VERTICE ANALOG FILTERBANK
VERTICE ANALOG FILTERBANK
Seconda Serie
Vertice Seconda Serie is a 4U, 19″ rack mount Filterbank hand built by Stefano Bersanetti and Mirella Vigna.
It is a totally analog machine, with through hole audio grade components. The printed circuits boards and the chassis are made in Italy, near Euterpe’s laboratories. Also the wooden side cheeks are made here, one by one and totally by hand, without using robots or CNC machines, in a little woodworking in the middle of the countryside.
Inside circuitry is mostly similar to the first Vertice, but some little updated features were made to let be this second version of the filterbank quite unique.
His nature is really multifaceted, because Vertice it is not only a “filterbank”, it is a very powerful tool both for your studio needs and live performance: its many faces can be briefly summarized into this list.
VERTICE SECONDA SERIE CAN:
Filter and equalize
Amplify, both in the input stages and, very massively, over the final stages
Sum up to 3 signals
Distort
Compress and expand (GSSL and dbx 160A style)
Deal with percussive situations thanks to the audio drivable EG
Easily go into feedback mode and become a weird complete synthesis system
Manage true stereo signals, duplicate mono signals or do the two things together
“…and made up your day, musically speaking. “
– 3 x fully-independent fully-analog 1974 multimode Sallen-Key filter boards, with massive use of diodes. Each board equipped with Cutoff and Resonance controls and Audio and CVinput. Great sound, huge presence, very natural and intense attitude, autoscillating reso, easy screamy/go-crazy tones, easy formant-like tones. Independent LP, BP and HP available via switch selector
– 2 x Resonance ways for each filterboard.
The original passive one, smooth and musical or really psychopath resonance values, which sometime make cutoff so unstable to be impossible to tame.
And the active alternative way, our design, that reduce the dynamics inside the feedback path and it’s especially designed to “scream like a pig“, if you can excuse my tech language
– 3 x (1970’s Cambridge Audio) Audio Input stages, one per board. It allow to obtain true analog summing section for 3 different signals. Very silent, 17dB gain that, on a normal line level signal, pleasantly distort at the end of the pot race
– 1 x Master Cutoff section, controllable by ext-CV and internal-EG, to drive the three independent filters Cutoff together
– 1 x transistors Distortion circuitry, to make it suffer. Really efficient with percussive signals, it can boost anything to produce no-compromises wave flatness. Square them all!
– 1 x not-so-classic discrete EG design with ADSR and Level-Out controls, drivable by external audio (this feature make compression and expansion very easy) or by a CV-gate and/or temporary gate switch. Looping Mode let it become a strange and keyboard-playable “LFO”. Percussive, Smooth and Ultra-Slow range, Positive and Inverted out. Fashionable Led for visual sync. In Percussive mode the loop can reach around 170Hz and vary its waveform from triangle to saw to square just using the ADSR controls. The EG also have a dedicated Rear Output, to let Vertice drive some external modules
– 1 x Audio Serial/Stereo Out VCA
– 1 x Audio Mono/Parallel Out VCA that allows to obtain mono, false stereo and real stereo outputs. This configuration allows you to use Vertice Filterbank as a mono unit with series slopes of 12, 24 or 28 dB/oct, as a false-stereo unit with simultaneous 12 and 24 dB/oct slopes and as true-stereo unit with slope of 12 dB/oct for each channel. The double VCA is internal-EG controllable for Staccato (via standard CV gate) and Continuo (Drone) functions.
This two ports are also available in the rear patch bay, in order to simply have a more clear patching situation. But they can also be useful to double the output signals to use them for different process at the same time (like with parallel compression) or, more creatively, to re-plug the output signal into one of the Vertice’s input, creating very interesting signal feedbacks
– A and B rear outputs. The A and B filters not attenuated outputs are hosted also in the Rear panel. Real exiting possibilities of feedback them into the main inputs and see Vertice becoming a weird complete synthesis system
– very huge dynamics, from classic clean tones to brutal distortion. Very useful to revitalize VST and other digital sources or simply to boost weak sources
– real analog low noise summing circuitry
– 1 x SER/PAR switch
– 1 x SER/PAR/STEREO switch for easy and creative manipulation.
– arranged for V/oct use
– 1 x +/-15V alimentation module, allowing 110 and 220V AC worldwide compatibility, CE marked
– Amphenol 1/4″ TRS female connectors
– Alpha pots
– C&K anti-vandal Momentary Switch for the EG trigger. Even in the middle of an hearthquake you can trigger your EG without problems
– prepatched: total flexibility with relaxing comfort. Our structure avoid useless cables to let the panel cable-free as much as possible
– standalone: you can turn it ON just five minutes after the delivery. The only things you need are few cables and some sawtooth
– no-compromise ICs. When necessary we use the best integrated circuit available, expecially in the audio path. No TL07x or similar ICs for a precision and trusty audio signal, they are used only for CV managing and similar applications (eg. VCA control circuitry and Envelope Generator’s buffers)
– As well as the IC components, we mount the highest grade modern capacitors in the audio path by default.
We also have few old Mullard capacitors (aka Tropical Fish) directly from the past, coming truly from ’50, ’60 and ’70 mostly italian never-mounted stock. We use them on User request only after careful test and particularly in the audio sections. We don’t mount this component in every machines because they are very rare, but available for short period.
– Handcrafted lateral wooden cheeks (optional) with laser engraved customers’ logo
– 2mm handcrafted lacquered synoptic aluminum panel
– heavy phenolic fluted knobs with white pointer from Illinois. Easy to turn, satisfactory touch sensations, fast recognizable visual feedback, fashionable vintage looking. Really hard to don’t touch them
– finger-breaking panzerfaust-looking switches, to be sure to make contact. Those switches are from C&K and promise lifetime performances
– Panasonic double layer industrial hi-quality PCB
– every single VERTICE unit is unique in some way because of its strong handcraft caracter. We like to put some of our creativity directly in the manufacture of the single piece. Every unit is welded slowly, considering the human factor behind the machine
– to demonstrate and remember it’s uniqueness every VERTICE unit has its own Serial Number and Date of Production hand-stamped on a rear metal label
– year of reliable use and very deep timbral manipulability