How to Use the Equalizer
Date: 2011
License: Free version
Author: nevi
OS: Winamp 2.x and 5.x
Last updated: December 26, 2020
An equalizer allows you to control the audio frequencies of the songs you’re playing.
The Winamp Equalizer is a lot like the treble and bass controls in any car stereo, but with individual control of the specific frequencies (not limiting you to just one treble control & one base control). The channels on the left side of the equalizer spectrum are the bass frequencies, the channels on the right are for treble, and the channels in the middle control the midrange frequencies.
With an Equalizer, you are essentially changing the the way the audio playback sounds. A lot of people don’t bother using an EQ, because they put their trust in the audio engineers who produced the track in the first place. But in some cases you may want to tweak the way your music sounds based on the size or shape of your room, or perhaps you’re trying to compensate for low quality speakers. In either event, the Winamp Media Player gives you the flexibility to tweak to your harts content.
Loading Presets
To view the Winamp Equalizer, select View >> Equalizer (or Alt + G)
Once you’ve found the EQ controls, the first thing you’ll want to do is to make sure you’ve selected the “On” button (botton left corner of the below screen shot). This toggles the EQ feature On/Off. If it’s not lite up, the EQ spectrum is ignored.
Next you may want to play around with some predefined “Presets”. These presets are based on Genre names. For example: Rock, Pop, Classical, Reggae, etc..
1) Click on the “Presets” button (third button from the left
2) Select Load >> “Preset…”
3) Choose an EQ preset that you like
4) Click Load
Now whenever you play a song in Winamp, the loaded preset will be applied to the audio playback for all tracks. If you want to turn off the equalizer, simply deselect the “On” toggle.
Creating Your Own Preset
For those that want more control, the Winamp EQ gives you the option of manually adjusting the sliders to any position you want, then allows your to save your settings to create your own preset.
1) Manually adjust the EQ sliders, to get the desired sound
2) Click on the “Presets” button
3) Select Save >> Preset
4) Name your new preset (IMPORTANT: Make sure it’s a unique name & you’re not overwriting one of the defaults)
5) Click Save
Auto Presets
At this point most people would be satisfied with the EQ functionality in Winamp, but let’s pretend you’re not that person, and you want even more control. Winamp allows you to specify a different EQ level on a track-by-track basis. So if you want one track to be really bass heavy, and another to have a lot of treble, that’s when the “Auto” preset feature comes in handy. This enables you to create different presets for individual songs.
1) set the EQ for the currently playing song
2) press “Presets” button
3) Click Save
4) Select Auto-load preset…
5) Press the Save Button
Now, when both the Equalizer is “On” and the “Auto” button is selected, the EQ will change automatically for each media file that has the auto preset defined. But you need to be sure that you’ve set a default (or fallback) setting for those tracks that you have not yet defined with an “Auto” preset.
6) set the sliders to your preference for a default (fallback) preset
7) press “Presets” button
8) select save
9) select default
