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7. THE FILTER: SOUND IN CLOSE-UP
A filter enables you to have a look at sound, at any sound in detail. It's not an overstatement
to say that nearly every track you hear in the media has been filtered in some way or
another. Frequencies were removed or boosted, instruments suppressed in a mix, frequency
ranges made more prevalent to capture your attention. A filter can emphasize or suppress
the harmonics contained in a sound. In doing so, it changes its timbre. Traditionally filters
are used in combination with oscillators. The MicroFreak filter can emphasize or suppress
the harmonics of the Digital Oscillator.
The Analog Filter is like a magnifying glass that reveals everything that is present in the
sound of the Digital Oscillator. Or to use a better analogy: it is a searchlight that moves
over the waveform generated by the Digital Oscillator dynamically, revealing its harmonic
content. It can sweep over a sound with a broad beam or with a very focused, narrow
beam; this is referred to as Q or resonance.
Any sound consists of sine wave frequencies, each with different loudness. These
frequencies are usually not random but appear as "families"; they have a common ground:
the fundamental frequency. The vibrating fundamental frequency creates related
frequencies called harmonics. Some of these frequencies are even, some are odd. The mix
of odd and even harmonics largely determines the characteristic of the sound. A filter is a
circuit that allows frequencies/harmonics to resonate in specific ways. It will favor certain
frequencies and be hostile to others.
7.1. Modifying sound
There are three types of Filter in the MicroFreak: a Low Pass Filter (LPF), a Band Pass Filter
(BPF), and a High Pass Filter (HPF). The Low Pass Filter attenuates (weakens) or removes
frequencies above the cutoff frequency. The Band Pass Filter attenuates frequencies above
and below the cutoff point. The High Pass Filter attenuates (weakens) or removes
frequencies below the cutoff frequency.
The Type button enables you to switch between the three filter types.
An open filter, with the cutoff frequency set to maximum, will allow all frequencies to pass
through. When you lower the cutoff frequency in Low Pass mode the high frequencies will
start to disappear; frequencies that lie above the cutoff frequency are attenuated. Lower it
further, and the midrange will disappear. Close it completely, and only silence remains. In
a Highpass filter this works in the opposite way: with Cutoff to maximum all frequencies
will be removed. Lower the cutoff point and frequencies that lie above the cutoff frequency
will pass through. In Bandpass mode the frequencies in the proximity of the cutoff point are
audible. Resonance sets the width of the audible frequency range.
The Analogue Filter
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Arturia - User Manual MicroFreak - The filter: sound in close-up
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