#186

The Roland system 100 model 101/102 filter is my absolute favorite filter ever made.

3 Likes
#187

@mdtz I’m left a little disappointed with my Stereo Dipole as well. Partly my fault, but partly because of what I think are questionable design and marketing decisions.

On my end, I’m still pretty new to Euro and am having to forget a lot of old ideas about making electronic music. I just don’t need growling 8-pole monster filter for my silly flute noises and harp plucks. So I rarely use the linked stereo controls/CV except to try to find the right balance point between the two sides (which is kinda a nuisance). Feels like wasted space for my application.

On the design side, the module has very little headroom and will distort at levels that none of my other modules (or outboard gear including line-level converters) have trouble with. I thought this must be a defect of some sort but Andrew at SSF confirmed that this is expected and that these issues have been reported with modules like Plaits, Rings, and Clouds (I pointed out that these were the top 3 most popular sound modules on ModularGrid so it seems curious that this never came up during production/testing and isn’t seen as a problem).

So the recommended remedy to this is to attenuate everything before running into the SD, which means dedicating even more resources to a module that is already pretty chunky. Eh.

Also, even when you attenuate the incoming signal, the SD does some really weird stuff to the processed signal, boosting certain frequencies that are nowhere near the cutoff point (even when properly setting the resonance all the way down, which is another weird aspect of the module since you actually have to set Stereo Res at 12:00). Here’s a video I made of the issue to send to SSF:

This boosting of certain frequencies is clearly audible but isn’t necessarily unpleasant. However, for some signals it can cause even the attenuated signal to hit the saturation stage and distort even more. Which is rad if you want to get some crunchy sounds out of it, but the marketing says "Designed to be clean …” and having “… clean frequency based panning” which I take issue with.

Alway, uh, thanks for coming to my TED Talk.

6 Likes
#188

QMMG is amazing, but its filter has a pretty aggressive sound and not the sweetest sweep. It’s incredibly useful in the way you can chain different channels together - for example, a cool trick is to set one channel with some self resonant squeal with cut off to taste, and run it into the next channel that you’re modulating, which makes the resonance take on an additive role to whatever you’re processing - but the resonance itself is very much an acidy meets old sci-fi squealy kind of sound. It’s flexible as hell, but not so flexible just as a filter. My favourite use for it is just as a LPG, which has the most incredible long ring, and I love that it has knobs for bias that make it much more playable than Optomix.

As great as it is, it wouldn’t be my first choice in a drone rack. And good luck finding one if you do decide to get one!

For drone you’d get better results from a fixed filter bank. Perhaps try to find a Fxdf and RxMx, which also has a LPG element?

2 Likes
#189

Could i get recomendations to substitute the ringing resonance thing that the QPAS does with other things? Are there some classic additive elements that can do this?
That ringing + the smilepass would be the main reason for me to go with it as i ve no main filter right now just a FFB wich can get into subtle harmonic additive rings but i would enjoy a „simple“ vcf that does expressive ringing resonation before and therefore in my rack as the ffb needs to live outside due to space. I am of course drawn to the span thing like in 3sis and qpas but i dont think there are many options for that and combined with the ringing in small hp?

To add on the thought, i am not much into filtering substractive either, i enjoy combs, notches, ringing, added harmonics. The qpas seem to be able to play with this. Sister also a bit.
But focused on the ringing -> damping envelope thing the qpas does, whats comparable?

1 Like
#190

I assume the headroom isue is with the ‘drive’ control all the way down? That is strange, considering if you wanted to overdrive the input you have the drive control for that, so if anything is seems like the un-driven input should enter the filter at a lower level…

1 Like
#191

Yeah, that’s exactly what I thought! In fact, Andrew at SSF said “The SD has just a small amount of attenuation when the DRIVE pot is set to the lowest position” so it seems that this was taken into consideration but falls short in execution.

1 Like
#192

I love the Dipole, it’s my personal favorite filter. The range of possible tones is nuts, once you get a handle on its various ranges across the filter combinations and routings, and feel comfortable with where the knobs are supposed to be and how they all interact with each other, it’s really incredibly powerful for its size. Its also great on sources outside the eurorack, and percussion in particular. Used it recently on hihats for a 70’s acid glam style track and it blew me away. It created a very 3D physical, feeling, moving stereo image that brought the track to a different level for me.

