# THE_FILTER 2 > Draw your own filter motion. Tempo-sync it. Trigger it. Sequence it. This is the filter that *moves*. **Contents.** Each chapter is also its own markdown file: - [What It Is](https://www.philspeiser.com/manual/the_filter-2/what-it-is.md) - [Why You'll Love It](https://www.philspeiser.com/manual/the_filter-2/why-you-ll-love-it.md) - [The Interface at a Glance](https://www.philspeiser.com/manual/the_filter-2/the-interface-at-a-glance.md) - [Controls — In Depth](https://www.philspeiser.com/manual/the_filter-2/controls-in-depth.md) - [Visual Feedback & Metering](https://www.philspeiser.com/manual/the_filter-2/visual-feedback-metering.md) - [How to Use It — Real-World Workflows](https://www.philspeiser.com/manual/the_filter-2/how-to-use-it-real-world-workflows.md) - [Pro Tips & Creative Techniques](https://www.philspeiser.com/manual/the_filter-2/pro-tips-creative-techniques.md) - [Quick Start](https://www.philspeiser.com/manual/the_filter-2/quick-start.md) - [Specs](https://www.philspeiser.com/manual/the_filter-2/specs.md) ## What It Is Forget the one-knob filter you swept by hand on every breakdown. **THE_FILTER 2** is an envelope/LFO-driven multimode filter where the cutoff isn't a single position — it's a **shape you draw**. You sketch a curve, and that curve sweeps the cutoff between a low and a high frequency over time. Swells, gates, plucks, wobbles, staircases, vowel movement — if you can draw it, the filter plays it. That motion can run however the track needs it to. Let it **loop** like an LFO, **lock it to host tempo** with note values, **trigger it from MIDI notes**, fire it off a **sidechain signal** (a band-limited detector that listens for your kick or hats), let the track's **own transients** trigger it, or hand it to one of **two step sequencers**. One sequencer restarts the curve on every active step; the other switches between your curve *slots* step by step. It's a modulation playground that always stays in time. Under all that movement is a genuinely clean engine: a state-variable filter with **Lowpass, Highpass, Bandpass and a vowel-morphing Formant mode**, resonance (Q) up to 10 for singing, squelchy peaks, selectable slope from a gentle 6 dB/oct to a steep 48 dB/oct, and a built-in **Drive** stage for warmth and grit. It's built for rhythmic gating, bass wobbles, risers, acid sweeps, plucks and talking, vowel-like movement — all locked to your track. ## Why You'll Love It - **You draw the motion.** A full curve editor turns the cutoff into a programmable, animated shape instead of a static knob — total control over the rhythm and feel of every sweep. - **Nine trigger modes.** Loop it, or fire it from MIDI, a sidechain, the track's own transients or the step sequencer — each as a retrigger or a one-shot. The filter reacts to your music. - **Always in time.** Note values from 1/64 (straight, dotted or triplet) up to 4 bars, free-running milliseconds, swing, and an automatable Range mode mean the movement grooves with the track instead of fighting it. - **Two step sequencers.** One restarts the curve per step for rhythmic hits; the other flips between curve slots per step for evolving patterns. - **Play it like an instrument.** Up to 7 curve slots, switchable live from the white keys of your MIDI keyboard with *NOTES TO SLOTS*. - **A real filter, not a toy.** Lowpass, Highpass, Bandpass and a vowel-morphing Formant mode, slopes from 6 to 48 dB/oct, Q up to 10 with automatic gain compensation, and up to 24 dB of Drive. - **See everything.** Real-time spectrum analyzer with a live animated filter curve, factory profiles that update online, your own profiles, and tooltips in five languages (EN/DE/FR/ES/IT). ## The Interface at a Glance THE_FILTER 2 has three areas, top to bottom: - **The header** — a help line on the left that explains whatever your mouse is over, then undo/redo, **THE_CHAT** (robot icon), linked instances (link icon), this manual (book icon), Settings (gear) and **Bypass** (power button). - **The curve editor** — always on screen. The slot bar along its top (slot numbers, **+** and **-**, and the slot-sequencer button), a control bar with **TIMING**, **WAVEFORM**, **GRID**, **SWING** and the