For this particular sound, I actually prefer the higher resonance settings and a longer filter range travel because this gives it a spiralling, bordering on self‑oscillating quality, and when combined with some blooming shimmer reverb, it will create some really special sustaining pads. You can also get some pretty psychedelic ambient textures by running the filter into a long tape delay and a deep shimmer reverb. If your mothership lands on planet Funkatron and you dont have a great envelope filter, itll be a while before your tone blasts off.

This creates the illusion of your delay trails gradually transforming from analogue to digital. When you play a chord, the filter will close and then slowly begin to open up. A subtler textural use is to place the filter after a digital delay. Restricting the filter range will also help with keeping the tone reined in. This makes it great for more stabby old‑school bass synth sounds when combined with an octaver and a ferocious fuzz before it and some warm analogue delay after it.Īgain, it’s important to keep the resonance on the filter down as this will keep the sound tighter and more precise. The downward‑moving envelope is a much more aggressive sound and it has a really sharp and fast decay.

You can also get some pretty psychedelic ambient textures by running the filter into a long tape delay and a deep shimmer reverb (Image credit: Stefan Fast) Fire the filters

What is an envelope filter