FilterCrusher – Free Tube Filter VST/AU Plugin By AudioAssault

By Tomislav Zlatic // Updated on November 15, 2019 News

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.

See also: Free Synthesizer VST Plugins

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)

About Author

Tomislav Zlatic

Tomislav is a music producer and sound designer from Belgrade, Serbia. He is also the founder and editor-in-chief at Bedroom Producers Blog.

62 Comments

Freddie on October 14, 2014 3:30 pm

Thanks for your PRIMA service.
Will be taking this plugin for a spin.
Best regards.
[F/L/W] _

Reply
- Bedroom Producers Blog
  on October 14, 2014 7:44 pm
  
  Have fun testing it!
  
  Reply
Jazzigula
on October 14, 2014 4:41 pm

Looks and works really nice !

Reply
- Bedroom Producers Blog
  on October 14, 2014 7:43 pm
  
  Cheers mate!
  
  Reply
bmovie
on October 14, 2014 5:19 pm

Nice one! Thank you

Reply
- Bedroom Producers Blog
  on October 14, 2014 7:44 pm
  
  You’re welcome! :)
  
  Reply
bharris
on October 14, 2014 8:12 pm

Sounds great! One quick question – what DAW is that?

Reply
- Bedroom Producers Blog
  on October 14, 2014 8:42 pm
  
  The 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.
  
  Reply
snk
on October 14, 2014 9:11 pm

Thank you very much, it is very generous !
This plugin looks very good.

Reply
- Bedroom Producers Blog
  on October 21, 2014 2:17 am
  
  You’re welcome! :)
  
  Reply
cesar
on October 15, 2014 1:05 pm

Thanks for the filter, it looks pretty good !

Reply
- Bedroom Producers Blog
  on October 21, 2014 2:18 am
  
  Cheers!
  
  Reply
Tristan Moore
on October 15, 2014 11:20 pm

Hey man, cool stuff! Thanks for the awesome VST. It’s cool to see you partnering up with VST makers :).

Reply
- Bedroom Producers Blog
  on October 21, 2014 2:18 am
  
  Thanks Tristan, have fun using FilterCrusher!
  
  Reply
UserFX
on October 16, 2014 1:43 pm

Nice and useful plugin!

Reply
- Bedroom Producers Blog
  on October 21, 2014 2:19 am
  
  Thank you!
  
  Reply
James Wilkerson
on October 23, 2014 11:15 pm

The 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.

Reply
James Wilkerson
on October 23, 2014 11:31 pm

Reinstalled the filtercrusher. Still the same insane noise. Im going to remove it once again and just skip this one. Thanks anyway.

Reply
- Bedroom Producers Blog
  on January 22, 2015 11:21 pm
  
  Hi James, the plugin has just been updated. The issue which you’ve mentioned has been fixed.
  
  Reply
DarkFlameSquirrel
on November 12, 2014 5:29 pm

Interesting! Thanks for the free download.

Reply
Jeppe Christensen
on January 22, 2015 7:50 pm

This 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.

Reply
- steven
  on January 22, 2015 9:46 pm
  
  Excellent 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?
  
  Reply
  - Bedroom Producers Blog
    on January 22, 2015 11:23 pm
    
    Hi 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.
    
    Reply
    - steven
      on January 23, 2015 1:53 am
      
      The .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)
      
      Reply
      - steven
        on January 26, 2015 10:03 pm
        
        Hi, is there any update on V1.01 for Mac?
        Thanks
        
        Reply
        
        Bedroom Producers Blog
        on January 27, 2015 1:58 am
        
        Hi Steve, sorry about the delay! An update will be released soon. It will be announced on the site and through our mailing list.
        
        Reply
        
        steven
        on January 27, 2015 8:36 pm
        
        excellent news – very keen to use this in my live setup as soon as I can.
        
        Reply
- Bedroom Producers Blog
  on January 22, 2015 11:22 pm
  
  Hi 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?
  
  Reply
Doug Beney
on January 29, 2015 2:17 am

I love the sound of those filters! Very warm sounding! Thank god it’s Mac compatible. I gotta try this out.