free-run button, and the big drawing area with a live waveform of your audio behind the curve. - **Six tabs** under the editor — **PRESETS · FILTER · TABLES · STEP SEQUENCER · TOOLS · AUDIO + MIDI** (PRESETS opens first). Each tab swaps the panel below it, so you only see the part you're working on. What the tabs hold: - **PRESETS** — the profile browser: **PHIL'S PROFILES** and **YOUR PROFILES**, in the categories **RHYTHM, CREATIVE, PERFORM**, with search and save. - **FILTER** — a real-time **spectrum analyzer** with the **animated filter curve** on a 20 Hz–20 kHz grid, plus **Frequency Range**, **Q**, **Drive**, **Skew**, **Trim** and the **Type** and **Slope** menus. - **TABLES** — a library of ready-made curve shapes. Click one to load it into the current slot. - **STEP SEQUENCER** — the Trigger Step Sequencer (top row) and the Slot Step Sequencer (bottom row). - **TOOLS** — the drawing tools (Select, Pencil, Line, Step, Shape) plus flip, reverse, copy and paste. - **AUDIO + MIDI** — **OUTPUT SIGNAL** (OUT, DELAY), **AUDIO TRIGGER SETTINGS** (SENSITIVITY, FILTER) and **MIDI SETTINGS** (TRIGGER NOTE, NOTES TO SLOTS). Drag the handle in the bottom-right corner to resize the window. ## Controls — In Depth ### Cutoff Modulation Curve (the curve editor) - **What it does:** This is the heart of the plugin. The height of the curve sets the cutoff: the bottom is your Min frequency, the top is your Max frequency, shaped by Skew. Each curve is a chain of points joined by segments you can bend. Draw freehand, lines, steps or ready-made shapes; flip, reverse, copy and paste. Snap to grid is on at **1/16** when you first open the plugin. - **Add and move points:** Double-click an empty spot to add a point; drag a point to move it. The first and last points stay at the start and end. - **Bend a segment:** Drag the small handle on a segment to bend it; double-click the handle to make the segment straight again. Scrolling the mouse wheel over a point or handle bends it too. - **Delete:** Right-click or double-click a point (the first and last points can't be deleted). Drag across empty space to select several points, Shift+click to add or remove a point from the selection, then press Delete or Backspace. - **Off the grid:** Hold Shift while dragging to ignore snap. - **In your music:** This *is* the rhythm and shape of your filter movement — swells, gates, plucks, wobbles, staircases. A smooth hump = a swell. A sharp sawtooth = a pluck. A square = a hard gate. - **Pro tip:** Start with one clean shape, then drag the handle on a segment to round or sharpen the ramp. Tiny bends are the difference between "robotic" and "musical." ### Curve Slots - **What it does:** Each slot holds its own curve and its own timing (sync mode, note value or length). You start with one slot; click **+** to add one (up to 7) and **-** to remove the last one. Click a slot number to edit it — the slot you click is also the one that plays. - **In your music:** Keep several motions ready and switch between them — from the slot bar, from your keyboard (NOTES TO SLOTS), from the Slot Step Sequencer, or with DAW automation (Slot). - **Pro tip:** Build variations of one idea across slots — the same gate at 1/8 and at 1/16 — so switching slots feels like a fill, not a new song. ### FILTER — Frequency Range (dual-thumb) - **What it does:** Sets the bottom (left thumb, Min) and top (right thumb, Max) of the cutoff sweep. The bottom of your curve lands on Min, the top on Max, spread musically in octaves and shaped by Skew. The thumbs can't cross. - **Range/units:** 20 Hz–20 kHz per thumb. - **In your music:** Narrow range = subtle, polite movement. Wide range = dramatic, full-spectrum sweeps. Raise **Min** to keep your low end intact; lower **Max** to keep things dark and controlled. - **Pro tip:** For bass wobbles, keep Min around your fundamental so the low end never disappears, and let Max do the talking. ### Q (Resonance) - **What it does:** Sets the resonance — the emphasis right at the moving cutoff. It's labeled **Q** on the FILTER tab and **Resonance** in your DAW's automation list. - **Range/units:** 0.10–10.00. - **In your music:** Low = a gentle, natural slope. High = sharp, whistling emphasis — the secret sauce of acid lines, wobbles and squelch. - **Pro tip:** Crank Q toward 8–10 with a Lowpass and a slow sweep for instant acid. Pull it back if the peak starts to sting — automatic gain compensation helps, but your ears rule. ### Drive - **What it does:** A saturation stage before the filter — the signal is boosted, then soft-clipped. At 0 dB it's switched off. - **Range/units:** 0.0–24.0 dB. - **In your music:** Warmth, harmonics and grit. It overdrives the signal *into* the filter, so resonant peaks get thicker and more aggressive. - **Pro tip:** Add 3–6 dB of Drive before a resonant Lowpass to make sweeps growl. For pristine, clinical sweeps, leave it at 0. ### Skew (frequency skew) - **What it does:** Changes how the curve's height maps onto your frequency range. At 1.00 the sweep is spread evenly across the range; lower values keep more of the curve's travel in the low end and save the top of the range for the curve's peaks. - **Range/units:** 0.10–1.00. - **In your music:** Reshapes the *feel* of a sweep without redrawing a single point — push more action into the low frequencies or stretch it toward the top. - **Pro tip:** Drew a perfect shape but it spends too long up high? Drop Skew to weight the motion lower instead of editing every point. ### Trim - **What it does:** Turns the filtered signal down right after the filter. After Trim, a soft clipper rounds off any peaks, so when high Q or Drive make things hot, pull Trim down to keep them clean. - **Range/units:** -36.0 to 0.0 dB (0 dB = no change). - **In your music:** Q and Drive add level; Trim takes it back before the clipper. **OUT** then sets the final level. - **Pro tip:** With heavy Drive, start with Trim around -6 dB and make up the level with OUT. ### Filter Type - **What it does:** Chooses the response. **Formant** runs three vowel resonances that morph **A → E → I → O → U** as the cutoff travels from the bottom (Min) to the top (Max) of your range — a talking, vocal sweep. Q sharpens the vowels. - **Range/units:** The **Type** menu — Lowpass, Highpass, Bandpass, Formant (Lowpass on a fresh instance). - **In your music:** Lowpass = warm/dark. Highpass = thin and airy. Bandpass = vocal/telephone. Formant = talking, vowel-like color. - **Pro tip:** Run Formant on a sustained synth pad with a slow curve and a touch of Q for a vocal, talking-style sweep. ### Filter Slope - **What it does:** Sets how steeply everything past the cutoff is cut. 6 dB/oct also keeps the resonance gentle. Slope applies to Lowpass, Highpass and Bandpass (Formant has its own fixed shape). - **Range/units:** The **Slope** menu — 6 dB/oct, 12 dB/oct, 24 dB/oct, 48 dB/oct (12 dB/oct on a fresh instance). - **In your music:** 6 dB is gentle and musical; 48 dB is steep, surgical and dramatic — perfect for hard gates and big sweeps. - **Pro tip:** Pair 48 dB/oct with high Q and a square curve for tight, aggressive filter gating on drum loops. ### Sync Mode (per slot) - **What it does:** The menu next to Trigger in the **TIMING** section. Each slot has its own setting: - **Free** — the curve runs at a length you set in milliseconds, independent of tempo. - **Sync** — the curve length is a note value at your host tempo. In Loop mode it's locked to your song position. - **Range** — pick two note values and set a position between them (0–100%): 0% plays at the first note value, 100% at the second, and in between the speed glides smoothly. At the very ends it locks to your grid. The position shows up as **TempoRate** in your DAW's automation list. - **In your music:** Free for anything off-grid, Sync to lock to the groove, Range to automate speed for risers and build-ups. - **Pro tip:** In Range mode, set a slow first note value and a fast second one, then automate TempoRate from 0% to 100% across a build for an effortless tension riser. ### Tempo / Note Division / Duration - **What it does:** Sets how long one full pass through the curve takes. In **Sync**: 1/64 up to 1/1 — each straight, dotted (D) or triplet (T) — plus 2 Bars, 3 Bars and 4 Bars. In **Free**: 100 ms to 10 seconds. - **In your music:** This is the *rate* of the movement — slow swells at 2–4 bars, fast wobbles