FilterCrusher is a freeware filter effect VST and AU plugin. It is built on a tube circuit model used in Audio Assault’s superb commercial tube amplifier plugin GrindMachine. FilterCrusher was developed by Audio Assault and it is available for free download exclusively on Bedroom Producers Blog. The plugin is released as a 32-bit and 64-bit VST/AU plugin for Windows and Mac.
FilterCrusher features a pair of resonant filters (high pass and low pass) which operate individually. Due to their transparent sound at the lowest resonance setting, the two filters can be used for cleaning up the top and bottom end of audio tracks. At higher resonance settings, they can be used for various creative purposes such as filter sweep effects, boosting certain regions of the frequency spectrum (e.g. adding more thump to bass drums), emulating the frequency response of analog circuits, etc.
At default settings, the effect of the tube circuit is fairly subtle and almost completely transparent. To add a bit of tube saturation to the processed audio signal, increase the input gain and then lower the output volume to prevent clipping. You’ll hear the effect of the tube emulation algorithm which “warms up” the audio signal and slightly compresses the dynamic range. This kind of effect sounds particularly well on drum loops and it can also add a bit of life to dull synthesizer sounds.
To further distort the signal, press the CRUSH button which is located in the middle of the GUI. This will boost the volume of the signal on the input, resulting in clearly audible distortion. Use this setting to get more aggressive sounds, or for parallel processing
The plugin was developed by Audio Assault. Visit their official website if you’re looking for high-quality virtual guitar amplifiers at affordable prices.
Video Demo
Check out the FilterCrusher demo video:
Features
- Adjustable 12 dB high and low pass resonant filters.
- Modeled tube circuit.
- Subtle and “crush” modes.
- Zero-latency.
- Optimized for low CPU usage.
Changelog
- v1.01 (January 22nd 2015) – Maintenance update. Fixed a memory leak issue which caused a noise burst when loading the plugin in certain host applications.
- v1.0 (October 14th 2014) – Initial release.
Download
FilterCrusher (12.9 MB download size, ZIP archive, EXE installer, 32-bit & 64-bit VST/AU plugin format for Windows & Mac)
62 Comments
Thanks for your PRIMA service.
Will be taking this plugin for a spin.
Best regards.
[F/L/W] _
Bedroom Producers Blog
onHave fun testing it!
Jazzigula
onLooks and works really nice !
Bedroom Producers Blog
onCheers mate!
bmovie
onNice one! Thank you
Bedroom Producers Blog
onYou’re welcome! :)
bharris
onSounds great! One quick question – what DAW is that?
Bedroom Producers Blog
onThe DAW is MuLab 6 (http://www.mutools.com/). A fantastic affordable DAW with tons of modular options “under the hood”. I use it for sound design purposes and it’s my go to plug-in host for live use.
snk
onThank you very much, it is very generous !
This plugin looks very good.
Bedroom Producers Blog
onYou’re welcome! :)
cesar
onThanks for the filter, it looks pretty good !
Bedroom Producers Blog
onCheers!
Tristan Moore
onHey man, cool stuff! Thanks for the awesome VST. It’s cool to see you partnering up with VST makers :).
Bedroom Producers Blog
onThanks Tristan, have fun using FilterCrusher!
UserFX
onNice and useful plugin!
Bedroom Producers Blog
onThank you!
James Wilkerson
onThe first time I put this on a bass, it emitted an insanely loud and abrasive buzzing noise. I had to turn my interface off to prevent my monitors from blowing. I am using studio One. I will remove this from my comp and attempt a reinstall. Wish me luck. I have other products by Audio Assault and I haven’t had any problems.
James Wilkerson
onReinstalled the filtercrusher. Still the same insane noise. Im going to remove it once again and just skip this one. Thanks anyway.
Bedroom Producers Blog
onHi James, the plugin has just been updated. The issue which you’ve mentioned has been fixed.
DarkFlameSquirrel
onInteresting! Thanks for the free download.
Jeppe Christensen
onThis plugin is great and simple.
unfortunately i had to remove this, as i ran into the same problem as James Wilkerson on Logic Studio pro 9.
Thanks though.
steven
onExcellent plugin but experiencing the same signal overload issue mentioned previously and it completely kills my audio (using Logic Pro X) – hoping there is a bug fix coming for this?
Bedroom Producers Blog
onHi Steven, we’ve just updated the plugin. I can’t test on Mac at the moment, so if you re-download the plugin please let us know if the update is working properly in your DAW.
steven
onThe .mpkg inside the _MACOSX directory is corrupted, I managed to install from the other .mpkg but it still looks to be V1.00 (component file is dated 13 October 2014)
steven
onHi, is there any update on V1.01 for Mac?
Thanks
Bedroom Producers Blog
onHi Steve, sorry about the delay! An update will be released soon. It will be announced on the site and through our mailing list.
steven
onexcellent news – very keen to use this in my live setup as soon as I can.
Bedroom Producers Blog
onHi Jeppe, the plugin has just been updated! Hopefully, the issue which you’ve mentioned has been fixed. Could you please re-download FilterCrusher and let us now if it’s working properly for you now?
Doug Beney
onI love the sound of those filters! Very warm sounding! Thank god it’s Mac compatible. I gotta try this out.
