Cherry Audio pulls out the filter of its Polivoks Synthesizer emulation Atomika and puts it in Filtomika, a standalone FX plugin.
At the beginning of October, Cherry Audio unveiled Atomika, an excellent-sounding emulation of the characterful Polivoks Synthesizer. It is beautifully brutal, angry, and full of charm.
In my review, I criticized the missing FX plugin version, which allows you to use the lovely, unique-flavored filter with external signals like the original hardware. The Cherry Audio developers have now responded, not with a free update but with a standalone filter plugin called Filtomika.
CA kindly gave me a test version a few days in advance.
Cherry Audio Filtomika
Filtomika is a simple plugin that transforms the raw, characterful Atomika Synthesizer filter into a standalone FX plugin. Like Atomika, the filter is based on the iconic, raw Polivoks Synthesizer from 1982. I can’t say how accurate the emulation is, as I don’t have the original filter to compare.
The plugin consists of four sections: modulator, envelope follower, filter, and master. In case you didn’t know it. Much of the Polivok’s fascinating gnarly, aggressive tones come from this “programmable op-amp” based filter, which the developers have modeled and expanded.
Unlike the original Polivoks filter, Cherry Audio has expanded the Atomika filter and Filtomika with more modes. In addition to the original lowpass and bandpass, it offers highpass, notch, and peak. Thus, it is less faithful to the original topology but more versatile and flexible.
You can control the filter manually using various controls, including cutoff, resonance, keyboard tracking, starve, and filter drive. Two distinct functions, starve and filter drive, are not found on the original synth, but the developers added these to its versions to awaken the beast even more.
As mentioned in the Atomika review, Cherry Audio doesn’t tell us precisely what the Starve function does. Only that is based on a few eccentric circuit behaviors that enhance it in wild fields. One thing is sure: it makes the filter screen like a child from hell.
The behavior can also be seen in the Filtomika plugin. The more you use Starve and Drive, the warmer the sound becomes, and the whole thing becomes a beefy, hot affair. Without these special ingredients, the filter can be gentler without taking the sounds of a hot rod racing on steroids.
Turn the resonance at maximum, and Cherry Audio Filtomika becomes a self-oscillating drone box. Add modulation to it, and the big fun starts.
The three additional filter types (HP, Notch, Peak) are not authentic or original, but they add much more creativity to the beautiful Polivoks filter. They’re an excellent add-on that levels up the whole filter.
Modulation
Let’s discuss modulation. Filtomika has a multi-wave LFO (modulator) and an envelope follower onboard. Both have different use cases. The envelope follower helps make dynamic filter movements that react to the incoming audio.
The syncable LFO, on the other hand, introduces the typical movement patterns. Noise is enjoyable as it causes the cutoff filter to become very dirty.
Both modulators are hard-wired to the cutoff filter. It’s a shame you can’t change the routing here, as it would open up the field for other sounds. A delay function to delay the modulation would also be nice here.
From here, the signal goes into the Polivoks-modeled VCA, contributing significantly to the crunchy character. It has a master section with an amp drive that heads and spices up your signal once more before it goes out of the plugin.
There is also a preset browser where you can find a small selection of factory presets. From easy to heavy distorted things, there is something for everyone.
Cherry Audio Filtomika Review
Filtomika is a lovely, characterful filter plugin. It offers few features but can impressively color and manipulate sounds. I’m pretty sure it works not only on synth sounds but also on guitars. It’s not a free update for Atomika, but it’s a fair deal at $15 for Atomika users.
Cherry Audio Filtomika is available now for $19. Registered users of Atomika who buy through Cherry Audio will receive a 20% discount on Filtomika, reducing the price to $15 at checkout. It runs as a VST, VST3, AU, and AAX plugin on macOS (native Apple Silicon + Intel) and Windows.
More information here: Cherry Audio
Missed the opportunity to call it Filthomika.
Sorry to say, but this sounds nothing like the real thing. Way too clean and way, way too linear. There’s a reason why their plugins are so much cheaper compared to their competition. Not sure how much money has swapped hands, bu tthis “review” is far from being nothing more than an advertisement.
Thanks for your input. Everyone has their own opinion. Me and you too. Every review in the world will have different opinions from individual people. In the review I am not saying that it is a 100% accurate clone of the filter because I do not have the original myself to compare it.
“Nothing more than an advertisement”. My reviews are free and Cherry Audio just sent an NFR (Not for resale) version to do the review. No money, no advertising deals, etc. So it’s not an advertisement!
If you write positively about a plugin somewhere else, I will also write underneath that it is only advertisement by you 😉
I love it ..the atomica was awesome anyway and this adds alot more craziness . cherry audio stuff is awesome for the money .