at 1/16. - **Pro tip:** Dotted values instantly add groove; triplets give you that rolling, shuffled wobble feel. ### Swing - **What it does:** **SWING** shuffles the motion: the first half of each curve cycle gets longer and the second half shorter. It also swings both step sequencers (every second step lands later). Near 100% you're close to a triplet shuffle. - **Range/units:** 0–100% (0% to start). - **In your music:** Takes the mechanical edge off synced motion and makes it groove like a human played it. - **Pro tip:** A touch of Swing on a 1/8 wobble makes it sit with swung drums beautifully. ### Trigger Mode - **What it does:** The **Trigger** menu in the **TIMING** section chooses what starts the curve. Nine modes: - **Loop** — runs continuously. - **MIDI Retrigger / MIDI One-Shot** — starts on the TRIGGER NOTE. - **Audio Retrigger / Audio One-Shot** — starts on hits in the sidechain input. - **Self Retrigger / Self One-Shot** — starts on hits in the track itself. - **Step Sequencer / Step One-Shot** — starts on every active step of the Trigger Step Sequencer. - **Retrigger or One-Shot:** Retrigger starts the curve over and keeps it looping. One-Shot plays the curve once and holds its last value until the next trigger. - **Good to know:** The Audio modes listen to the sidechain input only — with nothing routed there, they won't fire. The Audio, Self and MIDI modes hold the audio back about 5 ms so the filter moves exactly on the hit. - **In your music:** The difference between a free-running LFO and a triggered *envelope* — plucks per note, filter hits off a kick, or step-driven patterns. - **Pro tip:** Use a **One-Shot** mode when you want the curve to play once per trigger (a single pluck per note) rather than looping. ### Trigger Step Sequencer - **What it does:** The top row on the STEP SEQUENCER tab. In the **Step Sequencer** and **Step One-Shot** trigger modes, every active step restarts the curve. Click a step to switch it on or off; drag across steps to paint the same state. Choose 4, 8, 16, 32 or 64 steps (16 to start). **SYNC** sets the step length as a note value at host tempo (1/64 up to 1/1, straight, dotted or triplet; 1/8 to start); click it to switch to **FREE** and set the step length in milliseconds (10–2000 ms). - **In your music:** Rhythmic gating and patterned filter hits, fully programmable. - **Pro tip:** Program a sparse pattern (hits on 1, the "and" of 2, and 4) for a filter that punctuates instead of constantly chattering. ### Slot Step Sequencer - **What it does:** The bottom row on the STEP SEQUENCER tab picks which curve slot plays on each step. Switch it on with the slot-sequencer button at the right end of the slot bar. Drag a step up or down to choose a slot — slots 1–6, as far as you've added them; a step pulled all the way down keeps whatever slot is playing. Each step shows a mini preview of its slot's curve. Choose 4, 8, 16, 32 or 64 steps (4 to start). It runs in time with your host at the note value you pick (1/4 to start) while the transport is playing — leave it on SYNC. - **In your music:** Evolving patterns — alternate between motion shapes step by step. - **Pro tip:** Draw a smooth swell in slot 1 and a chopped gate in slot 2, then alternate them across the sequencer for movement that never feels repetitive. ### TRIGGER NOTE (MIDI) - **What it does:** In **MIDI Retrigger** and **MIDI One-Shot**, this note starts the curve. It never switches slots. - **Range/units:** Shown as a note name, from C#-1 up to G9 (C1 on a fresh instance). - **In your music:** Retrigger the filter rhythmically from your MIDI clip or keyboard. - **Pro tip:** Park your trigger note on an unused low key so you can program filter hits in your piano roll independently of the melody. ### NOTES TO SLOTS - **What it does:** When on, the white keys pick the slot: **C = 1, D = 2, E = 3, F = 4, G = 5, A = 6, B = 7**, in any octave. Black keys are ignored, and a key only switches if that slot exists. - **Range/units:** On/Off (On to start). - **In your music:** Play keys to switch filter-motion shapes live — performance-ready variation. - **Pro tip:** Put different curves in slots 1–4 and play C, D, E and F to switch