Filter Section

The Filter section for synth, sample, grain, and wavetable zones allows you to adjust the tone color of the sound.

Filter Mode

The buttons on the left determine the overall filter structure.

  • Single Filter uses one filter with one selectable filter shape.

  • Dual Filter Serial uses two separate filters connected in series.

    You can select the filter shapes for each filter independently. The parameters Cutoff and Resonance control both filters simultaneously. However, you can offset these parameters for the second filter with the parameters CF Offset and Res Offset.

  • Dual Filter Parallel uses two separate filters connected in parallel.

    You can select the filter shapes for each filter independently. The parameters Cutoff and Resonance control both filters simultaneously. However, you can offset these parameters for the second filter with the parameters CF Offset and Res Offset.

  • Morph 2 morphs between filter shape A and B.

    Adjust the morphing with the Morph Y parameter.

  • Morph 4 morphs sequentially from filter shape A to D.

    Adjust the morphing with the Morph Y parameter.

  • Morph XY morphs freely between the filter shapes A, B, C, and D.

    Adjust the morphing with the Morph X and Morph Y parameters.

Note

The filter types HALion 3 and Waldorf always use Single filter mode.

Filter Type

Specifies the basic sound character of the filter.

  • Off deactivates the filter section.

  • Classic offers 24 filter shapes with resonance.

  • Tube Drive adds warm, tube-like distortion. You can set the amount of tube drive with the Distortion parameter.

  • Hard Clip adds bright, transistor-like distortion. You can set the amount of hard clipping with the Distortion parameter.

  • Bit Red (Bit Reduction) adds digital distortion by means of quantization noise. You can adjust the bit reduction with the Distortion parameter.

  • Rate Red adds digital distortion by means of aliasing. You can adjust the rate reduction with the Distortion parameter.

  • Rate Red KF adds digital distortion by means of aliasing. In addition, Key Follow is used. The rate reduction follows the keyboard, so the higher you play, the higher the sample rate.

  • HALion 3 offers the five legacy filter shapes from HALion 3.

  • Waldorf offers 13 filter shapes, including two comb filters.

  • Eco is a performance-optimized low-pass filter without Resonance or Distortion parameters. It allows you to adapt the brilliance of samples for different velocity layers of the same key, for example.

Note

Filters without distortion use less processing power.

Filter Shape
  • LP24, 18, 12, and 6 are low-pass filters with 24, 18, 12, and 6 dB/oct. Frequencies above the cutoff are attenuated.

  • BP12 and BP24 are band-pass filters with 12 and 24 dB/oct. Frequencies below and above the cutoff are attenuated.

  • HP6 + LP18 and HP6 + LP12 are a combination of a high-pass filter with 6 dB/oct and a low-pass filter with 18 and 12 dB/oct, respectively (asymmetric band-pass filter). Frequencies below and above the cutoff are attenuated. Attenuation is more pronounced for the frequencies above the cutoff.

  • HP12 + LP6 and HP18 + LP6 are a combination of a high-pass filter with 12 and 18 dB/oct and a low-pass filter with 6 dB/oct (asymmetric band-pass filter). Frequencies below and above the cutoff are attenuated. Attenuation is more pronounced for the frequencies below the cutoff.

  • HP24, 18, 12, and 6 are high-pass filters with 24, 18, 12, and 6 dB/oct. Frequencies below the cutoff are attenuated.

  • BR12 and BR24 are band-reject filters with 12 and 24 dB/oct. Frequencies around the cutoff are attenuated.

  • BR12 + LP6 and BR12 + LP12 are a combination of a band-reject filter with 12 dB/oct and a low-pass filter with 6 and 12 dB/oct, respectively. Frequencies around and above the cutoff are attenuated.

  • BP12 + BR12 is a band-pass filter with 12 dB/oct plus a band-reject filter with 12 dB/oct. Frequencies below, above, and around the cutoff are attenuated.

  • HP6 + BR12 and HP12 + BR12 are a combination of a high-pass filter with 6 and 12 dB/oct and a band-reject filter with 12 dB/oct. Frequencies below and around the cutoff are attenuated.

  • AP is an all-pass filter with 18 dB/oct. Frequencies around the cutoff are attenuated.

  • AP + LP6 is an all-pass filter with 18 dB/oct plus a low-pass filter with 6 dB/oct. Frequencies around and above the cutoff are attenuated.

  • HP6 + AP is a high-pass filter with 6 dB/oct plus an all-pass filter with 18 dB/oct. Frequencies around and below the cutoff are attenuated.

Cutoff

Controls the cutoff frequency of the filter.

X/Y Control

Allows you to adjust two parameters simultaneously.

  • For the filter types Single, Dual Serial, and Dual Parallel, the X/Y control adjusts the cutoff frequency on the horizontal axis and the resonance on the vertical axis.

  • For the filter types Morph 2 and Morph 4, the X/Y control adjusts the morphing between the filter shapes on the vertical axis. The horizontal axis adjusts the cutoff frequency.

  • For Morph XY, the X/Y control adjusts the morphing between the filter shapes AD and BC on the horizontal axis, and AB and DC on the vertical axis.

Resonance

Emphasizes the frequencies around the cutoff. At higher settings, the filter self-oscillates, which results in a ringing tone.

Distortion

Adds distortion to the signal. The effect largely depends on the selected filter type. At higher settings, it creates a very intense distortion effect.

Note

This parameter is only available for the filter types Tube Drive, Hard Clip, Bit Red, Rate Red, and Rate Red KF.

CF Offset

For the dual filters, this parameter allows you to offset the cutoff frequency of the second filter, that is, of filter shape B.

Res Offset

For the dual filters, this parameter allows you to offset the resonance of the second filter, that is, of filter shape B.

Cutoff Velocity

Controls the cutoff modulation from velocity.

Norm

Allows you to normalize the velocity values that are used to modulate the filter. This means that the velocity range for the zone is remapped to a full velocity range.

For example, if a zone ranges from 40 to 80 on the mapping velocity scale, an incoming velocity of 40 results in a velocity value of 0 being sent to the cutoff, an incoming velocity of 80 results in 127. This way, you can adapt velocity-layered zones in such a way that each zone starts with a damped filter setting, with the filter opening completely towards the zone above.

Fatness

For the Waldorf and HALion 3 filter types, this parameter adds a warm, tube-like filter distortion to the signal.

Envelope Amount

Controls the cutoff modulation from the filter envelope.

Cutoff Key Follow

Adjusts the cutoff modulation using the note number. Increase this parameter to raise the cutoff with higher notes. At 100%, the cutoff follows the played pitch exactly.

Center Key

Specifies the MIDI note that is used as the central position for the Key Follow function.

Bypass Filter Envelope

Allows you to listen to the zone without modulation of the filter envelope.

Bypass Filter

Allows you to listen to the zone without any filtering.