I need a definitive answer to this. I have used few filter plugins in my fx chain and for the ones I have experimented with I find do little or nothing for the sound save for the subtle usefullness of filter outs and the occassinal rise in resonance.. I cannot fathom how such would excite the masses so, I must be missing something and that is my question, why filters? Am I missing something rather important on my fx chain?
Cheers
Rob
What Is the allure of filter plugins?
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- KVRian
- 636 posts since 11 Dec, 2004 from Kingston, Ontario, Canada
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- KVRian
- 1118 posts since 31 Aug, 2001 from Los Angeles, CA
Filters move noise towards sinusoid.
Filters make a small sound big, or a big sound small.
Filters can give motion to a sound much beyond panning and volume.
Theres filters in your soundcard converters.
Your brain uses the response of "acoustic filters" (your ears/head/shoulders) for sound localization and cogniton.
without filtration, there would be no life!
yes, i've been working on a crazy filter plugin all week
Filters make a small sound big, or a big sound small.
Filters can give motion to a sound much beyond panning and volume.
Theres filters in your soundcard converters.
Your brain uses the response of "acoustic filters" (your ears/head/shoulders) for sound localization and cogniton.
without filtration, there would be no life!
yes, i've been working on a crazy filter plugin all week
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- KVRAF
- 2460 posts since 3 Oct, 2002 from SF CA USA NA Earth
Filters with static settings aren't that exciting -- they're basically the same as EQs. Sweep the filter cutoff and things start to get more interesting.
Don't do it my way.
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- Banned
- 6127 posts since 1 Apr, 2004 from Et in Arcadia Ego
Agreed. A filter sounds like a useless hump until you establish modulation. Try Kjearhaus' free auto-filter to get an idea, then try modulating your own filter of choice. Bitcrusher's Lucifer has excellent step sequence/modulation options for it's built in filter as well as a bunch of other sound parameters, so you should check the Lucifer demo out as well.
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- KVRAF
- 25031 posts since 12 Jul, 2003 from West Caprazumia
not if you aren't missing it...ThunderDrums wrote: Am I missing something rather important on my fx chain?
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- KVRAF
- 12235 posts since 18 Aug, 2003
Modulation is mostly where it's at, also some filters have overdrive settings which push the sound a bit harder.
The idea behind subtractive synthesis and the first synthesizers was to take basic harmonically rich sounds, remove unwanted frequencies then add back musically useful ones with resonance/peak emphasis. Same approach can apply to filtering any sound, filters help you whittle and then resonance changes the sound's character.
Filters on the feedback loop of a delay make for some lovely sounds.
The idea behind subtractive synthesis and the first synthesizers was to take basic harmonically rich sounds, remove unwanted frequencies then add back musically useful ones with resonance/peak emphasis. Same approach can apply to filtering any sound, filters help you whittle and then resonance changes the sound's character.
Filters on the feedback loop of a delay make for some lovely sounds.
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- KVRian
- 951 posts since 18 Jun, 2004 from Here I am.
because it's the heart of the music, in a sound u have three "components", the tone, the timbre and the volume ....ThunderDrums wrote: why filters?
the tone is given by the note you press on the keyboard ...
the volume, well u know what it is about
and the timbre is given by the filtration of the sound
in electronic music is used all over,it changes radically the timbre
of the sounduse any synths you find, and there will surely be filters ... otherwise, let me know what is this piece you found ??
EQ are filters ...
phasers, flangers ... tweaked filters
compression in some way works like filters who attenuates frequencies to the set parameters ...
i tweak it alsmost on every lead!!!
take care
Last edited by dsp music on Sun Mar 20, 2005 7:33 pm, edited 1 time in total.
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- KVRist
- 65 posts since 29 Feb, 2004
I just knew there'd be a bitcrusher reply to a filter effects topic... and there it isbitcrusher wrote: without filtration, there would be no life!
Did you buy Lucifer then, Sicklecell?
Bye,
Steve
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- Banned
- 6127 posts since 1 Apr, 2004 from Et in Arcadia Ego
Tommorrow! Had to get some last minute bills taken care of firststevejay wrote:I just knew there'd be a bitcrusher reply to a filter effects topic... and there it isbitcrusher wrote: without filtration, there would be no life!
Did you buy Lucifer then, Sicklecell?
Bye,
Steve
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- KVRAF
- 8705 posts since 24 May, 2002 from Tutukaka, New Zealand
You may not use synthesisers at all...in which case I can see why you feel they aren't any use to you.I cannot fathom how such would excite the masses so, I must be missing something and that is my question, why filters? Am I missing something rather important on my fx chain?
But put it this way - if you use synthesisers, would you think of using them all of the time with the filter off? Would you make pads with no filter sweep? Basslines with no resonance all the time, leads completely flat with no filter settings? If you ever use a drum synth - would you use a clap or a snare with a simple static white noise oscillator without filters? (Because if you don't use a filter on a drum synth, that's all you'd get...white noise).
Mostly I use synths filters, so I don't often need a filter plugin. But there are many times I use something that doesn't have intrinsic filtering...such as my Wavestation, SF2s played through sfz, simple drum samples played on an audio channel rather than through a sampler, or even samplers with crap filters (Akai, anyone?
).If you want any decent movement in these types of sounds, then filters are one sure way of getting it.
Even simple accoustic drumloops...you might like the rhythm but hate the sounds - put it through some filter or other and you can get instant techno or robotic drumloops from a boring loop without having to go through the hassle of chopping and replacing samples or using Recycle type apps.
Vocal rhythms too...if you play a vocal sample up and down the keyboard, it simply sounds like The Clangers. But use heavy filtering and you can get musically useful stuff sometimes.
Filter plugins simply allow you to do exactly the same thing that synths do with sounds that don't come from synths equipped with filters.
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- KVRAF
- 6490 posts since 14 Jun, 2004 from Rochester, NY
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- addled muppet weed
- 111294 posts since 26 Jan, 2003 from through the looking glass
filters are more than just a little filtration they can be useful to f**k stuff up
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- KVRian
- Topic Starter
- 636 posts since 11 Dec, 2004 from Kingston, Ontario, Canada
Thanks for the replies, they clear many things. I do work with synthesithers alot and use the filters knowing how they effect the sound and there purpose, only the plugin versions baffled me as the ones I have used, mostly free, have not done very much for the signal.
Thanks
Rob
Cheers
Thanks
Rob
Cheers
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- KVRAF
- 8705 posts since 24 May, 2002 from Tutukaka, New Zealand
That's because there are some pretty dodgy filters out there. Some of them are almost useless.
Check out Kjaerhus Classic filter (freebie), and if you have access to CubaseSX, try out their filters (which are very good IMO). PSP Nitro apparently is a good'un too.
To get really useable stuff from a filter plugin, it needs to have an LFO of some sort and preferably an envelope follower (so that it behaves in the same way as a synth would).
Check out Kjaerhus Classic filter (freebie), and if you have access to CubaseSX, try out their filters (which are very good IMO). PSP Nitro apparently is a good'un too.
To get really useable stuff from a filter plugin, it needs to have an LFO of some sort and preferably an envelope follower (so that it behaves in the same way as a synth would).