Very nice plugin, blogged about it here: http://www.ghosthack.de/free-dual-tube-filter-plugin :)
nikos
onhello could you tell me how can i use this effect in virtual dj. I am making the installation but i can not find it in the effect section.
Regards,
Simone
onI’m eager to test the plug-in, but the mac OS X folder shows a damaged file that is forced to move to trash…?
C-Ram Beats
onHow can I submit my 2 free drum kits and 2 nexus presets, sylenth bank
MartinL
onI’m using FL Studio and have the same problem like James Wilkerson, Jeppe Christensen and Steven regarding the noise…
Charles
onHey bpb,
I wanted to say “Thanks” for this plug. I downloaded it 4 or 5 months ago and find I’m using it quite often. Easy to work with and it sound great. Thanks again for BitCrusher!
John
onI wish I could use this plugin, but when I add it to a channel in FL Studio, there’s a click/pop and the channel overloads in the red. Is there a fix for this?
Samuel
onWow! This sounds great on sampled drum breaks, thanks a lot!
Tomislav Zlatic
onThanks, glad to hear that you like it! :)
robbot
onSo i installed it but can’t find the plugin. Where do i access it on my mac, through a program (if so, compatible with MixMeister and/or Tracktor Pro 2)?
Tomislav Zlatic
onYou will need a VST or AU host application such as Logic, for example.
John
onWill there be a fix for the overloading problem in the future? I have installed the most recent version, but when opening in FL Studio (64-bit) it immediately overloads the channel in the red. Can’t use it like this, unfortunately.
Tomislav Zlatic
onUnfortunately, an update isn’t on the radar anytime soon. I’ll ask the developer to try and fix the issue, though.
Glomar
onI’m still having the issue discussed above with the audio level spikes. Only downloaded two weeks ago. Such a shame cos’ the filter is really smooth when it works and doesn’t feel notched like a lot of soft filters but I nearly broke my ears when it failed.
turello
onCan’t download the version 1.01… :-(
Lachlan Ayles
onah when I try to download this it says that the file is damaged and can’t be opened… Is there any way to fix this? Thanks!
CM French
onSame thing’s happened to me as well, damaged file. Has this person stopped responding to people re issues?
Tomislav Zlatic
onAre you getting a ZIP archive? Or simply a corrupt file with no extension? Either way, please let me know what filename you’re seeing on the download.
Steve
onGreat plugin, I use it A LOT! But I’m always very wary to use it because I get the same overload issue others have gotten. I usually have to disable the plugin and reenable it to get it to work. Having this issue in Studio One.
Dillon
onAny chance on a fix on the the audio burst issue? Still installs as version 1.00 and I get a nasty buzz every time I bring it into FL Studio or Maschine
el-bo
onSame noise burst. Completely knocks out my audio interface.
I’m guessing there will be no fix.
no
onjust use normal download links like a human, your weird gimmick to get fake followers is broken
yano atis
onLOVE IT
John
onDead link.
Tomislav Zlatic
onReuploaded.
Wing Yee
onWill try…thanks!
Atme
onI was wondering, will there be any bugfixes or updates for this very nice freebie?? That would be awesome! =)
Arthur
onaww man I wish the crush could be a knob instead of a button for more control over the crunchiness
Arthur
onbut it is hella good nice work with this
Tomislav Zlatic
onIn that case, allow me to introduce BPB Dirty Filter. https://bedroomproducersblog.com/2020/10/13/bpb-dirty-filter-release/
dayzru
onThanks for a great plugin! At first glance I could not believe that an old plugin from 2014 would do the job so well.
It’s weird, but I was searching for a free LP/HP filter effect for a REALLY long time and couldn’t find one that fits all my needs. As a dj, I got used to have a simple knob on a mixer/controller that acts as a HIcut/LOWcut filter that works smooth and gives you an option to create fading effects by using only one knob (as on Pioneer DJM series). And it should be able to get automated with envelopes (this means that you prefer to see values like 0%-50%-100% for an ease of use).
For some reason, some developers are doing it in a wrong way, so the filters themselves might sound great, but the transition doesn’t work smooth or there are too many parameters you have to tweak at the same time to get the desired tone.
In this case, I’m really happy with FilterCrusher, as it does exactly what I need.
Only things I would improve would be:
– Double click for knob reset (default resonance is 2.31 and you don’t know this value until reset but want to make sure it’s in reset so it doesn’t affect the sound).
– Right click to enter the value.
– A bit bigger input box for values, as 19.000Hz does not fit there. Even 100.00 on input doesn’t fit well.
P.S.: Used in Reaper v6.36, Win10, 1080p.
Other than that it’s great and it looks like I’m going to use it as my main automation filter. Will check all other BPB plugins that I might have missed for some reason.
Tomislav Zlatic
onHey Dayzru, glad to hear that you liked our FilterCrusher plugin. That said, it’s an old plugin that won’t be updated. Have you tried our new filter plugin? https://bedroomproducersblog.com/free-vst-plugins/bpb-dirty-filter/
Neytcev
onThis plugin doesn’t pass the validation tool in Logic 10.1, OSX 10.10 …
As i read there for an 2015 update 1.01, which i can’t find anywhere.