Device Details

Device Overview

Name/Version: Filter Fingers 0.3
Author: CaligulaCuddles  
Description: Filter Fingers is essentially a series of MIDI-controller peak notch filters that you can "play" like a synth. This is the product of afternoon curiosity to implement into something bigger I'm working on, but it's kind of interesting as-is, so I thought I'd share it.

NOTE: To use this, you will need to have the Max MIDI Sender.amxd from the Max Pitch and Time Machines pack on Ableton's site.

WHAT DOES IT EVEN DO?
In short, Filter Fingers is a polyphonic filtering gate. It outputs filtered frequencies based on midi note inputs.

Filter Fingers has eight peak notch filters that are activated by MIDI notes. The first six frequencies are already set (the fundamental pitch of the midi note, followed by a fifth above, an octave, an octave plus a fifth, two octaves, and three octaves), plus two more below that you can set as a multiple of the incoming midi frequency. There is also a Q for each filter to set how wide/narrow you want each filter.

There are two sets of these filters: the "Initial" set and the "Destination" set. This is because the filters will slowly do a crossfade to the second set over the duration of time specified by the "Transition" knob. So, for example, if you want to start with only the fundamental frequency of the MIDI note audible (with the Fund Gain at 1.0 and the Q at 25.0, and all the other gain settings at 0.0) and slowly fade some harmonics in, you can set the gain up on some of the "Destination" filters, and set in a transition time of a couple seconds to create a linear fade where those filters slowly ramp up in gain.

There is also an ADSR for the filters to eliminate clicks and create a fade in/fade out for each "note." Because these filters are polyphonic, you can play multiple notes, and each note will trigger a set of filters based on the pitch of the Midi note you are playing. The function graph near the envelope settings is just to visually illustrate the ADSR envelope.

The final window shows the wet and dry gain levels, with a slider between them which just serves as a sort of post-filter makeup gain slider. I added a low cut filter option in case you're using a qide ! on the fundamental pitch and want to avoid frequencies below the note. There's also a "Scope" button below that, just in case you want to get a crude sense of what the filters are up to. The "Clear" button at the bottom sends a midi flush and poly clear message in case you find yourself dealing with hanging notes.

HOW DO I SEND IT MIDI?
Yeah, this was what I didn't think about when I was making it. Because it's an audio effect, it doesn't take midi directly. Luckily, if you've ever downloaded the M4L Pitch and Time Machines (https://www.ableton.com/en/packs/max-7-pitch-and-time-machines/), you may have noticed a device called "Max MIDI Sender.amxd" in the set of devices. With this, you can reroute midi signals in Ableton by sending the signal to a certain Bus address. I used the scripting from that to allow Filter Fingers to take MIDI info from the first four busses on that device.

Here's what you need to do: Create a MIDI track and add the Max MIDI Sender to the track. Turn on "Send" and select a Bus from 1-4 on the M4L MIDI Sender device. Then put Filter Fingers in an audio track and turn on the "Receive" button and select same number Bus you're using from the MIDI Sender device. Now Midi notes sent to the Max MIDI Sender channel will trigger the filters in the Filter Fingers device. (It's not as complicated as it sounds, trust me.)

You may have to designate a MIDI source in the MIDI channel with the Send device in it, and then turn monitoring on, depending on your workflow. Then play some notes or set up a midi clip of notes in said MIDI channel to send the frequencies to Filter Fingers device in whatever track it's in.

Then, you know, get weird with it and see what happens.

WHATEVER:
I don't know if anyone will even try it out, but if you like it or have questions, feel free to email (deets in my profile) me and I'll try to respond. This will likely be an indefinite beta, but if someone wants to suggest specific ways of cleaning up the code, maybe I'll come back to it.

P.S. Oh, and sorry for the crappy YouTube vid. I just wanted to put up a quick demonstration of how it works with something simple like white noise.
 

Device Details

Downloads: 841
Tags effect, utility, other, beta
Live Version Used: 10.0.1
Max Version Used: 7.3.5
Date Added: Apr 30 2018 00:59:42
Date Last Updated: May 05 2018 01:33:07
Average Rating (2) 5
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Device Type: audio_device
URL (optional): https://youtu.be/EbE8eX4kTBc
License (more info): None

Device Files

Device File: Filter Fingers.amxd
 


Comments

Can't say I've found a good use for this yet, as I just downloaded it, but this is friggin' sweet!

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