ok.

so, i can demonstrate that drawing it in *does* in fact create different values than dialing it in - which is actually reasonable and likely by design. drawing it in is picking a point on a continuous curve, whereas dialing it in is discrete. that indicates that i shouldn't expect to be able to dial in exact eq settings that will null with settings i created by drawing. that's a step forwards in understanding.

it explains why loading the presets creates a different render than dialing them in; the presets are a combination of dials and draws, with little thought put into recreating them exactly. it explains why some tracks null quickly on reconstruction, while others don't - some eqs are drawn and some are dialed. if the eq in the original song was typed in, typing it in the reconstruction should output an exact replica; if the eq in the original song was drawn, i'd have to draw at exactly the same point, which is very low probability. so, i'd be left with little option but to import the previous mixer settings to recreate the original mix.

however, it doesn't explain why the output is so consistently different on the save when i dial it in. this could be explained by truncation error if it's saving values on the curve that needed rounding. the image map is obviously quantized, so you can only get so far with that logic - and it's not very far. but, if i'm typing in numbers then it shouldn't be rounding. i can't use this method to determine this; i know that any sort of save differs from what is in ram. so, i'd have to use debugging tools to get the numbers out of ram to compare. but, in truth it is obvious that they are different.

i'm falling asleep. i'll play with the ram in the morning.