Does filter modeling/intention matter? Do filters have a sound?

[ROTMetro]

I know the answer is if my ears are happy with it then all good but I have horrible taste so... does filter quality/design/intent matter? I currently use FilterShaper XL as my filters because it's quick and I can add a bit of modulation/life later if I want. Is there a benefit to using filters that model in imperfections? FilterShaper XL is super clean for electronic music where as I want to one day make dirty dark italo. Does using something like the UAD Pultec HLF-3C add something I might like for dark italo whereas FilterShaper would be more suited for EDM?

The other filter I find myself using a ton is RC20's for transitions because it matches half of everyone else's transitions who are lazy like me and just use the canned magnitude transitions. In that case I pick RC20 because it sounds like what people expect.

I guess my question is do filters have a sound I need to consider?

[Gam456]

RC20 isn't a VCF. It's a multi effect to sound lofi
Are you sure you need a VCF ?

[Kr3eM]

Give this a spin if you have not already done so...
https://cytomic.com/product/drop/

[ROTMetro]

RC20 isn't a VCF. It's a multi effect to sound lofi
Are you sure you need a VCF ?

RC20 has built in transition presets that are mainly 'one knob' effects that do filter/volume changes as you automate magnitude. I use that for fade in/fade outs because it sounds like the normal record fade out we've heard thousands of times versus me picking frequencies using built in filters/filter shaper it always sounds a little off. But now that I've settled on using that it got me wondering. I use filters all over am I making things sound 'off' other places?

[funky lime]

if you like it and it does what you need, then use it. a filter is not suited for a genre, but rather, has features that are suited for a type of workflow. the rest is marketing or ignorance ("i heard [this artist] uses [this plugin], therefore it must be the best for [that artist's genre]"). sure, different filters have different sounds. but you don't need to be like the dudes who have 19 different guitars, unless you just like collecting stuff. one or two will usually suffice. i use the same filter plugins for many different genres and have never once felt like i was hobbling myself by doing so.

[whyterabbyt]

I guess my question is do filters have a sound

Some do, yes. For example, the considerable number that are modelled are done so based on the behaviour of actual physical electronic circuits which would have had all sorts of significant differences in their circuitry, and thus varying sonic results.

I need to consider?

That's entirely up to you.

[foosnark]

Do filters have a sound?

All filters do have some kind of characteristics, sometimes subtle and sometimes much more obvious. The stereotypical filter curve (flat line and then a bump and a slope downward) is only an approximation of what happens in real filters (either analog or digital) and usually ignores phase as well. Sometimes those characteristics only come out when you push them hard, or under modulation, or if you ping them (not something typically done in software).

How much this matters to you is going to depend on how you use them, your music/genre, whether some of those characteristics especially appeal to you, etc.

[ROTMetro]

Thanks everyone. So the answer is yes and no, and also no, but yes. My current workflow is working and there are like 50 million other things to learn so I'll stick with what's working for now and start building out my patterns/presets/template with that.