Murf as String Filter?

eric coleridge · Post by **eric coleridge** » Wed Aug 16, 2006 3:29 am

When the Murf came out, I played it in a music store, but didn't really develop much initial affection for it. No disrespect to Murf owners, but to me, it seemed a little gimmicy. Just because the patters are more less preset, and I felt like you were sort of locked into the Murf playing your music for you in a prefab way. i can see the value of this in some types of music, but it didn't immediately appeal to me... This is just a subjective taste thing of course...

However, I'm sure it is useful in many other ways too, right? ---besides the 'animation' aspect of it...

and I was wondering if anyone has been using it to good effect as a String Filter of fixed filter bank for creating string textures? With all those filters in series I'm sure it can really sergically sculpt your sounds, yes? Do any Murf owners have any opinions of it's use in this or other applications?

MarkM · Post by **MarkM** » Wed Aug 16, 2006 8:04 am

I initially felt like you about the MuRF. But when I got it and applied it to my synth I was amazed. It is now my favorite MF. I use it in a variety of ways. Often I use the MuRF as a fixed filter bank and use the mix control to get the EQ that sounds appropriate. For patches with a long release I love to use an animated pattern with long envelopes on the MuRF. The stereo textures sound terrific. There are enough patterns to satisfy me. Plus the patterns seem to vary depending on how you have the filters attenuated.

OysterRock · Post by **OysterRock** » Wed Aug 16, 2006 12:32 pm

eric coleridge wrote: and I was wondering if anyone has been using it to good effect as a String Filter of fixed filter bank for creating string textures? With all those filters in series I'm sure it can really sergically sculpt your sounds, yes? Do any Murf owners have any opinions of it's use in this or other applications?

You are certainly going to be able to shape your sound very well, but I doubt the MuRF will work as a string filter. String filters usual have a lot of bands (between 30 and 40) specifically tailored to certain frequencies to emulated the frequency spectrum of a stringed instrument.

eric coleridge · Post by **eric coleridge** » Thu Aug 17, 2006 2:26 am

Yeah, I guess it's closer to a Filter Bank. But I think maybe it's suppossed to be reminiscent of the original Moog String Filters.

But it's appealing to me to think of it as some kind of fixed filter bank, and I keep meaning to go try it out in this application at my nearby music store.

I've been intrigued by Filter Banks recently after I heard this:

http://theremin.music.uiowa.edu/Sound%2 ... 0Noise.mp3

The link is to the University of Iowa Electronic Music Studio's Moog Modular Demo (1979). This particular MP3 is of random/noise audio through a Moog fixed filter bank. It's so beautiful and reminds me of some Kubric soundtrack's incidental music (2001 or The Shining).[/i]

asd · Post by **asd** » Thu Aug 17, 2006 10:47 am

Thanks for posting the clip and mentioning that idea Eric! I hadn't thought about/realized that the murf could be used like that (since with all the animations I've thought of it as something that adds movement in a way). Opened the door to a bunch of ideas.

I've been playing around with radio static (inputting through my guitar pickups) and then through the mf's (especially the lpf to shape the sound), so having a whole filter bank would add so many possibilities.

From the sound on the clip though, it seems like the filter bank uses bandpass filters because certain frequencies are brought in and out of the recording. This is a lot different than the murf right (because it's resonance filters only boost a specific frequency without eliminating others)?

eric coleridge · Post by **eric coleridge** » Fri Aug 18, 2006 1:54 am

asd wrote:Thanks for posting the clip and mentioning that idea Eric! I hadn't thought about/realized that the murf could be used like that (since with all the animations I've thought of it as something that adds movement in a way). Opened the door to a bunch of ideas.

If you haven't already, check out the rest of the MP3s from this University of Iowa site, they're pretty remarkable:

http://theremin.music.uiowa.edu/MoogDemo.html

asd wrote: From the sound on the clip though, it seems like the filter bank uses bandpass filters because certain frequencies are brought in and out of the recording. This is a lot different than the murf right (because it's resonance filters only boost a specific frequency without eliminating others)?

I think it's more/less the same. Even though Moog calls the Murf filters "resonant" filters, they are band pass filters too because they allow one (or

frequency band(s) to be attentuated. I think it is attentuation also, although the bands can probably be boosted as well. I don't have the Murf, so I don't know for sure, only what I've read about it. But it seems like the same principle, different semantics.

So, if you turn off the animation, turn down all of the bands, and just boost one or two at a time, I would think you'll get the same effect.

But this is what I was originally asking about-- How well does the Murf work as a fixed Filter Bank?

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Murf as String Filter?

Murf as String Filter?

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