KVR Audio

aetmos · Post by **aetmos** » Fri Dec 16, 2005 5:38 am

Hi All,

The last installment of the TomPak filter pack is complete, and all are available here:

http://www.gersic.com/static.php?page=s ... 215-222630

The set includes a resonant lowpass filter, a resonant highpass filter, a bandpass filter, and a notch filter. All are derived from analog prototypes.

Enjoy,

PeterL · Post by **PeterL** » Fri Dec 16, 2005 7:15 am

Thanks. Really useful.

dblue · Post by **dblue** » Fri Dec 16, 2005 7:16 am

I like how you made the background images match the respective filter type curve

I haven't tried out the filters yet myself - to be honest I already have more filters than I know what to do with. Do yours use any particular fine-tuned algorithm that would make them stand out against the crowd? It is true that there are already tons of filters, but finding one that sounds really rich and warm is a little trickier.

Anyway, just a very quick suggestion from me. Perhaps it would be more practical to package all 4 filters into one plugin with a switch to change filter types. You could even have those nice background images changing accordingly as you toggle through the modes. I know at least I would prefer simply being able to toggle a switch rather than unloading and reloading the various individual plugins.

Keep up the good work!

PeterL · Post by **PeterL** » Fri Dec 16, 2005 7:23 am

dblue wrote:Perhaps it would be more practical to package all 4 filters into one plugin with a switch to change filter types.

I apprecciate this suggestion. This would be very nice, if it is possible.

aetmos · Post by **aetmos** » Fri Dec 16, 2005 3:33 pm

I like how you made the background images match the respective filter type curve

I was wondering if anybody was going to notice that...

Do yours use any particular fine-tuned algorithm that would make them stand out against the crowd?

Well, you'll have to try them to see if you like them, but all are biquad filters based on transfer functions which are derived from analog prototypes. They do sound good, and are written in C++ to be highly efficient.

I know at least I would prefer simply being able to toggle a switch rather than unloading and reloading the various individual plugins.

Yeah, I might put out a switching version, but I did it this way because I've gotten a bit tired of plugins that do all sorts of things. I have a compressor plugin from Steinberg that's a compressor, a limiter, and an auto gate. It's kinda nice, I guess, but it also irritates me to have to look at a big messy interface when all I wanted was a compressor. If I want a lowpass filter, I know I want a lowpass filter, and I don't always want to mess around with a bunch of different choices once I've opened my filter. These filters are designed for simplicity, efficiency, and ease of use.

Anyway, that's why they're separate, but yeah, I can certainly understand why you'd want them all together in one plugin.

Keep up the good work!

Thanks, man. Give 'em a try, and let me know if you like them.

dblue · Post by **dblue** » Fri Dec 16, 2005 5:19 pm

Checking out the filters now. They sound pretty nice so far. I like how clean and strong the frequency cuts are. A 20,000Hz high pass gives the result you'd expect, rather than having a lot of residual sound left over as you find in other filters.

I did notice there seemed to be a fairly distinct stepping sound if you change the cutoff parameter quickly. Perhaps a future update (if you're planning any) could improve the interpolation there? Though this is certainly not a problem for normal usage, ie. setting the filter the way you want it and leaving it that way.

Another very quick suggestion...

Perhaps consider prefixing all the filters with "TomPak" so they all appear grouped together in the host's plugin list?

TomPak:HP
TomPak:LP
etc..

It's a very minor thing but it can add a lot to overall user-friendliness I reckon.

All in all, great work. Does exactly what it says on the tin

aetmos · Post by **aetmos** » Fri Dec 16, 2005 5:30 pm

dblue, thanks for taking the time to evaluate and post your comments. Much appreciated.

I did notice there seemed to be a fairly distinct stepping sound if you change the cutoff parameter quickly.

That's interesting, because I don't get any stepping sound when I use them in Cubase SX3. I've actually been pretty pleased at how smooth they sound. Which host are you using?

Perhaps consider prefixing all the filters with "TomPak" so they all appear grouped together in the host's plugin list?

Dang-it, you're right

. That's an excellent idea.
I'll change the names when I get some time. In the meantime, depending on the host you're using, you might just be able to change the filename of the DLL. For some reason, a lot of hosts ignore the name specified in the code, and just take the DLL filename as the name to list. Also, depending on the host, you could put them in a folder.

dblue · Post by **dblue** » Fri Dec 16, 2005 5:51 pm

I'm using Renoise 1.5 (a tracker if you're not familiar with it).

Here are a couple of quick demos of the stepping:
http://illformed.org/downloads/tompak_highpass.wav
http://illformed.org/downloads/tompak_notch.wav

[edit]

Also, you were right, renaming the files did help. I wasn't sure if Renoise listed them based on the plugin's internal name or by filename. Now I know!

Sascha Franck · Post by **Sascha Franck** » Fri Dec 16, 2005 5:57 pm

Nice ones. Would be great if they came with syncable LFOs.

Alex@ProgressAudio · Post by **Alex@ProgressAudio** » Fri Dec 16, 2005 5:59 pm

about the stepping effect.. perhaps this is something to do with your sound card's buffer size rather then to do with the host software?

If the plug doesn't interpolate between parameter values then bigger buffer sizes will give more of a stepping sound

aetmos · Post by **aetmos** » Fri Dec 16, 2005 6:04 pm

Here are a couple of quick demos of the stepping:

Huh, that's really weird. Here's an example from Cubase:
http://www.gersic.com/files/highpass-demo.wav

I don't think it could be much smoother than that...I wonder if the control rate in Renoise is really slow or something...

<edit>

If the plug doesn't interpolate between parameter values then bigger buffer sizes will give more of a stepping sound

Oh, yeah. That makes sense, I guess. What audio card are you using? Are you using ASIO drivers? I didn't interpolate because it didn't seem necessary, but I guess I didn't take into account various audio hardware.

dblue · Post by **dblue** » Fri Dec 16, 2005 6:16 pm

I'm using an M-Audio Firewire Audiophile 4/10 with ASIO drivers.

...

[edited out what I just said]

Looks like it was the ASIO buffer size afterall. I'm stuck with a 1ghz Pentium M laptop at the moment (my new Athlon 64 X2 4800+ system should be arriving tomorrow, w00t!), so I had the buffer size set to 1024 samples to avoid any nasty stuttering during heavy VST usage. I just quickly tested things again with the buffer size at 64 and it sounded much smoother.

cptgone · Post by **cptgone** » Fri Dec 16, 2005 6:23 pm

dblue wrote:I like how you made the background images match the respective filter type curve

Me too

aetmos wrote:I was wondering if anybody was going to notice that...

Sure

aetmos · Post by **aetmos** » Fri Dec 16, 2005 6:50 pm

Well, I'm glad that's all worked out without me having to do anything

anyway, now that I think about it, I have the cutoff value updating on every sample, so there's not really anything there to interpolate...

Enjoy the new computer!

TomPak FilterPack...get it while it's hot!