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Inspect the RX EQ curve and live spectrum

The "Aetherial RX EQ" applet gives you a compact, always-visible view of the RX equalizer's summed frequency response and a live FFT analyzer overlay of audio passing through the RX path. Use this to monitor the effect of your RX EQ settings at a glance without opening the full editor.

Before you start

  • The "Aetherial RX EQ" sub-container is hidden until the RX EQ stage is enabled. Enable it via the CHAIN widget or the floating editor before expecting the applet to appear.
  • The applet lives inside the "Aetherial Audio (TXDSP)" parent container in the applet panel. Make sure the applet panel is visible (View > Applet Panel).

Steps

  1. In the applet panel, locate the "Aetherial Audio (TXDSP)" parent container.
  2. Expand it and find the "Aetherial RX EQ" sub-container.
  3. Look at the analyzer / curve area — the 110 px tall display showing the frequency grid.
  4. The summed EQ response curve shows the cumulative frequency response of all enabled RX bands. A flat line means no net shaping; a shaped line reflects the active band settings stored in ClientEqRxBands.
  5. The live analyzer overlay running across the same area shows the real-time FFT of audio passing through the RX path. When audio is present, the overlay is active; when no audio passes through, the overlay is idle.
  6. The peak-hold trace appears as an off-white line drawn on top of the analyzer overlay. It tracks the per-frequency maximum level seen and decays at approximately 10 dB/sec between updates. The peak-hold trace operates on raw FFT bins so peak detection is sample-accurate; any display smoothing is applied separately and does not affect what the trace captures. Use it to spot resonances and harsh peaks while tuning.
  7. Dashed yellow vertical lines mark the radio's current RX passband edges directly on the canvas. These guide lines update automatically as the radio's filter settings change.
  8. To inspect in more detail or edit bands, double-click the RX EQ stage in the CHAIN widget to open the floating "Aetherial Parametric EQ — RX" editor.

