Wait so sens is the "filter amount" not an input amplitude threshold?
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Iron Ether Appreciation Society
- Thread starter Jared Lash
- Start date
Here's what the manual says:
Sensitivity knob: Controls how much the
playing dynamics will sweep the filter
cutoff; all the way counter-clockwise will
turn the envelope follower off completely,
so the filter is controlled only by the Freq
knob and expression pedal.
The effect to my ears has always been that with a higher sens, the envelope goes much wider with less effort....I guess that makes it kind of like the EG Amount knob on a synth?playing dynamics will sweep the filter
cutoff; all the way counter-clockwise will
turn the envelope follower off completely,
so the filter is controlled only by the Freq
knob and expression pedal.
Jus
Hope this helps along with the other good advice so far.
Just to add, try starting with Freq and Res at 9 or 10 o’clock and Sens at the starting point, 7 o’clock or so. Dry volume knob fairly low as well, at least less than the Filter volume. Make sure your tone knob on your bass is fully open or your treble knob is not cutting much high end. Start playing and SLOWLY turn the Sens knob up until it starts to open and then move it in very small amounts until you get the opening and closing you desire. Fast sweep, Up and either 2- or 4-pole as you wish. — for nice solo sound add a fuzz in front and turn the freq knob more clockwise and adjust the Sens as needed. To me the Sens is the most important. I don’t want the filter to open too fast or too much a lot of time so I dial it back.
Hope this helps along with the other good advice so far.
Taylor Livingston
Commercial User
Maybe some day I need to make some sort of animated interactive thingy to explain this stuff. I think the difficulty is that so many filter pedals and their manuals use language that, to me, is confusing or not even accurate, and maybe people coming from those other pedals have their perception of how these things work informed by that. Like to me "filter amount" could mean the volume of the signal coming from the filter, or it could mean the cutoff frequency (as in, "the amount of signal getting filtered") or other things, none of which are really related, so I would consider that a bad naming convention. I don't know which if any filter pedals use that term so I am not dissing anybody else's product here.
The XD has an envelope follower which generates a control signal that is added to the Frequency knob and the expression pedal. That control signal starts at 0 and goes higher (or lower in Down mode) when the signal volume going to the XD is louder. The Sens(itivity) knob controls the level of the signal going into the envelope follower. For most purposes, this is equivalent to a knob that would turn down the level of the control signal coming from the envelope follower section, but it's a little more versatile for dealing with instruments that have low output (single coil guitars) or extra high outputs.
I think most of the time when someone tries to copy specific knob settings with one instrument and gets different results than someone else, it's because the signal level, both overall, and the dynamic range from loudest peaks to quietest sustains, is very different from one player, and one bass, to the next. That's why I stopped putting example settings in the XD manual.
For more of a TL: DR, I agree with @jschulman's description that you can think of Freq as the starting point and Sens as how high (or low) the cutoff goes from there.
The main difference between a pedal like this and the EG amount on a synth is that on a synth (barring velocity, etc), the filter will always sweep precisely from one frequency to another. No more, no less. The FMeron's triggered envelope works that way. Whereas on the XD, the Sens can't exactly set the max frequency because that's always going to vary based on how hard you pluck the string.
The XD has an envelope follower which generates a control signal that is added to the Frequency knob and the expression pedal. That control signal starts at 0 and goes higher (or lower in Down mode) when the signal volume going to the XD is louder. The Sens(itivity) knob controls the level of the signal going into the envelope follower. For most purposes, this is equivalent to a knob that would turn down the level of the control signal coming from the envelope follower section, but it's a little more versatile for dealing with instruments that have low output (single coil guitars) or extra high outputs.
I think most of the time when someone tries to copy specific knob settings with one instrument and gets different results than someone else, it's because the signal level, both overall, and the dynamic range from loudest peaks to quietest sustains, is very different from one player, and one bass, to the next. That's why I stopped putting example settings in the XD manual.
For more of a TL: DR, I agree with @jschulman's description that you can think of Freq as the starting point and Sens as how high (or low) the cutoff goes from there.
The main difference between a pedal like this and the EG amount on a synth is that on a synth (barring velocity, etc), the filter will always sweep precisely from one frequency to another. No more, no less. The FMeron's triggered envelope works that way. Whereas on the XD, the Sens can't exactly set the max frequency because that's always going to vary based on how hard you pluck the string.
Thanks so much everyone. I know answers have been posted before (I have them bookmarked), so sorry for the repeats. I actually just picked up a book on subtractive synthesis to better understand what these types of pedals are capable of doing and the terminology involved (definitely meant EG Amount above, not Filter Amount), which to Taylor's point can be vague or inconsistent. I'm starting to realize this might be due to each builder's baked-in ADSR values for example, and how real-world variations in strings, input signal, technique, etc. are handled. Anyway, appreciate the guidance and insights!
What book did you find? I'm always looking for good reads to help understand this stuff better too.
Keep in mind that synth builders don't necessarily stay consistent when naming controls. Even different synths by the same builder. For example, the Korg MS20 has a "Modulation Generator", while the Korg MS2000 has a "Low Frequency Oscillator". They both do essentially the same thing. If you're experienced with subtractive synth then you'll probably figure this out quickly, but someone new to all this might be confused.
I know you didn’t ask me but I’ve found the Moog manuals to be quite helpful in their descriptions. Also, on the Sound on Sound website there is an archive of a massive amount of articles on synthesis located in one place. Good luck!
heres the link: https://www.soundonsound.com/series/synth-secrets-sound-sound
Oh yeah, I love this series! I always forget about it, dig into an article or two, then forget about it again. Thanks for posting!
This is a good point to keep in mind, and a great example of my main motivation--understand functionality without getting bogged down in nameology.
I've started How to Program Any Synthesizer by Hewitt as a (very) gentle intro based on recco from the C4 thread. And ditto on the sound on sound series. Just the right level of geekery: medium spicy, eg, can mention Bessel functions without having to write them out
Thank you. I'm still learning the XD, moving it up the signal chain tonight as too much changes the input level if I put it after too many other pedals. I've found the most useful tip for myself is, to be able to pluck (pretty accurately) and adjust the sens and freq at the same time, as you can really hear the trigger behavior that way when it changes. Before, I got a real workout bending down and twisting the controls constantly attempting to nail that sweet spot.
The expression operation (with exp pedal) is a little more complex and taking some time to figure out. I have a pedal I can adjust the range and dept of control, so that helps, but it can get confusing
This was actually a huge help - as was realizing the filter knob actually controls the volume. I hang my head in shame for that oversight... sat for awhile this morning and I'm starting to get some lovely sounds out of the box.
Next up, learn to use the DubT more effectively...
Nothing to be ashamed about! It feels great when it finally clicks, and you nail that filter sound you've been chasing. I haven't yet heard a better filter than the Xero.
Congrats! I just got one and it’s not leaving my board.
2 Xero's, FMeron, Polytope and Subt in the classifieds. Not affiliated