Reply
Ghosthack on February 10, 2015 11:03 pm

Very nice plugin, blogged about it here: http://www.ghosthack.de/free-dual-tube-filter-plugin :)

Reply
nikos
on March 2, 2015 2:06 pm

hello 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,

Reply
Simone
on March 7, 2015 6:31 pm

I’m eager to test the plug-in, but the mac OS X folder shows a damaged file that is forced to move to trash…?

Reply
C-Ram Beats
on May 15, 2015 6:53 pm

How can I submit my 2 free drum kits and 2 nexus presets, sylenth bank

Reply
MartinL
on May 23, 2015 10:57 pm

I’m using FL Studio and have the same problem like James Wilkerson, Jeppe Christensen and Steven regarding the noise…

Reply
Charles
on June 5, 2015 12:30 am

Hey 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!

Reply
John
on June 22, 2015 11:52 am

I 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?

Reply
Samuel
on September 27, 2015 11:07 am

Wow! This sounds great on sampled drum breaks, thanks a lot!

Reply
- Tomislav Zlatic
  on September 27, 2015 3:14 pm
  
  Thanks, glad to hear that you like it! :)
  
  Reply
robbot
on December 10, 2015 2:54 pm

So 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)?

Reply
- Tomislav Zlatic
  on December 10, 2015 10:08 pm
  
  You will need a VST or AU host application such as Logic, for example.
  
  Reply
John
on April 5, 2016 3:41 pm

Will 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.

Reply
- Tomislav Zlatic
  on March 22, 2017 6:20 pm
  
  Unfortunately, an update isn’t on the radar anytime soon. I’ll ask the developer to try and fix the issue, though.
  
  Reply
Glomar
on August 21, 2016 2:16 pm

I’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.

Reply
turello
on August 22, 2016 3:11 pm

Can’t download the version 1.01… :-(

Reply
Lachlan Ayles
on December 17, 2016 2:31 pm

ah 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!

Reply
CM French
on March 22, 2017 5:21 am

Same thing’s happened to me as well, damaged file. Has this person stopped responding to people re issues?

Reply
- Tomislav Zlatic
  on March 22, 2017 6:19 pm
  
  Are 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.
  
  Reply
Steve
on May 10, 2017 7:30 am

Great 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.

Reply
Dillon
on May 12, 2017 4:16 am

Any 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

Reply
el-bo
on April 30, 2018 1:26 pm

Same noise burst. Completely knocks out my audio interface.

I’m guessing there will be no fix.

Reply
no
on May 3, 2018 2:21 pm

just use normal download links like a human, your weird gimmick to get fake followers is broken

Reply
yano atis
on August 11, 2019 8:41 am

LOVE IT

Reply
John
on November 4, 2019 8:36 pm

Dead link.

Reply
- Tomislav Zlatic
  on November 6, 2019 12:03 am
  
  Reuploaded.
  
  Reply
Wing Yee
on November 16, 2019 9:21 pm

Will try…thanks!

Reply
Atme
on December 18, 2019 9:51 pm

I was wondering, will there be any bugfixes or updates for this very nice freebie?? That would be awesome! =)

Reply
Arthur
on December 18, 2020 6:32 pm

aww man I wish the crush could be a knob instead of a button for more control over the crunchiness

Reply
- Arthur
  on December 18, 2020 6:33 pm
  
  but it is hella good nice work with this
  
  Reply
- Tomislav Zlatic
  on December 19, 2020 3:17 pm
  
  In that case, allow me to introduce BPB Dirty Filter. https://bedroomproducersblog.com/2020/10/13/bpb-dirty-filter-release/
  
  Reply
dayzru
on October 8, 2021 3:11 pm

Thanks 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.

Reply
- Tomislav Zlatic
  on October 8, 2021 7:56 pm
  
  Hey 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/
  
  Reply
Neytcev
on October 22, 2021 12:31 pm

This 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.

Reply

Get FREE IK Multimedia Quad Image on April 30th at Bedroom Producers Blog