What each control does

Control Behavior Default
Analyzer / curve area ClientEqCurveWidget — minimum 110 px tall in the docked applet, locked to the path supplied at construction (Path::Tx or Path::Rx). Shows log-freq grid (20 Hz–20 kHz, ±18 dB), summed EQ response, live FFT filled-gradient analyzer (25 Hz refresh), and a peak-hold trace that decays ~10 dB/sec between updates. Dashed yellow vertical lines mark the radio's current TX low/high filter cutoffs (TX tile) or RX passband edges (RX tile). View-only in the applet; editing happens in the frameless ClientEqEditor. The peak-hold trace can be frozen (stops decaying) via the 'Peak Hold' button in the editor toolbar. The cutoff guide lines are draggable in the editor canvas to move the radio's passband in real time.
Summed EQ response Shows the cumulative frequency response of all enabled RX bands. Dims to grey when the EQ stage is bypassed. flat
Live analyzer overlay Real-time FFT of audio passing through the RX path, displayed as a cyan gradient fill. idle
Peak-hold trace Off-white line overlaid on the analyzer showing the per-frequency maximum level seen since the last reset. Operates on raw FFT bins so peak detection is sample-accurate; visual smoothing of the peak trace is applied separately in the display pipeline. Decays at approximately 10 dB/sec while running normally. Freezes at the highest observed level per bin when Peak Hold is enabled in the floating editor. Helps identify resonances and harsh peaks while tuning. decaying
Audio band-plan strip A 14 px strip permanently visible at the bottom of the EQ canvas showing E-SSB / SSB / AM-FM modulation regions as a reference. Cursor interaction in this area is excluded from band-handle hit-testing. The parameter text row columns are rendered transparently so they do not bleed a dark fill over this strip. always visible
RX EQ enabled state Whether the RX EQ stage is active. Controlled from the CHAIN widget or the floating editor, not from within this applet. —
Peak Hold Toggle button in the floating editor header strip. When checked (amber background), the peak-hold trace stops decaying — every frequency's highest observed level is held until the button is toggled off. Toggle off to resume normal decay. Located in the floating editor only, not in the docked applet tile. unchecked
Smoothing Combo box in the floating editor header strip. Applies fractional-octave power-averaging to the analyzer trace for display — does not affect EQ math. Options: Off (1/96), 1/24, 1/12, ⅙, ⅓. Lower fraction = smoother (⅓ is most smoothed; 1/96 is effectively off). Smoothing runs after the peak-hold update so both the analyzer and peak-hold buffers reflect the current frame before display. Shared between TX and RX editors. Persisted as ClientEqSmoothingFraction. Tooltip: "Fractional-octave smoothing applied to the analyzer trace. Lower fraction = smoother (⅓ = most, 1/96 = off). Affects display only — EQ math is unchanged." Located in the floating editor only. Off (1/96)
Filter family Combo box in the floating editor header strip. Selects the HP/LP cascade mathematics: Butterworth (maximally flat passband), Chebyshev (steeper rolloff with 1 dB passband ripple), Bessel (linear phase / gentler rolloff), or Elliptic (steepest transition with ripple in both bands). Applies only to HP and LP filter types; peak and shelf bands use their own fixed 2nd-order topology regardless. Persisted as ClientEqRxFilterFamily. Butterworth
Reset Push button in the floating editor header strip. Resets all bands to the default 10-band template, restores the default band count, and resets the filter family to Butterworth. Saves immediately. Tooltip: "Reset all bands to default values". Located in the floating editor only. —
Output Fader Vertical combined fader + level meter on the right edge of the floating editor. Drag to set post-EQ master gain (-36 to +12 dB); scroll wheel adjusts in 0.5 dB steps; double-click resets to 0 dB. The level bar behind the handle shows the smoothed post-EQ peak in real time with the same green-amber-red gradient as the Tube level meter. Persisted as ClientEqRxMasterGain. Tooltip: "Output gain (dB). Drag to set, wheel for fine step, double-click to reset to 0 dB." Located in the floating editor only — not in the docked applet tile. 0 dB
Filter-type icon row A row of 8 custom-painted icons (one per band slot) at the top of the editor canvas area. Each icon draws the current filter shape (peak bell, shelf ramp, HP/LP slope) in its band's palette colour. Click an icon to cycle through the filter types for that band; clicking also selects the band, highlighting its handle on the canvas and its column in the parameter row. Icons dim to 35 % opacity when the band is bypassed. Located in the floating editor only. —
Parameter text row A row of 8 text columns (one per band slot) below the canvas showing each band's Freq, Gain, and Q values. Values update live during canvas drags. Clicking a column selects that band. Each column has a transparent background so it does not bleed a dark fill over the audio band-plan strip directly above. Located in the floating editor only. —
Filter cutoff guide lines (TX / RX) Dashed yellow vertical lines overlaid on the canvas at the radio's current TX low/high filter cutoff (TX tile) or RX passband edges (RX tile). The applet receives these values directly from the radio and updates the canvas automatically. Hovering near a line in the editor changes the cursor to a horizontal-resize arrow. Dragging a line in the editor moves the radio's corresponding filter cutoff in real time. absent when cutoff = 0 or not set

Tips

  • The analyzer / curve area is view-only in the applet. To add, remove, or tune bands, open the floating editor by double-clicking the RX EQ stage in the CHAIN widget.
  • To freeze the peak-hold trace while you tune a resonance, open the floating editor and click Peak Hold. The button background turns amber when active. Click it again to resume normal decay.
  • The peak-hold trace always tracks raw FFT bins regardless of the Smoothing setting. Enable smoothing to reduce visual clutter in the live analyzer fill without affecting what the peak trace captures.
  • Use the Smoothing combo in the floating editor to reduce visual clutter in the live analyzer fill. Choose ⅓ for the most smoothed view or Off (1/96) for the sharpest. This setting is shared with the TX editor.
  • Use the Reset button in the floating editor to return all bands, the band count, and the filter family to their defaults in one step. The reset saves immediately.
  • The Filter family setting affects only HP and LP band types. Peak and shelf bands always use a fixed 2nd-order topology regardless of this setting.
  • The dashed yellow guide lines on the canvas show where the radio's RX passband edges are. Drag them in the floating editor to move the passband in real time without leaving the EQ view.
  • If the audio band-plan strip at the bottom of the canvas appears partially
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