Cytomic "The Drop" Resonant Filter

[andy-cytomic]

News: The Drop v1.9.0 is available for download. You will need to refresh your authorisation if already authorised on your machine, this will re-use your existing authorisation and not change your authorisation count. The PT1 is a very cool filter, I hope everyone enjoys it!

The Drop v1.9.0 (11 Jul 2025)
https://cytomic.com/product/drop
• New: added new filter circuit PT1, which is an SSM2040 based circuit like the one in the Prophet 5 rev1
• New: added Shift modifier when selecting filter circuit to sync both the LP and HP selection to the same circuit
• New: added “UiSoftwareRender” boolean option in Settings.xml file to globally switch between hardware and software renderer

[wintoid]

Very cool, thanks!

[dermage]

Thanks Andy, still the best filter VST which keeps on improving. Happy I invested.
And also it's very efficient on CPU, unlike others (eg. Filterverse).

[perpetual3]

Basically every plugin Cytomic creates is best in class. Working in the box, they should be the first additions outside native devices.

I want to share a simple chain that I use in parallel on bass: Scream —> Drop.

[Aloysius]

Have you tried: Drop —> Scream

[perpetual3]

Have you tried: Drop —> Scream

Well, Scream adds the distortion, drop carves out the range, so that IMDs don’t fold back down into the sub and muddy the sound. Not really an issue with pure sines.

[jtsterays]

Hopefully you will tackle the Polivoks filter one day. If even Urs said he couldn't do it then I feel like you're the only one who can.

[cshores]

Thanks for the update Andy! And yes this is still the very best VST filter plugin, for anyone wondering.

[Korg Supporter]

SSM2040 is one of the most satisfying filters, up there with IR3109! If I buy it, I hope to use it in Bitwig for poly-chained synth instances. I wonder how well The Drop would work with polysynths.

[audiouser720]

SSM2040 is one of the most satisfying filters, up there with IR3109! If I buy it, I hope to use it in Bitwig for poly-chained synth instances. I wonder how well The Drop would work with polysynths.

Correct me if I am wrong but it won’t be true per voice polyphony? I think I have tried this before and it will be a mono filter for all voices rather than per voice. No true polyphony, but you can absolutely use it this way. Still sounds better than any other soft synth filter. For mono it’s absolutely legit. Maybe if it had a clap version it could be set up per voice?

EDIT: For clarity I was referring to the scenario when you completely disable another synths filter and envelopes and let The Drop trigger the envelopes of the synth, not when The Drop is used as an effect. Maybe you use it in a different way

[Korg Supporter]

SSM2040 is one of the most satisfying filters, up there with IR3109! If I buy it, I hope to use it in Bitwig for poly-chained synth instances. I wonder how well The Drop would work with polysynths.

Correct me if I am wrong but it won’t be true per voice polyphony? I think I have tried this before and it will be a mono filter for all voices rather than per voice. No true polyphony, but you can absolutely use it this way. Still sounds better than any other soft synth filter. For mono it’s absolutely legit. Maybe if it had a clap version it could be set up per voice?

EDIT: For clarity I was referring to the scenario when you completely disable another synths filter and envelopes and let The Drop trigger the envelopes of the synth, not when The Drop is used as an effect. Maybe you use it in a different way

In the Instrument Selector device, you can chain layers and have each one activated in a Round Robin way.

[audiouser720]

SSM2040 is one of the most satisfying filters, up there with IR3109! If I buy it, I hope to use it in Bitwig for poly-chained synth instances. I wonder how well The Drop would work with polysynths.

Correct me if I am wrong but it won’t be true per voice polyphony? I think I have tried this before and it will be a mono filter for all voices rather than per voice. No true polyphony, but you can absolutely use it this way. Still sounds better than any other soft synth filter. For mono it’s absolutely legit. Maybe if it had a clap version it could be set up per voice?

EDIT: For clarity I was referring to the scenario when you completely disable another synths filter and envelopes and let The Drop trigger the envelopes of the synth, not when The Drop is used as an effect. Maybe you use it in a different way

In the Instrument Selector device, you can chain layers and have each one activated in a Round Robin way.

On well, that’s why people use Bitwig I guess
Cool, good to know thanks

[perpetual3]

SSM2040 is one of the most satisfying filters, up there with IR3109! If I buy it, I hope to use it in Bitwig for poly-chained synth instances. I wonder how well The Drop would work with polysynths.

Correct me if I am wrong but it won’t be true per voice polyphony? I think I have tried this before and it will be a mono filter for all voices rather than per voice. No true polyphony, but you can absolutely use it this way. Still sounds better than any other soft synth filter. For mono it’s absolutely legit. Maybe if it had a clap version it could be set up per voice?

EDIT: For clarity I was referring to the scenario when you completely disable another synths filter and envelopes and let The Drop trigger the envelopes of the synth, not when The Drop is used as an effect. Maybe you use it in a different way

In the Instrument Selector device, you can chain layers and have each one activated in a Round Robin way.

On well, that’s why people use Bitwig I guess
Cool, good to know thanks

I use Bitwig but admittedly never the instrument selector device. How does it gain stage if I play a chord?

[Korg Supporter]

SSM2040 is one of the most satisfying filters, up there with IR3109! If I buy it, I hope to use it in Bitwig for poly-chained synth instances. I wonder how well The Drop would work with polysynths.

Correct me if I am wrong but it won’t be true per voice polyphony? I think I have tried this before and it will be a mono filter for all voices rather than per voice. No true polyphony, but you can absolutely use it this way. Still sounds better than any other soft synth filter. For mono it’s absolutely legit. Maybe if it had a clap version it could be set up per voice?

EDIT: For clarity I was referring to the scenario when you completely disable another synths filter and envelopes and let The Drop trigger the envelopes of the synth, not when The Drop is used as an effect. Maybe you use it in a different way

In the Instrument Selector device, you can chain layers and have each one activated in a Round Robin way.

On well, that’s why people use Bitwig I guess
Cool, good to know thanks

I use Bitwig but admittedly never the instrument selector device. How does it gain stage if I play a chord?

You have to modulate the post knob with the envelope and bring post all the way down before it's modulated.

[andy-cytomic]

You can setup a bunch of (stereo) mono synths on separate "chains" in both Bitwig and Live. In Live you need something like the MonoToPoly Max For Live device ( https://www.maxforlive.com/library/devi ... no-to-poly ), and then have to use a bunch of midi channels to route the individual midi coming out of each MonoToPoly device to each chain instance of The Drop. Then you have the mess of mapping all the plugin controls for each chain to single macro controls so you can change the filter and envelope parameters from each instance of The Drop. Also make sure the synth you are using for each chain is set to mono, and that each amp envelope is very long and the filters are switched off for the synth. The regular subtractive signal flow is just:

osc -> filter -> amp env

so you need to use The Drop as the amp env as well, and to do that you click on the POST destination in the mod section, then drag the ENV2 depth all the way up, set the source to MIDI, and make sure MIDI is switched on in the bottom right.

PS: quite a long time ago I asked Ableton to automatically send the same midi that a synth gets to any effects post synth that can accept midi, which would simplify this arrangement somewhat by not needing all the extra midi channels to do this mapping.