shapes during a live set or recorded take. ### SENSITIVITY (audio trigger) - **What it does:** How easily the hit detector fires in the Audio and Self modes — higher = more sensitive, so quieter hits fire too. After a hit it waits 40 ms before it can fire again. - **Range/units:** 0–100% (60% on a fresh instance; double-click resets it to 10%). - **In your music:** Tunes how the filter reacts to drum hits and transients. - **Pro tip:** Watch the sidechain waveform in the curve editor while the track plays, and raise SENSITIVITY until every kick restarts the curve — back off if ghost notes start firing it. ### FILTER (sidechain detection range, dual-thumb) - **What it does:** Band-limits what the hit detector listens to — a low cut at the left thumb, a high cut at the right thumb — in both the Audio and Self modes. It only changes what triggers the curve, not what you hear. - **Range/units:** 20 Hz–20 kHz, dual-thumb. - **In your music:** Trigger off *just* the kick (keep the low band) or *just* the hats (keep the high band). - **Pro tip:** Narrow this tight around your kick's fundamental so snares and hats don't accidentally fire the filter. ### OUT (output gain) - **What it does:** The final output level, after everything else (smoothed). At the very bottom it reads -inf dB and mutes. - **Range/units:** -inf to +24.00 dB, 0.01 dB steps (0 dB to start; double-click resets to 0 dB). - **In your music:** Compensates for level changes from filtering, Q and Drive so your gain staging stays honest. - **Pro tip:** After cranking Q and Drive, pull OUT back a dB or two to match bypass — easier to judge if the effect is actually helping. ### DELAY (sample delay) - **What it does:** Delays THE_FILTER 2's output by a fixed number of samples. Changes crossfade smoothly. - **Range/units:** 0–512 SAMPLES (0 to start). - **In your music:** Lines THE_FILTER 2 up with a parallel signal path that arrives later, so the two don't phase-cancel. - **Pro tip:** Use this only when you blend THE_FILTER 2 with a parallel path and hear comb filtering — nudge until the low end is full again. ### Free-Run Button - **What it does:** The running-figure button at the right end of the curve editor's control bar. **On** (as it starts): the curve keeps moving and the filter keeps working while your transport is stopped. **Off:** THE_FILTER 2 passes your audio through untouched whenever the transport is stopped. - **In your music:** Switch it off when you audition sounds with the transport stopped and want to hear them dry. ### Bypass (power button + overlay) - **What it does:** Switches processing off with a smooth crossfade. The window then reads "BYPASSED - CLICK ANYWHERE TO RE-ENABLE PROCESSING" — click anywhere to switch it back on. - **In your music:** Instant, click-free A/B against your dry signal. - **Pro tip:** A/B often — modulated filters are exciting, and it's easy to over-do the movement. ### Presets / Profiles Browser - **What it does:** **PHIL'S PROFILES** are the factory profiles — they update automatically when you're online. **YOUR PROFILES** are the ones you save. Filter by category (**RHYTHM, CREATIVE, PERFORM**) or search by name. The save icon stores your current settings as a new profile (pick a name and category; it asks before overwriting), and in YOUR PROFILES the folder icon opens your profiles folder. - **What a profile stores:** The curves and slots with their timing, the trigger mode, swing, both step sequencers and every FILTER-tab setting. The AUDIO + MIDI settings stay as they are when you switch profiles. - **In your music:** Instant starting points: **ACID ENDBOSS, LET'S TALK, RANGER, 2BAR WALKING, DIRTY WOBBLE, PLUCKED.