Equalizer APO not activating/functioning after instial installation and restart
A system-wide equalizer for Windows 7 / 8 / 8.1 / 10 / 11
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Hello,
I've installed Equalizer APO and, as far as I can tell, done all the basic setup correctly: After installation I shut down and turned the laptop back on, I've ensured the enhance audio options in sound settings via both the control panel and windows 11 settings menu are turned on, etc; but altering the preamp decibel value in the config txt folder doesn't alter the output volume at all.
I set EnableTrace to true via regedit when playing back a video file to generate information in the log file, which i've attached here.
Windows version: W11 Home, Version 21H2, OS build 22000.318, experience Windows Feature Experience Pack 1000.22000.318.0
The laptop model is Gigabyte A7 K1, and as mentioned below, I have Creative Pebble V2 speakers plugged in
Two additional notes/as asides:
The reason I'm trying to use Equalizer APO is because the speakers on my new laptop suck (they sound muddy/echo-y), but using an external headset or speakers also sounds bad: Less an issue of clarity, and more (as far as I can tell, I am NOT an audio person!) that their low frequencies/tones/bass drowns out other sounds, and I was told Equalizer APO can selectively tune certain frequencies. Let me know if this is indeed the best tool for the job!
I generated the log file with Creative Pebble V2 speakers plugged in... however, those speakers seem to show up as/through the same audio output device as the default laptop speakers, at least after the shut down-startup following the Equalizer APO installation... I could have sworn prior to then, they showed up as a distinct audio device listing I could view and change the settings of in Windows settings separately?
It looks like you did everything as it should be. When Equalizer APO is working indeed you can do a lot on an audio device. Things like EQ-ing (filtering frequencies) and all kinds of effects. Just look at the Peace equalizer, the most popular interface for Equalizer APO. It has so many ways to affect the audio.
I see that the Windows Feature Experience Pack is installed. If this pack has the latest Windows features it could be that it's difficult to get Equalizer APO working. Or sometimes it just doesn't as Microsoft is tinkering with the Windows audio system. This happened in the early days (well years) of both Windows 10 and 11.
Sometimes Equalizer APO doesn't work out of the box on an audio device. For this there are the troubleshooting options of an audio device. Do you know how to access these options in the Configurator of Equalizer APO? Usually one of the "Install as" options works.
Yes, I was suggested Peace Equalizer alongside the base Equalizer APO tool, but I figured I should make sure the latter was working before I installed the former.
Can you clarify exactly what I should be testing/trying here?
Smart thinking, although testing is somewhat easier in Peace. Just change the pre amp slider and notice if the sound volume (pre amp) is changing. Perhaps it's wise to select the proper audio device from the devices list.
The troubleshooting options for an audio device are there to get Equalizer APO going if it doesn't work out of the box on this specific device. To access them in the Configurator click on the device name (not the checkbox!) in the Connector column at the left. After this the name should turn white on blue and after checking the Troubleshooting options checkbox you are presented with several options. The first ones to try are the options in the Install as dropdown box. First try SFX/EFX then SFX/MFX then LFX/GFX (which is old but may still do to trick). When using Equalizer APO 1.3.2 just click Ok after changing an option. For former versions after clicking Ok you need to restart your computer to invoke a change. Then it's a matter of testing if it works.
Seems like changing it to SFX/MFX worked (it was on SFX/EFX by default after checking the Troubleshooting options, so I assumed that's what it was already set to? If SFX/EFX is actually NOT the default and all 3 are different settings then normal, let me know and I can try if EFX works instead), so I'll try using Peace now!
By the way, is there a way to "sample" the frequencies of a specific sound if I then want to know what frequencies to tweak in Equalizer/peace to selective change the volume of that sort of sound? I realize that it's not magic, and there may be other sound effects, music, etc that also is at those frequencies which might be affected, but it'd give me a good starting place!
Yep. Unfortunately, it's so confusion. Back in Windows Vista days there was one "sound enhancement" APO system called LFX/GFX. Somehow Microsoft decided to create 2 new ones in Windows 10, SFX/MFX and SFX/EFX. I really don't understand their line of thinking.
I guess you could check out frequency spectrum apps. They give a visual and perhaps other presentation of the frequencies and their gains. Unfortunately, Equalizer APO doesn't have this ability therefore Peace can't have this.
I didn't nessacarily mean a tool in Equalizer or Peace, suggestions for other apps or programs which can do it would be fine too!
Unfortunately I don't know any of them except that they exists.
Ah, no worries.
I think I have one last set of questions for now:
Is there any way to quickly disable Equalizer/Peace from specific audio output devices, or to enable/disable it in general from some but not others, without uninstalling the whole utility?
I think I remember seeing a way to at least do the latter (having it active on some but not all output devices), but I can't seem to relocate that now.
If the latter is possible but the former isn't, do you have any particular advice for how to get a set of speakers to show up as their own audio output device rather then Windows treating it as the same device as the built in laptop speakers? I could have sworn they used to be separate, but since installing Equalizer they're not now.
