Subtractive Synths - Comparing Filters

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The filter section is ultimately responsible for shaping the sound (the oscillators) in the most significant way. That being said with more modern instruments there will be other special effects or features that may play a bigger role in the sounds final timbre than the filter and its movement.

Subtractive synthesis gets its name because of the filters. The idea is you build up a rich and dense waveform and use the filter (often in conjunction with an envelope or LFO modulating the cutoff) to subtract some of the frequencies away over time. In this lesson we’ll analyze the filter sections in a variety of instruments and talk about how and why one low pass (or any shape) filter on a synth sounds different to another low pass on another synth.