truffleshuffle's Reviews

I just parted with mine because I was usually too lazy to plug it in, but man, I would argue that there are better sounding virtual filters... this analog filter bank just sounds different because its passing actual electrons. If you want clean, transparent parametric EQ type filtering then sure it sucks, but when you want some skronk the Electrix kills most plugins, plus you can use this in non electronic genres on, say, your guitar or bass in a live etting or even add some cool filtering to 80s digital synths like a DX7 and then use the resonance to make some horrible (or to me wonderful) ringing textures into a distortion pedal and/or guitar amp

Oh it's super fun for sure. I've run everything through mine at one time or another, but it's no Sherman or Mutator. That said, it's what I have, and I use it constantly. Electrons are great, but in just the last few years analog circuit emulation has really come a long way. I never would have said a plugin could come close in 1997, but Cytomic's filter models especially have made me a believer in what is possible in the box when you don't have something sweeter mounted in your rack.

the DX7 gets a bad rep because of the difficult interface and all the 80s pop tunes that used the electric piano and string presets to death, but its so powerful, chain up an analog filter into a tube guitar amp, put up a mic and let your MIDI sequence play while you record and you will have a completely different beast! you can let it be cold and sterile or you can filter and distort it into murky warmth that doesn't sound like anything else

I think the big misconception is that cold is bad. You can warm up anything with vacuum tubes, analog filters, etc, but sometimes that cold/harsh/digital noise is great. Cold can cut through mixes and be atmospheric in its own right. I love early digital gear, and I'm by no means saying a dx can't be warm on its own either... Warm, cold, fat, punchy, etc. are all just metaphor for emotive tonal qualities.