KVR Audio

Caine123 · Post by **Caine123** » Sun Sep 23, 2018 9:10 pm

i wonder for crazy modulations and many filters at once is volcano 2 the best/one of the best?
my upgrade path gives me a nice price for this plugin so i could get it for about 60 bucks.

i got my soundtoys plugins and i love their filterfreak but for crazy visual modulations i used filterbank 3 and ETCH mostly but volcano 2 just is fabfilter quality with easy and fast controls + fast modulations!

Winstontaneous · Post by **Winstontaneous** » Mon Sep 24, 2018 12:07 am

I don't own any FabFilter plugins but def appreciate them, and Volcano is great for multiple filter action. apulsoft apQualizr is worth checking out too for modulatable multi-filter madness.

I also own Cytomic's The Drop - which is probably the best sounding filter plugin available anywhere, but usually end up using SoundToys for ease of use and "just-rightness" when processing bass & guitar.

Elektronisch · Post by **Elektronisch** » Mon Sep 24, 2018 7:55 am

I demoed it and i dont like it. Im happy with soundtoys filterfreak and fruity love philter

Just demo it

Caine123 · Post by **Caine123** » Mon Sep 24, 2018 9:42 am

I downloaded and used the demos wayyyyy back but wasnt attached to it cause i didnt know lfos etc hahahaa.

But a big bummer!!!! The modulations arent visible????? This would make me sadly stay away

I just love to see the modulations as well.... yeah annoying new kids.

Saturn didnt impact me yet... i need to demo more. The distortion sounds very soft and fake so far.

robbmonn · Post by **robbmonn** » Mon Sep 24, 2018 5:20 pm

Out of these filter plugins:

The Drop
Volcano
Filterfreak

The Drop sounds the best and has the most options for modulation in my opinion. I used Volcano as my go to filter plugin for many years and it has a lot going for it and advantages over the Drop (you can have 2x LPF, for instance, which is my preferred signal chain, like the Sherman Filterbank) but the sound, while ok, wasn't there -- the Drop sounds amazing.

I have never liked Filterfreak. It doesn't do what I want in a mix.

Samplecraze · Post by **Samplecraze** » Tue Sep 25, 2018 3:22 pm

I use Volcano all the time. The real power of this beast is in the mod matrix. Soundtoys FilterFreak is excellent too and far more plug n' play than Volcano. TBH, they are the only ones I use. Now, if someone would code a Sherman for us.... well.....that would change shit.

robbmonn · Post by **robbmonn** » Tue Sep 25, 2018 3:52 pm

I had two Sherman Filterbanks for many years, a version 1 and a v2. The key feature of the filter bank in my mind is the way that you can link the cutoff frequencies between the two filters: you can link them at the same frequency or by an offset that is calibrated to musical intervals: a major third, a fifth, an octave, an octave + a fifth, etc. It is so gorgeous. I think that this feature is lost on most users as they go to the filter bank for distortion and dirt and intense modulation. It is hard to tame but I found the filter bank to be very beautiful when running clean. Again, very hard to keep it from distorting and it has a pretty insane noise floor.

Anyway -- this frequency linking is something that volcano does, but it is quite hard to get it to work with the musical intervals. That plus the modulation not being represented in the interface are workflow blockers that seem unnecessary and indicate that volcano is due an upgrade.

But yeah, if you want the Sherman sound in the box, I would point to the Drop again. The filter models distort and respond with much more life than the others, imo.

Samplecraze · Post by **Samplecraze** » Tue Sep 25, 2018 3:55 pm

Thanks for that Robb.

Halonmusic · Post by **Halonmusic** » Tue Sep 25, 2018 5:22 pm

I dont get the whole 'fabfilter' hype. Imo their plugins are pretty average.

ATS · Post by **ATS** » Wed Sep 26, 2018 12:32 am

Halonmusic wrote:I dont get the whole 'fabfilter' hype. Imo their plugins are pretty average.

They are really falling behind as far as refusing to make their older plugins have bigger GUIS. But for me they are excellent besides this.

andy-cytomic · Post by **andy-cytomic** » Wed Sep 26, 2018 12:36 am

robbmonn wrote:I had two Sherman Filterbanks for many years, a version 1 and a v2. The key feature of the filter bank in my mind is the way that you can link the cutoff frequencies between the two filters: you can link them at the same frequency or by an offset that is calibrated to musical intervals: a major third, a fifth, an octave, an octave + a fifth, etc. It is so gorgeous. ...

Just wanted to add a little note: You can link the two filters in The Drop as well, this is always in effect. I wanted all the knobs to work all the time so I added the SHIFT knob to do this. So dial in 1k Hz for one filter, then on the other filter dial in 1.5 kHz for a major fifth (3:2 ratio), or 2 kHz for an octave (4:2), or 3 kHz for an octave and a fifth etc. Then use the SHIFT knob to do the actual modulation and automation of the linked filter cutoffs. This is especially useful when you tune both filter cutoffs based on incoming midi note, so you can accentuate particular harmonic content of a pitched signal.

MirkoVanHauten · Post by **MirkoVanHauten** » Wed Sep 26, 2018 12:53 am

Halonmusic wrote:I dont get the whole 'fabfilter' hype. Imo their plugins are pretty average.

What outstanding plugins do you use?

Unlike their other superb plugins I use Volcano sparse. I regularly use their EQ for simple high or lowpassing and automate it in the host

And delay plugins like Replika (where I'd use a filter with modulation afterwards), have a filter already built in. But if I use Volcano I have much fun with it. It's modulation system is very easy, the filters sound excellent, workflow as usual the best imo.

Cinebient · Post by **Cinebient** » Wed Sep 26, 2018 3:21 am

I like Cableguys Filter Shaper.

V0RT3X · Post by **V0RT3X** » Wed Sep 26, 2018 3:28 am

Another vote for the Drop here, it's really quite a superb sounding filter.

It's also great for saturation as well.

Elektronisch · Post by **Elektronisch** » Wed Sep 26, 2018 3:59 am

Synapse The Legend FX
U-He Zebrify
Xfer Serum FX

Those are also great and lets you modulate.

Serum and Legend even allows midi input

Fabfilter Volcano 2 - best filter (for modulations) or other ones?