MPC EQ effects: same four bands, three different tools

The short version

This site's own insert vs send/return effects article already counted the EQ/Filter category's size and this site's compressor effects article covered the Dynamics category the same way. EQ/Filter is bigger, sixteen named effects, and only three of them are full-featured parametric equalizers rather than a single static filter or an LFO-modulated sweep:

"Options: AIR Enhancer, AIR Filter Gate, AIR Filter, AIR Kill EQ, AIR Para EQ, AIR Vintage Filter, HP Filter Sweep, HP Filter Sync, HP Filter, HP Shelving Filter, LP Filter Sweep, LP Filter Sync, LP Filter, LP Shelving Filter, PEQ 2-Band, 2-Shelf, PEQ 4-Band"

AIR Para EQ is the most flexible of the three: four bands, and the two outer ones (Low, High) carry their own Type switch between Shelf and Bell, with the available Q and Gain range changing depending on which one is active. PEQ 2-Band, 2-Shelf fixes that same four-band idea permanently, outer two locked to shelf, inner two locked to bell, no switch. PEQ 4-Band drops the shelf option entirely and makes all four bands adjustable-Q bells, while quietly sharing PEQ 2-Band's exact frequency range and default numbers on all four slots.

Where these live: the EQ/Filter category

Same shared effects list this site has already mapped twice, one insert-or-send/return catalog, 98 effects across six categories. EQ/Filter is the largest of the six at sixteen entries, more than double Dynamics' fourteen:

"Every insert or send/return slot, regardless of location, pulls from the same shared list: 98 individual effects split across 6 categories in Akai's own Effects & Parameters appendix."

That means every EQ covered here loads the same way any other insert or send/return effect does, no separate EQ-only workflow, same four insert slots per track or shared four-slot return bus as everything else in the catalog.

AIR Para EQ: four bands, two of them switchable

Akai's own description leads with the feature that sets it apart from the other two:

"This effect is a powerful four-band parametric equalizer with four independent EQ ranges, adjustable Low and High EQ filter types, and dedicated Low Cut and High Cut."

Only the two outer bands, Low and High, carry a Type field. The two inner bands, Low Mid and High Mid, have no Type field at all, they're fixed parametric bells with no shelf option ever offered:

Band	Freq range	Default	Q range	Gain range	Type
Low	20.0 Hz – 1.00 kHz	100 Hz	Shelf 0.40–2.00 / Bell 0.40–10.00	Shelf ±12.0 dB / Bell ±18.0 dB	Shelf, Bell (default Shelf)
Low Mid	40.0 Hz – 16.00 kHz	247 Hz	0.40–10.00	±18.0 dB	Bell only, no Type field
High Mid	120 Hz – 16.0 kHz	2.00 kHz	0.40–10.00	±18.0 dB	Bell only, no Type field
High	1.2 – 20.0 kHz	6.00 kHz	Shelf 0.40–2.00 / Bell 0.40–10.00	Shelf ±12.0 dB / Bell ±18.0 dB	Shelf, Bell (default Shelf)

Every band also carries its own Out/In toggle, four independent on/off switches inside one effect, and the whole thing adds a separate Output trim (−20.0 to +20.0 dB) plus two more filters that aren't part of the four bands at all:

Parameter	Range	Default
Output	−20.0 to +20.0 dB	0.0 dB
High Cut Freq	120 Hz – 20.0 kHz	20.0 kHz
High Cut Type	6, 12, 18, 24 dB/oct	12 dB
Low Cut Freq	20.0 Hz – 8.00 kHz	100 Hz
Low Cut Type	6, 12, 18, 24 dB/oct	12 dB

Flip Low's Type from Shelf to Bell and two things change at once, not just the curve shape: the Q range widens from a maximum of 2.00 to a maximum of 10.00, and the Gain range widens from ±12.0 dB to ±18.0 dB. A shelf pushed to its ceiling and a bell pushed to its ceiling on the exact same band aren't reaching the same loudness, the bell goes six decibels further in either direction.

