
Saturn Distortion Unit – Distortion Plugin.Music Production Nerds is supported by readers like you! If you buy something through our affiliate links, we may earn a small commission at no expense to you. This will give you rolling filter stabs that can create an arpeggio-like effect.Top 5 Plugins I Use On Every Mix | Slate Digital | Waves Audio
#FABFILTER VOLCANO 2 ALTERNATIVE PRO#
Pro Tip: Assign the second or third envelope to affect the trigger on the first envelope. If you want creative sounds like still maintaining a human, organic, and analog vibe, the M12 is your best choice. While new-age filter plugins like Filterfreak2 are great for sound design, they sometimes can sound a little too clean and digital. Arturia’s version presents these features in a visual interface, and while we admit the learning curve is a little steep on this plugin, it sounds absolutely incredible.īest Uses: Creative synth design with an analog edge. The synth’s filter was the reason why everyone wanted to get their hands on the M12 – it offers two parallel filters, envelopes, and modulation options for each filter, and has the warm analog vibe we know and love. Layer this noise very quietly into the background of your track.ĭescription: Arturia’s M12 filter plugin is an emulation of the filter of the Oberheim M12 synth, only of the most sought-after analog synthesizers of the 20 th century. Use one of Filterscape’s many pad/atmosphere presets to subtly “jiggle” the parameters of the band pass filter over time.

Apply a bandpass filter in Filterscape to remove the low end rumble and extreme high end air. Bye-bye lifeless digital synths, hello human-like analog movement. Take any bass, pad, or atmosphere, and add some subtle filter movement with Filterscape’s organic-sounding LFOs. Filterscape also comes with FilterscapeVA, which is an additional synth plugin that pairs exceptionally well with Filterscape.īest Uses: Adding analog movement to digital synths. But whereas Volcano2 adds analog flavor to an otherwise digital filter, Filterscape expands on an analog filter with digital controls. Like Volcano2, it sits in the world of “analog meets digital”. They tend to be lesser-known, but a few of their products are absolute staples for many successful producers. This will add subtle random movement in the filter and make any sound a little more interesting.ĭescription: I love u-He plugins. Pro Tip: Select a rhythm preset in Filterfreak, choose a random BPM (not synced to the BPM of the track), and set the Modulation parameter to 10%. Not sure what filter move you want to make? Open it up and start experimenting, because while many other filters are highly specialized, Filterfreak does a lot of things really well. But, we love Filterfreak for experimentation. You can do exceptional creative sound design in Filterfreak, but you have more options in Filterfreak2 (coming up next!). The simple filter moves sound great, but we give the edge to the UAD and Arturia Moog plugins. Like many Soundtoys plugins, Filterfreak sounds great and offers detailed parameters to shape any sound with extreme precision.īest Uses: While Filterfreak is a jack of all trades, it’s a master of none. Creative sound design options with great preset to generate movement? Check. Simple high pass or low pass move? Check. Having constant subtle movement on filters is a very common technique in house and techno music to make otherwise loop-based music feel as if it’s evolving over time.ĭescription: Filterfreak from Soundtoys is one of the best all-purpose filters on the market.

Similarly, using a low pass filter on sweeps and FX at the beginning of a breakdown can smooth out an otherwise abrupt change of energy between sections.īuilding Tension and Creating Movement : Slowly opening up a low pass filter over time can create a huge amount of tension in a sound, and so can slowly raising the cutoff of a high pass filter. Using a high pass filter during a buildup can signal to the listener that a drop is coming and give the drop more impact. Smoothing Out Transitions : high pass and low pass filters are incredibly important in smoothing out sections of a song. But, you can also use a filter plugin after your initial sound to open up a whole world of sound design possibilities. Almost any synth preset you find will be fundamentally shaped by the filter settings within the synth. These are some of the most important times to be using a filter:Ĭreative Sound Design : filters are critical components of sound design. They can fundamentally shape both individual sounds within a song and the whole feel of a song over time.
