Unfilter by Zynaptiq: Automatically Reduce Resonances in Your Mixdown

Tutorial | Mon Oct 18 2021 00:00:00 GMT+0000 (Coordinated Universal Time)

In this video, I tried out Unfilter by Zynaptiq and I was surprised by how well it works. I demonstrated how it can be used to reduce resonances and improve the frequency distribution of a drum loop. I also showed how it can be used to tame harmonics and create a more balanced sound. I discussed some of the features that make Unfilter unique, such as the decay setting and the Fletcher Monson curve. I concluded by recommending that viewers try the trial version to see if Unfilter is right for them.

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Questions & Answers #

Maybe you dont watch the video, here are some important takeaways:

What is the Unfilter plugin by Zynaptiq? #

Unfilter is a plugin developed by Zynaptiq that automatically reduces resonances in your mixdown of any audio material. It can also be used to even out the frequency distribution of dull or poorly recorded samples. It has features like a learning memory, a transfer function, a resolution control, a waiting slider, and a limiter.

What are the benefits of using the Unfilter plugin? #

The Unfilter plugin can help to reduce resonances in your mixdown, even out the frequency distribution of dull or poorly recorded samples, and push certain frequencies to make them more pronounced. It also has a limiter to prevent audio signals from going beyond 0 dB.

How does the Unfilter plugin compare to other auto EQ plugins? #

The Unfilter plugin has more control over the processing and analyzing of audio signals than other auto EQ plugins, such as TOT, CoolForce, and DS EQ3. It also has a waiting slider that can switch between a pink noise reference curve and a Fletcher Monson curve, which is more in line with how our ears perceive loudness.

Transcription #

This is what im talking about in this video. The text is transcribed by AI, so it might not be perfect. If you find any mistakes, please let me know.
You can also click on the timestamps to jump to the right part of the video, which should be helpful.

[00:00.000] Hey guys, welcome back to another video. You know that I'm a fan of all these auto EQ plugins
[00:05.760] like TOT or CoolForce or DS EQ3 for instance, that automatically reduce the resonances in your
[00:14.800] mixdown of your auto material. And I came across another plugin that I wasn't aware of that it exists
[00:22.320] and it's called Unfilter by Zynaptiq. And Zynaptiq send me over some licenses to some of their
[00:28.240] products for free, so just as a disclaimer. And I tried out this unfilter and I have to say
[00:36.320] it works pretty well and I want to show you in this video how it works and maybe if it's something
[00:42.000] for you because at the moment it's at sale you can get it basically for cheaper price
[00:49.200] and you know all these Zynaptiq plugins are pretty expensive but they also have a nice quality
[00:55.520] to it. So let's dive in and I'll show you how it works. So here we are in Bitwig Studio. I have
[01:01.200] your classic drum loop on this track and I'll show you how it sounds.
[01:13.840] And you know most of these classic drum loops are pretty dull or not really well recorded or
[01:19.280] sampled and when you want to use it in a modern production you probably want to lay out with maybe
[01:25.520] synthetic drums or other samples and you need more of like a balanced frequency
[01:35.040] distribution of this drum loop. So we can use your unfilter for this.
[01:40.160] This is how it looks like and now we just press play and let the plugin analyze the signal
[01:49.840] and because we have your decay setting at one as you can see here the description says
[01:54.000] set's time length of the learning memory at maximum value nothing is ever forgotten.
[02:00.160] So everything that you feed now into this plugin goes into the analyzing section and will be
[02:06.400] yeah showed in the transfer function. So let's so the transfer function basically shows that
[02:24.640] we have a lot of content here in the low end and this will then be countered by the plugin itself
[02:30.800] when we increase the intensity slider. This is obviously too much.
[02:42.960] So this is without and with.
[02:56.400] So you can hear the difference pretty clearly. There's also here this waiting slider which
[03:17.440] kind of switches between zero which means we have a curve of pink noise or the reference
[03:24.640] curve is pink noise and we can go here to one which then applies the curve of the fledger
[03:31.280] monsoon curve which is more or less the curve of our ears how our ears perceive different sounds
[03:40.720] at different loudness levels. You can look it up on Wikipedia there's a better explanation for
[03:45.440] this but basically this is technically flat at zero and at one we have more like you know how our
[03:54.400] ears perceive loudness better. So it's more like that you have the low end and the high end more
[04:00.560] pronounced and not so the middle and you can see this also here in the output curve when I go down
[04:06.240] to zero from one. You can see here there's a small little gap and we have pronounced high end
[04:17.440] and low end here when I go down to zero it gets pretty flat.
[04:25.280] If you go here down to in the negative range you can amplify the problem the problematic
[04:37.840] resonances basically which can be also sometimes helpful when you want to maybe amplify the bass drum
[04:46.240] or you know the the picking resonances. So you maybe don't need to layer some synthetic drums
[04:57.280] to a classic drum break you can just make a second version of this drum loop and go here with the
[05:03.680] unfilter go to minus one and then layer it back together with the original sound.
[05:19.120] We have also your resolution where we can change the resolution of our
[05:23.040] analyzing part I think and also your smoothing for the transfer function.
[05:40.640] In this example you have the unfilter plug-in on a whole track. So this is how the track sounds
[05:47.840] without unfilter and now with
[06:17.840] a switch between bypass and unpipass.
[06:48.240] And here we have some kind of dubstep bass line which has a lot of upper harmonics and maybe
[07:02.960] it's also used for on this one. So let's analyze here this part.
[07:20.400] So you also unfilter can help to you know tame some of the frequencies of your bass
[07:35.280] overtones you know when you have a lot of distortion on there maybe use an acute push certain
[07:40.800] frequencies. So this can help to even out the signal a bit more or better or easier.
[07:48.160] There's also here a limiter in this plug-in so when some of these frequencies are pushing too hard
[07:55.200] you push into a limiter so you get always an audio signal out that never goes beyond zero dB.
[08:05.680] So you can switch the limiter off if you want to and yeah that's nice to know and sometimes
[08:12.240] it's pretty up for actually. So you have some kind of downbeat or you know a low-fi track I don't
[08:19.280] know what what to call it but there's a guitar in it maybe that's yeah spreading some harmonics too
[08:26.480] much so you can use unfilter here to tame the guitar a bit so this is how it sounds originally.
[08:56.960] so the big question is now is this better or worse than good force or a DSEQ or TOT?
[09:24.480] I haven't tried it out for too long now just one day basically but I would say there are some
[09:32.720] differences in how it sounds. I think you have to like the sound or you have to find the plug-in
[09:38.960] with the right sound for you so try out the demo version or the trial version apply to different
[09:44.560] signals or you are usual maybe songs or mix-downs and try if you find it useful for your workflow or
[09:53.520] for your sound. I really like with this unfilter plug-in that you have more control over how the
[10:00.080] processing is applied and how the analyzing part works for instance you have this decay setting
[10:05.600] and you can switch the learning process completely off if you want to and also that you can
[10:12.560] dial in the Fletcher Monson curve and dial it out and go back to pink noise reference curve
[10:17.600] something like this is pretty nice to have but I have to play around more with it I just want to
[10:23.280] show you this I know the plug-in is pretty old I think it's around for 10 years or 8 years or
[10:29.440] something like this but it's still useful and it works and it's currently on sale so I want to
[10:36.960] show you this plug-in maybe try it out try the trial version and yeah see if it works for you
[10:44.080] that's it for this video thanks for watching please see if I like if you like the video please
[10:48.000] hit the comment if you have some questions and I'll see you in the next video thanks for watching and bye