PEQ 2-Band, 2-Shelf: a fixed topology

Where AIR Para EQ lets you choose the shape per band, PEQ 2-Band bakes the choice in at the effect level, right there in its own name:

"This effect is a combination of one two-band parametric equalizer and two shelving filters."

Parameter	Range	Default
Low Frequency (shelf)	22 – 1000 Hz	220 Hz
Frequency 1 (bell)	82 – 3900 Hz	820 Hz
Frequency 2 (bell)	220 – 10000 Hz	2200 Hz
High Frequency (shelf)	560 – 19999 Hz	5600 Hz
Q1 / Q2	0–100	0 / 0
Low Gain / High Gain	±18.0 dB	0.0 dB
Gain 1 / Gain 2	±18.0 dB	0.0 dB

No Type field, no Out/In per band, no separate Low Cut/High Cut section. The two outer bands are shelves permanently and never get a Q control at all, only the two inner bands (Frequency 1, Frequency 2) get one, on a plain 0–100 dial rather than the 0.40–10.00 Q-factor number AIR Para EQ's bell bands use. That's a different unit, not just a different range, don't read a "50" on this dial as equivalent to a Q of 5.0 on AIR Para EQ.

PEQ 4-Band: same slots, no shelf option

Akai's own description for PEQ 4-Band opens with the identical clause used for AIR Para EQ, word for word, then stops short of the features AIR Para EQ adds after it:

"This effect is a powerful four-band parametric equalizer with four independent EQ ranges."

Parameter	Range	Default
Low Frequency	22 – 1000 Hz	220 Hz
Frequency 1	82 – 3900 Hz	820 Hz
Frequency 2	220 – 10000 Hz	2200 Hz
High Frequency	560 – 19999 Hz	5600 Hz
Q1 / Q2 / Q3 / Q4	0–100	5 (each)
Gain 1 / 2 / 3 / 4	±18.0 dB	0.0 dB (each)

Diffed field by field against PEQ 2-Band's table above, not assumed: all four frequency fields, Low Frequency, Frequency 1, Frequency 2, and High Frequency, share the exact same range and the exact same default number between the two effects, 220/820/2200/5600 Hz, byte-identical. What differs is what happens to the outer two slots. PEQ 2-Band locks them to fixed shelves with no Q control; PEQ 4-Band gives all four slots, including those same two frequency positions, their own adjustable Q. The Q default itself isn't shared either, PEQ 2-Band's Q1/Q2 default to 0, PEQ 4-Band's Q1–Q4 default to 5, so swapping one effect for the other on an existing insert and expecting the inner two bands to sound the same at default settings would be wrong on that point specifically.

AIR Channel Strip's built-in EQ

This site's compressor article already found AIR Channel Strip's Comp section reusing AIR Compressor's own numbers almost exactly. Its EQ section does the same thing against AIR Para EQ, reusing three of AIR Para EQ's bands under simpler names:

"The EQ section provides a highpass filter, low and high shelves, and a fully parametric mid-band."

Channel Strip field	Range / default	Matches AIR Para EQ field
High Shelf Freq	1.20–20.0 kHz / 6.00 kHz	High Freq, exact match
High Shelf Gain	±12.0 dB / 0.0 dB	High Gain (Shelf range), exact match
Low Shelf Freq	20.0 Hz–1.00 kHz / 100 Hz	Low Freq, exact match
Low Shelf Gain	±12.0 dB / 0.0 dB	Low Gain (Shelf range), exact match
Mid Freq	40.0 Hz–16.0 kHz / 247 Hz	Low Mid Freq, exact match
Mid Q	0.40–10.00 / 1.00	Low Mid Q, exact match
Mid Gain	±18.0 dB / 0.0 dB	Low Mid Gain, exact match
HP Filter	0–1000 Hz / 0 Hz	no equivalent field in AIR Para EQ

