Great comparison! I loved this video. The ladder filter sounds so quintessential, Roland sounds more like dance music, Prophet is like a nice vanilla ice cream, Polivoks is super bendy, and Wasp is just pants-on-backwards-but-still-beats-you-at-chess insanity
The wasp is an interesting one. But I feel like some slight corrections need to be made: they did not break anything pre-existing, nor did they circuit bend, but rather they used a digital chip (which takes an input 0 or 5 volts, a reference 5 volts, and power, and outputs 5 or 0 volts, the opposite of the input). They used this to process voltages that were in between. This was because the original company Electronic Dream Plant (EDP) built the rest of the synth with digital parts. Digital oscillator was easy, digital filter was near impossible at that era, and analogue filter required more expensive parts. So they compromised, using the digital parts. In other words, they were builders, and didn’t have to “break” or “remodel” anything existing. They still built, they just used the wrong materials so to speak. The Doepfer wasp filter is very input sensitive, and resonance behavior changes wildly depending on how loud the input signal is: if it’s a quiet input signal, the resonance is near the cutoff frequency. As the volume increases, the resonance drops down to an octave _below_ the cutoff frequency. Sort of. The chaos comes from having a pretty strong distortion within many points of the signal path, which then messes with the resonance. As you saw on the scope, resonance likes to be a sine and doesn’t play well when it’s forced to be anything other than that. That’s what causes it to try and drop down an octave, but then back.
Thanks! I was referring to Doepfer's description: This design "abuses" digital inverters as analog operational amplifiers leading to distortions and other "dirty" effects that generate the specific sound of this filter.
The Wasp filter's an absolute no-brainer at the price - every modular should have one. I'm surprised Doepfer's very affordable SEM filter doesn't get more love, though.
Thanks Robin, that's the way to do it! If I could only have one it's the Traigh, no doubt, but then I'm a Moog man :-) They all sound good in each their different way.
i think you've just convinced me to get a polivoks filter, in all other demos they always crank the resonance and input gain all the way to make it distort and go weird, but miss showing the bouncy, rubbery, but still clear and shiny quality you can get in intermediate settings.
That was fascinating Robin! Quite striking how different a filter can sound enveloped than you might guess from the manually manipulated drone. The big takeaway for me is the realization that I like filters which tease the edge of self oscillation, without actually breaking into squeal. Both the 2140 & Triagh (and to a lesser extent the Jove) get a little too wild for my tastes, though I really like them up till that point. The Polivoks & Wasp (besides having interesting character) seem less obnoxious when pushed into resonance. For today's mood, I'm leaning to the Polivoks.
A dare you to connect a few, at least two, of these and with no input from other modules, and have fun with that. Saw a video about this in the before times. Anyway, the resonance in one of the modules can be modulated with the res of the other. With all of these filters and no other modules, except maybe effects, it's probably possible to make music? Excellent demo! Particularly the parts with the sequence, even though it made me sort of forget to listen to the difference between the filters. But I think I like Instruos best, sounds most musically versatile as in types of music. Second the Polivox, Fun, interesting but also pleasing to listen to. Third, Wavefonix, very interesting, never heard about before, sounds really good at places, but can also be disgusting
the least likeable is the wasp - i dont like it too much ,- the Instruo is amazing , but you can make it sound dull ....meeh-... but why would you !? -- and the polio is ....interesting ....but the Jove simply sounds gorgeous !!!
Awesome! That was great, Robin! I need more filters! I have the Wasp and the 121 Behringer filters and love 'em! But I need more! Thanks for this demo... really helpful!
My first filter was the Jove, after watching your journey into eurorack many moons ago. It still makes me suck in my cheeks and purse my lips all these years later.
Thanks for this video! It inspired me to pick up the erica synths filter. I am still an infant to eurorack but I am learning. I appreciate you for sharing you knowledge! I have discovered I need a second and third job to finance my modular addiction!
Really great video! I was just looking for a new filter to put in my case. Have you ever tried the Random Source Serge Variable Q VCF? I have a really great deal on it.
I have the Erica Synths Pico VCf1 and VCF3, for 3hp filters I was very impressed. They are not has powerful as the Polivoks or creamy as the Jove but they were deffinitely excellent value for money and sonically they were decent pick ups for me as my first filters in my modular set up