Or maybe i'm misremebering and they always were the same device, haha
Installing and uninstalling Equalizer APO onto a specific audio device is done in the Device Selector (or Configurator before version 1.4). This app is specific this. But if you're speaking about easy switching on or off some specific equalization (an EQ) for audio device then this is done in Peace (by using your own presets and switching accordingly).
When a set of speakers is connected by 3.5 mm jack then it could be that Windows sees this as the same device as the laptop speakers. If so, Equalizer APO can't distinguish that either. And for this Peace is the solution. When wanting equalized sound from the speakers you switch to your speakers preset (by hotkey, by Peace tray menu or whatever you prefer). When using the internal speakers again you switch to your laptop speakers preset.
On all of my former laptops the speakers and 3.5 mm jack (thus headphones) were the same device. However, on my new ASUS gaming laptop these are now 2 devices 😃 The solution for external speakers is to use Bluetooth or USB ones. However, it can be more difficult to get Equalizer APO going on such a device.
Apologies for the late reply, I haven't had much time to work on this more lately, and I still need to actually look at what you sent here.
But real quick, an additional question: If i'm downloading and installing audio drivers from the manufacturer's drivers page for the laptop, do I need to uinstall equalizer and/or Peace before installing that updated driver?
That's indeed the best action to do. It's about restoring the former one so the new Equalizer APO installation knows about the new driver installation.
I'm not sure I understand what you mean by "restoring the former one"
Do I need to do more then just uninstall APO then reinstall it? Do I need to just disable it for the devices I have it set to, or do I need to entirely uninstall it?
Just uninstall Equalizer APO before installing it again. You don't need to do anything else. During this uninstallation process the changes on the audio devices that Equalizer APO made (by the Configurator or Device Selector) will be undone so these devices become as they were before Equalizer APO.
Installation locks up on win8.1 when "device selector pops up:
Output folder: C:\Program Files\EqualizerAPO
Extract: EqualizerAPO.dll
Extract: DeviceSelector.exe
Extract: Benchmark.exe
Extract: VoicemeeterClient.exe
Extract: Editor.exe
Extract: libfftw3f-3.dll
Extract: libsndfile-1.dll
Extract: msvcp140.dll
Extract: msvcp140_1.dll
Extract: Qt6Core.dll
Extract: Qt6Gui.dll
Extract: Qt6Svg.dll
Extract: Qt6Widgets.dll
Extract: vcruntime140.dll
Extract: vcruntime140_1.dll
Create folder: C:\Program Files\EqualizerAPO\qt
Create folder: C:\Program Files\EqualizerAPO\qt\iconengines
Create folder: C:\Program Files\EqualizerAPO\qt\imageformats
Create folder: C:\Program Files\EqualizerAPO\qt\platforms
Create folder: C:\Program Files\EqualizerAPO\qt\styles
Extract: qt\iconengines\qsvgicon.dll
Extract: qt\imageformats\qico.dll
Extract: qt\imageformats\qsvg.dll
Extract: qt\platforms\qwindows.dll
Extract: qt\styles\qmodernwindowsstyle.dll
Extract: Configuration tutorial (online).url
Extract: Configuration reference (online).url
Create folder: C:\Program Files\EqualizerAPO\config
Create folder: C:\Program Files\EqualizerAPO\VSTPlugins
Extract: config\config.txt
Extract: config\example.txt
Extract: config\demo.txt
Extract: config\multichannel.txt
Extract: config\iir_lowpass.txt
Extract: config\selective_delay.txt
Created uninstaller: C:\Program Files\EqualizerAPO\Uninstall.exe
Create folder: C:\Users\MONITOR3\AppData\Roaming\Microsoft\Windows\Start Menu\Programs\Equalizer APO 1.4
Create shortcut: C:\Users\MONITOR3\AppData\Roaming\Microsoft\Windows\Start Menu\Programs\Equalizer APO 1.4\Equalizer APO Configuration Editor.lnk
Create shortcut: C:\Users\MONITOR3\AppData\Roaming\Microsoft\Windows\Start Menu\Programs\Equalizer APO 1.4\Configuration tutorial (online).lnk
Create shortcut: C:\Users\MONITOR3\AppData\Roaming\Microsoft\Windows\Start Menu\Programs\Equalizer APO 1.4\Configuration reference (online).lnk
Create shortcut: C:\Users\MONITOR3\AppData\Roaming\Microsoft\Windows\Start Menu\Programs\Equalizer APO 1.4\Equalizer APO Device Selector.lnk
Create shortcut: C:\Users\MONITOR3\AppData\Roaming\Microsoft\Windows\Start Menu\Programs\Equalizer APO 1.4\Benchmark.lnk
Create shortcut: C:\Users\MONITOR3\AppData\Roaming\Microsoft\Windows\Start Menu\Programs\Equalizer APO 1.4\Uninstall.lnk
Execute: "C:\Windows\system32\regsvr32.exe" /s "C:\Program Files\EqualizerAPO\EqualizerAPO.dll"
Execute: "C:\Program Files\EqualizerAPO\DeviceSelector.exe" /i
Perhaps the Device Selector isn't compatible with 8.1? This app is new in Equalizer APO version 1.4. Former versions have the Configurator which does run on Vista to 11. Maybe installing 1.3.2 instead?