Channel Strip's High/Low Shelf fields lock to AIR Para EQ's Shelf-mode Gain range specifically, ±12.0 dB, not the wider ±18.0 dB Bell range, consistent with Channel Strip never offering a Bell option on those two bands at all, there's no Type switch inside Channel Strip's EQ tab. And Channel Strip only exposes one parametric mid band, mapped to AIR Para EQ's Low Mid, not High Mid, full AIR Para EQ's second mid band has no equivalent inside Channel Strip. The HP Filter is Channel Strip's own addition, a simple 0–1000 Hz high-pass with no dB/octave slope choice, nothing like AIR Para EQ's Low Cut section with its selectable 6/12/18/24 dB slope.

Side by side

Effect	Bands	Shelf option	Q units	Extras
AIR Para EQ	4	Outer 2, switchable Shelf/Bell	0.40–10.00 factor	Per-band Out/In, Low Cut, High Cut
PEQ 2-Band, 2-Shelf	4	Outer 2, fixed shelf always	0–100 dial (inner 2 only)	None
PEQ 4-Band	4	None, all bell	0–100 dial (all 4)	None
Channel Strip EQ	3	Outer 2, fixed shelf always	0.40–10.00 factor (mid only)	Simple HP Filter, no slope choice

Not covered here: the other thirteen

The EQ/Filter category's sixteen entries include a lot that isn't a parametric EQ in the sense covered above: AIR Enhancer (broadband high/low boost, not band-specific), AIR Kill EQ (a three-band Thru/Kill toggle, not adjustable gain), AIR Filter Gate and AIR Vintage Filter (modulated, rhythmic or envelope-driven filters, not static EQ), and the HP/LP Filter, HP/LP Filter Sweep, HP/LP Filter Sync, and HP/LP Shelving Filter set, eight single-purpose high-pass and low-pass tools with their own separate parameter tables. Each is a real, different tool worth its own coverage rather than a rushed paragraph appended here, particularly AIR Kill EQ's Thru/Kill approach, which behaves nothing like a gain-based EQ band despite sitting in the same category list.

Common mistakes

Mistake: assuming a shelf and a bell reach the same maximum loudness on AIR Para EQ's Low or High band. They don't, Shelf caps at ±12.0 dB and Bell at ±18.0 dB on the exact same band, a six decibel difference in ceiling that has nothing to do with the frequency you picked.

Mistake: reading PEQ 2-Band or PEQ 4-Band's Q dial as a real Q factor the way AIR Para EQ's bell bands work. Both PEQ effects use a plain 0–100 scale with no stated Q-factor unit, unlike AIR Para EQ's explicit 0.40–10.00 range; a "50" on one isn't a "5.0" on the other.

Mistake: swapping PEQ 2-Band for PEQ 4-Band on an existing insert and expecting default settings to sound identical. The four frequency fields match exactly, but PEQ 2-Band's Q1/Q2 default to 0 while PEQ 4-Band's Q1–Q4 default to 5, and PEQ 2-Band's outer two bands have no Q control at all.

A note on manual versions

Every parameter table above is checked directly against Akai's Standalone OS User Guide, Manual Version 3.9, cross-checked line-for-line against Manual Version 3.7. A direct diff of both manuals' EQ/Filter-category pages (v3.9 PDF pp.399–405, v3.7 PDF pp.378–384), normalized for whitespace and page-number lines, returned zero content differences, every effect name, description sentence, and parameter value identical between editions. The chapter sits at a flat plus-21 page offset between versions (399 minus 378 equals 21), the same plus-21 offset this site's own compressor article found for the neighboring Dynamics chapter, one more confirmed data point that this section of the manual shifted as one contiguous block between versions rather than page by page.

Verdict

Found a real-world case where PEQ 2-Band's fixed shelves weren't enough and AIR Para EQ's switch actually mattered? Tell us about it.