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Old 13.09.2014, 03:26 PM
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Timo Timo is offline
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Hi Nutrino, the knowledge of how the cutoff link works, along with filter routings, is gold.

When Cutoff-Link is enabled, the Cutoff2 knob stops acting like a normal cutoff knob. The Cutoff2 knob becomes a bi-polar control (i.e. it can be positive or negative), with the middle value being 0 (zero).

Filter2's cutoff frequency now acts as an offset from whatever value Cutoff1 is. In other words Cutoff2 will track whatever value Cutoff1 is, plus or minus an offset (which you specify with the Cutoff2 knob).

So if you have Cutoff1 set to 89, and Cutoff2 is set to the middle value (zero), Cutoff2 will also be 89 as there is no offset.

However if you have Cutoff1 set to 89, and Cutoff2 is set to -20 (minus twenty), Cutoff2 will be 69. If you then turn Cutoff1 up or down, Cutoff2 will follow it, but will always be -20 of whatever Cutoff1 is.

Why would you want to do this? With the flexible Viruses filter routings available, it opens up a whole new world. You can combine both filters together to act as one highly featured super filterbank, or allow you obtain a more complex and sonically interesting output than just dry filter sweeps. Basically it can turn the filters into something greater than the sum of their parts.

For example, you can set both filters to LowPass, enable cutoff-link, set Cutoff2 to be zero (no offset), place both filters in Series6 mode (which makes filter1 a 4-pole 24dB/oct and filter2 a 2-pole 12dB/oct, instead of both being 12dB/oct), make sure that filter balance is 0 (middle), and then Cutoff1 effectively becomes the controller of a new single, ultra steep 6-pole 36dB/octave LowPass filter, rather than two independent 4-pole 24dB/oct and 2-pole 12dB filters.

Or you could do the same as above and simply turn the filter balance to -32 or +32 to get something inbetween the 12dB and 24dB filters - in otherwords a 3-pole 18dB/oct filter (like the TB303).

So that's 2-, 3-, 4- and 6-pole filters you can achieve just via the 2- and 4-pole filters available to you. What is also great to remember is that the resonance values of both filters can still be set independently, they are not linked by the cutoff-link. So you can mix and obtain different resonant qualities for each of the filters, especially as Filter1 can also go through the Saturation phase (or become Moog).

More examples... You could have one filter as HighPass, the other as LowPass, set the Cutoff2 offset to be zero, select Ser4 mode (two 12dB/oct filters), and use Cutoff1 to modulate a simulated band-pass of sorts. But with this configuration you now have full control over how wide (bandwidth) you want the band-pass to be simpy by altering the Cutoff2 offset.

Or you could set filter1 to LowPass, the other to BandPass, set the Cutoff2 offset to 0 (zero), increase the resonance on both filters, and you'll hear an overall low-pass filter with a more focussed resonant peak around the cutoff frequencies.

Or you could set both filters to LowPass, with a Cutoff2 offset of +20 or so, add a little resonance to each filter, and then by sweeping Cutoff1 you'll get a double-action sweep rather than a single dry one.

Or you could do what the trance greats do to enhance filter sweeps to a whole new level by setting filter 1 to LowPass, filter 2 to Band-Stop, enable cutoff-link, turn Cutoff2 offset to say -17, make sure you're in Serial mode, filter balance = 0, and then sweep the cutoff1 for some exciting, phasey goodness the whole length of the knob (that's what she said), rather than one filter merely topping out halfway and sounding lifeless and boring. (btw, Indigo was used for the sample, completely dry, no Virus effects, the 'phasing' effect is entirely the act of the band-stop filter tracking filter 1. Incidently this is also how people used to fake phasing on the original Virus A before a dedicated phaser effect was later added to the OS).

Possibilities are endless...

With Cutoff-Link, only the Cutoff Offset is generated and linked. All the other filter values, such as resonance, env amounts, etc, are still independent of each other.

Filter-Link is more of a legacy setting which is used to speed up programming sounds when using the hardware (as opposed to the VSTi), merely allowing you to quickly set shared Resonance, EnvelopeAmount, and KeyFollow knob values for both filters at the same time. It's effectively the same as pressing both the Filt.1 and Filt.2 buttons (underneath the Filter Balance knob) together and using the Res/EnvAmt/KeyFollow knobs in the filter section to generate common values, rather than having to select the attributes for each filter individually. Cutoffs of both filters, however, remain independent, they have an individual knob for each.

If you want wholly independent settings on both filters, for the most part you'd have Filter-Link turned off, unless you needed to quickly switch it on and off while editing both filters via the hardware (which I do do quite a lot actually, without realising it). It's more due to a limitation of the number of knobs available, really.
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PS > And another thing! Will the Ti|3 have user customisable/importable wavetables? A ribbon-controller or XY-Pad might be nice, too, please! Thanks!
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