Cableguys FilterShaper 3 Public Beta! Features and pre-sale

[Jakob / Cableguys]

Couple things I was wondering .

It has retrigger and it has beat sync...but is there a way to have both ?....I guess sorta like portamento or whatever the term would be called in this case ?

You mean a mode which would start on the first note and then ignore other notes as long as the first note is held?

Also what is "note". In the sync options ?...

If you choose that, the LFO will be set to the speed of the note that you are playing. Good for bit-crushing and ring modulation type effects.

[Jakob / Cableguys]

A few more things on the new beta:

- It's hard to match Hertz LFO speeds between LFOs; it would be useful to be able to enter that numerically. Agreed that it's hard to read that tiny text!

Agreed!

- No Env Copy on the intensity and speed LFO's?

We've added that now! It the right buttons below the waveform.

- Sometimes I wanted to run two parameters from the same LFO. This is where the old mod matrix makes more sense than copy/pasting/divisor-select.

For this case, maybe. But I think copy+paste+connect (which is there now with the latest beta) is simple too.. I think you can well get used to it.

- I'm not sure why the Beat synced LFO's can't be altered by the Speed LFO's. It would be simpler to set up some synced effects; maybe there could be a rule that the Speed LFO's get reset on the bar, and/or a selectable number of bars; that would make it possible to do some beat based speed alteration without throwing the notion of beat sync out.

Well the position of synced LFOs is synced to the host sequencer. We'd need to modulate the speed of the host sequencer.. But yes, kidding, I understand your suggestion - what you can do it, choose retriggered modes, and start the LFO via note an. It can get modulated all the way you want and will start over whenever you play a note.

If you modulate the speed of a retriggered type LFO with a beat-synced LFO, you'll also get a loop-like feeling which is in time with your host.

- The color scheme is better. I'd still like to see the modulations clearer in the round control windows, especially the smaller Pan and Volume knobs.

- Bug: can't seem to paste Filter 1 Res LFO1 to LFO 2. Filter 2 works..

Hmm it works here. Can you re-check with the latest beta?

- Still not happy with the Beat Sync selections: where's 5/8, 7/8, 9/8... 5/4, 7/4, 9/4... 5 bars... etc...

We'll keep that for version 12!

- Might be useful to know which envelope we're looking at by name on the wide screen LFO editor.

Absolutely!

That's it for now...

Thanks Breeze for the detailed feedback!

[Jakob / Cableguys]

Would it help to put a Limiter at the end of your chain in FS. I have to do this for any filter sweep on a track, otherwise when you get to the lower frequency it can get that loud rumble. A simple Limiter solves the problem.
FS is on my radar>

Glad you like it! Yes, a limiter is on our wish list for a 3.x update!

[fgimian]

With regards to the filter cutoff range, perhaps consider including an optional "extended range" switch which users may optionally activate. Having the full range is essential for using this as a "filter" plugin as opposed to a modulation plugin.

Not sure how others feel about this

I gave this another try and recompiled the filters to go down to 20Hz instead of 50Hz. In my opinion, all you get from setting the filter to below 50Hz is that the sound kind of disappears (or, with high resonance values, produces an undefined rumble).

I can see that this is wanted for long filter sweeps - but instead, you can just as well let the filter sweep go down to 50Hz followed by a volume fade.

To illustrate, I've just uploaded a preset "Filtersweep Fade" - you get this if you sync the library. Maybe this provides the effect you're after?

But I might be wrong and just don't get the purpose.. if so, let me know!

Hey Jakob, thank you for all your replies to my feedback

Having the extended cutoff range would be intended for what you said, filter sweeps. This plugin has such great filter algorithms that I would want to use it as a pure filter plugin (like FabFilter's Volcano or Cytomic's The Drop). Having the extended range provides a smoother sweep and does indeed give you the ability to have the sound completely disappear as a regular filter would when set down to 20 Hz when using lowpass filters.

To avoid rumble at such low cutoffs, I do tend to automate the resonance too, so that it rises as the filter opens up. At 50 Hz, I can still hear a reasonable amount of low frequency content, even with a 24db/oct lowpass filter.

This becomes even more important when using highpass filters. Simple example, I wish to add a HP filter on my kick drum or bass sound whereby the sound starts out really thin (highpassed) and slowly moves down into fully audible. Having the lowest cutoff be 50Hz means that a good amount of rumble will be lost when the Cutoff is at its minimum.

Andy from Cytomic has the right idea here. He says that a lowpass filter with fully open cutoff and a highpass filter with fully closed cutoff should produce a close to identical copy of the original sound, so that one doesn't need to by bypass the filter and automating Dry/Wet knobs just to ensure the filter is not affecting the sound when not in use.

I hope this makes sense. If you want this plugin to be considered a "filter" plugin as well as a modulation plugin, then having a full cutoff range is essential in my honest opinion and it closes a lot of doors and uses for the plugin by having the current limitation in place.

[pauldavid]

Couple things I was wondering .

It has retrigger and it has beat sync...but is there a way to have both ?....I guess sorta like portamento or whatever the term would be called in this case ?

