synthy filters for guitar..

[deadastronaut]

i've been on a synthy guitar sounds quest of late..

which tried n tested good synthy filters have you built / incorporated into a  pedal...or as a stand alone unit.?

recommendations?.

[Mark Hammer]

Quite frankly, just about ANY filter sounds more "synth-ey" on a guitar if it has a relatively quick decay.  I modded up a Bass Balls with a variable decay, filter stagger, and filter blend control, that you can hear here.  You'll have to excuse the overly lengthy techtalk at the beginning, and the fluorescent light him picked up on the audio, but you can still hear what that various controls are able to do to an otherwise nondescript circuit.  For my part, I think it nails some of the sounds of EHX's old Mini-synth keyboard.

Phunkpunk: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eoAIKHFGOcQ
Minisynth: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Mi9Kh4bgl5Y

And one should also note that audible envelope ripple can be "cured" in one of two ways: making the decay time slower so that ripple is more averaged out, or making it faster, so that ripple doesn't have a chance to be heard.  So not only does a faster decay sound more synthey, but it also has less ripple.  Win-win.

[StephenGiles]

I would like to get my hands on the EH Riddle Q Balls schematic, there is some wonderful smooth sweep circuitry in there by the sound of it!

[deadastronaut]

cheers mark, i have messed with the bassballs on breadboard before...

i liked it a lot , but didn't want the dirt with it.  i'd rather the 'option' of adding my own dirt to it.

the synth sounds are more like it...

[Ice-9]

I would like to get my hands on the EH Riddle Q Balls schematic, there is some wonderful smooth sweep circuitry in there by the sound of it!

Here is a little clue to what it could be based on, check the bit I have circled in red.

[deadastronaut]

lol...yeah...subtle.

[musiclikscreams]

any write ups on those bassballs mods? i'm intrigued

[Liquitone]

The 'Wah' setting on EHX The Worm is a great filter-sound. I used to try and simultaneously adjust the rate and range knobs while playing, which was a bit easier on the old big box version. It has somewhat of that filter sound Air used in 'All I Need'.
I also build a The Worm and replaced the LFO with the envelope-driver of a Q-tron which made for a great envelope filter. Really smooth compared to the grittier Q-Tron sound.

[StephenGiles]

I would like to get my hands on the EH Riddle Q Balls schematic, there is some wonderful smooth sweep circuitry in there by the sound of it!

Here is a little clue to what it could be based on, check the bit I have circled in red.

The filter circuit may well be common to the Qtron & Riddle but certainly not the sweep generator.

[Mark Hammer]

any write ups on those bassballs mods? i'm intrigued

If you're referring to the thing I posted, the first 5-6 minutes of me droning on and pointing to a schematic outline the specifics of the mods.  I wouldn't watch it if you're up past your bedtime, but if you're not easily lured into yawning, it's all there.

[SmoothAction]

MFOS Subcommander?

http://www.musicfromouterspace.com/index.php?MAINTAB=SYNTHDIY&VPW=1024&VPH=550

Its just so darn cool.

[deadastronaut]

^ yeah seen that...

i'm just looking for simple - ish   filters to mess with and maybe add a simple slow lfo..

edit: i was looking at the Q&D filter / escobedo circuit/s....but can't find the link with clips?.

[nocentelli]

By far the best, and most synthy-sounding filter I have tried is the "Korg MS-20" low pass filter: Escobedo has a very simple 9 volt version, as does Eric Archer (search "eric archer voltage controlled filter") which is the version i built. It's superb! The resonance can be dialled right up to self-oscillation, and it is super squelchy and synth-like. The circuit has a pot for the cut-off frequency, and I use an expression pedal to control the sweep like some kind of uber-wah, but it wouldn't be difficult to use an add-on envelope detector or LFO to control the sweep: Or all three.

[deadastronaut]

sounds cool to me..

funny i was just looking at a vid of that ms20 9v+ version with expression pedal.

envelope detect, lfo would be nice..

[Mark Hammer]

By far the best, and most synthy-sounding filter I have tried is the "Korg MS-20" low pass filter: Escobedo has a very simple 9 volt version, as does Eric Archer (search "eric archer voltage controlled filter") which is the version i built. It's superb! The resonance can be dialled right up to self-oscillation, and it is super squelchy and synth-like. The circuit has a pot for the cut-off frequency, and I use an expression pedal to control the sweep like some kind of uber-wah, but it wouldn't be difficult to use an add-on envelope detector or LFO to control the sweep: Or all three.

Plenty of folks like to humorously refer to the MS-20 filter as "the world's most dangerous filter".

At least part of what tends to differentiate wah from "synth-ey filter" sounds, for guitar players, is use of high resonance lowpass settings.  Wahs are essentially bandpass filters, and a great many autowahs Though not all) are also bandpass.  In contrast, if you're going to skimp in a synth, you'll have a lowpass filter and that's it, so we have a mental association between lowpass filtering and synths.

It is also the case that synth filters usually have more poles than guitar pedals.  Even the almost-a-synth EHX Microsynth has a 3-pole lowpass filter.  The "Minimoog sound" we all love so much is the result of a 4-pole lowpass filter.  And the thing you need to remember about steeper filters is that when the corner frequency changes, you tend to alter the harmonic content a lot more than a shallower filter does.  So where a single or 2-pole bandpass or lowpass filter still lets through a lot of top end, and has to sweep way down low for it to completely disappear, a 4-pole filter doesn't have to sweep all that far for the timbral character to change a lot.

But yeah, that Eric Archer 9V MS-20 video does sound sweet.

While envelope following would be nice, don't forget triggered sweeps using a transient generator, where you can have more control over both attack and decay, start and stop points.

[StephenGiles]

any write ups on those bassballs mods? i'm intrigued

If you're referring to the thing I posted, the first 5-6 minutes of me droning on and pointing to a schematic outline the specifics of the mods.  I wouldn't watch it if you're up past your bedtime, but if you're not easily lured into yawning, it's all there.

Very interesting video Mark.

[garcho]

Here's a link to a recent MS-20 thread. I've breadboarded it with LFO and LED/LDR kinda crap and it blew my mind. Haven't built a hard wired version yet, though, so I guess that's a little OT.     Worth trying for sure.

Here's Escobedo's circuit snippets.

Check out some of Ray's single-sided filter circuits. Look under 'guitar projects' or 'LO-FI noise boxes' for simple filters.

[rring]

I have great fun with simple switch cap filters - modulating them and the like..... check out my ring modulator post and the video demo - after the first two minutes I demonstrate some of the filter effects. Very easy to implement for filtering/ phase shifting.

http://www.diystompboxes.com/smfforum/index.php?topic=103348.msg920233#msg920233

[deadastronaut]

@rring,  thats pretty  cool, but im not really a fan of ring modulators, 

[alanp]

When it comes to annoying everyone around you, not much beats the Ring Stinger.

Always wanted a modular synth (budget issues...), and FC's link in the MS20 thread does not help! When I finish some of the stuff in the queue, I might have to breadboard up a filter circuit