When I first got it, I barely used it as a filter. It does 4 sines quite well, but pinging the filter inputs for the variety of resonating tones was really special. The kind of harmonically tunable percussion tones I personally always seem to gravitate to. The resonating dipole through 3 sisters yielded particularly interesting sounds, and also sounded fantastic as an input source for Rings blended and shaped with some noise. Quite a different range using series vs. parallel when it’s used as an oscillator, the series results in a unique and mild wave-shaping that I like a lot, gives another filter a little more to chew on.

5 Likes
#193

Please share some demos of what you’ve described! Would love to hear.

1 Like
#194

Here’s a little patch I started putting together this weekend. Two parallel voices from the Stereo Dipole pinged, one into Three Sisters and a DPLR delay, the other mixed with noise into Rings and then Typhoon.

If you want more details on the process and patch I wrote them up here

#195

I’ve started spending my evenings looking into the Joranalogue Filter 8. Anyone here have an opinion about it? I tend to love filters and have far too many, but this seemed to be somewhat different from my others.

#196

Filter 8 is swapped in and out of my rack as needed. When I don’t require a third filter, it’s always the first to go. My other two are 3 sisters, which never leaves, and Instruo i-o47, which I’m iffy on, but has a nice notch mode.

Filter 8 is useful, but lacking a specific character. If you want many mode options (or 8 sine LFOs), Filter 8 is versatile, but it may not be best as the only filter in a system unless that versatility is critical.

2 Likes
#197

Very interesting. I saw a video on YT where the person was changing up the filter quite a bit based on which output he was using, and doing things like feeding an output back into itself for feedback, as well as pinging it at the same time. It sounded pretty nice to me, but that was just that one video. The majority of the stuff I’m seeing around is the typical filter sweep that doesn’t really give any context. Thank you for your input, I appreciate it. I’ll keep researching it more before I decide if I’m going to buy or not.

#198

Sounds like I may under-utilize mine. It’s definitely not my go-to filter for feedback patches, but that may be a function of where I’ve placed it in my rack. For more basic functions, it’s not my favorite, but you’ve given me something to consider next time I rack it. The only self-patching I’ve tried is using bandpass to produce a saw at audio rate / self-oscillation.

2 Likes
#199

This new dual-peak filter from Bastl looks to have some interesting tricks up its sleeve! It’s certainly making me think about the three-sisters sized hole on my skiff…

5 Likes
#200

first run w/ IME bionic lester mk1 - very weird cross between a filter & a broken downsampler (only sound processor in this clip) thxxxx to @jwm for the tip

9 Likes
#201

I really like the Manhattan Analog Steiner Synthasystem VCF super bubbly and creamy, the frequency knob is large and playable. I wouldn’t mind getting a Iivewire Frequensteiner at some point to compare. The Happy Nerding HN VCF is fun too with those dope dual pots and the extra drive that you can use as a psuedo stereo out.

1 Like
#202

I prefer the MA to Frequensteiner by a fair bit. They sound very similar but the MA is much quieter. The MA Discrete SVVCF is another favorite. The MOOG mixer on the input adds great saturation.

1 Like
#203

Hullo. Anyone have any experience with Ikarie they’d like to share so far?

3 Likes
#204

So, I own two Three Sister filters. I love them so much. But, I’ve been wanting just one other filter in my case for options. My problem is, I haven’t found anything I really like. I’ve owned the following:

  • Make Noise MMG
  • Harvestman Polivoks
  • Sonic XV Diode Ladder Filter
  • Belgrad Dual Peak Filter
  • Rossum Morpheus filter

Sold them all… I want something really flexible, with a lot of character and very different sounding from the Three Sisters. I’m considering these:

  • Patching Panda Moon Phase
  • Schlappi Engineering 100 Grit
  • Industrial Music Electronics Bionic Lester

Worried the first two might be a little gimmicky and not super useful over time. Any thoughts?

#205

I’ve never used it but if I had space, money and the desire for a filter I would look hard at the Mutable Instruments Blades :

https://mutable-instruments.net/modules/blades/

Dual multimode, cv-controlled overdrive/wavefolding, continuous mode change and crossfading between the filters. Some people here have used it so they can probably talk more about the character and sound but it looks like a very interesting module.