# One Of Those Funny Little Things... - Site: Analog Industries - Author: Chris Randall - Date: 2008-05-30 - URL: https://analogindustries.com/2008/05/one-of-those-funny-little-things/ I'd sing Dylan's "The Times They Are A-Changin'" now if I wasn't busy sobbing in my morning caffeine-laced beverage. One of the features of Kombinat (and Dr. Device which birthed it) is the fact that the filter self-oscillates, like a "real" analog four-pole lowpass. Now, I'll grant that this isn't the most useful thing in the world, and was really just a way to show off a bit, because it is hard to do in software. I had a feeling that this would cause a bit of consternation because so few software filters resonate on their own, so we inserted a special mention of this fact in the Kombinat manual: _...this filter can self-oscillate at high resonance, resulting in a tone, with the pitch determined by the setting of the frequency knob. This is not common in software-based filters, and may surprise you the first time you hear it._ I thought this perhaps unnecessary and overcautious, but as it turns out, I was right. (And let me tell you, I'm never shocked by that occurance, nosiree!!!) I got an email last night from someone that bought Kombinat that thought the filter was broken because it was emitting a tone when the resonance was all the way up. And yes, that thump you heard was the sound of my forehead banging on the corner of my desk. This, in and of itself, is not that big a deal, but it brings to light a greater question: how much does the software we use inform our creative methods? I know that I've entirely got out of the habit of key gating and sidechain compressing as a result of using Cubendo for several years, and these were both effects I commonly used when in a "real" studio. I'm sure if I thought about it, I could come up with other examples. Is there something you're drastically missing as a result of the Big Switch from 2" tape to DAWs? (And as an aside, if one of my dear readers speaks native German and fully comprehends why a filter that self-oscillates isn't a bad thing, could you [drop me a line](mailto:chris@audiodamage.com); there is a serious language barrier with this particular customer, and I'm having a hard time explaining to him why it isn't actually broken.) **EDIT:** Never mind with the German stuff. My friend [Ned](http://www.stromkern.com/) hooked me up. ## Comments (10) **boobs** (2008-05-30): tell the guy to go read the german version of the manual for the waldorf pulse or something.. i'm sure it mentions something in there about filters self oscillating. **beauty pill** (2008-05-30): The thing I miss from the Analog Days is how easy it was to do things in parallel without thinking about timing/phase issues. You could run a heavy compressor and a non-compressed signal alongside each other and get a badass result. In DAW-land, you have to think about it and, even with delay compensation, you always feel like you're getting some weird comb effects when you do parallel treatments. Pro Tools HD supposedly addresses this but I dunno... still sounds weird to me. Mixing analog was a joy for that reason. You didn't have to THINK about stuff like that. You just did it and it either worked or it didn't. I'm really sounding like boring thritysomething guy now. If you're in your twenties you have no memory of that stuff, you only know what's happening now. So you don't miss it. - c **noisegeek** (2008-05-30): I miss the hands-on aspect of the creative process that came with using physical tools. I don't mean hands-on in the usual "I want knobs to twist" sense, but rather a more abusive sense. As an example: running a signal though a cheap spring-reverb and tapping the enclosure to add move vibration. **sszzeepp** (2008-05-30): I love the fact that your filters self-oscillates. Not many software filters do that. I haven't had the chance yet to mess with Kombinat's self-oscillation and the distortions yet, but I'll bet it's fun, maybe as cool as Dr. Device's wild sounds. If anyone else feels as I do, Olga is a great software synth with a wicked self-oscillating filter. **tremorcore** (2008-05-30): i miss striping track 4 of the maxell cassette sitting in my tascam porta-studio with smart FSK so that my ensoniq eps 16+'s sequencer could follow along. i don't really miss that. but i was/still am amazed how well it worked. **synthetic** (2008-05-30): I'm sure a lot of people have only used software and never encountered a self-oscillating filter before. Those people need to put down the mouse, get out of the house and LIVE! **noisegeek** (2008-05-30): By the way, Surge from Vember Audio has self oscillating filters **mad ep** (2008-05-30): "how much does the software we use inform our creative methods?" for me- almost entirely, but i don't necessarily view this as being a bad thing. i was trained in old school studios, but in many ways, those skills and practices don't crossover to my digital work at all. on the one hand, of course- the theory and foundation of understanding compression, gating, phasing, mixing, etc etc gave me a grasp on what these tools do and why they are used... but on the other hand- a lot of those practices (in the specific way they are applied) don't completely translate into the land of daws and plugs. for instance- my recording chops are sloppy, cos i usually record live instruments as dry and pure as possible so that i can do all of my coloring and imaging at a later stage to fit with everything else. to me- even though there are many shared principals between the two- they are still completely different artforms... the same way that drawing and painting are similar in some techniques, but yet each their own distinctive craft. i exploit both the strengths & weaknesses of exclusively digital workstations, and don't try to do the same as i would do in an analog studio (and vice versa). **Downpressor** (2008-05-30): I can say for darn sure what I dont miss from the days of tape, editing with razor blades and the inevitable bloodshed which accompanies it. **boobs** (2008-05-30): i had access to a really great studio for a few years (worked there doing pretty much anything/everything at one time or another) and what i miss is the ergonomics and having a really nice TT patchbay and loads of pro highend & vintage outboard + a really nice acoustically great room. i don't miss long rewinds, egos, bad bands etc. never having had any of that stuff in my personal set up so it's hard to really miss it though i'd love a TT patchbay and custom cabling and a tech to install it all for me.. though w/the various dsub friendly patchbays out there i imagine it's much more possible for me to do myself if i decide the bite the bullet and take apart/put back together my studio. so, tape? miss it? not really.. i'm too lazy to miss it. and a studer would be a real bitch to get down into the basement. those things are heavy.