** - **Pro tip:** Find a profile that's close, then tweak Frequency Range, Q, Drive, Slope and the curve — it's the fastest path to "your" sound. ### Curve Tools - **What it does:** The TOOLS tab holds the **Select, Pencil, Line, Step** and **Shape** tools plus **Flip Vertical, Flip Horizontal, Reverse, Copy** and **Paste**. Pencil draws freehand as you drag; Line connects two clicks; Step draws flat steps with sharp jumps. Choosing Shape shows a grid of shapes: click one, then drag across the curve editor to drop it over that stretch. The curve changes color to show which tool is active, and switching to the PRESETS, FILTER, TABLES or STEP SEQUENCER tab puts you back on the Select tool. - **In your music:** Fast creation and surgical tweaking of the filter-motion shape. - **Pro tip:** Use the **Step** tool with snap on for instant staircase/gate patterns, then the **Pencil** to humanize a couple of points. ### Grid, Waveform and Zoom - **GRID:** The magnet switches snap on and off (hold Shift to ignore it while dragging). The grid menu sets the size from 1/2 down to 1/64 (1/16 to start). The pin keeps the grid visible all the time; unpinned, it only shows while you hover. - **WAVEFORM:** The menu sets how much audio the background waveform shows, from 1/16 of a bar up to 8 Bars. The snowflake (freeze, on to start) keeps the last waveform on screen after you stop. The zoom (1.0x–8.0x) magnifies the editor — while zoomed in, drag empty space to move around. - **Pro tip:** Match the waveform window to your curve's note value so each hit lines up under the part of the curve that shapes it. ### Automation - **What you can automate:** These appear in your DAW's automation list: **Min Frequency, Max Frequency, Frequency Skew, Resonance, Trim, Filter Type, Filter Slope, Slot** (which curve slot plays) and **TempoRate** (the Range-mode position of the playing slot). - **Pro tip:** Automate Slot to change the filter's motion per song section — verse, build and drop each get their own curve. ### Linked Instances - **What it does:** The link button in the header shows a number when more than one THE_FILTER 2 is open in your session. Click it for the **LINKED INSTANCES** panel: **LINK** keeps an instance in sync with this one, **SEND** copies this instance's settings to it once, and **SEND TO ALL** / **LINK ALL** do the same for every instance. - **What travels:** Everything in the curve editor — curves, slots and their timing, trigger mode and swing. The FILTER-tab settings and step-sequencer patterns stay per instance. - **In your music:** Put THE_FILTER 2 on bass and chords, link them, and both move with the same rhythm while each keeps its own filter type and range. ### Help, Settings & THE_CHAT - **Help line:** Hover any control and the line at the top left explains it. - **Book icon:** Opens this manual inside the plugin. - **THE_CHAT (robot icon):** Ask questions in plain words while you work; it sees your current settings when it answers. Needs an internet connection. - **Settings (gear):** Language (English, Deutsch, Francais, Espanol, Italiano), Show Tooltips, Reset Zoom, a Tutorial button and the version number. - **Undo/redo:** Covers your curve edits, both step sequencers, OUT and DELAY. - **Updates:** When a new version is out, a banner at the top tells you — click it to download. ## Visual Feedback & Metering - **Curve editor:** The part of the curve that has already played lights up, so you always see where the motion is. Behind the curve, a waveform of THE_FILTER 2's output — plus the sidechain signal, when one is connected — lets you draw your motion against the actual hits. - **FILTER tab:** A live spectrum of the incoming audio with the **animated filter-response curve** drawn over it — you literally watch the filter sweep across your spectrum in real time on a 20 Hz–20 kHz grid. Frequency Range, Q, Drive, Skew, Trim and the Type/Slope menus sit right below it. - **STEP SEQUENCER tab:** Both step rows show where they are while they run; in the Slot row each step previews its slot's curve. Note: the spectrum needs audio running through the plugin, and the waveform in the curve editor only draws while your host is playing (with the snowflake on, the last one stays visible after you stop). ## How to Use It — Real-World Workflows ### 1. Tempo-Synced Wobble Bass (Dubstep / Bass Music) 1. Load **DIRTY WOBBLE** (or **PLUCKED**) from the RHYTHM category. 2. On the **FILTER** tab, set Type to **Lowpass**, Slope to **24** or **48 dB/oct**, push **Q** to 6–9. 3. Set the **Frequency Range**: **Min** near your bass fundamental, **Max** up around 5–8 kHz. 4. In the curve editor's **TIMING** section, set the slot to **Sync** and pick **1/8** (or **1/8T** for a rolling feel). 