Desktop (stereo) filter

The Lounge Other Gear
#1

quizzing the hive mind - I’m constantly looking for desktop filter units - ideally multimode and stereo. So I wanted to compile a list and share experiences. please chime in and extend the list

DESKTOP/RACK STERO

  • Analog HEAT, STEREO, known
  • Sherman Restyler, STEREO, finally got one - incredible device. very clean filters (LP, BP, HP) - but this thing is also an incredible dynamics processor with great control over the trigger, has great distortion. wonderful device with a steep learning curve (and resonation to behold of, bit bonkers tbh)
  • Jomox T-Resonator/Rackonizer - STEREO, LFO, ENVELOPE. Analog filters, digital delay and reverb, pitch tracker. More geared towards sound design and noise
  • Electrix Filter Queen, STEREO, discontinued - killer price wise
  • Electrix Filter Factory, STEREO, same as queen plus distortion and a mix knob (from what I gather)
  • Meris ottobit jr bitcrusher: STEREO (digital), the sweetest sounding LPF, no resonance control - not sold as filterunit anyway though (the bitcrusher sounds amazing)
  • JOMOX moonwind: STEREO, no experience, discontinued
  • Akai MFC42, STEREO, no experience
  • Ericasynths ACIDBOX III , STEREO, filter sounds divine
  • Vermona Action filter, STEREO rack HP, LP, BP, notch - seems unbeatable price wise

DESKTOP/RACK MONO

  • Knas moisturizer: MONO, multimode can be mixed, spring reverb. nice drive. lots of character. LFO (even CV out for the LFO)
  • Vermona Retroverb: MONO, like a more hiFi version of the moisturizer, can’t mix the modes, envelope follower and generator, LFO, really nice drive, not lacking character either, spring reverb
  • Schipmann Ebbe & Flut, MONO, discontinued, no experience
  • Electro Harmonix, Bi-Filter, MONO(?)
  • Sherman Filterbank, MONO
  • Analogue Solutions Mr. Hyde MONO

SYNTHS

  • A4: not really stereo, all the other known goodies. bit of an overkill (well capable)
  • Desktop Evolver: STERO(?) hi pass is digital
  • Nord Micro Modular
  • … just about any snyth with an audio input I would suppose

updated list *******

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Cool hardware audio processing units
Old Blood Noise Endeavors - Float (dual stereo filter)
#2

Jomox T-Resonator/Rackonizer - STEREO, LFO, ENVELOPE. Analog filters, digital delay and reverb, pitch tracker. More geared towards sound design and noise. Have the eurorack format module… quite temperamental, very fine adjustments needed to attain distinct sounds. Though I don’t always like lugging around a modular, am glad to have gone for this version for its CV inputs

Few more I’ve had my eye on but have no experience with…

  • Ericasynths ACIDBOX III

  • Jomox Moonwind

  • Akai MFC42

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#3

cheers bud, always been intrigued by the moonwind - but at that price you could almost just use an A4 as (awesome) filterbank (cascading filters give infinite possibilities)

edit: just realizing it’s not as expensive as I thought - probably a good deal as it has quite a few FX too

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#4

Im using my A4 as a desktop filter.
Btw, the jomox is great, tnx, I didnt know about it.

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#5

There was a time when I used the T-Resonator on pretty much everything, having routed semi-modulars through an A4 first. It’s mostly the reverb that I was using it for, but I keep on meaning to plug it back onto the mix to explore the filter possibilities in more depth. One neat thing about it is that the left and right channels can have completely separate settings (which can then be used for cross-modulation and FM purposes too).

It’d be nice if the desktop version had some CV control options too, as it can definitely get a little wild quite easily (and a compressor is recommended in the manual for good reason!).

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#6

Well if you use two tracks and pan those it will be if you inject L to one and R to other - fx may mess up separation

Add Desktop Evolver to the list - but hi pass is digital

Nord Micro Modular is a small cheap (digital but flexible) option too fwiw

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#7

like I said, not really stereo :content:

#8

Schippmann Ebbe & Flut? Expensive but looks amazing and ticks all your boxes.

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#9

have been admiring this for some time. comes at an eye watering price if you’d even find one

*updated the list above

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#10

I love the T-Res but it’s a bit unpredictable. Part of its charm, but its more of an enigma than a workhorse.

I think the Analog Heat is hard to beat in this category.

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#11

Yeah, I’d definitely agree with that - there’s a tendency on my part to set the T-Resonator where it sounds good (and it does sound good a lot of the time) and then leave it there for absolutely everything, as tweaking the filters too much can go right off the scale and into not-necessarily horrible but maybe unintended noisescapes far too easily.

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#12
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#13

drooling over this. wonder what the bottom 2 units are in this not-so-desktop-worth-a-car-filter-rack

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#14

No experience with it but I believe a monster is IOTINE CORE from Niio Analog

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#15

The monomachine is pretty cool to use as a filter box. Six tracks of effects, hpf, lpf, delay, and srr. It is of course in mono but stuff can be panned and what not to achieve stereo.

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#16

Electrix Filter Factory/Filter Queen

Good luck finding one…

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#17

boom. GAS induced. maybe I don’t ‘need’ to buy a HEAT

#18

Rebel Technology OWL Pedal, not sure if there is a stereo filter patch? but plenty of stereo patches for other effect types.

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#19

FWIW I owned a Filter Factory for several years. It was fun and ticks a lot of boxes. It is pretty bland though. I mostly used it for the distortion on drums. If not that, the envelope follower after a delay. Mine also developed an audible “tick” that went along with the tempo if there was any MIDI signal connected to it.

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#20

just going through some audio samples and I might agree with your comment about it sounding bland. they seem to go for around 100USD though. so maybe worth if all you want is to tidy up some bottom end after drenching a synth in reverb… thanks for clarifying