Valve Filter VF-1 is an audio plugin for emulating a vintage valve resonant multimode filter. Nothing new therefore, but an alternative to the numerous tools of this type offered at a decidedly attractive price. I asked two musician friends, both of electronic background but engaged in profoundly different contexts, to try this software trying to understand if and how much it can really improve the success of a production. Antonio Campeglia 
Francis Margaret I don't do audio professionally, but electronic music and drums have always been my passion. When I first listened to the sound of this plugin on Antonio's recommendation, I immediately had the feeling that it had "the dough" that I have always looked for in a filter and that I almost never managed to get with the plugins I use usually. My music, a mixture of dubstep and ambient / rock, is not among the easiest to digest, therefore the greatest user of my compositions remains for the moment me, consuming a large amount in the morning, facing the daily battle in the train that takes me downtown, to new and incredible adventures. Two things about the Valve Filter Normally the automations in the first releases work very badly, yet here I was able to do everything without even having to attack my faithful UC33 Evolution. What excited me the most about this tube filter was the combined use of the tube emulation drive and the filter resonance, especially the latter, which even in hardware machines is the weak point compared to analog. Really not bad! sequencing For this test I used Ableton Live 9, my favorite DAW, because it easily allows automations and especially midi mapping, although there was no need here because I did everything on my MacBook Pro without even using the mouse. I used the sequencer, not the bricks or “slots” as they are called, automating all the parameters of the filter “by hand” with the trackpad of the mac. I put it all together in under 30 minutes, going slow. Easy as singing Bob Marley in the shower.
The test I loaded a classic drum n bass loop onto an Ableton track, played straight and free range, and programmed a bass with Massive; on both I opened the Valve Filter by combining it with “The finger” on the drum track. I like The finger a lot because it makes the idea that every sound can be a “universe”, that is to say expanding in all directions but with a single direction. In the 40 seconds or so I put together for this review the Valve Filter opens at the beginning and closes at the end with respect to the drums, while as for the synth it distorts and squeezes at the beginning and then opens generous and warm with the simulation of the valves on the final part. Assessment Should I tell you if I liked it? Absolutely yes!! Very easy to use, it responds very well on Ableton Live 9 but I also believe on any DAW. The sound of the filter is warm, rich, the response is extremely present and accurate, the show is definitely worth the price of the ticket. Then of course, I made the demo, so you will find it terrifying, but after all, not everyone can like it as long as I like it 😉
Pasquale Tarricone I must admit that when dealing with vintage and in particular with tubes, I always fall into a state of depression / frustration, due to my nature as a digital native mixed with an unconfessed desire to own any analog instrument. Therefore, being deeply ignorant on the subject, I tried to understand what use can be made of this plugin regardless of the type of technology it wants to emulate and without attempting comparisons with the real devices from which the model is taken (in this case a valve Telephone calls ECC83).
The plugin is of a disarming simplicity, cut off, resonance and selector hipass/lopass as regards the filter section and on / off, drive, bias and triode / pentode selector as regards the valve section. Leaving the filter alone for a moment, describing the sound of a tube is no easy feat. Taking advantage of the fact that in these days I am completing a synth-pop makeover (let's say hot electronic now so fashionable) of a song by my electropunk-acid-postgrunge group 😉 I decided to use this project to carry out my tests. First of all I tried, using exclusively tube emulation, to add warmth to the track that seemed to need it most: the synth bass. A take made with FM8 on host Reaper, to which I added the VF-1 plugin between equalization and compression: leaving the filter inactive I turned on the valve in “pentode” mode trying to perceive the impact in the mix. I immediately noticed a slight increase in sound pressure induced by the operation of the plugin, but in reality it was not a simple increase in volume. Even keeping the drive at zero, I felt a nice thickening of the synth sonic paste so that by very little repositioning the track fader, the bass immediately re-entered the mix with something more, with a more lively and bright presence. A hint of drive made me reach a sound that I didn't mind, an FM electronic bass with a warm and pungent presence. By cranking the drive higher, the distortion continued to be nice and balanced, but artistically, it moved the bass out of context. Having completed this first experiment with satisfaction, I felt it was my duty to subject another track from the same project to the same treatment: a synth with arpeggiator (Sylenth1) that was decidedly invasive and protagonist. In this case, a more convinced opening of the drive has provided to add more character to the synth already overbearing, giving it a better mel mix presence even if absolutely not devastating. Playing with the selector triode/pentode with the drive off, I must admit that I did not notice any significant differences, while at more sustained drive levels the difference becomes perceptible, in favor of a fatter and deeper sound in triode mode and drier and brighter on the mids in pentode mode. Working on the bias parameter, the sound seems to move far back on the three-dimensional plane, extending itself on a progressive widening of the stereophonic front.
