SoundToys FilterFreak Manual
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SoundToys FilterFreak Manual

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Summary of Contents for SoundToys FilterFreak

  • Page 2: Table Of Contents

    Using FilterFreak Within Pro Tools The FilterFreak Preset Library Compare Button Bypass Using Parameter Automation Locking FilterFreak to Tempo and Down Beat Using the HTDM Version of FilterFreak Optimizing CPU Usage The FilterFreak Control Panel Analog Mode Switch Input and Output Level...
  • Page 3 Choosing a Modulation Mode LFO Mode Rhythm Mode Envelope Mode Random S/H Mode Random Step Mode ADSR Mode Tweak Page FilterFreak 2 Serial/Parallel Mode Link Tweak Page Summary FINAL PAGE Getting Help More SoundToys Products The Wave Mechanics Product Line...

  • Page 4: Thanks

    T H A N K S ! First off we’d like to give you a loud THANK YOU for purchasing FilterFreak! We know there are an awful lot of plug-ins for you to choose from and we are truly grateful that you have chosen to spend your hard earned scratch (old school for "cash") on...

  • Page 5: Intro

    (the one that comes before the sequel!) About Filter Freak FilterFreak is the first in a series of totally cool new plug-ins to come out of the Wave Mechanics / Sound Toys plug-in development lab. A ridiculous amount of program-...

  • Page 6: Getting Started

    Macintosh computer running OS 9.1 or later and of course you’ll need a copy of ProTools version 5.0 or later. To use FilterFreak you’ll also need one of those little “iLok” hardware keys, – it’s a small blue plastic key that looks like this: If you don’t have an iLok we’ll be happy to sell you one at a modest price or you can...

  • Page 7: Registration

    So, why should you bother with all this tedious registration stuff? When the day comes that your pet boa constrictor swallows your iLok in the middle of a recording session, and you NEED to use FilterFreak, we will be able to get you up and running again MUCH MORE QUICKLY.

  • Page 8: Using Filterfreak

    Digidesign is really nice and provides lots of manuals for your reading pleasure! Knobs You can use a mouse to control all of the knobs in FilterFreak and they all work in the same way: To turn a knob up, (to the right, clockwise etc), click on the knob with your mouse and drag the cursor to the right or slide the cursor up (towards the ceiling).

  • Page 9: Toggle Switches

    – it will change from where it was to the “other” setting. Click again to change it back. Really simple! LED Displays LED displays on FilterFreak work in a couple of ways: Nudge Buttons Most text readouts also include a pair of nudge buttons next to the display. Clicking on the upper button will increase the value by one and clicking once on lower button will decrease the value by one.

  • Page 10: Accessing Filterfreak

    As a real-time plug-in, FilterFreak works a lot like a real hardware filter. Whatever sound goes into FilterFreak, comes out filtered, and you can hear it as it is happening (in real time!). Keep in mind that using FilterFreak in this manner always chews up some CPU processing power.

  • Page 11: Non-Real Time Processing (Audiosuite)

    You can insert as many versions of FilterFreak as you’d like, just keep in mind that each one gobbles up certain amount of CPU cycles and can make your computer start to sweat in terms of what’s left over for other tasks.

  • Page 12: Using Filterfreak Within Protools

    Using FilterFreak Within ProTools FilterFreak is designed to be very integrated with Pro Tools, supporting all of the ‘standard’ Pro Tools plug-in features and controls including parameter automation, MIDI control, etc. Access to these functions can be found in the gray bar that Pro Tools attaches to the top of FilterFreak.

  • Page 13: Compare Button

    The compare button (often called the compare ‘light’ by Pro Tools pros) is a great way to audition the effect of any changes you’ve made to one of the FilterFreak pre- sets. As soon as you change any parameter in FilterFreak, the compare light will come on.
  • Page 14 ‘auto-write’ to enable the real-time recording of automation data. Now, press play and fiddle with the FilterFreak controls. Pro Tools should now record any control changes you make. When the transport is stopped, the automation will automatically switch to ‘auto-touch’. Please Note: In auto-touch mode, the automa- tion data you’ve just recorded will be played back, and any new control changes you...

