Advanced Filter Sound Design Tutorial


In this tutorial video Ableton Certified Trainer, Merlyn Silva, shows you 3 crazy uses of the FabFilter Volcano 2 filter plugin.  Discover what makes this effect one of the most advanced filter plugins available.

Introduction to Volcano 2

Volcano 2 has FabFilter’s stellar “what you use is what you see” interface design.  The GUI isn’t cluttered with a bunch of things you won’t use.  It starts clean and simple, then you can add filters using the + buttons.  You can drive the filters using input gain, then tame the levels back down with output gain.

Once you’ve activated more than one filter, you can link them together and rearrange their routings for all kinds of modular mayhem!  You can even add a delay to one side for a widening haas effect.

In the modulation area, you have tons of powerful sources to play with from XLFOs to envelope generators/followers, and even MIDI-triggered options.  This is where the magic really happens in Volcano, due to the extensive modulation options.

FabFilter Volcano 2 Plugin GUI Interface Overview

Creating a Dubstep Driven Filter Bass

Merlyn starts things off by showing how you can create a whompy, modulated dubstep bassline.  He uses the input drive to get some warm, gritty harmonics out of a lowpass filter, then maps in some multi-layered modulation with an envelope generator and velocity responsiveness.

Dubstep Filter Drive Bass Tutorial

Making Scratching FX

Unique special effects are Merlyn’s specialty.  He’s a wizard of sound design, and the creator of our advanced Glitches and Grains Granular Sound Design Course here at Warp Academy: https://warpacademy.com/store/glitches-and-grains-granular-sound-design/

In this example, 2 filters are used (a bandpass and a highpass) with 3 XLFOs in Volcano.  Merlyn uses some complex modulation routings to mangle things up in the most interesting way.  This setup takes a very plain input sound and turns it into a percussive, polyrhythm scratching effect that perfectly compliments the track.

Building LFO Chords

In the third example, you learn how to make some exciting LFO chords.  These go beyond the standard LFO chords you hear in future bass music, and tap into heavy-duty modulation options in Volcano.  2 lowpass filters create the core of the sound, routed to the left and right channels, and then the useful delay function is used to create a wide haas effect.  The whole sound is modulated by an XLFO with a layer of extra modulation from an envelope generator.

LFO Chords Filter Tutorial

Check Out Volcano 2

You can learn more and buy Volcano 2 now in our plugin store here at Warp Academy.

Get FabFilter Volcano 2: https://warpacademy.com/shop/fabfilter-volcano-2-filter-plugin/

Get the FabFilter Total Bundle (Includes All Their Plugins): https://warpacademy.com/shop/fabfilter-total-bundle/
Shop All Plugins: https://warpacademy.com/product-category/shop-plugins/

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