S216 Moving Fixed Filter Bank

Product Description

 

(This module is included in the System B)

 

A typical fixed filter bank consists of multiple band pass filters placed in parallel (mixed) with fixed cutoff (middle) frequencies. Restricting the cutoff frequencies to those fixed values is what gives each filter bank its own distinctive character. Which focuses the musicians and sound designer results into a certain category of sounds that are very different than the usual filter sweeps.

 

The S216 is a fixed filter bank that gives the musician the choice to MOVE those fixed frequencies in a quick and yet fixed way without filter sweeps. In otherwords, the S216 is simply many many fixed filter banks put in one module. Precisely, 121 filter banks!!.

 

The S216 has 12 band pass filters each with amplitude knob and mute button. The fixed cutoffs can be moved using the base and separation knobs. The base controls the cutoff of the 1st band pass. The base ranges from 50Hz to 100Hz in steps of 5Hz. The separation is a multiplier that controls the difference between each band and the next one which ranges from x1.619 to x4. So for example, if you put the base at say 55Hz and separation at the maximum x4 (2 octaves). The second band cutoff will be at 55×4 = 220Hz. The 3rd band at 220×4 = 880Hz. 4th at 880×4 = 3520Hz and so on.

 

Tip: When separation is put at 11o’clock. The multiplier will be exactly x2. This is useful if you want the band cutoffs to be 1 octave apart.

 

The slope knob controls the slope of the filters with choices of 12db/oct, 24db/oct, 36db/oct and 48db/oct. Notice that the 3 first choices have 2 options indicated by a yellow marking on the knob. The lower option gives lower resonance amount than the higher option.

 

There are 3 inputs in the S216 labeled Low in, Mid in and High in. The Low in goes to the low 4 band pass filters. The Mid in goes to the mid 4 band pass filters. The High in goes to the high. High In is normaled to Mid in which is in turn normaled to Low in. This means that if High In wasn’t patched to a cable, it will take it’s signal from Mid in and if Mid In wasn’t patched to a cable, it will take it’s signal from Low in.

 

A unique feature of the S216 is it’s ability to modulate the amplitude of each band in what we call a “train trailer” fashion using only one modulation CV input!!. The module has an internal delay line that smoothly stores and applies the modulation to each band while delaying each band modulation by an increasing delay time dialed by the time knob. This can create synced and unsynced effects that otherwise require tedious manual modulation of each band by different CV. The time knob goes upto 6 seconds of delay storage. This feature is easier tried than explained. Furthermore, a sync switch is provided that will disable the time knob and automatically detect the full cycle time of the CV input. In this case, the CV input has to be repeating like an a LFO for example.

 

When the stereo knob is at maximum. Half of the bands will be routed to the left output and the other half to the right in an alternating fashion. So that bands 1,3,5,7,9,11 will be routed to the left output. And bands 2,4,6,8,10,12 will be routed to the right output. When the stereo knob is at minimum (mono), all bands are routed to both left and right.

 

Additionally, each of the 12 band pass filters is also sent to it’s separate send output patch point for you to process separately as you wish.