  • Page 15: Locking Filterfreak To Tempo And Down Beat

    (or How to Give FilterFreak a Real Beating) One of the coolest features of FilterFreak is its ability to synchronize its sweep to the tempo (BPM) and downbeat (the ‘1’ of 1, 2, 3, and 4) in your music. This is a totally awesome way to make FilterFreak hip-hop and groove along with your tunes.
  • Page 16 FilterFreak (and any other SoundToys plug-in) are also checked. You will need to repeat this step every time you insert a new FilterFreak plug-in. 3. Select ‘OK’ to lock to the ProTools tempo and beat clock.

  • Page 17: Using The Htdm Version Of Filterfreak

    Selecting Audio. Using the HTDM version of FilterFreak If you are a Pro Tools TDM user, FilterFreak is also available as an HTDM plug-in, and will appear in the TDM inserts menu of ProTools. The HTDM version is available because RTAS plug-ins cannot be used on aux tracks and cannot have real-time monitoring when used within Pro Tools TDM systems.

  • Page 18: Optimizing Cpu Usage

    Optimizing CPU Usage FilterFreak is a native plug-in, which means that it uses your computer’s processor to do its audio processing. Because of its advanced DSP algorithms, FilterFreak can put a pretty heavy load on your processor. Here are some tips to reduce the processing: •...

  • Page 19: The Filterfreak Control Panel

    Sorry, no free DSP lunch here! Digital Mode When the analog mode switch is off, FilterFreak is in ‘digital’ mode. In this mode, higher signal levels will clip in the typically nasty, crunchy digital way. This too can be desirable depending on what effect you’re trying to achieve. Lower level sounds are left pretty much unchanged and sound spic-n-span clean.

  • Page 20: Input And Output Level

    (by turning up the Input level), the distortion and harmonics added by the saturation will be filtered by the FilterFreak filter. If you saturate the output stage by turning up the Output level, the signal will be filtered first and the distortion and harmonics will be added post filtering.

  • Page 21: Mix

    FilterFreak’s filters and Input / Output control settings, and the dry signal. Because FilterFreak can mangle your sound in radical ways, it’s sometimes useful to be able to mix in some of the original signal. A setting of 100 percent will give you pure filtered sound, and a setting of 0 percent will give you only unfiltered sound.

  • Page 22: Resonance

    You may want to turn down the output level of FilterFreak when using high values of resonance. We cannot be responsible for any damage done due to being koo-koo enough to listen REALLY loud while cranking the Resonance! So please…be cool and careful.

  • Page 23: Poles

    6 poles = 36 dB / octave (harmonics one octave from the Frequency are lowered by 36dB) 8 poles = 48 dB / octave (harmonics one octave from the Frequency are lowered by 48dB) Note: At lower pole settings FilterFreak doesn’t have to work quite as hard and will not use as much CPU power!

  • Page 24: Mod

    As we mentioned earlier the real action starts when you pump audio through FilterFreak and tweak the knobs. But what is even more cool is when you “modulate” the filter automatically with various control sources so you don’t have to sit there and turn the knobs up, down, up, down…which is kind of silly and gets really tedious...

  • Page 25: Lfo Mode

    20Hz is still considered pretty slow in comparison to an audio signal. However, the FilterFreak LFO has a slightly wider range and can go as fast as 100 Hz. Modulating the filter with a repeating LFO can provide the ubiquitous “Auto-Wah” type of effect as well as many other effects depending on the type of modulation, wave shape, filter, Poles, Mode, Resonance, etc.
  • Page 26 Select the Custom LFO Shape Screen: To create a custom LFO shape, you first need to get to the LFO Edit screen. Click on the LFO shape LED display to display the shape pop-up menu. Select “E E d d i i t t ” at the top of the popup menu.