At this point the temptation to make the filter intervene on this track has become irresistible and so on midi learn I assigned cutoff and resonance to two knobs of theAkai MPD32. Playing to open and close the low-pass filter naturally makes the performance of the arpeggio more lively, although inevitably more dance oriented. Especially at low cutoff values, the intervention of the filter was appreciated for the precision and naturalness with which it acted on the timbre without ever distorting it. But the most vulgar of the "sweppate" you know, must be made on the pads, and then taking advantage of a more empty point of the arrangement, where a synthstrings made with Malstrom (Reason5) reigns undisturbed, here I started the automation ranging with the cutoff values from approx 70Hz until almost 12.000Hz with the fixed resonance at about 10db. A classic "suspense" effect that, however abused, always exerts its charm on the listener. The VF-1 it sounds pretty good even though I honestly believe that making the same automation directly on the Malstrom filter would have offered equally good results. The added value of this plugin is precisely that of being able to combine together the classic tube saturation and the resonance of a multimode filter. The high-pass mode is equally impeccable, and especially on the drum parts it allows you to move with vivacity those rhythmic loops that are usually used to support the basic rhythm. Very interesting to play with the high pass bringing the cutoff to the limit of 16Khz with high resonance values. The plugin can of course also be used on acoustic and vocal tracks. Personally I don't like to dirty the voices with filters because the resulting effect is too predictable and obvious. Also the use of the valve on the voices did not particularly impress me as you get better results with plugins based on psychoacoustic algorithms. In all cases the sound produced by this software is always of the highest quality and only at high distortion values can it start to be slightly artifact. To add the availability of 9 preset and the ability to save new ones. The only negative note to note is that the plugin does not work if the C ++ libraries are not present on the system. The check is not carried out during installation and therefore there is no signal. I had to struggle to understand, through a sporadic message from Reaper, that the msvcp110.dll file was missing
To conclude, the filter does not offer anything that a modern DAW probably does not already have, but at a very attractive price it offers an alternative timbre that never hurts and above all offers the combination in a single instrument, of a resonant filter and an emulator of valve. The parameters, few but good, are all perfectly automatable without any difficulty therefore the creative use of the tool depends, as usual, only on our imagination.
Valve Filter VF-1 is an audio plug-in dedicated to the emulation of a multimode resonant filter with vintage valve emulation. Nothing new, but it could be a good alternative to other plug-ins on the market, at a really interesting price. I asked two fellow electronic musicians, active in really different fields, to test the software trying to understand if and how they can improve the quality of a music production. Antonio Campeglia
Francis Margaret 'm not a professional musician, but I always had two passions: electronic music and drums. When Antonio asked me to have a listen to this plug-in, I suddenly realized that it was the “sound” I've been looking for in a filter and never achieved with my usual plug-ins. My music, a mix of dubstep and ambient/rock, is not an easy listening, therefore I am the main user of my compositions. About Valve Filter The automations on early versions of plug-ins are usually buggy, but even on the beta version of Valve Filter, everything was flawless and I didn't even have to use my loyal UC33 Evolution. What really excited me about this valve filter is the combination of the drive from the valve emulation and the Resonance, which can easily be the weakness of hardware units. Not bad at all! sequencing For this test I used my favorite DAW, Ableton Live 9, because it makes really easy to automate and midi mapping all the parameters. I used the sequencer automating all the parameters by hand using my Macbook Pro trackpad. I assembled the track in less than 30 minutes, taking my time. As easy as singing Bob Marley in the shower.
