Royale Audio has introduced Royale Filter, a freeware modulated filter effect in AU plugin format for Mac-based digital audio workstations.
Royale Filter is yet another addition to a series of effects with customizable modulation curves that we’ve seen recently. Just like the excellent SimpleSide by Armando Montanez and SideChainer by RDGAudio, it features a waveform editor which allows the user to define the shape of the LFO modulator. The difference with Royale Filter, though, is that the LFO modulates the filter cutoff parameter instead of the amplitude, making it more similar to plugins like TAL-Filter (released way back in 2010!) and the commercial FilterShaper by Cableguys.
Another difference with Royale Filter is that it is only compatible with digital audio workstations running on Mac. Because of this, I wasn’t able to test it on my computer before writing the article, which is quite a shame as the plugin looks quite promising. It seems that the built-in filter is supposed to be a bit special, attempting to emulate the sound of vintage analog filter modules (or at least that’s what the official plugin description says on the developer’s website). It also seems to pack a selection of classic faux-sidechain shapes for the LFO and promises a low CPU hit. Hopefully, a Windows version will be available sometime in the future, although there’s no information about it on the product page.
If you do own a Mac-based DAW, I’m sure you’ll be happy to find that Royale Filter is offered as a direct free download from the developer’s website. It doesn’t require user registration or product activation in order to work. Do keep in mind that an AU host is required.
Royale Filter is available for free download via Royale Audio (2 MB download size, DMG file, AU plugin format for Mac OS).
Last Updated on May 11, 2017 by Tomislav Zlatic.
