Micro equalizer is a simple Bash script that will configure Jack and two LV2 plugins to enhance cheap microphone sound in realtime.
It aims at making PulseAudio and Jack live peacefully side by side.
There is a sample MP3 demonstrating what Micro equalizer is able to do:
It contains 4 settings while using a "Logitech PC Headset 960 USB":
- without equalizer, without noise reduction,
- without equalizer, with noise reduction,
- with equalizer, without noise reduction,
- with equalizer, with noise reduction.
Though it is in french, you should be able to hear the difference.
The micro-equalizer requires the following programs:
- Dialog,
- PulseAudio (probably already installed),
- Jack,
- Jalv,
- LV2 utilities,
- LV2 EQ10Q equalizer plugin,
- LV2 Noise Repellent plugin.
The plugins apart, these can be installed on Debian-like distribution with the following command:
sudo apt install dialog pulseaudio-module-jack jalv lv2file
EQ10Q and Noise Repellent are not available as packages.
You can find them on their sites:
If you run an x86_64 system, you need to do nothing because they have been
conveniently included in the lv2 subdirectory. If not, you will need to
compile and install them or micro-equalizer won’t run.
You may install patchage to see what’s going on under the hood.
It can be installed on Debian-like distribution with the following command:
sudo apt install patchage
To use it, type:
JACK_DEFAULT_SERVER=micro-equalizer patchage
Configuration:
micro-equalizer setup
Run:
micro-equalizer run
Stop:
micro-equalizer kill
Type in a terminal:
micro-equalizer setup
It then shows a setup wizard (you may leave it any time).
First, select the device on which your microphone is connected. In my case, it is a Logitech USB headset.
Choose a name that will be displayed in your PulseAudio applications when you have to select a microphone.
Choose a name that will be displayed in your PulseAudio applications when you have to select loudspeakers.
In the next step, the setup wizard asks you for an equalizer preset. If this is
the first time you use micro-equalizer, chances are that you have no preset at
this point. Leave this field empty.
As for the equalizer, the setup wizard asks you for a noise reduction preset. Again, you may leave this field empty.
The setup wizard finally asks you if you want to write your configuration.
That’s it!
You may now use micro-equalizer:
micro-equalizer run
You can save preset for the equalizer and the noise reduction plugins by using the Presets → Save preset… menu entry.
On the versions I’ve used, the presets are saved incorrectly.
I need to rename one file to state.ttl in order to have two files:
state.ttl,manifest.ttl.
Here are some screenshots showing Micro equalizer in action:
