Really fast pluck generates high frequency artifacts with filters 1 & 2

Hi, I’m noticing an issue with very fast plucks.

Unfortunately since I’m a new user I cannot upload files. However, to reproduce the issue:

  • Create a short pluck by lowering decay to 0.090, sustain and release to 0
  • Enable filter 1
  • Play between 48 and 96 (or even upwards, the higher the more noticeable) midi notes per beat (with Ableton Live you can do that with midi arpeggiator) and notice how you can hear high frequency artifacts even though you have an LP filter

Now, disable filter 1 and enable the filter from the effects. You no longer hear these artifacts, so I suspect that the algorithm in the filters 1 & 2 is lower quality than the one in the effects or there is some corner case behavior going on. Maybe something related to the smoothing between samples.

The issue appears also with the other filter algorithms in the filters 1 & 2 section. Never in the effects ones.

Finally, I tried increasing the oversampling, but the issue still persists.

filter 1 and 2 are per voice (note/polyphonic) whereas the filter in the fx section is “global”/parahponic. maybe that is part of the issue. is key track on on filter 1 and 2? if so, can you try and disable it and see if the problem persists?

If by disabling you mean putting it to -100%, the issue still persists.

No by disabling i would mean setting it to 0. But I guess it already is a zero then. What is your beat speed? At 60bpm 48 notes is a frequency that is well into the human hearable range…

What happens if you increase the decay a little?

BPM is 150. If I increase the decay the issue still appears.

However, increasing release tames it.

Interestingly enough, Serum appears to have the same exact behavior, so at this point I suspect that it’s not an issue but just a result of how synths work?

Well, i am not sure what to tell you, but if you play 48 notes at a speed of 150bpm, that is insanely much! What are you expecting to hear? I am sure it just sounds like “garbage” no?

32 is a more reasonable speed for a bit-styled sound and you can still hear some of the artifacts.

Yeah hard to say but could be running out of notes. You could try setting the sustain to 0 and bring the decay down of env 1 to make sure the voice ‘dies’ before it’s reused.

For a bit style arp you could also try using the transpose snapping. Click on the little keyboard icon next to transpose and select notes. Then modulate transpose.

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