Rane MPE-14 (1989)
Two channels of 2/3-octave EQ with 128 memories and full MIDI control. Rane's bid to turn the graphic equalizer into a programmable instrument.
Overview
The MPE-14 is a two-channel, 14-band 2/3-octave graphic equalizer that fits in a single rack space and remembers what you dial in. Rane built it as the middle child of the MPE series. The MPE-28 is a single-channel 28-band 1/3-octave unit and the MPE-47 is a four-channel 7-band 1-octave box. The whole family had one goal: make EQ settings recallable, sequenceable, and controllable over MIDI instead of a matter of scribbling on masking tape. The MPE-14 listed at $799 when it launched, a notch above its single-channel sibling in the catalog.
The money went into the feature set. Each band offers equalization from +12dB to -15dB, and the filters are interpolating constant-Q designs. "Interpolating" means the EQ sweeps smoothly between stored curves instead of snapping from one setting to the next, which makes it usable as a performance tool and not just a preset bank. There are 128 memory locations, non-volatile, so your curves survive a power cycle. All of that memory is accessible via MIDI program change commands, and the curves can be edited using MIDI system-exclusive messages. Rane also let the user define how fast the curves change, and two curves can be combined to form a new one. That makes the MPE-14 closer to a synth patch than a passive tone control.
I/O is balanced and unbalanced, and Rane built in a two-level access security system, presumably so a house engineer's carefully tuned room curve doesn't get wiped by a visiting tech who can't tell a bypass from a recall. The Recording Engineer (April 1989, p.51) report from the Rane booth described the MPE series as "programmable graphics" comprising the MPE-28, MPE-14, and MPE-47. It noted the +12dB to -15dB per-band range, the 128 internal memories recallable via MIDI program change, and the SysEx editing.
Rane's own advertising pitched the MPE-14 as a "tonal controller" rather than an equalizer. The copy in EQ Magazine (July 1990, p.83) talked about guitar parts switching from sizzling lead to gutsy rhythm automatically via MIDI sequencer control, and about aftertouch from a synth building a rumble into a held note. That's marketing, but it points at a real capability. The MPE-14 responds to continuous controller data, so you can automate EQ moves in a sequence the same way you'd automate a filter sweep. Electronic Musician's contributor notes (undated, from the magazine's letters/techniques pages) described exactly this: programming continuously variable EQ changes into a sequencer to accent a snare or tom without boosting the kick, or to drop a rhythm guitar's midrange during verses and bring it back for the chorus. There's even a "pseudo-stereo" patch built around the MPE-14 that boosts odd-numbered bands on one channel and even-numbered bands on the other, then inverts the controller response so the two channels swap as the controller value rises.
As with any programmable EQ of the era, the MPE-14 is a computer as much as a filter bank. It wants a MIDI rig to be fully useful, and it wants a programmer's patience to set up curves and controller vectors. Owners who just want to shape a room will find it overkill. The two-level security system hints at who Rane expected to buy it: people who'd be annoyed if someone else's settings overwrote theirs.
Third-party support was real. Electronic Musician's software column (undated) noted that Playroom Software's MVP-MPE editor/librarian supported both the MPE-14 and MPE-28, allowing editing of up to eight patches simultaneously with real-time audition and undo/compare. Opcode's Galaxy editor and librarian listings (same source) included the MPE-14, 28, and 47. Later, Midi Quest v8.0's compatibility list (also Electronic Musician) carried the MPE-14 alongside the MPE-28 and MPE-47.
Collectibility is modest. The MPE-14 is not a fetish object the way a Pultec or a Neve is, and it's not a mass-market graphic EQ either. It sits in the awkward middle of "too clever for the bar band, too cheap for the studio." The non-volatile memory is a plus, with no battery to leak and eat the board, at least as far as the available documentation suggests. The unit is old enough that the usual caveats about capacitors and sliders apply. Rane's build quality was generally solid in this era, and the single-rack-space format slots into a modern rack without drama.
The MPE-14's real appeal in 2026 is as a curiosity that still works: a graphic EQ that can be sequenced, automated, and recalled, from an era when that was genuinely novel. It's not the EQ you buy to fix a room. It's the EQ you buy because you want to hear what a MIDI-controllable 2/3-octave filter bank sounds like when you sweep it under sequencer control — and because Rane built it to do exactly that.
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