THE ORB CM
Get to grips with your free AudioThing filter plugin
With a whole raft of innovative virtual instruments and effects plugins under their belt, DSP whizzkids AudioThing have proven themselves to be one of the most prolific and reliable software developers around today. They’ve already provided
readers with the hotter-than-hot ValveFilter CM, and the chiptune-tastic miniBit CM synth, and now it’s time for a third excellent AudioThing plugin.
Enter The Orb CM, an other-worldly filter effect (VST, AU) that’s totally different to your run-of-the-mill low- or high-pass filter. The plugin uses a bank of three band-pass filters to emulate the unique sonic resonances (ie, formants) imparted by the human mouth and vocal tract. By dragging the centre dot around the plugin’s main central ‘orb’, and dividing it into five different vowel settings, you can make any signal ‘talk’ in a distinctive, synthetic way – perfect for anything from subtle modulation and motion through to creative sound design. Check out our tutorial and watch the accompanying video to get to grips with this futuristic filter.
If you like The Orb CM’s vowel-like filtering, go and grab its bigger brother, The Orb (€49). The full-fat version features a trio of modulating LFOs to give the signal movement, independent levelling of the individual vowel filters, Drift adjustment for shifting the formant frequencies, an onboard preset system, and much more. And while you’re at it, be sure to check out AudioThing’s other terrific instruments plugins and effects processors, such as the newlyreleased Outer Verb spring reverb (€39); the out-there Space Strip multieffect (€55); and the awesome convolution plugin Fog Convolver (€65). www.audiothing.net