MINI REVIEWS
Web sonic-lab.com Format PC/Mac, VST/AU
Boasting one of the most beautiful plugin GUIs we’ve ever seen, PaSSBot is a “stochastic filter bank” in which up to 64 parallel filters are individually adjusted and modulated via a wide array of stochastic functions – ie, “mathematical models of systems and phenomena that appear to vary in a random manner” – and conventional LFO shapes.
Having determined the number of filters to be deployed and their type (Biquad, SVF, Ladder or Resonant; band-pass, low/high-pass or notch), their harmonic distribution can be dialled in manually, set to an ascending ratio (from 0.001 to 3) of the first filter, or snapped to a musical scale based on an imported .scala file. The bank is then brought to life by assigning its collective cutoff, resonance, distribution ratio, panning and gain to one of four modulation generators. There are 14 stochastic functions available to each generator (Poisson, Pascal, Arcsin, Gaussian, etc), and six regular LFO types (Triangle, Sawtooth, Pulse, etc). As well as the hardwired Rate, gain and Smoothing knobs, each stochastic function has one or two unnamed slider-controlled parameters, the effects of which are made obvious by the realtime value display – showing the modulation of the entire filterbank – and the truly magnificent central display, which visualises the frequency, Q and gain of every individual filter.
An acrobatic but unarguably niche sound design tool, PaSSBot seems to specialise in eliciting complex, randomly shifting spectral textures and other-worldly harmonisations from frequency-rich sustained sources, for use as ambiences, FX, drones, noise layers (using the dry/wet mix to balance the input and processed signals) and the like. It can prove effective on rhythmic material, too, but the current lack of host sync holds it back in that area. We’re told that sync is on the way, but for now, this is a totally mental and utterly beguiling turbo-charged filterbank that any experimentally-minded producer needs to try.
n8/ 10n