A simple audio effect rack for use with the updated Live 9.5 Auto Filter.
Because the new filter models offer overdrive and a lot of character, I’ve wrapped up a couple of features I commonly need:
- Increasing the filter drive is automatically volume compensated so you can add grit without changing level
- A Balance control blends in a morphing filter for adding back high frequencies cut by the low-pass filter, and low frequencies reduced by the overdrive.
This second feature may seem partly counterintuitive – why add high frequencies after cutting them? Because sometimes I find that I like the character added by the filter, but that the end result is too dark overall (try putting the filter on an entire drum beat and you should be able to come up with an example of this fairly quickly).
Why a morphing filter? To place a cut at the same frequency as the low-pass filter, and avoid frequency build-up when using high filter resonance. Instead of a simple notch filter, I’m using a blend of notch and high-pass to prevent the low frequencies from getting too big. In the past, I found that blending a “dry” signal with a resonant filtered signal would sometimes require a cut at the resonant frequency, so i could add the frequencies that were missing without over-emphasizing the resonance.
This feature comes particularly in handy when using the LFO since both cutoff frequencies stay lined up.
Enjoy!
