Filter to increase the brightness/crispness of the general Virus sound

[Rusty]

Hi

To start with;

I´m really annoyed by the fake/plastic sounds of my Virus C.

So now, I´m looking for a good filter, effect or EQ to get rid of the internal "Virus filter" that is exists on every sound it produces.

EQ:ing helps a lot, but maybe there´s other ways to make the Virus sound more richer. Compared to a Nord Lead (as an example) the
Nord Lead sounds much brighter and crispier.

Maybe an analog filter would increase the sound? Or... Maybe there are cheaper alternatives?

Do you have any tips or recommendations?

[feedingear]

The virus has 3 eqs on board.

Interestingly, I always thought the Nord sounded thin and harsh - part of its appeal as a counter to the warmer, rich and thick mid sounds the Virus produces.

If you want that brighter crispier sound, cut around 3-400hz to remove boxiness and boost at 3-7k for presence...

[bluesmoose]

This is what I've tried. It won't sound as bright as a Nord Lead 2, but it does open it up a bit.

Turn off Analog Boost.
High Eq boost at about 4k.
Don't use analog filter emulations.
Use the 2 pole filter (Serial-4) instead of the 4 pole (Serial-6).
Set Filter Balance all to Filter 1.
Don't use saturation.

You might look in the wavetables. There may be some waveforms with more high end harmonics.

Originally Posted by feedingear

...If you want that brighter crispier sound, cut around 3-400hz to remove boxiness and boost at 3-7k for presence...

Thanks, I didn't think about cutting lows. I'll try that.

[chimney chop]

use the eq and/or reverb coloration to brighten the tone.

seriously, the virus c has its faults but sounding "fake/plastic" certainly isn't among them.

[MBTC]

This thread is interesting to me, because of how often I hear the Virus C sounds better than the newer Virus models, and that the filters are one of the big selling points of the Virus (as are the parallel filter processors on the DSP).

I personally find that as long as filters are flexible/editable enough, they in themselves are not really a pro/con to sound design. I have seen some cases where some soft synths do not offer much flexibility on things like non-linear curve or contour options or other subtle characteristics which can make it harder, for example, to put the right amount of "bite" on a pluck sound.

Does the Virus give you flexibility with regard to slope/curve of the filter? As others pointed out, overall brightness of the sound is something I'd tend to solve more with EQ. I use filters more for sculpting the core characteristics of the sound than for warmness or brightness, but of course that's a matter of personal habit.

[bluesmoose]

Originally Posted by MBTC

Does the Virus give you flexibility with regard to slope/curve of the filter?

I assume you mean the shape of the attack and decay portion of the filter envelope.

You can recursively modulate the filter envelope attack and decay.
There are routings in the modulation matrix for
Filter Env-> Filter Env Attack
Filter Env-> Filter Env Decay

You can apply positive or negative amount to make it more convex or concave.

I haven't had my Virus for long, so I'm no expert on this stuff yet.

[MBTC]

Originally Posted by bluesmoose

I assume you mean the shape of the attack and decay portion of the filter envelope.

You can recursively modulate the filter envelope attack and decay.
There are routings in the modulation matrix for
Filter Env-> Filter Env Attack
Filter Env-> Filter Env Decay

You can apply positive or negative amount to make it more convex or concave.

I haven't had my Virus for long, so I'm no expert on this stuff yet.

I seem to recall reading that somewhere else here. Seems like kind of a cumbersome way to get non-linear settings, although I can see how it might have needed to be implemented that way on a hardware synth (especially pre-TI models where the display on the board itself is all you have). A visual of the line goes a long way (not sure if Virus Control for the TI offers that or not -- they should be able to add it easily enough if not).

[bluesmoose]

Originally Posted by MBTC

I seem to regard reading that somewhere else here. Seems like kind of a cumbersome way to get non-linear settings, although I can see how it might have needed to be implemented that way on a hardware synth (especially pre-TI models where the display on the board itself is all you have). A visual of the line goes a long way (not sure if Virus Control for the TI offers that or not -- they should be able to add it easily enough if not).

Yes, cumbersome.
Why tie up a mod slot, etc. when you can just have a contour parameter ?
An Attack Contour and Decay Contour for each envelope would be great.
On the hardware (at least for filter and amp envelopes) you could use Shift+Attack to adjust the Attack contour, and Shift+Decay...

Virus Control doesn't show these contours. It only draws the envelope with the original contour.

[MBTC]

Originally Posted by bluesmoose

Virus Control doesn't show these contours. It only draws the envelope with the original contour.

Here's a partial screenshot of how that editing works on the Ultranova editor:

http://i.imgur.com/WCIoVHJ.jpg

They should do something like that in Virus Control.

[bluesmoose]

Originally Posted by MBTC

Here's a partial screenshot of how that editing works on the Ultranova editor:

http://i.imgur.com/WCIoVHJ.jpg

They should do something like that in Virus Control.

That is nice.

I have seen screenshots of the Blofeld with linear and non-linear filter envelope attacks.
I looked in the manual and it has envelope attack, decay, sustain and release as mod destinations for filter env, amp env, env3 and env4.
So, if they can draw the modified envelopes, maybe Virus Control will someday.