the test I dragged a classic and straight drum n bass loop onto one of the Ableton Live tracks, and programmed a bass line with Massive; I used the filter on both using it in combination with “The finger” on the drums track. I really like The finger because it can transform every sound into a “universe”, expanding in all dimensions but a common direction. On the demo track that I composed for this test, the filter opens at the beginning and then closes at the end with the drums. For the synth line instead it starts by distorting it at the beginning and then becoming softer and warmer with the valve emulation on the last bits. consideration Should I say if I like it? Absolutely! Easy to use, worked perfectly with Ableton Live 9 and I'm sure will work on any other DAW. The filter is really worm, rich, and the response is really accurate. It's really worth the price. Then of course, since I did the demo, you are going to find it terrifying. You can't please everyone… what matters is that I like it 😉
Pasquale TarriconeI have to admit that, due to the nature of my digital background mixed with unconfessed desire to own any analog instrument, I usually feel depressed/frustrated when I deal with vintage equipment like valves. Therefore, being ignorant on the subject, I tried to understand what you can do with this plug-in regardless of the type of technology that emulates and without comparisons with real devices that inspired it (in this case a Telefunken ECC83 valve). The plugin is really simple, cutoff, resonance and highpass/lowpass selector for the filter section and on/off switch, drive, bias and triode/pentode switch section for the valve. Leaving the filter aside for a moment, describing the sound of a valve is not an exactly easy. Taking advantage of the fact that these days I'm finishing a synth-pop remake (let's say “hot” electronic, so fashionable today) of a track of my electropunk-acid-postgrunge group 😉 I just decided to use this project to do my tests. I first tried using only the tube emulation to add warmth to the track that I felt needed it most: the synth bass. A take recorded with FM8 in Reaper, to which I added the plugin VF-1 between EQ and compression: leaving the filter inactive I turned on the valve in “pentode” trying to feel the impact in the mix. I noticed a slight increase in sound pressure induced by the plugin, but in reality it wasn't just an increase in volume. Even with the drive set to zero, I felt a pleasant thickening in the sound of the synth so that by adjusting the fader of that track, the bass was immediately back in the mix with a little more, with a more brilliant presence. Just a bit of drive made me get to a better sound, a classic electronic FM bass with a warm presence. Rising the drive, the distortion continued to be pleasant and balanced, but from an artistic point of view, it moved the sound out of the mix. After completing this first experiment with satisfaction, I felt compelled to submit another track from the same project to the same treatment: a synthesizer with arpeggiator (Sylenth1) definitely invasive and protagonist. In this case, opening the drive more, added more character to the synth, giving it a better presence in the mix. Playing with the triode/pentode switch with the drive off, I have to admit that I didn't notice significant differences, whereas at higher drive values, the difference becomes noticeable, with a fatter and deep sound in triode mode, and a more dry and bright in pentode mode. Working on the bias parameter the sound seems to go back in the mix. At this point the temptation to use the filter on this track has become irresistible and so I assigned both cutoff and resonance via midi learn to the Akai MPD32. Playing with the low-pass filter makes the arpeggio more live, though inevitably more dance oriented. Especially at low values of the cutoff, the filter acts natural and accurate without altering the timbre. But you know that the usual “sweep” should be made on pads. So taking advantage of a quiet point in the arrangement, where I placed a synth-strings sound made with Malstrom (Reason5), I started an automation with the cutoff values from about 70Hz up to 12000Hz, with the resonance fixed at about 10dB. A classic “suspense” effect that always exerts its charm on the listener. The VF-1 sounds pretty well although I honestly think that accomplishing the same automation directly on Malstrom's filter would provide good results as well. The added value of this plugin is just to be able to combine the classic tube saturation with the resonance of a multimode filter. The high-pass mode is also impeccable, and especially on drums it lets you add liveliness to those rhythmic loops that are usually used in support of the base rhythmic. It's very interesting moving the high-pass cutoff to the limit of 16kHz with high values of resonance. Of course the plugin can also be used on acoustic and voice tracks. Personally I do not like to use filters on the voice because the effect is too predictable and obvious. Even the use of the valve on the voice didn't impress me, as you get better results with a plugin based on psychoacoustic algorithms. In all cases, the sound produced by this software is always of the highest quality and only at high values of distortion can start to be slightly artifact. A nice extra is the availability of 9 factory presets and the ability to save new ones. The only downside worth mentioning is that the plug-in does not work on your system if there are no C++ libraries (especially the file msvcp110.dll). In conclusion, the filter does not offer anything you probably don't already have in a modern DAW, but at a very attractive price offers an alternative sound that never hurts, and in particular offers the combination of a resonant filter and a valve emulator in a single effect. The parameters, few but good, can be all perfectly automated, therefore, the creative use of the effect is limited, as usual, only by our imagination.
