Soft synth with similar filters to Emulator X?
-
- KVRist
- Topic Starter
- 60 posts since 22 Aug, 2006
Hi all,
I've been enjoying Emulator X2 on and off for a while now. It won't run on the Win7 64bit partition of my hard drive. Apparently Emulator X3 will, but now that Emu is effectively dead, I'm not sure that I want to go through the trouble of trying to get X3 to work even if I can track a copy down.
So anyway, I've already got a bunch of VSTi's that cover a bunch of bases. What set Emulator X apart for me were the Zplane filters which could be a lot of fun. I've got Rapture, Dimension Pro, FM7/8, Poly-Ana, some others that are included with Sonar, and a hardware modular, but nothing that has an array of filters quite like those in Emulator X. I never really got into the sampling capabilities of Emulator X and I'm not really looking to replace it as a sampler. I'm more interested to know what other synths out there have an array of filters similar to Emu's.
thanks,
Dan
I've been enjoying Emulator X2 on and off for a while now. It won't run on the Win7 64bit partition of my hard drive. Apparently Emulator X3 will, but now that Emu is effectively dead, I'm not sure that I want to go through the trouble of trying to get X3 to work even if I can track a copy down.
So anyway, I've already got a bunch of VSTi's that cover a bunch of bases. What set Emulator X apart for me were the Zplane filters which could be a lot of fun. I've got Rapture, Dimension Pro, FM7/8, Poly-Ana, some others that are included with Sonar, and a hardware modular, but nothing that has an array of filters quite like those in Emulator X. I never really got into the sampling capabilities of Emulator X and I'm not really looking to replace it as a sampler. I'm more interested to know what other synths out there have an array of filters similar to Emu's.
thanks,
Dan
- KVRAF
- 16395 posts since 22 Nov, 2000 from Southern California
-
- KVRAF
- 2677 posts since 20 Jun, 2012
I think there is nothing quite like Emulator X around.
If you want to use it only as a rompler for E-MU sound libraries then maybe the free Proteus VX will suffice? You'd obviously would loose the deeper editing and modulation options but would still have access to all the 50 Z-plane filters. As most of the E-MU libraries have at least a patch cord assigned to filter cuttoff and resonance you would have some very basic control over filters.
If you want to use it only as a rompler for E-MU sound libraries then maybe the free Proteus VX will suffice? You'd obviously would loose the deeper editing and modulation options but would still have access to all the 50 Z-plane filters. As most of the E-MU libraries have at least a patch cord assigned to filter cuttoff and resonance you would have some very basic control over filters.
No signature here!
-
- KVRist
- Topic Starter
- 60 posts since 22 Aug, 2006
Thanks for the suggestion, I'll listen to some audio demos of MachFive. It does look like what I'm looking for, however it may be a bit pricy for my purposes. I originally got Emulator X bundled with a 1212M audio interface for $150 total.
Proteus VX might be an option. I had read that it is rare to get it working in Win7 64bit though.robotmonkey wrote:I think there is nothing quite like Emulator X around.
If you want to use it only as a rompler for E-MU sound libraries then maybe the free Proteus VX will suffice? You'd obviously would loose the deeper editing and modulation options but would still have access to all the 50 Z-plane filters. As most of the E-MU libraries have at least a patch cord assigned to filter cuttoff and resonance you would have some very basic control over filters.
Dan
- KVRian
- 1091 posts since 8 Feb, 2012 from South - Africa
The z-plane filters are patented...
-
- Waaaaahhh
- 2224 posts since 30 Jul, 2001 from montreal, quebec,canada
whats so special about the z-plane filters ?
If your plugin is a Synth-edit/synth-maker creation, Say So.
If not Make a Mac version of your Plugins Please.
https://soundcloud.com/realmarco
...everyone is out to get me!!!!!!!
If not Make a Mac version of your Plugins Please.
https://soundcloud.com/realmarco
...everyone is out to get me!!!!!!!
- KVRAF
- 11093 posts since 16 Mar, 2003 from Porto - Portugal
It's a type of special 3-D filters, that put subtractive synthesis into the realms of physical modelling. You may take a read about them here: http://www.soundonsound.com/sos/jun98/a ... chool.htmlrealmarco wrote:whats so special about the z-plane filters ?
Fernando (FMR)
-
- KVRAF
- 5716 posts since 8 Jun, 2009
Filterscape from u-he does morphing filters. The VA won't load samples, but you can use the effects part of Filterscape to follow a sample player for paraphonic synthesis.
- u-he
- 28065 posts since 8 Aug, 2002 from Berlin
Nah… a trick that allowed them to control cutoff independently from resonance and thereby saving a lot of calculation was. It was called "ARMAdillo Encoding" and it allowed them to build these filters in hardware. The patent must have faded out since a few years ago. The principle itself has lost its importance since filters can be implemented in VSTs.Ichad.c wrote:The z-plane filters are patented...
- KVRAF
- 11093 posts since 16 Mar, 2003 from Porto - Portugal
Really? So, when are you going to implement them?Urs wrote:Nah… a trick that allowed them to control cutoff independently from resonance and thereby saving a lot of calculation was. It was called "ARMAdillo Encoding" and it allowed them to build these filters in hardware. The patent must have faded out since a few years ago. The principle itself has lost its importance since filters can be implemented in VSTs.Ichad.c wrote:The z-plane filters are patented...
Fernando (FMR)
- KVRAF
- 23102 posts since 7 Jan, 2009 from Croatia
He basically did that in a way - in Filterscape.
- KVRAF
- 5223 posts since 20 Jul, 2010
Z-plane filters, as I remember them, can have arbitrary passbands and resonances, with arbitrary q factors, and can morph into eachother, with the spectral elements moving and not just crossfading into eachother. Because it's such a complicated system (and we're talking hardware interfaces here), the engineers set up 64 (I think) filter profiles, each one like a wavetable in that it has several states it can morph around in.
The technology is somewhat obsolete - it was designed to run on fairly limited horsepower by today's standards, and there were tradeoffs - the overall cutoff shift could only be set at none-on (so it's non-sweeping), but the morph parameter more than made up for that by involving a lot of spectral movement.
These days we alrady have arbitrarily morphable filters in some plugins.
The technology is somewhat obsolete - it was designed to run on fairly limited horsepower by today's standards, and there were tradeoffs - the overall cutoff shift could only be set at none-on (so it's non-sweeping), but the morph parameter more than made up for that by involving a lot of spectral movement.
These days we alrady have arbitrarily morphable filters in some plugins.
http://sendy.bandcamp.com/releases < My new album at Bandcamp! Now pay what you like!
- KVRAF
- 16395 posts since 22 Nov, 2000 from Southern California
A sample loading oscillator and Z-Plane filter bank for DIVA sure would be sweet.Urs wrote:Nah… a trick that allowed them to control cutoff independently from resonance and thereby saving a lot of calculation was. It was called "ARMAdillo Encoding" and it allowed them to build these filters in hardware. The patent must have faded out since a few years ago. The principle itself has lost its importance since filters can be implemented in VSTs.
-
- KVRAF
- 2677 posts since 20 Jun, 2012
Filterscape though does not sound even close to E-MU Z-plane filters in Emulator X3. Completely different characteristics.
No signature here!
-
- KVRAF
- 2677 posts since 20 Jun, 2012
It would be even sweeter if someone like DSF would revive E-MU/Ensoniq legacy and made a synth that would combine the sampling of Emulator with the transwave synthesis of Ensoniq + add all the E-MU Z-plane filters.Uncle E wrote: A sample loading oscillator and Z-Plane filter bank for DIVA sure would be sweet.
No signature here!