You mean a mode which would start on the first note and then ignore other notes as long as the first note is held?

Yep..pretty much that's what I mean ..I know it's probably asking a bit much though cause it's not a synth we are talking about here...I guess in a way I'm comparing it to the performer section in massive like when you turn of restart and each note u press the performer still keeps running without restarting...then when I release keys and press again it restarts..

[Jakob / Cableguys]

Yep..pretty much that's what I mean ..I know it's probably asking a bit much though cause it's not a synth we are talking about here...I guess in a way I'm comparing it to the performer section in massive like when you turn of restart and each note u press the performer still keeps running without restarting...then when I release keys and press again it restarts..

Got it! I've just put it to our feature wish list.

[Jakob / Cableguys]

A new beta is up!

Links:
FilterShaper 3 page
Windows download
OS X download

This update is all about fixing the latest small issues and brings a couple of CPU improvements.

[IrionDaRonin]

A new beta is up!

Links:
FilterShaper 3 page
Windows download
OS X download

This update is all about fixing the latest small issues and brings a couple of CPU improvements.

What a tasty update!
I will download it later and test it.
Thanks!

[fgimian]

Just wanting to demonstrate my point about extended cutoff range with some FFTs

I'll demonstrate using a highpass filter here. It is quite common with electronic music to use a highpass filter on bass heavy sounds as an effect. e.g. on the kick drum so that the filter cutoff rises during the build up and the kick thins out, or on a bass sound during the intro of the track so that you can just hear the rhythm of the bass sound but it doesn't take over the bass region until the main bassline starts. Another use is on the master output, for filter sweeps during transitions.

In all these cases, one expects that the filter should not affect the sound when the cutoff is at its lowest value. Such that I could confidently insert a highpass filter on my entire mix and not be worried that it will destroy my bass region.

I used a low frequency sawtooth waveform to demonstrate how each filter I have available affects the bass region.

So here's the original waveform unfiltered:



Now here's our reference filter; The Drop. This is definitely impressive in that it does not alter the signal with the highpass filter engaged at minimum cutoff!

Here we are with a 2 pole filter:



And now a 4 pole filter:



Now FabFilter's Volcano 2 (grabbed a demo to demonstrate) using the Gentle algorithm. This is also very good!

12db/oct:



24db/oct



48db/oct



Next up, we have u-he's XMF filter (via Zebrify) which is really good too:

HP1 (I believe this is 6db/oct):



HP2 (I believe this is 12db/oct):



HP3 (I believe this is 24db/oct):



Now u-he's Runciter which is a little worse:



And now FilterShaper3.

First using a clean HP 12db/oct filter (the other 12db/oct filter available produces identical results):



And now at 24db/oct:



This makes the Filtershaper3 highpass filter pretty destructive to the audio source. Using it on the master for example would really destroy low end impact of the mix and one would be forced to do some clever automation to bypass the filter while it is not being sweeped.

Hence with the current limitation, Filtershaper3 struggles to compete with other dedicated filter plugins. It's sad because the filter algorithms in FilterShaper3 are excellent!

I hate to keep making this same point over and over, but I feel it is ridiculously important for your plugin. I hope these FFT screenshots and my explanation demonstrate the point clearly.

I'll leave it in your hands now

[Jakob / Cableguys]

This makes the Filtershaper3 highpass filter pretty destructive to the audio source. Using it on the master for example would really destroy low end impact of the mix and one would be forced to do some clever automation to bypass the filter while it is not being sweeped.

If you use the filter for filter sweeps, then I guess you're running an automation on the cutoff knob.. so why do you not simply add another automation for the filter menu, and turn the filter to off when the sweep is done?

[fgimian]

This makes the Filtershaper3 highpass filter pretty destructive to the audio source. Using it on the master for example would really destroy low end impact of the mix and one would be forced to do some clever automation to bypass the filter while it is not being sweeped.

If you use the filter for filter sweeps, then I guess you're running an automation on the cutoff knob.. so why do you not simply add another automation for the filter menu, and turn the filter to off when the sweep is done?

Yep, but this is an extra step which one would not normally need to take with other filter plugins. We now need to automate volume to ensure the sound disappears at low cutoff frequencies and Filter Type to ensure that our signal is not degraded while the filter is active.

Just to give you a comparison, The Drop's cutoff range is 0 Hz (yep 0!) to 20.0 kHz (with a max of 21 kHz when using the Shift knob). This is to ensure the filter sounds as transparent as possible when fully open (LP) or fully closed (HP).

Ultimately this is your call mate, but I just wanted to be sure I made my case properly so you could understand why I think the limitation is a real problem and puts Filtershaper3 at a disadvantage compared to other filter plugins. Anyway, I won't bring it up again, promise

All the best and thanks for responding.

[billcarroll]

+1 for changing filter cutoff to go down to at least 20Hz

[simonbostock]

Good effort soundpalace in your investigations, I had a go here and could see the same sort of results.

++1 down to 20hz!

[billcarroll]

Looks like FilterShaper 3 has been released

However, the release is without changes to filter cutoff limits. Hope to see this soon.