5. Add **Drive** (4–8 dB) to make it growl, add a touch of **Swing**, and set **OUT** to match. ### 2. Audio-Triggered Filter Off the Kick (Drums / Loops) 1. Put THE_FILTER 2 on the track you want to move and route your kick to its sidechain input. (Want the track's own hits instead? Use **Self Retrigger** and skip the routing.) 2. Set **Trigger** to **Audio Retrigger** (or **Audio One-Shot** for exactly one sweep per kick). 3. Go to **AUDIO + MIDI** and raise **SENSITIVITY** until every kick restarts the curve — watch the sidechain waveform in the curve editor while you dial it in. 4. Use the sidechain **FILTER** dual-thumb to narrow detection around the kick's low band so hats don't trigger it. 5. Draw a quick downward pluck curve and set the slot to **Sync** at **1/16** or **1/8** so each kick snaps the filter open and closed. ### 3. Vowel-Flavored Movement (Synths / Leads) 1. On a sustained synth, set Type to **Formant** (or load **LET'S TALK** from the CREATIVE category). 2. Draw a slow, smooth curve and set the slot to **Sync** at **1/1** or **2 Bars**. 3. As the curve rises and falls, the vowels glide from A through E, I and O to U and back. 4. Raise **Q** for sharper, more pronounced vowels and set **OUT** to taste. ### 4. Tension Riser (Build-Ups) 1. Set Type **Lowpass** or **Highpass**, Slope **48 dB/oct**, and a wide Frequency Range. 2. Set the slot's sync menu to **Range**, with a slow first note value (say **1/4**) and a fast second one (say **1/32**). 3. In your DAW, automate **TempoRate** from 0% to 100% across your build so the motion accelerates into the drop — then ride **OUT** if the level builds with Q. ## Pro Tips & Creative Techniques - **Two shapes, one groove:** Put a swell in slot 1 and a gate in slot 2, then use the **Slot Step Sequencer** to alternate them for movement that evolves bar to bar. - **Play your filter:** Turn **NOTES TO SLOTS** on, put different curves in your slots, and switch shapes from the white keys of your keyboard during a performance or take. - **Skew instead of redraw:** Got the rhythm right but the tone wrong? Reach for **Skew** before touching points — it rebalances the sweep across the range instantly. - **Acid in seconds:** Lowpass + Q 8–10 + a slow synced sawtooth curve + a little Drive = classic squelch. - **One-shot plucks:** Set Trigger to **MIDI One-Shot** so each trigger note fires a single, snappy filter pluck instead of a continuous loop. - **Self-pumping loops:** **Self Retrigger** with the sidechain FILTER narrowed to the kick band makes a drum loop move the filter from its own kick — no routing needed. - **Sparse trigger patterns:** In the **Trigger Step Sequencer**, leave gaps — a filter that punctuates is far more musical than one that chatters nonstop. - **Stay phase-honest:** If you blend THE_FILTER 2 with a parallel path that arrives later and hear thinning, use **DELAY** to line them up. ## Quick Start 1. Drop THE_FILTER 2 on a synth, bass or drum loop and hit play. (The first time, log in with your philspeiser.com account.) 2. Open the **PRESETS** tab and load **DIRTY WOBBLE** or **ACID ENDBOSS** from PHIL'S PROFILES. 3. Jump to the **FILTER** tab and set the **Frequency Range** thumbs to taste (wider = more dramatic). 4. Nudge **Q** up for character and add a touch of **Drive**. 5. In the curve editor's **TIMING** section, set the slot to **Sync** and pick a note value that matches your groove. 6. Set **OUT** so the level matches bypass — done. Now go draw your own curve. ## Specs - **Formats:** **VST3, AU (macOS), AAX** (macOS and Windows). No standalone version. - **Plugin type:** Envelope/LFO/step-sequenced multimode filter (Lowpass / Highpass / Bandpass / vowel-morphing Formant) with built-in Drive, nine trigger modes, two step sequencers and up to 7 drawable curve slots. - **Inputs:** Main audio input, a sidechain input for the Audio trigger modes, and MIDI input for MIDI triggering and NOTES TO SLOTS. - **Automation:** Min Frequency, Max Frequency, Frequency Skew, Resonance, Trim, Filter Type, Filter Slope, Slot, TempoRate. - **Window:** Resizable from 50% up to 300% (as far as your screen allows). - **Tooltips:** Multilingual — EN / DE / FR / ES / IT.