  • Page 27: Rhythm Mode

    The Smoothing Mode determines the “shape” of the smoothing that will be used to connect the points. This further increases the variety of waveforms you can create within FilterFreak’s Mod section. The Smoothing Mode choices are as follows: Linear: Points are connected using straight lines Sine: Produces a sinusoidal-like waveform, which is very smooth.
  • Page 28 LFO to Midi Beat Clock insures that the sweeps will lock in march-step to your songs tempo and not waiver. If you’re not using MIDI beat clock to lock FilterFreak’s tempo, you can simply tap in a tempo by clicking on the “Tap Tempo” button. You can also enter an exact tempo (in BPM) by clicking on the Tempo LED display and entering the desired value with the computer keyboard.
  • Page 29 Changing Event Level and Duration: To change event level or duration, option-click and drag on any existing event. Dragging up/down will change the level, and dragging left/right will change the duration. Adjusting Grid Length and Spacing: You can further adjust the grid spacing and length of any new events using the Grid control.

  • Page 30: Envelope Mode

    Classic effects like the Mutron® used an envelope controlled filter to create its effect. FilterFreak allows you to emulate this kind of effect and a whole lot more using the envelope mode.

  • Page 31: Random S/H Mode

    However, it is still a cool effect and FilterFreak offers a few twists so that its sample and hold can be synced to the tempo of your music.

  • Page 32: Random Step Mode

    Rhythm The R R h h y y t t h h m m pop-up allows you to set the speed or rate at which the sample and hold will jump to a new value. Smoothing The S S m m o o o o t t h h i i n n g g knob works much the same as it does in the Rhythm Editor and can be used to smooth out transitions between the random values.

  • Page 33: Adsr Mode

    On a keyboard synth, the ADSR envelope is triggered each time you press a key. In FilterFreak, the “ADSR” is triggered either by pressing the T T r r i i g g g g e e r r button, by receiv-...
  • Page 34 Trigger Press and hold the T T r r i i g g g g e e r r button to trigger the ADSR envelope. As long as you hold the button the envelope will move through the Attack, Decay and Sustain portions of the envelope.

  • Page 35: Tweak Page

    Tweak Page Also included in the Modulation pop-up menu is a unique feature called “T T w w e e a a k k ”. Selecting the Tweak option will open, you guessed it, the Tweak page. This page is where you can tweak and individually adjust the depth and direction of modulation applied to the filter’s Frequency, Resonance and Output Level.

  • Page 36: Filterfreak

    We have chosen not to limit the creative possibilities with FilterFreak so please keep in mind that a little common sense goes a long way.

  • Page 37: Link

    Link Switching on the Link switch “links” the Frequency, Resonance and Gain controls of the two filters together. Once the “Link” is turned on, moving any of the knobs on either filter will move the corresponding knob on the other, in the same direction and by the same amount.

  • Page 38: Summary

    Which in all honesty is what you should do. FilterFreak and the whole series of SoundToys plug-ins were MADE for tweaking. There’s nothing to break, no parts to rust or replace and you really can’t screw it up.

  • Page 39: Final Page

    F I N A L P A G E Getting Help We offer free technical support for all registered users. We love to hear from you, but if you are having problems, first try to look in the manual or on the support page of our web site for an answer.

  • Page 40: More Soundtoys Products

    S O U N D T O Y S P R O D U C T S The SoundToys division of Wave Mechanics offers a complete line of great-sounding, easy to use plug-ins. When you need your sound to make a statement, use SoundToys! PhaseMistress™...

  • Page 41: The Wave Mechanics Product Line

    What else would you expect from the creators of the Eventide’s original H3000 effects processor? Trademark Info Wave Mechanics, SoundToys, FilterFreak, PhaseMistress, FlangeThing, PanMan, Crystallizer, Decapitator, Tremolator, EchoBoy and their respective logos are all trademarks of Wave Mechanics, Inc.

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