Oligarc Filter
by Stillwell Audio · Filter · Analog ladder filter
Not rated yet
Oligarc Filter is the analog ladder filter from Olga and Oligarc as a standalone plugin, with lowpass and two bandpass modes and MIDI control.
It has a built-in soft-clipping limiter and costs $39.
Best for: Keys & Synths, Drums, Guitars, Sound Design. Genres: Electronic & EDM.
Keywords: MIDI-controllable, synths, drums, soft clip, analog-sounding, mixing, samples & loops, sound design, standalone app.
What it does
Oligarc Filter is a standalone version of the analog ladder filter model used in Stillwell's Olga synth and Oligarc effects suite, for "when a part needs real filter movement or resonant sweeps instead of static EQ." The model includes the nonlinearity and instability of an analog circuit.
- Three modes: lowpass, wide bandpass and narrow bandpass.
- Cutoff: a large cutoff control, made for hand-played and automated sweeps.
- Resonance: goes up to self-oscillation at high settings.
- Analog behaviour: nonlinearity and instability are part of the ladder model, for a less static sound.
- Output protection: a soft-clipping brickwall limiter on the output keeps resonant peaks in check.
- MIDI control: the filter is fully MIDI-controllable, so cutoff and other controls can be played from a controller.
This is version 4.1.2. Updates are free, and a free evaluation copy is available.
Source: Stillwell Audio product page
When to use it
Oligarc Filter is the simple, cheap option: one ladder filter with three modes and nothing else to learn. Compared with The Drop (Cytomic) or Filter MS-20 (Arturia), it has no choice of filter models and no built-in modulation, so you automate or MIDI-control the sweeps yourself. FilterFreak (Soundtoys) and Volcano 3 (FabFilter) go much further with LFOs, envelope following and multiple filters, at a higher price. Its output limiter makes it safer than most for pushing resonance on loud material.
- Best for: manual or automated filter sweeps on synths, drums and loops, and playing the cutoff from a MIDI controller.
- Genres: electronic music, from house and techno to synth-based pop.
- Look elsewhere if: you want built-in LFOs or envelope following; Stillwell's Oligarc suite or FilterFreak provide them.
Where to buy
- Stillwell Audio: $39
Similar plugins
- Filter MINI by Arturia · Ladder filter · $49
- Moog Multimode Filter Collection by Universal Audio · Moog-style filter · $149
- Ladder Filter by Kilohearts · Free ladder filter · Free
- Synth Warmer by Kazrog · Ladder filter / drive · $14.99
- Oligarc by Stillwell Audio · Filter, drive, chorus and phaser · $79
- FAT 2 by SoundSpot · Analog-style multimode filter
- Dual VCF by ToneBoosters · Dual non-linear analog filter · $21.57
- FilterFreak by Soundtoys · Resonant analog-style filter · $149
- Filter MS-20 by Arturia · Analog filter emulation · $49
- Mad Filter by Rast Sound · Analog-style filter with LFO · Free
More from Stillwell Audio
- Event Horizon by Stillwell Audio · Limiter · $59
- Bad Buss Mojo by Stillwell Audio · Saturation · $59
- Fe26 by Stillwell Audio · Saturation · $59
- Hot Glass by Stillwell Audio · Saturation · $59
- Remanence by Stillwell Audio · Saturation · $79
- CMX by Stillwell Audio · Imaging · $59
- Olga by Stillwell Audio · Synth · $79
- Oligarc by Stillwell Audio · Filter · $79