Studio Electronics Boomstar - Manual (Page 29)

Studio Electronics Boomstar Manual 25 Filter Talkers
8
FILTER TALKERS
8.1 Bace ([email protected])
MOOG: Creamy with great definition in the lower registers.
303: Mid range pronounced with clean clear resonance—squelchy.
ARP: Similar to Moog but less creamy and more grit—woolly.
SEM: Powerful mids. Not as deep as Moog but round and punchy, sinuous—searing.
8.2 Drew Neumann ([email protected])
The biggest differences between these filters are noticeable at higher resonance settings—that’s where most filters
reveal their character, but there’s more:
The
Moog ladder has wonderful overdrive into the filter, wide-ranging resonance, (which does reduce gain a little bit
as resonance is increased) and a sharp -24db slope. Warm and fat.
The
303 is similar to the ladder, but one of the stages uses a different capacitor, and the resonance is chirpy and
mainly available in higher frequencies. It’s a bit buzzier than the Moog, and the cutoff slope isn’t quite as sharp. Acidy
is right.
The
ARP filter is an integrator cascade—resonance is available over the entire range, and is quite pure sounding
(sine going to nearly triangle waves as it overdrives) which is why I like using the 4075 for deep drum and percussion
sounds. It’s dry sounding and organic, also great for very ethereal and rubbery sounds. It’s -24db, but not quite as
crisp in the high end as the ladder based designs. That’s normal...
The SEM filter is OTA based, and is -12db/octave. It is also a multi mode filter (highpass, lowpass, bandpass, notch,
and various mixes in between). It’s ballsy, crisp and clear, and gain actually increases with resonance, but the filter
will not go all the way to oscillation at high settings (due to parts tolerances, some might—but not all).
The CS80 filter pair is bright and buzzy, with a gently rolling cutoff slope, and really comes to life at higher resonance
settings. They are a resonant lowpass and a resonant highpass filter cascaded in series, which allows you to create
interesting vocal formant-type sounds. The sound is almost like a voltage-controlled sweepable parametric EQ.
Resonance on the CS80 never reaches self-oscillation, which is probably good because it would harm speakers,
neighbors, children and pets if it did.
In the SE80 , add to this the overdrive, feedback and distortion capabilities, and you’ll be on a wild ride. Don’t forget
to take breaks from it to eat, drink, or sleep.
If you’re into Olympic skating, you really can’t go wrong with the SE80 Boomstar from Studio Electronics. It has all the quirky squirrelly vocal charm of the original without the kind
of weight problems that have ended many a skater’s careers. Sure, you can go spend $10,000 on a used, broken or poorly serviced example of the original, load it up on your sled
and try to haul its 220 lbs over that ice pond you’ve been using for triple Lutz practice. You’d fall through the ice, dam-it. YOU’D DIE!! DON’T DO IT!!! Get a Boomstar instead!