this as an issue of cost effectiveness for companies and why incorporate something that isn’t essential when they can spend their time and money elsewhere on this mixer. I’m curious as to how well A&H’s mixers equipped with a 4-band sold versus a 3-band.
Just buy a ddm4000 and change the EQ settings you still only get three knobs but you get mush more control over what gets cut.
But then you’re using a DDM4000 
Or you can just buy an x1600 
I was using 4 band on my s4 for a while. I think its useful for using more then 2 tracks at once but maybe more of a hassle then not. It will definitely affect your style and may cause irritations in situations where its not available.
Nice to see differing opinions on the subject. Not sure if it’s just a fad but after getting used to the Xone 4 band EQ I am having trouble going back to the 3band from a pure luxury perspective.
I would love to see more mixers with four band eq.
Ome trick I used to use was just taking out the low end for 8 bars or so and bringing it back in. While you can do this on any mixer, the 4 band eq allows for the mids to still retain some structure and makes it really easy to drop in a new sample over the same track.
That’s probably why its so good for 4 deck looping djs
I wonder why you don’t see parametric eq’s on DJ mixers very often. Very useful IMO
I think mabe what they could do is a standard 3band eq with a fourth knob that can go between a filter or 4band eq
Agreed. You can do some fantastic sweeps with parametric EQ, giving you much more depth than a normal filter.
probably because it’d get too fiddly.
and if you’re doing a lot of 3-4 deck mixing you most likely won’t have much time to make it actually worth having!
..thats just my opinion!
I’ve got parametric’s on my mixer and I find they work great when doing 3 deck or 2 deck & samples. You can dial in the center freq for high hats, vocal loops or kicks. Works in the opposite too, for cutting the offending high hat and such. I could see them not being too usefull if you’re a quick cut and drop DJ but there’s nothing better for smooth mixes.
just checked out the X9 on you tube.
Thats a very clever how they implemented that.. I’ve never seen that.
I wouldn’t mind something like that.. especially built unto the same knob.
I thought you guys were talking separate Q and freq knobs..
How does that work tho?
Is there a set bandwidth and you select the center freq?
Dude, sorry, but you don’t know what yur talking about.
Like you said, you’ve never used a 4 band mixer. If you had, you would be addicted to the control & possibilities, I know I am.
I can keep the vocals, remove the low synth line, basically do what I want with the music on the fly. This is great for long blends. With 3 band, it’s just not as much fun.
If your a hiphop head, cutting and scratching then, yeah, 4 bands may be much. But for serious sound sculpting, 4 bands is a nice compact solution.
So 4bands FTW!