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FIELD TEST
Canadian manufacturer Electrix, a division of IVL Technologies, expands
its line of performance-oriented analog effects with the half-rackspace
Filter Queen and EQ Killer Modular Performance FX units or MODS. These
join the three flagship Performance FX units Electrix introduced last
year: the Mo-Fx multi-effects, the Filter Factory stereo filter and the
Warp Factory vocoder. The MODS are half the size of the others and just
as packed with special effect possibilities for the musician, DJ, remixer
or engineer who wants to add an individual performance dynamic to special
effect treatments. The Filter Queen and EQ Killer forego the MIDI implementation
and the multi-effect capabilities of the Performance units in favor of
a more stripped-down and straight-ahead approach: These units diverge
from a lot of studio processors by providing quick and extremely striking
results for any user at any experience level. High on the instant gratification
index, they use large, momentary “engage” buttons to allow you
to “play” the effect you have dialed up. You also get smaller
latching engage buttons, and both buttons are surrounded by red LEDs for
fun.
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Electrix’s
EQ Killer and the Filter Queen pack a sizable punch into half-rack
units
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Filter Queen
The Filter Queen is an analog, stereo high-order filter with digital control.
Electrix uses the word “vintage” to describe the filter’s
traditional synthesizer VCF sound. The Filter Queen uses two 2-pole filters
in stereo mode—or you can chain them together for a single 4-pole
filter with a push of a back-panel button. I wish the button was on the
front panel, but I do like the fact that the unit automatically combines
the stereo signals to mono. I also appreciated the way that the Filter
Queen and the EQ Killer are powered by external 16 VAC power supplies
that are on the end of AC cords instead of “wall wart” modules
that can eat up three available plugs on your plug strip.
There are both RCA and 1/4-inch jacks for line-level left and right inputs
and outputs on the back panel, and you can switch to phono inputs for
direct connection to a turntable. The unit will handle up to +18 dBu at
line level and up to -20 dBV at the phono inputs. Maximum output level
is +18 dBu. There are also jacks for foot switch operation of the engage
buttons and a jack for an expression pedal such as the Roland EV-5. The
external pedal will control the filter frequency for wah-wahing or notch
filter sweeps.
There are four filter types on the Filter Queen: lowpass, highpass, bandpass
and notch. All filters are 12 dB per octave, or a more pronounced 24 dB
per octave in 4-pole mono mode. The filter covers a 12-octave range from
10 to 20k Hz with just a single knob (one of the advantages of digital
control). There is a Resonance control with negative values that smooth
out the filter just as positive values make frequency changes much more
pronounced, right up to feedback whistles. I liked the bandpass for wah-wah
or Mutron effects: The notch is deep (in 4-pole) and ends up sounding
like a whooshing phaser or flanger effect. The lowpass is great for rolling
off superbright sounds, and the highpass is great for “lo-fi”
two-way-radiolike effects in which all the low frequencies are taken away.
A single, large momentary push button or a latching smaller button switches
the effect on and off, and an effects mix control blends the amount of
effect with the original signal.
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Reprinted with permission from Mix Magazine, August, 2000
© 2000, Intertec Publishing, A Primedia Company All Rights Reserved
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